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.

Square One Acquires Safe Goods

Garden City, N.Y.-based Square One Publishers has acquired Safe Goods Publishing, based in Sheffield, Mass. Through the deal Square One, as of August 28, takes charge of the company's existing stock and backlist.

Harlequin Builds A Nonfiction Presence

Just about two years after it launched its nonfiction list, Harlequin is preparing to release its biggest title in the category to date, Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Way by Tosca Reno, whose Eat-Clean Diet series has sold nearly one million copies for Reno's Canadian publishing house Robert Kennedy Publishing (distributed in the U.S. by NBN).

News Briefs: Week of 7/19/10

Penguin Uses 'Kite Runner' to Aid Afghanistan

Penguin is attempting to breathe new life into two popular backlist titles and doing good in the process. Its Picture a Book Changing Lives campaign is asking readers to submit photos of themselves holding a copy of either The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns (or both) by Khaled Hosseini. For each photo, Riverhead Books, publisher of both titles, will donate $2 to the Khaled Hosseini Foundation.

New Plagiarism Suit Against Harry Potter and Scholastic

The estate of Adrian Jacobs is going global in its pursuit of copyright infringement against J.K. Rowling and the publishers of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. After suing Bloomsbury in the U.K. last year and adding Rowling as a defendant in February, estate trustee Paul Allen has filed a new suit against Scholastic.

'PW' Launches New News Blog

Today PW launches PWxyz, a new blog dedicated to up-to-the-minute publishing news, information about authors and publishing houses, e-books and e-readers, and analysis of book news from all over the Internet. Edited by PW's senior web editor Craig Morgan Teicher (who recently rejoined the PW staff after a stint as founding editor of MediaBistro’s e-book blog eBookNewser), PWxyz will also feature contributions from PW staffers from all our departments.