This may complicate the Democrats' new power-sharing agreement: Irene Liu notes that the state constitution only provides for the position of president pro tempore in the State Senate, and does not mention a majority leader.  read more »

ICM agent Heather Schroder took the step of sending an e-mail to all the authors she represents—a list that according to industry database Publishers Marketplace includes Candace Bushnell, Tom Bissell, and Harry Reid—to tell them that even though the publishing industry is in the midst of unprecedented upheaval, things will be fine eventually and that no one should worry too much.

"It isn't going to be business as usual and it can't be if we all care about the health of this industry," Ms. Schroder wrote in an email message obtained by Media Mob.

"But, however this shakes out in the short term I can tell you that we are going to come out the other side of this better than we were before. Of that, I have no doubt. The fact is this: There will always be people who will want to write, there will always be people who want to publish those writers and there will always be a public that wants to read. So don't despair."

The full text of Ms. Schroder's email—subject line "the state of things"—after the jump.  read more »

HORNELL—A source close to the gang of three offered some details on the deal just reached to support State Senator Malcolm Smith for majority leader, with some interesting implications. According to the source:  read more »

Roughly two weeks after orchestrating a six figure book deal for one-time girlfriend of J.D. Salinger Joyce Maynard, literary agent David Kuhn is selling a memoir by Margaret Robison, the mother of Augusten Burroughs. Mr. Kuhn actually submitted Ms. Robison's book earlier this week, but calls to his office today went unreturned so we don't know if it's been sold yet.

Ms. Robison, a poet and a writer in her own right, was portrayed brutally in her son's 2002 book Running With Scissors as a self-obsessed, negligent mother. That book created more than a few bad feelings within Mr. Burroughs' family—both biological and adoptive—not to mention a lawsuit, as chronicled by Vanity Fair's Buzz Bissinger in 2007. (His work has also been closely scrutinized in the post-James Frey era by writers like New York Magazine's Sam Anderson.)  read more »

HORNELL—As news of a deal to install State Senator Malcolm Smith as the chamber's majority leader gets around, it looks like Republicans are conceding.

Current Majority Leader Dean Skelos issued this statement:  read more »

Starting next September, New York Fashion Week will begin the second Thursday of every September and February in order to give London Fashion Week extra days. [WWD] 

Kate Moss treated her daughter's nanny to an unlimited shopping spree at Topshop in London yesterday. The bill, which ran over 3,000 pounds, was ultimately picked by Topshop boss Sir Philip Green who was so impressed with Ms. Moss' generosity. [Vogue UK]  

Kelly Cutrone is working on a reality TV show with the Magical Elves, the producers behind Project Runway before the show left Bravo, to "showcase the nitty gritty side of fashion." [P6]

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Anthony Weiner, the 44-year-old congressman and declared mayoral candidate, responded to the Ravitch Commission's recommendation to toll the East River bridges as a “tired, old proposal.† read more »

On the one hand, the news today that President George W. Bush has bought a 1.13-acre, 8,501-square-foot house in Dallas for $2.07 million must surely be raising some resentment in a nation where nearly one in four homeowners with mortgages currently owe more on their mortgage payments than their homes are worth. After all, Mr. Bush's post-presidency abode (above) not only has a 1,150-square-foot garage, 896-square-foot servants' quarters, and a bonus 240-square-foot storage space, but his next-door neighbor is literally a billionaire.

But, on the other hand, if Mr. Bush had chosen Manhattan as his post-White House place of residence, $2.07 million would barely buy him a condo the size of his new garage. Even with the market suffering, according to a gander at listings on StreetEasy, $2.07 million is just enough for a 1,091-square-foot Turtle Bay condo; a 1,612-square-foot place on West 58th Street; or a 1,743-square-foot condo on West 100th.

In order to assume leadership of the State Senate, Malcolm Smith had to negotiate with three Democrats who were refusing to support him, and who wanted things in exchange for their support.

Ruben Diaz Sr. didn’t want a bill to legalize same-sex marriage coming to floor for a vote.

Pedro Espada wanted to see more Hispanics in leadership roles in Albany.  read more »

In a company-wide memo sent to Random House staff this afternoon—labeled "a very different memo" by company spokesman Stuart Applebaum when he forwarded it to media—Markus Dohle turned a spotlight upon Random House's strong presence on year-end book lists published this week by The Toronto Globe and Mail and The New York Times Book Review.

Mr. Dohle delighted in the fact that fully nine of the ten books on the NYTBR list had been published by Random House. Those nine, for the record: Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser; A Mercy by Toni Morrison; Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri; The Forever War by Dexter Filkins; Nothing to Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes; The Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust; The World Is What It Is by Patrick French; Netherland by Joseph O'Neill; and The Dark Side by Jane Mayer.

Under Random House's old structure, eight of those nine would count as Knopf books, but after yesterday's reorganization, which stripped Jane Mayer's publisher, Doubleday, of its divisional status and placed it under the jurisdiction of Sonny Mehta, it is all nine. Mr. Dohle did not draw attention to this fact, presumably in the interest of fostering in-house harmony.  read more »