Well the news is in. Last night Beaufort Books revealed itself as the publisher who has agreed to print O.J. Simpson’s controversial If I Did It. In hopes of avoiding a fate similar to the ReganBooks catastrophe of last year, the small, NY-based company is trying to spin this book as hard (or rather, as nicely) as they can.

In Beaufort’s highly anticipated press release, the publisher maintains that what was previously perceived as a “brazen attempt for Simpson to capitalize on an unspeakable crime for financial gain” will now been seen for what it truly is: a confession. (Note that he never directly confesses to either Nicole Brown or Ron Goldman’s murders in the book.)

My favorite line is when Beaufort describes the Goldman family’s acquisition of the rights to the manuscript this year as “a great ironic turn in this tale of murder and injustice.” Great because we are dredging up the details of a horrific, 14-year-old murder? Or ironic because now the victim’s family will profit from it, and we aren’t sure who to blame anymore?

I at least expected something like this from Simpson. But don’t worry, Nicole Brown’s sister Denise is making sure to publicly condemn the Goldmans’ decision to go through with publication. She is asking everyone to boycott If I Did It once it is released. This is, of course, after she failed to secure some of the profits from the novel for herself.

I really don’t know who to believe anymore. All I know is that this book is getting published, and knowing that “the Goldmans, the publisher, and Sharlene Martin will all contribute portions of sales proceeds to the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice” is somehow supposed to make us sleep easier at night.

After Monday’s announcement that O.J. Simpson’s tasteful memoir If I Did It has found yet another publisher, it’s hard not to smile. I mean, someone should be giving the publishing industry a dozen gold stars. What effort and determination!

Not only did they encourage Simpson to write a novel about how he would have killed Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman (much to the dismay of the American public), but now they refuse to let the idea die. Because even though Simpson is completely innocent, I think we all sometimes wonder how an average guy envisions his first homicide going. If that’s not art, I’m not sure what is. Gawker thought maybe this.

Either way, yesterday morning Publishers Weekly released a report that agent Sharlene Martin has secured a company to back a revised version of Simpson’s book. The project will now include commentary from the Goldman family, who won the rights to the manuscript in a Miami bankruptcy court last month. The book is meant to satisfy some of the millions that the former NFL star owes because of a wrongful death judgment made against him in civil court.

The name of the publisher was originally supposed to be released today (according to Monday’s statement), but the rep for the Goldman family, Michael Wright, has postponed the announcement yet again.

So it looks like we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out who the second-most insensitive publisher in the country is. The first-place prize goes to Judith Regan of ReganBooks, who initially supported the project back in 2006. Most of you are probably familiar with the public outrage that ensued, causing the cancellation of the book’s release. Regan was subsequently fired.

But I obviously wish the best of luck to the next in line. It’s good to know that this time around you have some of Goldman’s family members in your corner, ready to join in on the exploitation of his death.

With the internet and the publishing industry unapologetically intertwined these days, it’s no wonder that the Fake Steve Jobs is releasing his very own book come October.

For those of you unaware of the blog entitled “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs,” it began to create a stir within Silicon Valley over a year ago. Written anonymously since earlier this week, the satirical blog features posts by someone pretending to be Apple CEO and Founder Steve Jobs. Lovingly referred to as Fake Steve Jobs or FSJ by his fanatical followers, the identity of the blogger was revealed (or rather uncovered) by New York Times reporter Brad Stone on Sunday.

The notoriously tight-lipped Jobs is the perfect corporate mogul to impersonate, especially with the booming success of Apple over the past few years. The mocking, self-righteous, and sarcastic tone of FSJ’s blog is riotously funny and borderline genius. He has even got the real Steve Jobs reading his posts. Loyal fans had been pondering who the real FSJ was for months, as well as well-known faces within the IT industry that the blog reams on a regular basis. My personal favorite is when FSJ calls Bill Gates “Beastmaster” and Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz “My Little Pony.” A reference of course to his choice of hairstyle. There are videos out there. You can find them. Ok fine, here it is.

Either way, FSJ has been busted, and it appears that a senior editor at Forbes, Dan Lyons, was behind the blog the whole time. A relative unknown, so good for him, because now his name will be remembered for a good 10 to 15 days. His new book, written of course in the FSJ persona, is called Options. Da Capo Press in Cambridge is backing the project. One site predicts that because the mystery is gone, everyone will forget about FSJ, move on, and the book will flop.

I have my doubts, but even knowing Lyons’ identity, I still laugh uncontrollably at FSJ’s posts. I recommend taking a look at some of FSJ’s Greatest Hits. Here are some classics…

Watch out, elderly iPod users

Regarding our iPhone

Come Together

The big secret meeting, complete waste of time