Back in 2008 the media world spent a lot of time talking about how much the media world loved Barack Obama. For a while there it seemed like Candidate Obama was the only cover subject in which anyone was interested and that along with all the other change the nation was encouraged to believe in, Obama might single-handedly save the print industry. Oh what a difference two years makes. Sort of.

Last week the Pentagon destroyed thousands of copies of a single book. The book was Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s new memoir “Operation Dark Heart”, about his time in Afghanistan leading a black-ops team, and the Pentagon was so determined the public not read portions of it they purchased all 9,500 copies of it directly from its publisher, St. Martins, with the express purpose of destroying it.

The Obamas have landed in Martha’s Vineyard for their annual summer vacation (no doubt with fingers crossed that a breaking national news story is not on their heels). Yesterday President Obama and daughters stopped by local Bunch of Grapes bookstore to pick up some summer reading.

Sirius also decided to utilize Beck’s publishing power to help gin up interest in a new series they have launched on SIRIUS XM Book Radio called ‘Author Confidential,’ which features intimate conversations with iconic authors in front of a live studio audience of listeners and fans. Beck appeared with guest thriller authors Vince Flynn and Nelson DeMille.

Seriously. In a very 2.0 social, crowdsourcing move Glenn Beck, the new Oprah of book publishing, is holding a poll on his website asking fans (and other visitors) to choose their favorite cover for his upcoming novel ‘The Overton Window.’ Your choices after the jump.

Glenn Beck is writing a novel for grown-ups. in a move that is both genius and likely infuriating (to “intellectuals,” anyway) Beck appropriated the title ‘Overton Window’ from a popular political concept, which he explained via the infamous chalkboard late last month.

Sarah Palin just sold her second book. The currently untitled tome was described by publisher HarperCollins as a “celebration of American virtues and strengths…as well as portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her love of country, faith, and family. Needless to say this sounds a lot like the Palin version of Audacity of Hope.

The walking dead have apparently taken over publishing (and no I don’t mean the corporate suits who are increasingly running the show). First there was (the very successful) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which zombieified Pride and Prejudice. Now comes Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Not kidding! The walking dead are the new Hilter mashups of the publishing world.

Turns out we are not the only ones paying attention to Glenn Beck’s immediate influence on the world of book sales. Glenn Beck apparently also has an eye on the rocketing Amazon rankings of the books he recommends (even the evil ones!). Beck is the new master of literary top ten list.

After taking the publishing world by storm with her memoir Going Rogue it may be the book industry has gone a bit sour on Sarah Palin. Apparently a former NBC reporter who was signed to Wiley to pen a book about Palin’s “rise to national prominence as the Republican vice presidential nominee this year, and her subsequent fall from grace” has had his project canceled. Is Palin no longer marketable?

Glenn Beck took the night off last night so he could host a live Christmas Sweater event. The Christmas Sweater, for the uninitiated, is Beck’s bestselling novel about “love, faith and family” that he has since turned into a Broadway-type show during which he explains the events that inspired the book. The trailer, mind you, sort of defies description.

The New Yorker may or may not be atop of Sarah Palin’s reading list (one sort of assumes not) but that hasn’t stopped The New Yorker from reading and reviewing Sarah Palin‘s memoir Going Rogue. What they have to say may surprise you.

There is still money to be made in book publishing, apparently. Sort of. Apparently the publishing world feels there’s still enough juice to be squeezed out of the nation’s fascination with our First Couple that they are willing to cough up seven figures for it.

The adventures of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two CurrentTV journalists jailed in North Korea earlier this year already seems like another lifetime thanks to the current state of the news cycle. However, looks like readers will get an inside look into the experiences of the two women courtesy of Lee who has just signed a six-figure book deal with Broadway Books.

Yesterday news broke that Sarah Palin had completed her memoir “Going Rogue” in just four months and that it would hit bookshelves November 17, far ahead of its original Spring pub date. Today the memoir has gone rogue on both the Barnes & Nobles and Amazon bestseller lists. Dan Brown never saw it coming.

The wait, such as it was, is over! Sarah Palin’s memoir “Going Rogue: An American Life” is due to hit bookstores on November 17, months ahead of the original publication date, which was this spring. Seems that Palin has been putting all the extra, non-governmental, free time to good use! But what about that title?

The New York Times is not going to be scooped by the National Enquirer anymore! The Times is running an A-1 story today about the latest developments in the John Edwards “drama” and its plenty sordid. However there is something slightly more worrisome than Edward’s alleged behavior. Many of the most damning elements of the piece are paraphrased from a book proposal that has just gone out to publishers. Did anyone vet this proposal?

Say what you will about Google destroying newspapers and infringing on literary copyrights, they have just come up with a genius idea. Actually it’s two ideas. And it may not only be the future of publishing but also of newspapers.

Just two weeks ago Tina Brown made some significant waves with her Daily Beast column about Hillary Clinton’s apparent invisibility as Secretary of State. Today, another Brown column landed in our inbox – this one arguing that Bill Clinton be brought back to the fore. Two Clinton columns in as many weeks also jogged our memory: Isn’t Brown penning a book on the Clintons? Why yes, yes she is.