TODAY'S NEWS

No Slump at Amazon
by Jim Milliot
The economic slump has not slowed down Amazon’s growth as the e-tailer reported the total revenue jumped 41% in the second quarter ended June 30, to $4.06 billion. Total media group sales rose 31%, to $2.41 billion, while North America media revenue had comparatively modest gains of 24%, to $1.15 billion. Net income, which includes a $53 million gain from the sale of Amazon’s European DVD rental business, rose 102%, to $158 million. Read on »

With Continuities Behind It, Scholastic Plans for Better Days
by Jim Milliot
Scholastic’s decision to exit the continuities business resulted in a net loss of $22.4 million for the fiscal year ended May 31, but the company said the move to get out of the money-losing segment would mean a more profitable company in the years ahead. Total sales in the year, excluding continuities, rose to $2.20 billion from $1.92 billion in fiscal 2007 when the publisher had earnings of $60.9 million. Scholastic took a $102 million writedown to account for getting out of the continuities field, and recorded a total loss from discontinued operations of $133 million. In addition to selling its direct-to-home business, which Scholastic hopes to complete this quarter, the company announced that it closed its school-based continuities division May 31. The home division lost $24.1 million last year, while the school unit lost $6.1 million. Read on »

Sony Adopts EPUB Standard for Reader
By Jim Milliot
The International Digital Publishing Forum's epub e-book standard received a big vote of support this morning when Sony announced that effective immediately its Sony Reader will now support the standard. Beginning in August, all new devices shipped will use epub, and right now owners of existing devices can go to esupport.sony.com to update their device's software for epub support. Read on »

Let The Madness Begin: Comic-Con Preview Night 2008
by Douglas Wolk and Calvin Reid
It used to be that Comic-Con International's Preview Night was a way for con-goers to have a leisurely few hours on the show floor before the crowds arrived, pick up an interesting book or two, and maybe get a sense of what the buzz was. This year, the hordes charged the gate. With the show completely sold out weeks before it began, the mood on the floor was full-on raging madness from the jump, with piranha-like feeding frenzies for promotional goodies like Wonder Woman tote bags.

If there was one word on everyone's lips, though, it was Watchmen—the movie doesn't even open until next March, but the huge recreation of the Owlship (a futuristic flying machine from the book/movie) on the show floor was a prime attraction. DC Comics' booth was the usual mob scene, and publicity director David Hyde said there was much more media around for Preview Night than usual, and many more advance requests to do specific coverage during Preview Night. The Marvel booth, likewise, was packed; the publisher's going beyond the usual signings-and-handouts plan to feature a steady stream of programming in the booth itself. Read on »

Riverhead to Release A Thousand Splendid Suns in Paper
by Lynn Andriani
Riverhead will publish A Thousand Splendid Suns, the second novel by Khaled Hosseini, in November. The book, which Riverhead published in hardcover in May 2007, was the bestselling adult hardcover novel of 2007. Riverhead has shipped more than 2.3 million copies of the hardcover.

The $16 trade paperback will pub November 25; no print run announced yet.

Penguin China Launches Ambitious Writing Contest
By Rachel Deahl
Penguin's three-year-old outpost in China has established a new literary prize which it's dubbed “The Next – A Search for the New Face of Chinese Literature." Run in coordination with Changjiang Art & Literature Publishing House, the YA journal Top Novel and the Web sites Qidan.com and Sina.com, "The Next" offers an attractive haul for the potential winner: a prize of $146,000 in addition to a publishing contract, an advance and the payment of any outstanding educational debts. Read on »

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AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Cubicle Warfare; City of Disorder; The Dominant Animal
This morning on The Early Show, former toy designer John Austin demonstrated Cubicle Warfare: 101 Office Traps and Pranks (Collins Living, $14.95). After the jump: a sociologist, a scientist, and David Letterman talks terrorism. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Maximum Manga
Yen Press's Kurt Hassler and Ju-Youn Lee show-off copies of Yen Plus, the Hachette graphic novel imprint's 460-page monthly anthology, during Preview Night at the San Diego Comic-con. The mag will feature the first color pages from the forthcoming manga adaptation of James Patterson's bestseller, Maximum Ride. Like Japanese publishers, Yen Press will use the giant anthology to introduce new series to readers. Submit your pictures here »

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