TODAY'S NEWS

Salinger Wins as Judge Blocks Publication of 60 Years Later
By Andrew Albanese
Finding that author J.D. Salinger is “likely to succeed on the merits of its copyright case," a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction late on Wednesday afternoon, barring the publication of what Salinger’s attorneys called an unauthorized sequel to The Catcher in the Rye. In her decision, Judge Deborah Batts ruled that Fredrik Colting’s 60 Years Later would harm the market for “sequels and other derivative works” from Salinger and barred publication of Colting's book in the United States. Colting told PW he was “pretty shocked” by the ruling and vowed to appeal. Despite the ruling, the book will be on sale in Europe, Colting added, sometime next week. Read on »

Hachette Backs Use of Text-To-Speech
By Jim Milliot
The Hachette Book Group Thursday morning issued a statement outlining its position on the text-to-speech question. Text-to-speech arose as an issue earlier this year when Amazon’s Kindle 2 added the capability; the Authors Guild challenged TTS, saying Amazon was taking an unauthorized audio right. Groups representing the visually impaired then charged that the Authors Guild was being insensitive to its needs. Amazon, after first saying it had no plans to kill the function, changed its position and said it would do whatever the rightsholders wanted. Read on »

New CPSC Head Promises To Make CPSIA a Priority
By Karen Raugust
Last Friday's Senate confirmation of Inez Tenenbaum as the new head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has given many in the publishing industry hope that some of the issues surrounding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act may finally be resolved.

Little is known about Tenenbaum’s thoughts on the CPSIA as it applies specifically to the publishing industry and libraries. But in her prepared remarks before the U.S. Senate’s Commerce Committee on June 16, Tenenbaum, former superintendent of education in South Carolina, noted that the implementation of the Act will be her highest priority. During questioning, she emphasized the need for common sense and cooperation among the CPSC, the Commerce Committee, children’s product industries, and consumer groups. Tenenbaum also said she was aware of the concerns of small businesses and other constituencies, but that it was too soon to take a position on whether the Act needs to be changed. Read on »

Scholastic Reconfigures Book Fairs
By Judith Rosen
Last month Scholastic’s Book Fairs division reduced the number of distribution regions from 14 to 7 as part of a reconfiguration that had been planned some time ago, according to company spokesperson Kyle Good. In addition, Scholastic closed seven distribution centers and laid off about 100 book fair employees. “The strategy was designed to improve efficieny and centralize functions in fewer locations,” said Good. The company will hold more than 120,000 book fairs in the 2009-10 school year.

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Weisbach Staffs Up New Agency
Rob Weisbach has added three employees to his recently launched agency, Rob Weisbach Creative Management. Erin L. Cox, David Groff, and Jake Bauman have joined the fold of Weisbach's firm. Cox, who comes on board as a publicist, arrives from The New Yorker, where she was book publishing director; she's also worked in publicity at Simon & Schuster (at Scribner) and at HarperCollins. Groff, who's worked as an editor at Crown and has handled, among others, Dave Barry and Colin Harrison, will be bringing in nonfiction projects as an agent. Groff will also continue to work on his own outside projects and authors. Bauman will also be repping authors, as well as screen and TV writers; Bauman was most recently director of development at The Weinstein Company.

Judy Taylor to Retire from Curbstone Press
Curbstone Press cofounder Judy Doyle announced that she will formally retire from the publishing house that she and her late husband, Alexander (Sandy) Taylor, founded in the basement of their home in Willimantic, Conn., in 1975. Doyle had been on a leave of absence for the past seven months, while the board continued to oversee the day-to-day operations with staffers Bob Smith and Jantje Tielken. Read on »

The PW Morning Report
Frey’s YA Series to HC; The Translation Database; Palin Memoir to Be Published in ‘Regular’ and ‘Christian’; Baseball Books Read on »

More Fall 2009 Announcements Online
Last week's PW print edition, the Fall Announcements Issue (June 29), contains our Hardcover listings for titles published between September 2009 and February 2010. For our online Trade Paperback listings (in four parts) click here; for Mass Market listings, click here.

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: The Game On! Diet; Satchel; American Passage
Today on Good Morning America: Grey's Anatomy executive producer Krista Vernoff and Body-for-Life million-dollar champion Az Ferguson, authors of The Game On! Diet: Kick Your Friend's Butt While Shrinking Your Own (Harper, 978-0061718892, $14.99) which is just out this week. Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Finding 'Joy' In Illinois
James Ballowe, author of A Man of Salt and Trees: The Life of Joy Morton (Northern Illinois University Press), is pictured here signing copies of his books on June 28 at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Ill. Submit your pictures here»

JOB OF THE DAY

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