Economy is red-hot -- among publishers

NEW YORK — About a year ago, one of America's bestselling business books was Michael Corbett's "Find It, Fix It, Flip It!: Make Millions in Real Estate -- One House at a Time." Today, one of the hot finance titles picked up for publication is Stephen Leeb's "Game Over: How the Collapsing Economy Will Shrink Your Wealth by 50% Unless You Know What to Do."

As the U.S. economy deteriorates and millions wrestle with questions about their faltering 401(k)s and when -- or if -- to cash out long-term stock investments, major publishers are scrambling to cash in.

They're working feverishly to find the next "big book" that reflects a more sobering view of the economy and offers solutions to help Americans survive the current fiscal woes.

In a 48-hour period last week, Penguin Portfolio outhustled rival publishers to make a preemptive buy of "The New New Deal" by financial guru Eric Janszen; Doubleday and HarperCollins beat the drums about their forthcoming books on the Bear Stearns Cos. collapse; and Business Plus, an imprint of Grand Central, jumped at the chance to acquire Leeb's title, which makes no bones about the health of the nation's economy.

"The next 10 to 15 years are going to severely test America in a way we haven't been tested before," said Leeb, president of investment firm Leeb Capital Management Inc. and publisher of the Complete Investor newsletter.

"My book isn't doom and gloom," Leeb said. "It doesn't say, 'Pack up all the canned goods and head to the country.' But there's no painless way out of this mess. The problem is people are in a state of denial. The music has stopped, and we're still dancing."

The message, said Grand Central publisher Rick Wolff, is that "these problems aren't going away, and it's not some kind of gee-whiz concern. The old economy is like a video game. It's over."

All of these new business books will sound an alarm. But most won't be appearing until 2009, so publishers are rushing to reissue older titles that predicted worsening conditions and seem relevant now.

Elsewhere, publishing houses lucky enough to have new books about fiscal turbulence set to appear in the next few months will be promoting them heavily.

"There's a growing appetite for information out there, because people want to know what they should do," said Adrian Zackheim, head of Penguin Portfolio.