NYLS Looks at Google Settlement
The New York Law School Law Review (NYLS.edu) has devoted a full online issue to analysis of the legal issues at work in the Google Book Search Settlement. The issue is based on the October 8–10 "D Is for Digitize" conference organized by NYLS prof James Grimmelmann.

Oprah Picks Dickens
Oprah Winfrey selected two works by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, for her next book club, confessing that she'd never read the 19th-century master novelist. For book club purposes, Penguin has produced a paperback edition containing both books.

Indies Team Up
Indie publisher OR Books and indie bookstore St. Mark's Bookshop are teaming to offer print and digital editions of select OR titles for sale through the St. Mark's Web site. OR does not sell through conventional channels, selling POD print and e-books direct through its Web site. This is OR's first distribution deal through a bookstore.

Espresso Goes Euro
On Demand Books, producer of Espresso Book Machine, an in-store POD printer and binder, installed its first machine in continental Europe at the American Book Center in Amsterdam. The machine should begin printing books in several languages by early 2011.

Ruckus App Lands 3-Book Deal
Rick Richter's digital-only venture, Ruckus Media, released its first original author-focused app, A Present for Milo, and the creator landed a three-book print deal. The creator, Mike Austin, inked a three-book deal with Blue Apple Books. Agent Rubin Pfeffer negotiated the deal and the first book is slated for fall 2011.

Godin Launches Amazon Imprint
Business author Seth Godin has launched the Domino Project, using the Powered by Amazon publishing program. The venture will release six titles, partnering with Amazon for global distribution; multiple-format production in print, audio, and digital; and for marketing reach. The books will be released early next year, and Godin will be the lead writer for the series, which he called Idea Manifestos. Amazon said the books will also be available through other retailers.

Crown Cookbooks Go Digital
Crown imprints Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press have released 88 full-color illustrated cookbooks in e-book format. The e-cookbooks are optimized for iPad and NookColor, and will appear in black and white on e-ink devices like the Kindle. The e-books are priced the same as their hardcover editions.

Obituary: Patricia B. Soliman Dies At 73
Patricia B. Soliman, who in 1981 became the second woman to be president and publisher at a publishing house, died December 5 in New York City. She was 73. Soliman became an editorial assistant at Harper & Row in 1962. Her career took her from manuscript reader at Coward McCann & Geoghegan in 1965 (later part of the Putnam/Berkley Group) to that company's president and publisher in 1981. She was associate publisher and v-p of S & S, and from 1988 to 1993 served as editor-at-large for Delacorte/Dell.

Over her career, Soliman worked with Thomas Keneally, Jackie Collins, James Patterson, Fr. Andrew Greeley, Carrie Fisher, and many others. Among the books she edited were Schindler's List, Hollywood Wives, and Postcards from the Edge. In 1991, Soliman wrote Coco the Novel (HarperCollins).