This big diamond is still spinning but beginning to lose momentum and control.

An agent recently told me that the mood in publishing houses was one of fear. "No one wants to buy anything," said this agent, "unless it's a sure thing. Then they'll pay anything." Take the $3.2 million Speigel & Grau just paid for the next book from Life of Pi author Yann Martel. But can anybody tell what a sure thing is anymore?

Twelve, the Hachette imprint that is publishing this fall Ted Kennedy's 576-page memoir True Compass, announced last week that it would be offering through its Web site a special 1,000-copy run of books that are "leather-bound, numbered, signed electronically in ink, with rare family photos not available in the regular edition."

These books are going for $1,000 (you would think you'd at least get a book signed by the auto-pen for that, no?), which means the publisher is hoping to take $1 million off the top. Considering the publisher signed the book for $8 million, billing $1 million directly through the company would be a good insurance policy.

Though even at $7 million, Teddy the K is going to have to tell one hell of a story to make it work. Last year's Warren Buffett biography, The Snowball, was bought for $7 million, but even at a time when Buffett was appearing nightly on television to calm a nation panicked about its imploding financial system, the book couldn't muster enough revenue to save the job of the publisher.

In addition to the $1,000 editions, there will be other versions available: large print, audio (both CD and downloadable), and an Open E-Book edition for $35, same as the hardcover price. Hachette clearly wants to make its money back on this book. But it's not offering a Kindle edition ... yet.