Rachel Maddow Building a Money-for-Nothing Reputation

Patrick McGeehan of The New York Times reported that several Air America radio talkers didn't get all their pay before the network went belly-up -- including Rachel Maddow, who wasn't even producing a show any more (just a simulcast of her MSNBC hour):

But when the lefty chatter stopped, some of the talkers had not been paid for the last of the airtime they filled. Ms. Maddow was due $3,952 for her services, which appeared to be about two-thirds of her monthly pay of $5,833. Mr. Reagan’s company was owed $6,351, two-thirds of his monthly pay of $9,375.

Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer wrote it was a nice check if you could snag it:

[T]he MSNBC talker was paid $70,000 per annum for a one-hour audio-only rerun of the previous night's cable program. Segments were cut up to fit network radio's format and a few brief pre-recorded introductions were added using Maddow's voice.

Nice work if you can get it! Interestingly, to host a three-hour live program, Ron Reagan was paid only about a third more than Rachel...

Was a low-rated Maddow rerun from 12 hours earlier in audio-only form really worth $70,000 a year? And what did airing it accomplish for Air America?

Then, he added, came this report from Keith J. Kelly in The New York Post. Maddow's also building a money-for-nothing reputation with her book publishers at Crown:

Where is MSNBC news anchor Rachel Maddow 's book?

In 2008, when she was a rising political analyst without her own show, she inked what was believed to be a low-six-figure deal to write about the shifting role of the military.

The book was delayed beyond its 2009 publication date, and now it appears the original idea has been scrapped.

Random House's Crown imprint referred calls to Laurie Liss of Sterling Lord Literistic. "She's been very busy lately," the agent said. "Hopefully, she will hand something in by the end of this year."

The topic, she said, has "changed so many times. It's non-fiction and it's definitely not a memoir."

Rachel Clayman -- who edited Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" -- is the editor.