Exercise in author-coddling

So like the entire world, I bet, I read this NYT profile of Dan Brown and what the success of THE DA VINCI CODE is doing to his life. But this really struck me:

There are hints that the pressure to repeat his success might be wearing on Mr. Brown. Long an author who worked in private, Mr. Brown now talks with his editor, Jason Kaufman, often once a day, sometimes twice – far more often, Mr. Kaufman said, than when the pair worked together on Mr. Brown’s three most recent novels, including "Deception Point" and "Angels & Demons."

"We go over every plot point and twist," Mr. Kaufman said. "I function as a sounding board for him."

Stephen Rubin, the publisher of Doubleday, part of Random House Inc., said he was not at all concerned about when Mr. Brown will finish his next book.

So basically, if you’re one of Jason Kaufman’s other authors, he’s probably spending a hell of a lot less time on all of you lately…