Pubs Step Up, But Is There More to Come?

The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina has elicited pledges of significant contributions from the industry's major publishers. But unlike previous disasters, it has brought no collaborative or charitable publishing effort—at least thus far.

While announcements of donations—of both books and money—to the relief effort came pouring in this week (see below), the creative projects have been slower to follow. Two weeks after the hurricane hit, the closest anyone has gotten is Neighborhood Story Project coordinator Abram Himelstein, who lives in New Orleans and is now a blogger-in-exile for the Houston Chronicle; Himelstein and NSP cofounder Rachel Breunlin have been on the scene at the Astrodome, collecting material for a collection of oral histories for which they hope to find a publisher. All copies of the five self-published NSP books, written by high school students from various New Orleans neighborhoods, were destroyed in the hurricane and ensuing flood. Soft Skull chief Richard Nash is looking for a printer to donate a new run.

Some point out that it's still early and publishers and authors may still be absorbing the shock. Still, the silence is peculiar, given the more immediate response for previous tragedies; after 9/11, for instance, a number of houses collected material, published it and donated profits. Bloomsbury put together New Beginnings, a collection from an impressive list of authors—J.M. Coetzee, Stephen King, Ian McEwan and others—to help relief efforts after the tsunami in Asia. And for Katrina, members of the media and entertainment fields—from recording artists to basketball stars—have spontaneously held concerts and events to help the cause. Below, a partial list of contributions.

Random House: $500,000 plus matching contributions; 250,000 books to Firstbook, the Red Cross of book donations

Pearson: $500,000 plus matching contributions; book donation to centers in affected areas

Scholastic: $100,000 plus matching contributions; book donations to area schools

Reed Elsevier (including LexisNexis): $200,000 plus matching contributions

News Corp: $1 million, plus matching contributions; book donation plans in the works

Viacom: $1 million plus matching contributions; book donation plans in the works.