HarperCollins Rebrands Eos Books HarperVoyager

At Aussiecon IV, the science fiction convention running in Melbourne, Australia from Sept. 2-6, HarperCollins announced that it was rebranding its U.S. science fiction/fantasy imprint Eos Books as HarperVoyager. The name change, which officially kicks in Jan. 1, will give the U.S. imprint the same name as Harper’s sci/fi imprints in the U.K. and Australia and New Zealand. The goal of the rebranding is to create a more unified sci/fi program that will allow HC to acquire English-language rights.

'Mockingjay' Sells More Than 450,000 Copies in First Week

Mockingjay, the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, sold more than 450,000 copies (hardcover and e-book) in its first week on sale in the U.S., its publisher, Scholastic, announced Thursday. The book debuted at number one on both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists. Scholastic has gone back to press for an additional 400,000 copies, bringing the total number of copies in print for Mockingjay in the U.S. to 1.6 million since its August 24 publication.

North Atlantic Books Launches Evolver Editions

Nonprofit Berkeley, Calif., press North Atlantic Books has launched a new imprint, Evolver Editions. The imprint is a collaboration between North Atlantic, which publishes books on alternative health and other subjects, and Evolver LLC, which publishes the online magazine Reality Sandwich, a place for writings on "psychic evolution."

California State University, College Publishers Announce 'Digital Marketplace' Deal

The California State University has announced an agreement with five major college publishers to participate in a pilot project to license digital course content through an initiatve called the Digital Marketplace. Starting in Fall, 2010, Bedford/Freeman/Worth, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, and John Wiley & Sons, will offer content through pilot courses at five CSU campuses: Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Bernardino and San Francisco State.

Rowman & Littlefield Providing Publishing Services to Four University Presses

The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group has established a department to provide publishing services to four U.S. university presses: University of Delaware Press, Bucknell University Press, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, and Lehigh University Press.

Lamb Aiming For a New Vantage Point

Back in its heyday, Vantage Press ruled the self-publishing (then known as vanity publishing) world, with a market share that hovered around 25% from the 1950s through the early 1990s.

News Briefs: Week of 8/30/10

Rousing the Sleepers

One question looms over this fall's indie lists: what's this year's Tinkers, the first novel that could? It launched with a very small print run, went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, and now has sold more than 100,000 copies in print and e-book formats.

Heyday, California

Just back from the Sierra Nevada and the Squaw Valley Writer's Conference, Malcolm Margolin, who founded Heyday Books in 1974, says he was rejuvenated by the "nourishing hunger" he witnessed there for a literary life.

Tyrus Books Acquires Busted Flush Press

One-year-old Tyrus Books, which publishes crime and dark literary fiction, has acquired Busted Flush Press, LLC, which publishes previously out of print thrillers and hardboiled crime fiction. Together, Tyrus and Busted Flush will have about 45 books in print by the end of this year, with another 20 titles scheduled for release next spring.

Orbit Makes a Third Rotation

There are exceptions, of course, but science fiction and fantasy covers often feature images of lone figures and bright flashes of light. Trilogies can take years to be published. Publishers often divide their advertising budgets between print and online ads. And then there's Orbit, Hachette's science fiction/fantasy imprint.

News Briefs: Week of 8/23/10

Universal Map Acquires American Map and Affiliates

Universal Map Group LLC has acquired the intellectual property and other assets of American Map Copopration, Hagstrom Map Company, Alexandria Drafting Company and Hammond World Atlas Corporation, all subsidiaries of New York-based map publisher Langenscheidt Publishers. The divesture is scheduled to close shortly.

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.