TODAY'S NEWS

Episcopal Publisher Halts Trade Acquisitions
By Marcia Z. Nelson
Church Publishing, the publishing arm of the U.S. Episcopal Church, says it is “suspending” acquisitions of new trade books because of the current market decline in general trade publishing. CPI will scale back activity at its trade imprint Seabury Books and implement a 30% staff reduction. Spokesperson Nancy Fisher had no details on the reductions. She also said that books currently under contract would be produced, and that backlist titles would continue to be supported and promoted; more books had been made available for Amazon’s Kindle reader. Read on »

First Quarter Loss at Bertelsmann
In a brief update on results for the first quarter, Bertelsmann reported that total revenue fell 7%, to 3.56 billion euros and the company had a net loss of 78 million euros compared to earnings of 77 million euros in last year’s first quarter. No mention was made of Random House’s performance, with the company blaming the weak results on a drop in advertising and “consumer reluctance,” which offset improvements in Bertelsmann’s service businesses that are benefiting from growing demand for outsourcing. Read on »

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Rosen Publishing Team to Form New Publishing Initiative
By Jim Milliot
Encyclopaedia Britannica has teamed with the newly formed Rosen Educational Services to launch Britannica Educational Publishing. The new initiative will develop and distribute curriculum-correlated material as well as individual titles and e-books for the K-12 school and library market. The first list of 80 titles is scheduled to be released in 2010 for grades 7-12 in the areas of science, social studies, history and current events. BEP expects to publish 100 titles in 2011, and Rosen Publishing Group president Roger Rosen said at some point BEP would move into the middle grades. Print and digital titles will be released simultaneously. Read on »

Open Book Premieres on LinkTV
By Lynn Andriani
A new TV show for books premieres this week, featuring a different literary locale in each episode. Open Book, a half-hour-long national TV and multimedia program, will begin airing May 13 on nonprofit network LinkTV. The show was created by book publicist and editor Ina Howard-Parker, who will also host it; it will be directed by documentary and commercial filmmaker Diane Paragas. Each episode of the weekly program will focus on a different place, be shot on location and feature interviews with local writers and artists. Read on »

Simon & Schuster Prepares for Last Book in Pendragon Series
By Lynn Andriani
Simon & Schuster's children's division is gearing up for a multi-platform publicity and marketing campaign to coincide with the release of the 10th and final book in D.J. MacHale’s bestselling Pendragon series, The Soldiers of Halla, which goes on sale today. Read on »

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MORE STORIES

The PW Morning Report
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Credit Rating Withdrawn; CSI Creator’s Novel Co-Authored; Former New Yorker Staffer on Getting Fired; Internet Book Piracy. Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: James Van Praagh; Boy Alone; Seeds of Terror
This morning, The Early Show consulted medium and bestseller James Van Praagh, whose Unfinished Business: What the Dead Can Teach Us About Life (HarperOne, 978-0061778148, $24.99) pubs today. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Going Into OverDrive in the Bay Area
On May 8 at the San Francisco Public Library OverDrive held its 100th Digital Bookmobile event. Over the course of two days, some 400 people came out to experience the new audiobook, eBook, music and video download service from San Francisco Public Library.
Submit your pictures here

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