ABC-CLIO Takes Over Greenwood

ABC-CLIO has struck a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt giving the Santa Barbara publisher a perpetual license to publish all the titles published by HMH’s reference division, Greenwood Publishing. The agreement, which involves 18,000 titles, includes the transfer of certain Greenwood assets, including copyrights, contracts and inventory, to ABC-CLIO.

Gotham, Avery Merged

Penguin is putting Gotham Books and Avery Books under a single management team that will be directed by Gotham president Bill Shinker. Lisa Johnson has been named head of publicity and marketing for both imprints as v-p and associate publisher. In addition, Lauren Marino has been named v-p and editorial director of Gotham Books and Megan Newman is now v-p and editorial director of Avery.

Olsson’s Closes

Olsson’s Books and Records, which at one point had sales of $16 million from its stores in the Washington, D.C., area, has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation and closed its remaining five outlets as of September 30. The retailer applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, with plans to reorganize and cut costs by closing some of its stores. But a combination of low sales and rising rent was more than the D.C. metro-area indie chain could overcome.

Dutton Signs New 'Dracula’

Dutton publisher Brian Tart has acquired U.S. rights to Dracula: The Un-dead by Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Dracula documentarian and historian Ian Holt. The deal was made by Danny Baror of Baror International and Ken Atchity of Atchity Entertainment International. U.K. and Canadian rights to the work have also been sold for a combined total of well over mid-seven figures for all three deals. The book is the first Stoker family—authorized Dracula project since the original 1931 movie. Dutton plans to publish the book in October 2009, and a movie based on The Un-dead is in the works.

Sony Intros New Reader

Sony will begin shipping an upgraded version of its e-book reader in November. The Sony Reader PRS 700 will be priced at $399, and upgrades include a touch screen, search capability and note taking. The company has also committed to upping the number of books available for the player to almost 100,000 by the holiday shopping season.

Correction

In our interview with Carolyn Chute (Sept. 29), the publication date of her new novel, The School on Heart’s Content Road, was incorrect. It is a November pub.