TODAY'S NEWS

Google Unveils Book Preview Tool
by Craig Morgan Teicher
Yesterday, Google announced a new feature tied to its Book Search program, a widget-like tool called Google Previews. By adding simple code to their Web sites, publishers, retailers or anyone with sufficient technical knowledge can embed a Google-hosted preview of up to 20% of any book that has been included in the Google Book Search database.

Several retailers, including Books-A-Million and Blackwell Bookshop Blackwell Bookshop, have already enabled the service, and Borders and Powell’s plan to implement it soon. Google has partnership agreements with these retailers stipulating that the retailers will enable Google Preview for all books in the Book Search Index; in exchange, Google provides a more heavyweight version of the Preview software, with update and support, than is available to general Web site developers, according to Tom Turvey, director of Google Book Search partnerships. Read on »

‘Brisingr’ Breaks Random House Children’s Record
By Diane Roback
Brisingr (Knopf), the long-awaited third volume in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance cycle, arrived last Friday night, September 20, at midnight. In a record for Random House Children's Books, the book sold 550,000 copies in its first day.

Random had printed 2.5 million copies of Brisingr, the largest-ever first printing for the division. First-day sales for the title were four times that of Eldest, second in the cycle, which pubbed in August 2005. RHCB president Chip Gibson said the numbers for Brisingr "far surpassed our projections." More than 2,500 bookstores held midnight parties. Read on »

Zune Now Compatible with Audible and OverDrive
As Microsoft works to increase the market share for its line of Zune media players in the iPod-dominated market, two leading distributors of digital book content, the Amazon subsidiary Audible and the Ohio-based OverDrive, have announced audiobook compatibility with the device. Microsoft’s September 15 firmware update for the Zune media players enabled compatibility with both companies’ audio files. Audible is a major retailer of audiobooks via Internet download. OverDrive provides digital book content, including e-books and audio books, to libraries and retailers; OverDrive is the first library audio book platform to support the Zune player.

New Digital Reading Devices from iRex
By Calvin Reid
Not quite ready to cede the market for digital reading hardware to the Amazon Kindle, iRex Technologies, the Dutch firm that developed the iLiad wireless digital reading device, announced the introduction of the Digital Reader Series, a new line of three professional level digital reading devices with bigger screens, touch screen functionality, super-thin design and, for the top model, enhanced Wi-Fi capabilities. Earlier this year iRex introduced the iLiad Book Edition, a lower-priced and simplified version of its standard iLiad Reader that does not offer wireless connectivity. Read on »

Capstone Buys Heinemann-Raintree Reference
Minneapolis-based Capstone Publishers has strengthened its presence in the school and library market through its acquisition of the Heinemann-Raintree library reference group from Pearson. The deal involves more than 6,000 titles aimed at the pre-K to secondary school market. The purchase expands Capstone’s international reach; Heinemann-Raintree has offices in Oxford, England in addition to its Chicago location. Tom Ahern, CEO of Capstone, said the company will continue in its policy of "letting our imprints operate with autonomy."

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On Sale Next Week: Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond
By Charlotte Abbott and John A. Sellers
The seventh title in the bestselling If You Give a... picture book series by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond arrives this week from HarperCollins, with a million-copy first printing. Read on »

Job Moves
Molly Barton, Penguin publishing manager, will assume the additional newly created role of associate publisher of eSpecials for Penguin Group, effective immediately. Penguin launched its first eSpecial, a standalone electronic Epilogue to the Penguin paperback edition of The Age of Turbulence earlier this month, and the service is being extended to writers across all of its imprints. Barton will also continues to edit fiction and narrative nonfiction for Penguin.

Michelle Blankenship, former publicity director of Harcourt and most recently head of publicity for Harlequin’s new nonfiction imprint, will head to Bloomsbury October 13 where she will be the new associate director of publicity for Bloomsbury, Walker and Company, and Bloomsbury Press.

The PW Morning Report
By Dermot McEvoy
Jackie O, the Editor; Moby Dick Remake; A Liz Smith Rave for Diahann Carroll’s Memoir; Puttar-Potter Case Dismissed; Do Cry for Me, Condoleezza; Google Book Search Expands; and Amazon to Deliver Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Robert Wagner; T.D. Jakes; Tim and Tom
Authors on today’s Good Morning America: Actor Robert Wagner served up Pieces of My Heart: A Life (HarperEntertainment, $25.95; HarperAudio abridged CD, $29.95), which pubs today. He also appeared on The View. Also on the show, Bill O'Reilly, whose memoir A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (Broadway Books, $26; RH Audio abridged CD, $31.95) also pubs today. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Clinton and Company
President Bill Clinton watches as children from the Scholastic Kids Press Corps from Rwanda and the U.S. sign the Clinton Global Initiative Commitment, empowering kids worldwide to save endangered mountain gorillas in Africa. Also in attendance were the creators of Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own (Scholastic, Oct.), who presented Clinton with the first copy of their book.
Photo: Getty Images.

JOB OF THE DAY

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