Skyhorse Publishing, which just announced that it would take over the assets of Arcade Publishing, is moving ahead with projects of its own. It is crashing the publication of Poorer Richard's America: What Would Ben Say? by Tom Blair on August 30. The house signed the book up in May, and is following the advice of Blair, a businessman and politician, to move quickly. Blair’s take on why Poor Richard’s America needs to be published now, and not six to 18 months from now? America is in crisis.
In the book, Blair, taking on the voice of Ben Franklin, mimics what Franklin did in Poor Richard’s Almanack, offering solutions to problems, including a proposal for a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have all congressmen face election every three years and make public financing for elections mandatory. (Blair says getting money out of the election process so that “real people” can hold office is one of the keys to “a better future for America.”) Tom Brokaw wrote the book's foreword.
Skyhorse is getting behind the book with a 75,000-copy first printing and a hefty marketing budget. It will run full-page ads in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post the day the book pubs, and will also promote the hardcover—priced at a patriotic $17.76—online. The publisher said Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million, and Hudson News have committed to “major buys” and front of store promotions. The book will be available in both Kindle and Nook editions, as well.
Associate publisher Bill Wolfsthal said, "We rushed because both the author and our team here felt that the problems of America were so serious and that the idea that Ben Franklin could help so timely that we wanted it out as soon as possible."
