News Briefs

Advanced Marketing Services’ dispute with Baker & Taylor—AMS claims B&T wrongfully withheld $6.2 million from its final payment for the majority of AMS’s assets—took another turn last week when B&T filed a complaint of its own. B&T claims that AMS sought relief in the wrong place and that disagreements about the payment should be handled by an accountant. B&T also alleges it is owed $1.75 million by AMS for services and expenses through the end of June. If B&T’s motion to shorten the time for objection is granted, both AMS’s complaint and B&T’s will be determined on August 15.

Twelve romance writers were honored for their work at the Romance Writers of America annual RITA Awards. Among the winners were Tracy Warren, who won Best First Book for The Husband Trap; Caridad Ferrer, who won Best Contemporary Single Title Romance for Adiós to My Old Life; and Julia Quinn, who won Best Long Contemporary Romance for On the Way to the Wedding.

Reference publisher Facts on File Inc. is reacquiring the assets of Facts on File News Service from Reader’s Digest Association. The acquisition of FOF News Service, which was acquired by WRC Media in 1996 (WRC has since been integrated into RDA), will, among other things, clear up confusion in the industry, said Mark McDonnell, president of Infobase Publishing (which owns FOF Inc.). He added that the purchase will allow his company to create a more “focused business.” Under the deal, RD will retain control of one FOF News Service product, Facts for Learning.

The day before the release of Tim Weiner’s CIA history, Legacy of Ashes, the CIA released a list of what it claims are “inaccuracies” in the book and charged that Weiner paints “far too dark a picture of the agency’s past.” The publisher, Doubleday, responded by pointing to “rave reviews” of the book by “leading journalists and historians that cover the CIA.”

HarperCollins has acquired world rights to a children’s book written by First Lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna. Currently untitled, the book, which is set in a school and follows a boy who learns to enjoy reading, was acquired by Kate Jackson, senior v-p of HC Children’s Books, from attorney Robert Barnett. The title is slated for a dual release, in English and Spanish, in spring 2008. A portion of HC’s proceeds will go to Teach for America and the New Teacher Project.

Minneapolis-based Cooper Square Publishing, the joint venture recently formed by Rowman & Littlefield and a private equity firm, has acquired the assets of T&N Children’s Publishing, which has some 200 titles. Under the T&N umbrella are the nonfiction-focused imprints Two-Can Publishing and Northword Books for Young Readers. Cooper Square will keep the names of both imprints, and will merge their operations into R&L. While T&N president Jimmy McGuire will not stay on under the deal, the fate of the rest of the company’s staff has not yet been determined. As part of the agreement, distribution for the T&N titles is being assumed by R&L’s sister company, National Book Network, effective immediately.