Larry Dorfman, v-p of sales at Globe Pequot Press and author of The Snark Handbook: A Reference Guide to Verbal Sparring (Skyhorse Publishing, $12.95, 9781602397606/1602397600), whose pub date was this past Tuesday, said that his book is in part a response to David Denby's assertion in Snark that snark is ruining conversation. Citing the wit of supreme snark masters Groucho Marx, Dorothy Parker, Ambrose Bierce and Oscar Wilde, Dorfman said, "Snark can elevate a conversation!" 
The book includes a Snark Hall of Fame, suggested snarky comments to "everyday dumbassness" and a do-it-yourself section on learning how to be snarky ("assuming you're intelligent," Dorfman adds snarkily). "It's a book every student of the American psyche (that's all of us, Sparky) needs to have," the publisher said. "Let loose. Let your inner anger become a positive rather than a negative, but most of all, have fun. (Yeah, like that's something you know how to do.)"
"I wanted it to be fun from start to finish," Dorfman said. "If readers don't laugh a minimum of 50 times, I'll be surprised." He's also proud of the book, saying: "I put something cool out into the world and not just junk." Ever the good salesperson, he noted, too, that currently "there's tons of snark in movies, TV and print. People are reading so much snark." In other words, Snark is hot.
The only problem with the book: in a non-snarky way, Dorfman noted, "Now I've set a high bar for
myself. If I say something and it's not snarky enough, people call me
on it."
The Snark Handbook launches with a party at the Cigar Bar in New Haven, Conn. "Cigar, beer and book for $20!" he said happily. Dorfman will also do signings at R.J. Julia, Madison, Conn., and the UConn Co-op, Storrs, Conn. As for publicity, "I'm waiting for Jon Stewart to call," Dorfman said, noting he had mentioned him in the book. "And Colbert, Imus and Stern."
The book took a big step toward reality in January, when Dorfman was let go from Abrams. (In April, he returned to Globe Pequot, where he had worked for eight years in the 1990s.) "A friend who's an editor called up and asked what I was going to do," Dorfman said. He responded that he was going to get a job. She said, "Write me a book." With snark on his mind because of the Denby book, he put together The Snark Handbook.
Dorfman praised Skyhorse and its distributor, Norton. Skyhorse put together a "great package" that includes a kind of news ticker tape running along the bottom of the book's pages, Dorfman said. And Norton has "gotten it pretty much everywhere."
Having published a book gives Dorfman a very different perspective on the business. "I walk into bookstores, and I have a newfound understanding for what it's like for authors to find 'only' one or two copies of their books," he said. "I used to tell authors, 'They sold the others.' Now I go in and I ask, 'Where's my book? How can anyone find it?' It's been an eye-opening experience from the other side."
One odd aspect of his new life as an author is that at the upcoming New England Independent Booksellers Association show in Hartford, Conn., he has a signing for The Snark Handbook at noon on Saturday, October 3--at the same time one of his Globe Pequot authors has a signing. So he'll be signing and holding hands--his own, too.
Dorfman likes the writing life enough to continue his literary ventures. He's working now on a book about cigars, which he hopes will look a lot like The Snark Handbook. Originally that book was going to be The Snarky Cigar Lover, but it had "too much real cigar information." Sometimes a cigar book has to be just a cigar book.--John Mutter