It's come to our attention that one of Mediabistro's ever-helpful panels may not be selling too well, the irony being that for once, it seemed like a not-horrid event. Rather than learning how to pitch AutoWeek, this event was a gathering of mildly interesting journos-cum-writers to talk about making the change from magazine whore to book whore. Just a thought, but if the arguably unboring gatherings aren't selling, could it be the first, tiny sign of the death of the media panel? And if so, how long until Michael Wolff keels over?

From: Mediabistro
Date: June 26, 2006
To: Mediabistro types
Subject: free: from journalist to author panel, wed. june 28

Hello!

We have a cool panel on Wednesday night that you are welcome to attend. It's about how to make the jump from from journalist to author with a really big book. (We know, you're already big, but you can be bigger, right?)

Here's the lineup:

[Update after jump]

- Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm; National Magazine Award- winning journalist
- David Margolick, author of Beyond Glory; contributing editor at Vanity Fair
- Shari Goldhagen, author of Family and Other Accidents; former celebrity reporter for The National Enquirer
- Julian Rubinstein, author of Ballad of the Whiskey Robber; former Washington Post sports reporter
- moderated by our own Tom Zoellner, author of The Heartless Stone; former reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle

More details are here:

From Journo to Big Book: How 5 Journalists Became Authors
Wednesday, June 28, 7-9 pm, followed by book signing
Manhattan Ensemble Theatre, 55 Mercer Street (@ Broome)

Drop me a line if you want to come for free. Yes, you heard me, free.

UPDATE: Not so free after all. Mediabistro sends another email: "I am so sorry (and a little embarrassed) to say I mistakenly sent you an email for Wednesday night's panel. Students will have to pay to attend the event. The email was intended for mediabistro.com instructors—we love giving students the chance to meet instructors, so we wanted to have as many of them there as possible." Whoops — now the real issue: who's paying to go?