TODAY'S NEWS

RD Revamps Books Are Fun, Cuts 46
by Jim Milliot & Claire Kirch
Reader’s Digest has reorganized its Books Are Fun subsidiary, a process that moved more of its buying and product sourcing to the parent company and also resulted in the elimination of 46 out of the company’s 140 positions. Over the past several years, BAF has struggled to improve its profitability and the restructuring is key to turning around the fortunes of the country’s largest display marketer, said a RD company spokesperson. The jobs eliminated ranged from customer service to v-ps of certain divisions. As part of the reorganization, Barb Wing has been promoted to v-p of sales and all sales operations have been consolidated under her. The five regional managers in the corporate fair division and the five regional managers in the school display division now report to Wing as does Mark Hess, head of BAF’s business display and daycare lines. Read on »

Authors, Publishers, Google Embrace Settlement
by Jim Milliot
Calling the proposed settlement “breathtaking,” “trailblazing” and “audacious,” representatives from the Authors Guild, Association of American Publishers and Google said the end of three years of litigation between the parties will usher in a new period for publishers, authors and Google to generate new revenue streams from books that become part of Google’s search engine. Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken noted that while Google and authors still have major disagreements over the notion of copyright, it was important to put those concerns aside to forge an agreement that will provide authors with the two things they want most--their books to be read and a good royalty check. Richard Sarnoff of the AAP and Bertelsmann said that by reaching a settlement Google and publishers and authors can do more together to build a business than anything that would have been accomplished by a court ruling. Read on »

The Big Book of ‘New York Times’ Front Pages
By Calvin Reid
Ask J.P. Leventhal, publisher of Black Dog & Leventhal, about the future of the book and he’ll cite the house’s latest effort, The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages 1851-2008, coming in November. It’s BD&L’s latest hybrid work combining DVD and database technology and online access to supplement and enrich a mammoth print reference project. “Will the physical book survive? We think this kind of book is key,” Leventhal said. The house is launching the book with a 75,000 copy first printing. Read on »

Thomas Nelson Starts Reader Review Program
By Rachel Deahl
Thomas Nelson is putting out a call for reviewers. The publisher has launched a program called Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers, allowing readers to register at a Web site in order to receive a free copy of a select book for review purposes. At the site, brb.thomasnelson.com, which is now live, there are currently nine books available for review. For its part, Nelson requires potential reviewers to write 200-word reviews and post them both on its blogger site and on Amazon.com. Read on »

The PW Morning Report
By Dermot McEvoy
A Tale of Two Publishing Houses; Seinfeld Food Fight Continues; Adios, Anti-Bush Books; Credit Crisis Good for Books; Ex-MI5 Chief Turns to Fiction; and Es’kia Mphahlele, South African Writer, Dead at 88 Read on »

Blogs

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Guy Fieri; Dry Storeroom No. 1; Steaks and Milk
On today’s Good Morning America, Food Network star Guy Fieri served up Drive-ins and Dives: An All-American Road Trip... with Recipes! (William Morrow Cookbooks, 9780061724886, $19.95). After the jump: Marlo Thomas, Jacques Pépin, sportscaster Rich Eisen and others. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Where’s Scieszka?
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jon Scieszka, recently finished a national tour for his latest book, Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka (Viking, Oct.), about his experiences growing up in Flint, Mich., with five brothers. Here, kids at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Ariz., show off Scieszka masks that Penguin created for the tour. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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