OUP Gives Long Overdue Credit to Female Baseball Historian

It's taken 50 years, but Dorothy Jane Mills, formerly Dorothy Z. Seymour, wife of the late baseball historian Harold Seymour, has received long overdue acknowledgment as coauthor, along with her late husband, of three seminal books on the history of baseball that are considered the scholarly standard in the field.

Is Alyson Close to Sale?

The financial troubles at gay and lesbian house Alyson Books have been quietly bubbling up over the past few months as stories of unpaid advances and never-published-books circulated on blogs and in publishing circles. That quiet was officially broken Wednesday when Michael Musto published a piece in the Village Voice about the fact that his book was taken "hostage," as he put it in his headline, by the publisher.

Philosophy for Everyone, Including Scrooge and Porn Stars

While Penguin classics of Aristotle and Descartes—not to mention their Cliffs Notes counterparts—sell year in and year out, some publishers think philosophy gets a bad rap among book buyers, and they're doing something about it. Wiley is in the process of rolling out a new series on pop philosophy called Philosophy for Everyone.

Applewood Books Buys Commonwealth Editions

Applewood Books president Phil Zuckerman announced that the press has completed the purchase of the assets of Commonwealth Editions, which it has distributed for the past 10 months. "This puts together two of the best respected New England publishing companies, and at the same time extends each company's mission," he said.

News Briefs: Week of 8/16/10

Obama Signs 'Libel Tourism' Law

Culminating a years-long lobbying campaign organized by the Association of American Publishers, President Obama this week signed the Speech Act, a law that prohibits federal courts from recognizing or enforcing foreign libel judgments in the U.S. that do not pass First Amendment muster. The law seeks to put an end to a practice known as "libel tourism," which allows U.S. authors to be sued in foreign courts with more "plaintiff-friendly foreign libel laws," such as the U.K. The result of libel tourism is to effectively suppress speech protected by the First Amendment.

Bowker Starts Manuscript Submission Web Site

Bowker is the latest company to try to use technology to match publishers and authors, launching an automated manuscript submission process for the general trade. BowkerManuscriptSubmissions.com is an online service that lets authors post their work for publishers to read. Authors pay to present their book proposals to publishers via the service, and acquisitions editors can use the site's various tools to sort and read them. Cost for writers is $99.

Confusion, Backtracking at Dorchester After 'All Digital' Headlines

Leah Hultenschmidt, editorial director at the publisher, said headlines from last week that emphasized the company's move away from mass market paperback to a largely e-book program miscontrued the situation. "It's true Dorchester is going digital, but only for the next six months," Hultenschmidt explained.

Wiley's Online Library Allows Global Access

This week, Wiley announced that it has transferred all the licenses and content from Wiley InterScience to its newly launched Wiley Online Library. The library will allow people in the scholarly community anywhere in the world to access Wiley's multidisciplinary collections of online resources.

News Briefs: Week of 8/9/10

Dorchester Drops Mass Market Publishing for E-Book/POD Model

Mass market romance publisher Dorchester Publishing has dropped its traditional print publishing business in favor of an e-book/print-on-demand model effective with its September titles that are "shipping" now. The company will augment its e-book sales with a deal with Ingram Publisher Services for IPS to do pod trade paperbacks of selected titles. President John Prebich said after retail sales fell by 25% in 2009, the company knew that 2010 "would be a defining year," but rather than show improvement, "sales have been worse." Dorchester recently let its field sales force of seven go, although Tim DeYoung remains with the company as v-p of sales and marketing. The editorial team remains intact, although Prebich said the number of titles released monthly will likely be reduced from over 30 to 25.

M&S Hires Rappaport

Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart announced yesterday that its new non-fiction editor will be American editor Philip Rappaport, and he will be based in New York.

FSG, 'Scientific American' Launch New Book Imprint

Macmillan, parent company of both the venerable book publisher Farrar, Straus Giroux and the 165-year old Scientific American magazine, is launching a new book imprint that will draw on the editorial and marketing expertise of both publishers to produce titles on science and technology aimed at the broadest possible readership.

In Testimony, Publishers Say Public Access Bill Would Undermine Copyright, Scholarly Journals

Publishers this week submitted testimony to the House of Representatives opposing the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2010 (FRPAA), a bill that would mandate free public access to publicly-funded research in the U.S. In testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Allan Adler, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) vice president for legal and government affairs, warned lawmakers that government mandates requiring free access to journal articles published by the private sector would "seriously undermine" scientific communication, translate to lost U.S. jobs, exports and would diminish copyright protection.

Skyhorse Crashes 'Poor Richard's Almanack' Spin-Off

Skyhorse Publishing, which just announced that it would take over the assets of Arcade Publishing, is moving ahead with projects of its own. It is crashing the publication of Poorer Richard's America: What Would Ben Say? by Tom Blair on August 30. The house signed the book up in May, and is following the advice of Blair, a businessman and politician, to move quickly.

'Tinkers' Sells 100,000 Copies

As of the week ending July 18, Pulitzer winner Tinkers has officially topped 100,000 copies sold of both physical books and e-books, according to Nielsen BookScan and Perseus's Constellation digital service. Bellevue Press (distributed by Consortium) published the debut literary novel by Paul Harding.

The Skinny on Rand Media

A lot has happened in the publishing world since entrepreneur, attorney, and finance and real estate expert Jim Randel launched his line of short self-help books last year.

News Briefs: Week of 7/26/10

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to Distribute Zest Books

Zest Books, a San Francisco publisher of books for teens, has moved its distribution to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The new distribution arrangement will be effective in January 2011.

Distribution: Midpoint Teams with CodeMantra; Sterling Adds Client

Midpoint Trade Books has signed an agreement with digital conversion company codeMantra to offer digital distribution services to independent publishers. In a more traditional deal, Sterling Publishing has agreed to distribute White Star Publishers.