TODAY'S NEWS

New Abe Shipping Fees Anger Booksellers
by Jim Milliot
The decision by AbeBooks to place an 8% charge on seller shipping expenses has caused outrage among many of the online retailer’s booksellers, who called the move shortsighted and one that discriminates against international booksellers. Hannes Blum, Abe CEO, said that in order to cover rising costs and compete in a marketplace that includes Amazon and Alibris, Abe needed to find a way to boost revenue. The benefit of instituting a charge on shipping fees is that it has the dual effect of raising revenue while discouraging gouging on shipping costs by booksellers who sell books for (literally) pennies and make their profit on shipping charges. Read on »

Amazon Sues New York
They said they would and they did. Amazon has filed suit in New York challenging the constitutionality of the state’s newly signed measure requiring out-of-state online retailers to collect sales tax on purchases made by residents of the state. The company maintains that because it has no physical presence in the state it has no nexus requiring it to collect tax. The New York statute says that members of Amazon’s affiliates program does in fact provide nexus. News of the suit first appeared in this morning’s Shelf Awareness.

Results Off at Harlequin, Sees Modest 2008 Growth
Sales fell 11.8% at Harlequin in the first period, to C$110 million (also about $110 million since the Canadian and American dollar are trading currently close to even), and operating profit dropped 15.2%, to C$16.2 million in the first quarter ended March 31. Revenue in North America was down in the retail segment, which the company attributed in part to a strong publication schedule in the first quarter of 2007, while sales in the direct-to-consumer segment fell as higher sales through the Internet and digital sales did not completely offset lower sales through traditional direct marketing channels.

Parent company Torstar said it continues to expect “modest growth” for Harlequin for the year “unless there is a major economic slowdown in the U.S. retail environment.” While the slowing economy did not hurt Harlequin’s results in the first quarter, “if the U.S. economy softens further it could have a negative impact on the remainder of the year,” Torstar said.

Scholastic to Publish Books Based on BBC Series Planet Earth
By Lynn Andriani
Scholastic announced today that it will create a children’s book line from the BBC program Planet Earth. The company holds U.S. and Canadian English and French rights for the Planet Earth children’s books program and will publish and distribute the titles through its trade, school book club and school book fair channels. The books will be printed on 30% post-consumer waste recycled paper. The agreement was brokered by the Joester Loria Group, BBC Worldwide’s North American licensing agent for Planet Earth.

The program will launch in September with the full-color, 48-page Planet Earth Scrapbook and Planet Earth Reader. The program will continue with three January 2009 publications (a second reader, a board book and scrapbook), followed in April 2009 by a full-color 98-page Guide to the Planet timed to coincide with Earth Day. The program will include paperbacks, board books, phonics books, novelty books and scrapbooks. It will target preschoolers, middle-grade students and teens. High-quality 30% post-consumer waste recycled paper will be used for all titles.

Planet Earth begain airing on the Discovery Channel in the U.S. in March 2007 and is now available on DVD.

Penguin Group Signs License for Star Wars: The Clone Wars
By Karen Raugust
The Penguin Group has acquired a global license to publish books based on Lucasfilm’s new 3D-animated film and television franchise, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The program will extend across several imprints within Penguin Young Readers Group, DK Publishing and Penguin in the U.K. While DK is a longtime Star Wars licensee, this is the first time Penguin Young Readers Group has been associated with the property.

“The animation is so amazing,” says Debra Dorfman, president and publisher of Grosset & Dunlap and Price Stern Sloan. “It’s George Lucas’s baby and he’s working directly on it, so we knew it would be spectacular. And it spans all the age ranges, young to old.” Read on »

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Job Moves
Doug Grad is branching out on his own, leaving HarperCollins to start his own literary agency. Grad, who jumped from ReganBooks to become senior editor in Lisa Sharkey's Creative Development Group, published such books as Brutal and the illustrated children's title, The Boy of Steel. Grad has over 20 years of experience working on the editorial side of the business, having worked at Pocket, Ballantine and NAL.

And, in other agency-launching news, Zoë Pagnamenta is leaving Peters, Fraser & Dunlop New York to form the Zoë Pagnamenta Agency, LLC. Pagnamenta, who is leaving PFD next week, will be handling fiction and nonfiction at her new shop, which will open on Bond Street in Manhattan. Pagnamenta was running PFD's New York office since it opened in 2003 and, before PFD, she was at the Wylie Agency. Her clients include, among others, Louis Masur, Alice Mattison, Ben Ratliff and Liesl Schillinger.

At Portfolio both Adrian Zackheim and Will Weisser have been promoted. Zackheim, who launched Portfolio in 2001, has been named president and publisher of Portfolio and Sentinel; Weisser has been named v-p and remains associate publisher of Portfolio and Sentinel.

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Sidney Poitier; Bear Grylls; James Kunstler
Revered actor Sidney Poitier was on this morning's Good Morning America, talking about his third memoir, Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter (HarperOne, $25.95; HarperAudio abridged CD, $34.95). Tomorrow, the 81-year-old Oscar winner will appear on Larry King Live. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Patterson Go Lightly
On Tuesday crowds came out to celebrate the release of James Patterson’s new one, Sundays at Tiffany (Little, Brown). The party marked the first launch event held at the famed jewelry company’s flagship store, on 57th and 5th, since Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s was feted there in 1968. Patterson is pictured here next to a Tiffany display showcasing copies of the new book. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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