It’s pretty rare for a publisher to be openly adversarial toward the author of one of her high-profile about-to-be-released titles. But hey, O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It is a special kind of book.

Judith Regan, who’s publishing the book under her ReganBooks imprint, defends herself in The New York Times today. Regan says she mainly wanted a public confession for the sake of closure. “I wanted him to confess for very personal reasons,” she tells the Times, referring to an abusive relationship in her own past. (She expands on that in a larger essay that was provided to the Times and can be viewed in full on The Drudge Report.)

Regan also tells the Times that she’s happy to help victims’ families recover money that’s still owed them from an outstanding civil judgment against Simpson. “If they want any information I’m happy to give it to them,” she says.

What remains to be seen, though, is how much of a “confession” the book really is. So far it sounds more like a dance of titillation, and as the Times notes, in a soon-to-be-aired TV interview, Simpson “spoke about the murders in the hypothetical sense, a stance that admits nothing and could be viewed as a denial.”

It should surprise none of us, in any case, that nobody involved in the project appears to see it as a resume-padder. Regan says she bought the book rights from a nameless “third party,” and the Times notes in passing that it “was written with an uncredited ghostwriter.”

Related links:
Click here for the New York Times article
Click here for Regan’s full essay