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te ae me | NY 100-161445 ) CONFIQENTIAL "A key person in the beginning was Joyce Johnson, Hoffman's first editor at the Dial Press. "'7 lived in the East ‘Village on St. Marks Place. v One could not help become aware of Abbie,’ she said. ‘Just on the off-chance he might be interested in doing a book, I dropped him a note.' : "Hoffman collected a $2000 advance from Dial. But the ; book really didn't take shape until just after the Democratic 7 National Convention in 1968. + r ; "tHe called me up and said “I've got the book". It was : right after Chicago. It suddenly jelled', she recalled. ‘He wrote a very quickly. He's very facile, very clever. It just pours out of him. ¢ veeea? "Hoffman did most of the writing on his second book in Le: Christopher Cerf's office. Often he lay on the flocr, shirt off, : scribbling in longhand. A parade of mini-skirted editorial assistants filtered in and out, staring. "One day Christopher's father, Bennett Cerf, head of Rendom House, toured the company with a matron. They opened the door and there was Hoffman, barechested, working on the book in his usual position. ‘He's not my son. He's not my son,* Cerf exclaimed. ‘ thee 3 "Hi, dad,' Hoffman answered with a big grin. "tJust being Abbie is publicity in itself,’ says a spokesman for the Dial Press. ‘He makes news. In our office he's courteous. He's trying to figure out ways to promote the book... he knows what he's here for. We know what he's here for.! “Sometimes when travelling around the country on revolu- tionary missions, Hoffman will tuck a list of bookstores tc be visited into his suitcase. During a recess at the Chicago trial, he hosted a fingerprint party--instead of the traditional _. autograph party--at a Chicago bookstore. igs me 9 SS - 61 - CONFIDENTIAL