RH Buys Smashing Ideas
Bertelsmann has acquired the digital media agency Smashing Ideas and will put the company under Random House’s digital group headed by Nina von Moltke. Smashing Ideas first teamed with RH to develop two children’s book apps, Wild About Books and Pat the Bunny. More apps are in the pipeline for Little Golden Books titles, and a spokesperson said Smashing Ideas “will be encouraged to collaborate with other divisions.” In addition to creating apps, Smashing will provide RH authors with different digital creative and promotional options. The agency was founded 15 years ago and will remain in Seattle under president Stephen Jackson.

Nolo Acquired By Media Company
Nolo Inc., parent company of Nolo Press, located in Berkeley, Calif., has been acquired by Internet Brands, a new media company that operates online media, community, and e-commerce Web sites in vertical markets. The purchase price was $21 million. Internet Brands will keep Nolo in Berkeley and is planning to move the small legal Web sites it has there. Nolo’s operations will be combined with those of ExpertHub (www.experthub.com)—Internet Brands’ existing division that links professionals, including lawyers, with clients and partners—as domains including Nolo.com, LawFirms.com, and CriminalDefenseLawyer.com. In addition to its digital products, Nolo will continue to publish books.

Sales Down at HC; Macdonald Appointed
HarperCollins had lower book sales in the third quarter ended March 31, according to parent company News Corp.’s 10-Q filing with the SEC. In a statement issued by HC, the company said e-book sales in the quarter accounted for 19% of sales in the U.S. and 11% worldwide.

Elsewhere at HC, the company has removed the interim tag from Scott Macdonald, appointing him president and CEO of Zondervan. Macdonald was appointed interim president of Zondervan in March following the departure of Moe Girkins.

Amazon Pulls Some Yaoi Manga
Amazon has removed several yaoi manga from its Kindle Store and refused to allow others to be offered for Kindle, although the bookseller continues to sell the same manga in print and to offer more explicit erotic books in both formats. Yaoi manga, also known as boys’ love, is a popular niche genre in manga that features love stories between two males and can range from softly romantic to sexually explicit. Affected titles come from Digital Manga Publishing and Yaoi Press.

Freese to Head Recorded Books
Rich Freese has been named president and CEO of Recorded Books. Freese, who replaces Scott Williams, was most recently president of NBN and has more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He is expected to help Recorded Books expand its digital distribution of spoken-word audio.

B&N Prepares New Device
Barnes & Noble filed notice with the Securities & Exchange Commission last week that it will announce a new e-reader on May 24. B&N mentioned the new device in a meeting with analysts and filed the disclosure notice to avoid insider trader problems. B&N’s stock was up 21% the two days after B&N made the announcement.

Pearl to Write ‘PW’ Column
Award-winning librarian, author, and NPR commentator Nancy Pearl will begin writing a monthly library-themed column for Publishers Weekly called “Check It Out with Nancy Pearl” later this month. The first column will run in the May 30 issue of PW, which is the magazine’s pre-ALA issue, as well as online at www.publishers-weekly.com. PW readers are to be an essential part of “Check It Out.” Each month Pearl will respond to selected questions, comments, ideas, and observations from librarians, publishers, authors, library patrons, and general readers as well as other stakeholders, including vendors. Topics will be freewheeling—from books and e-books, authors, services, literacy, children’s and teen issues to matters of funding and management—and can range from the technical to the more philosophical.

PW is now actively soliciting questions and comments for the “Check It Out with Nancy Pearl” column; ideas may be sent via e-mail to checkitout@publishersweekly.com or by regular mail to “Check It Out with Nancy Pearl,” Publishers Weekly, 71 W. 23rd St., Suite 1608, New York, N.Y. 10010.