Nobody reads Publisher's Weekly

But it's latest cover has given the blogoshere a coronary. Its latest issue features a cover story on African-American books and illustrates the article with a photograph of a black woman whose hair is full of Afro picks, left, all of them molded to look like closed fists giving a black-power salute. Before you could say 'right click', the magazine heard from readers and industry insiders who called the image offensive.

In a post on PublishersWeekly.com, Calvin Reid, the magazine’s senior news editor, wrote that the photograph, titled “Pickin’ ” and taken by Lauren Kelley, came from the new book “Posing Beauty: African American Images From the 1890s to the Present” by Deborah Willis. Mr. Reid wrote, “To me it is a sweet, tongue-in-cheek funny and striking image of quirky black hair power.” He added, “I certainly regret offending anyone and while I still love that image, I intend to think long and hard about whatever image is chosen for next year’s cover.”