The PW Morning Report: Tuesday, June 16, 2009

By Craig Morgan Teicher -- Publishers Weekly, 6/16/2009 6:13:00 AM

A daily roundup of book and publishing news: Bloomsbury Denies Potter Claims; Bezos Says Google Deal Needs Revisiting; University Presses Threatened; ‘Catcher’ Author Defends Book; Copycat Titles Sell Books.

Bloomsbury Denies Potter Plagiarism Claim
Bloomsbury says the claims made yesterday by the estate of children’s author Adrian Jacobs that J.K. Rowling copied elements of one of Jacobs’s books are “without merit.”

Bezos Says Google Settlement Needs Revisiting
The Amazon CEO told Wired and the Wall Street Journal that the Google settlement needs another look: “It doesn’t seem right,” he said.

University Presses Threatened By Budget Cuts
Important university presses like LSU are being threatened by their parent universities, looking for places to cut the budget.

‘Catcher’ Sequel Author Defends Book
The author writing as J.D. California (who was also revealed to be the book’s publisher) filed papers in Manhattan asking for his book to be allowed to be published in the U.S., despite Salinger’s claim that it’s “a ripoff."

Copycat Titles Sell Books
Adaptations of titles of bestsellers like Freakonomics and Prozac Nation can lead to instant recognition for a new book.

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