A Party for "True Believers" by Kurt Andersen - Scene City Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times Writers, agents, publishers and power players gathered outside of the Waverly Inn restaurant in New York City on July 9 to celebrate Kurt Andersen's new novel, "True Believers." PITY the book party. Once upon a time, it was a raucous open-bar affair, paid for by a publisher. These days, with print under siege, it's often up to friends and family to foot the bill. That's not a problem if you happen to be Kurt Andersen, the much loved writer and media player who founded Spy magazine with Graydon Carter. "Authors are still around, but publishing isn't what it used to be," said Mr. Carter, the Vanity Fair editor, who was greeting guests Monday night to celebrate Mr. Andersen's new novel, "True Believers," at the Waverly Inn, where he is a partner. But when Kurt publishes another novel, it's always an excuse to throw another book party. And what a party it was, so full of publishing power and talk about blurbs, reviews, agents and royalties that it might have been the days before the Internet decimated the industry by making content free and entitling everyone to write, publish and hit "send." Charlie Rose held court in one corner while Harvey Weinstein, Barry Diller, Diane von Furstenberg, Julie Taymor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and Raymond W. Kelly occupied others. Waiters with trays of canapés struggled to get by. There were new-media types, too. Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker, circulated, as did Arianna Huffington. "Based on the evidence of tonight and the crowd here," said Tad Friend, a writer for The New Yorker and author of two books, "the publishing bubble has not burst." Mr. Andersen, 55, was not sure about that, but after putting out several ambitious novels in middle age, some of which even sold well, he was willing to be optimistic. "I'm not an idealist but I would say I'm 51 percent hopeful," he said. The same would likely be said about many others in the crowd, who continue to publish despite the climate. Salman Rushdie was there. So was Christopher Buckley. The best-selling author Walter Isaacson was there, too, as was Tom Brokaw, who has written several books since "The Greatest Generation," his best-selling first, appeared in 1998. "I'm still trying to replicate the success of that one," he said. Paul Rudnick, the playwright, humorist and author, said that working with Scholastic, his publisher on a forthcoming novel for young adults, made him feel upbeat, and that he reads so many books (with such vigor) on his Kindle that he managed to break it. And Martha Stewart, who said she has written 77 books ("If you don't believe me, count them," she said), extolled the virtues of reading and collecting books. "First I buy them on my iPad," she said. Then if I like them I always buy a hardcover. Alternatively, if a book happens to be sitting above a banquette, as was Mr. Andersen's all around the restaurant and free for the taking, why resist? Can you grab that for me? Ms. Stewart asked a friend. It was the last one to be taken before the party cleared out.