Publishers Weekly News

iMinds in Distribution Agreement with OverDrive
iMinds, which produces eight-minute downloadable audiobooks, has signed a worldwide distribution agreement with OverDrive. Since launching in September, iMinds has had 30 titles in the Top 100 AudioBook charts on iTunes. It has also doubled its catalog to 180 titles; and launched iMinds Juniors (five-minute tracks for children ages seven to 14) and six iPhone Apps.

Obituary: Jim Sutton
A memorial service for Jim Sutton will be held Saturday December, 5, at 2 p.m., Christ Lutheran Church, Baltimore. A beloved book marketing and sales consultant, Sutton died in Germany after collapsing at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Cameron + Company Founder Dies, Grandson-In-Law to Continue Business
The grandson in-law of aerial photographer Robert Cameron is committed to carrying on the legacy of the founder of the Above series.

Short Order: November 23
Food52's Piglet cookbook tournament pitted 16 cookbooks against each other, and Nora Ephron chose the winner... Also in this issue's installment of cookbook-related news, William Morrow Cookbooks celebrates Lulu Powers Food to Flowers in New York City, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt cancels the publication of Cookie Family Dinner Cookbook following the magazine's folding, and Lidia Bastianich stops by the Running Press offices to work on her new children's picture book.

Cooking the Books with Alison Fryer
Alison Fryer is managing partner of Toronto’s Cookbook Store, the only shop of its kind in the city of 2.5 million. She co-founded the 800-square-foot store in the city's Yorkville district with her business partner, Josh Josephson, 26 years ago. Fryer talks to PW about business, which is surprisingly good this year; the changes she’s observed in food culture over nearly three decades; and what books she’s excited about this fall.

Katie Workman Shares Thanksgiving Recipes from Cookstr
Last week’s PW featured a story on Cookstr, the online database of cookbook recipes that has just celebrated its one-year anniversary. The piece explained how Will Schwalbe and Katie Workman built a site that lets people access more than 4,000 recipes from 350 cookbooks—for free. Here, Workman shares recipes for more of her favorite Thanksgiving recipes from the site.

Cookbook Authors Address Reader Complaints
Cook from enough cookbooks, and you’ll have the experience of following a recipe and being disappointed in the results. If you’re a cookbook author, you don’t want to hear complaints from readers, but, as prolific author Rick Rodgers told PW, sometimes “bad recipes happen to good people.” How to handle reader complaints is up for debate, and one prominent cookbook author is taking a proactive approach to addressing criticism.

Comics Reviews: 11/23/09
Taiyo Matsumoto's follow-up to Tekkonkinkreet, Al Columbia's long awaited Pim and Francie and the latest from Vertigo Crime are reviewed this week, along with a new Kin Kull volume.

The PW Morning Report: Monday, November 23, 2009
A daily roundup of book and publishing news from across the Web: Amazon Asks Judge to Reverse Google Approval; McCain Enjoyed Palin’s Book; U.K. Publishers Praise New Digital Bill; ‘New Moon’ Opens Big;  King on Carver.

RWA, MWA and SFWA Angered by Harlequin's New Self-Publishing Imprint
Romance Writers of America and other writer associations yesterday spoke out against the announcement earlier this week that Author Solutions had teamed up with Harlequin to form Harlequin Horizons, a new imprint for self-published romance authors. RWA has deemed Harlequin no longer eligible for RWA-provided conference resources—meaning the publisher is not entitled to enter any award competitions.

Penguin Authors Share Holiday Recommendations
More than 40 Penguin authors are sharing book recommendations for holiday gift-giving as part of Penguin’s What to Give & What to Get campaign. The program, started last year, includes books from any imprint that are new, old, for children and adults.

Judge Gives Preliminary Approval to Google Deal, Sets Feb. 18 for Final Hearing
Judge Denny Chin has given his preliminary approval to the Google Book Search settlement agreement and set February 18 as the date for the final fairness hearing.

Borders Adds New Exec, Keeney, Norton Get New Roles
Borders has named Bill Dandy senior v-p for marketing and given new roles to Art Keeney and Larry Norton.

Book Category "Stabilized" at Books-A-Million, Though Sales Slip
Total revenue fell 0.6% at Books-A-Million in the third quarter and comp sales were off 1.9%. Still the company said the book business stabilized in the quarter and execs were optimistic about the holiday season.

The PW Morning Report: Friday, November 20, 2009
A daily roundup of book and publishing news from across the Web: Oprah to Go Off Air; Palin Sold 300,000; Canadian Publishers Scramble for Kindle; Google Hearing 3; More Apple Tablet Rumors

Fact and Fiction About H1N1
It's in the headlines everywhere, as schools across the country have recorded heavy student absences this fall, with children laid low with flu symptoms. H1N1. To help parents and educators answer questions and assuage children's fears about this virulent virus, Stone Arch Books, an imprint of Capstone Publishers, is currently offering free downloads of its January 2010 release, Finn Reeder, Flu Fighter, a middle-grade novel...

Moving On Up: Friends from the Front Lines
The children’s book world has seen powerful stories of hope and resilience during wartime before. Nubs now joins their ranks, as one of the most inspiring tales to emerge from the war in Iraq. The picture book photo-essay describes how an abandoned, abused Iraqi dog trekked more than 70 miles through rugged, wintry terrain to find the U.S. Marine who had shown him kindness. The resulting friendship is the kind of happy ending that would, er, make a great book....

Random Hopes ‘Fallen’ Will Soar
Delacorte has been stirring up interest in Lauren Kate's Fallen, which launches a four-book series about fallen angels and forbidden love. The author embarked on a six-city pre-pub tour at the end of October to promote the novel, due December 8 with a 100,000-copy first printing. The publisher will roll out the next phase of its marketing and publicity campaign on November 20, when a book trailer will open in 47 theaters...

Mathew Price Goes Multilingual
Dallas, Tex.-based Mathew Price, a children’s book publisher of pop-up and lift-the-flap books, is making a commitment to multiculturalism that goes beyond the color of a character's skin (or fur), by publishing its books in multiple languages. According to marketing consultant Janey Tannenbaum, almost every book on the fall MP list is available in both English and Spanish-language editions, using exactly the same heavy paper, covers and mechanics it has used in the past...

Red Balloon Celebrates 25th Year
The Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn. celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend with a birthday bash that included author signings, story times, and other fun activities that children of all ages enjoyed. And we're sure the adults accompanying their children also celebrated the 20% discount on everything in the store, because store co-manager Justine Stahlmann reported that the store did two to three times the amount of business as it usually does on weekends.