Thanks for the link. Just wanted to explain my reporting on the Judy’s Book story since the events around it were a little strange to me too.

Here’s how the events unfolded.

On Friday Oct. 24, I received a tip that Judy’s Book had relaunched. Given that I had covered the company in the past, including its venture funding and closure, I thought it was a newsworthy event.

Last Friday, I emailed Judy’s Book founder Andy Sack to see if he was involved in the company. The next day I heard back from Sack with him saying he was not involved. I followed up with more questions of Sack on Sat. Oct. 25.

On Monday morning Oct. 27, I received an email from Andy Liu, part of the new investor group at Judy’s Book explaining what they were doing. I followed up that morning asking for an interview with Liu, who granted the request.

I conducted the interview in the early afternoon, posting the story on TechFlash later that day.

Later that evening, to my surprise, I discovered the Judy’s Book story on TechCrunch.

Anyway, I am not quite sure how TechCrunch got on the same story a few days after I started working it, but I can tell you that I was doing my own independent reporting. I was not familiar with the TechCrunch post until several hours after I had written my story.

I realize this is a bit of “inside baseball” in the reporting biz, but it is important to note. I thought the whole thing was a little odd myself since no press release was issued and the news was — as you said and as I pointed out in my story — a few months old.

Anyway, it was good to meet you at the PopCap event. Looking forward to chatting more.

John Cook
TechFlash.com