TODAY'S NEWS

Hachette Publishing North American Revenue Hits $500 Million
Revenue in Hachette's publishing operations in the U.S. and Canada was close to $500 million last year, representing 18% of total group sales of €2.13 billion ($2.77 billion), parent company Lagardere reported yesterday. The North American contribution, which includes a full-year’s results from the former Time Warner Trade Group, was 16% in 2006, with revenue of about $408 million. Lagardere said it has not seen evidence of a consumer spending slowdown yet, although it acknowledged a recession is possible later in the year.

Small House Protests Vanity Label by RWA
By Claire Kirch
Tsaba House Press, a Christian publisher of fiction and nonfiction titles, is considering taking legal action against the Romance Writers of America for refusing to consider one of the small California press's authors for a Rita Award, which honors inspirational romances. According to Pam Schwagerl, Tsaba House publisher, Molly Noble Bull was barred from submitting her latest release, Sanctuary, for a Rita Award, because Tsaba House is not an "RWA approved" publisher. RWA subsequently told Schwagerl that the organization considers Tsaba House to be a subsidy or vanity press, because its boilerplate contract contains such clauses as charging authors if manuscripts have to be retyped or if the press considers it necessary to add frontmatter and backmatter to the manuscript that the author didn't provide. Read on »

Enhanced e-Book Classics Newest Penguin Digital Effort
by Jim Milliot
Penguin is committed to trying different things in the digital space and things that work will be continued and those that don't will be stopped, company chairman John Makinson told journalists at a luncheon in New York Wednesday. In that spirit, Penguin USA will launch a line of enhanced e-book classics this May, beginning with Pride and Prejudice. The new e-books, which will be compatible with all e-book devices, will feature an array of features, including a filmography, period book reviews, recipes and black-and-white illustrations. Price will be the same as the print edition, $8. Nine other Penguin classics will be released in the enhanced format in the fall. Makinson said the classics are a "great place to start" to test the possibilities of the electronic format. Read on »

Bookseller Realizes She's No Bartender, Closes Shop
By Edward Nawotka
A Thirsty Mind bookstore/wine bar in Lakeway, Texas -- an affluent suburb of Austin -- is closing March 28. The store was opened in November 2004, and co-owner Pam Headrick said that while Thirsty Mind broke even each month, it would've taken another year for the store to become profitable. "With the economy as bad as it is, we just didn't have the luxury to put more money into the business," she said. Read on »

Bezos to Speak at BEA
Jeff Bezos will be taking questions from Chris Anderson at the forthcoming BookExpo America in Los Angeles. The Amazon CEO and founder, who made his last BEA appearance in 2000, will be interviewed by Anderson (author of The Long Tail and editor-in-chief of Wired) as part of the show's longrunning Upfront & Unscripted interview series.

The Bezos interview is slated for Friday, May 30 at 3 pm in room 403AB and, as BEA v-p and show manager Lance Fensterman explained, will touch on "the progress of the Kindle and Amazon's growing digital books business."

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Random Opens in Abu Dhabi
With the Abu Dhabi Book Fair taking place this week, Verlagsgruppe Random House, the German trade book publishing division of Random House, announced plans to open a small office in Abu Dhabi. A spokesperson said the office's goal will be "to explore further business opportunities in the Middle East, where Random House has been selling English-language titles for many years."

Job Moves
Adam Bellow has been named v-p and executive editor at Collins, effective April 1. Bellow arrives from Doubleday and, before that, was at Free Press. He's known for political books and has worked with such authors as Jonah Goldberg, Dinesh D’Souza and Norman Podhoretz. Doubleday also published his book, In Praise of Nepotism, in 2003.

Elizabeth Fabian has rejoined Random House, coming back on as senior manager of advertising and promotions at RHPG. Fabian worked in Random's library marketing department from 2001-2004; she was most recently a senior marketing manager at Harcourt. Read on »

The PW Morning Report: A daily round-up of the latest publishing news
PEN/Faulkner Award; Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award; Two Films for Harry; Brits Love Archer; Borders About-Face; Hachette Soars; Pride and Prejudice Ebook; Rachael Ray Kaput?; and Lots of Movie News Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Dirt on My Shirt; Windy City; A Crime So Monstrous
This morning, comedian Jeff Foxworthy visited The View with Dirt on My Shirt (HarperCollins, $16.99), a collection of funny poems for kids. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Sunee in the South
Debut author, and Cottage Living food editor, Kim Sunée was at Foster's Market in Chapel Hill, NC, yesterday, promoting her new memoir, Trail of Crumbs (Grand Central Publishing). Pictured (l. to r.) are: Nancy Olson, of Quail Ridge Books; Sara Foster, of Foster's Market; Bill Smith, of Crook's Corner; and Kim. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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