Harper Legal Fees Drag Down Earnings

Excluding legal fees associated with the lawsuits around the agency e-book pricing model, HarperCollins earnings were up for both the quarter and the fiscal year ended June 30. Parent company News Corp. noted that the HC costs included both litigation and settlement charges. Harper “saw solid performance across all divisions,” and e-book sales were approximately 14% of worldwide sales in fiscal 2012.

Nelson Pulls Jefferson Book

Thomas Nelson is recalling all copies of David Barton’s The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson after a number of factual inaccuracies and historical misinterpretations were brought to its attention. Nelson said, “We learned that there were some historical details included in the book that were not adequately supported.” The publisher has recalled copies of the book in retail stores, asked online retailers to stop selling it, and suspended printing and distribution. Jefferson Lies has sold more than 20,000 copies.

Indigo Cuts First Qtr. Loss

Revenue at Canada’s Indigo Books & Music fell 0.8% in the first quarter ended June 30, to C$186.5 million, but the chain’s net loss was cut to C$5.5 million from C$12 million during the same period last year. Improvement in margins and lower costs were cited as the biggest factors in lowering the loss. Improvement was also credited to the elimination of losses from e-reading unit Kobo, which was sold to Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten in January 2012.

Ingram Color POD Now Cheaper

Ingram Content Group has announced a new color pricing model for POD technology that has reduced costs by roughly two-thirds, making color POD an economical publishing option for the first time. Advancements in inkjet technology are credited for the price drop.

DoJ Asks Court To Approve E-Book Settlement

The Department of Justice filed a motion with Judge Denise Cote Aug. 3 asking her to approve the final judgment that the government reached with Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins in its lawsuit charging the publishers with colluding with Apple to fix e-book prices. The motion details what actions the DoJ expects the publishers to take and a schedule for when those actions need to be implemented.

Court Accepts ABA/B&N Brief

Judge Denise Cote has granted the ABA and Barnes & Noble’s joint motion to file a friend of the court brief as part of the hearing to approve the final settlement between the Department of Justice and Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins. In granting the motion, Judge Cote determined that the two organization’s motion would serve as the amicus brief and that no new submissions would be permitted.

Kno, HMH Ink E-textbook Deal

Educational software developer Kno is moving into the k-12 school market after announcing a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to produce digital interactive textbooks for the iPad for the elementary and secondary education market based on HMH textbooks and in compliance with Common Core standards. The e-texts can be rented by parents for a year for $9.99.

UNO Press Shutdown, Director Ousted

Bill Lavender, director of the University of New Orleans Press since 2007, has been ousted from his position and the press has been placed on hiatus by the university administration. Students and supporters have launched online petitions calling for his reinstatement.

ALA Report On E-books and Libraries

The ALA’s Digital Content & Libraries Working Group released a report on the e-book market called “E-book Business Models for Public Libraries,” which describes the current contentious state of e-book lending at libraries as well as model terms libraries should demand and conditions to avoid.

Canadian Sales Dip

The number of units sold in Canada in the second quarter of 2012 was down just under 1% from the same quarter last year, but sales rose 3.1%, according to the latest figures from BookNet Canada. Sales were up in fiction, but down in nonfiction.