TODAY'S NEWS

Amazon Sales Jump, Though Media Growth Slower
By Jim Milliot
Amazon continued to roar along despite the recession, reporting an increase in total revenue of 18%, to $4.89 billion, in the first quarter ended March 31, and net income rose to $177 million from $143 million. Gains would have been higher if the impact of currency translations is excluded. Unfortunately for publishers, however, the gains were driven by the retailer’s electronics and other general merchandise segment in both North America and abroad, which had gains of 42% and 34%, respectively. Read on »

Small Press Stretches to Keep Up With 'Open Veins' Demand
By Rachel Deahl
Eduardo Galeano wasn't a name on many American lips until Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave one of his books to President Obama at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend. The book Chavez gifted, Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America, became the talk of the blogosphere, ultimately shooting the title from its onetime perch in the mid 50,000 range on Amazon's sales ranking to No. 2.

The plug is no doubt a welcome one for the book's small publisher, the lefty Monthly Review Press, but it hasn't come without its hiccups. Michael Yates, editorial director at the press (which is an off-shoot of the 1951-founded leftist non-profit magazine, The Monthly Review), declined to discuss numbers on the book--he refused to cite how many copies are in print--but said the small operation is dealing well with the demand. (Despite Yates's comments, the current wait for the book on Amazon is three to six weeks, indicating that the book is likely out of stock.) Read on »

Scholastic Web Game Show to Test Kids’ Knowledge
Think of it as test prep for summer reading lists. On April 30, Scholastic will host a live game show, to be webcast on the publisher’s Web site, in which four teams of New York City fifth-graders will test their book knowledge in a trivia competition. Kids and classrooms tuning into the webcast will be able to participate by responding to live web polls. The competition, to be held at the Scholastic Auditorium in the company’s NYC headquarters, will be hosted by the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jon Scieszka. Read on »

Comings and Goings
If you've been laid off or recently left your job and would like to pass along your contact information to others in the business, send details to pwletters@reedbusiness.com. Please include your full name and former title/company.

Mark McVeigh, formerly editorial director of Aladdin at Simon & Schuster, has opened his own literary agency, The McVeigh Agency. He is handling children's and adult authors, illustrators, graphic novelists, and photographers. He can be reached at markone@themcveighagency.com.

Lindsay A. Mizer, former education editor of children's books at School Specialty Publishing, can be reached at lindsaymizer@yahoo.com.

Kim Shurley, former national accounts manager at WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group and CBA sales director for Multnomah Publishers, can be reached at kshurley@bendbroadband.com.

You can find a full list of all those who have appeared in Comings and Goings here.

Monday's Reviews Today: McMahon's Latest & A Housing Bubble Victim
In Jennifer McMahon's "outstanding" new novel, Dismantled, the bestselling author follows a group of friends trying to put a dark secret from their past--while living together after college a prank leads to one friend's death--to rest. McMahon "allows the inexorable sense of dread to build incrementally" in this taut thriller. And, in a "timely and sobering" cautionary tale, New York Times reporter Edmund L. Andrews gives us Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown. Andrews, a financial journalist, offers a "critical examination of the housing crisis" which "turned personal when...he got caught up in the housing bubble after falling in love with a woman and a house." Read on »

Blogs

MORE STORIES

The PW Morning Report
Sara Nelson to Join Vook; Kindle Costs $185 to Build; The Internet Helps Economist Rediscover His Books; David Ulin on What He's Reading Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: The Soloist; Jack & Jill; A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University
Today, the movie The Soloist opens, starring Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr. and Catherine Keener. It’s based on Steve Lopez’s The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music (Berkley mti, 978-0425226001, $15; Blackstone Audiobooks unabridged CD, $19.95). Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Marathon Man and Woman
Bart Yasso and Kathrine Switzer were at the Runner’s World booth at the Boston Marathon Expo last Saturday signing copies of their books and meeting runners. Yasso was there promoting the paperback of My Life on the Run (Rodale) and Switzer was pushing the paperback of Marathon Woman (Da Capo).
Submit your pictures here

JOB OF THE DAY

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