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Good Books' Mayo Clinic Diet Debuts at #1
Intercourse, Pa., publisher Good Books, known for its bestselling Fix-It and Forget-It cookbooks, has another bestseller on its hands. The Mayo Clinic Diet is the first diet book the house has ever published, and, as publisher Merle Good said, “It’s always rewarding to step into a new field and go straight to the top.”
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Amazon, Booklocker Settle
Booklocker and Amazon have reached a settlement agreement in the antitrust class action lawsuit Booklocker filed against the e-tailer in 2008.
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Job Moves
Simon & Schuster Australia has promoted Lou Johnson to managing director. Johnson has been with the company since July 2008 as sales and marketing director.
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Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Contribute to Haitian Relief Efforts
Random House has made a $100,000 donation to relief efforts in Haiti. “So many of us are moved and disturbed by the death and devastation,” wrote CEO Markus Dohle. Simon & Schuster’s Pimsleur, which publishes foreign-language learning programs, is offering free downloads of its Haitian Creole language program. And HarperCollins is working through its parent company, News Corporation, on donating to the relief effort.
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Pearson Expects Better Earnings
Good gains in higher education led Pearson to report earnings for the year will be higher than expected. The company noted that Penguin had a good holiday season.
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Holiday Sales Disappoint at Borders Group
Comparable store sales were down 14.6% at Borders's superstores over the holidays, with total revenue down 13.7%. CEO Ron Marshall called results disappointing and said the retailer must intensify its efforts to boost profitable sales.
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FastPencil Expands into E-Books
Last week, self-publishing outfit FastPencil began offering writers the ability to publish e-books and release e-versions of individual book chapters. Previously, most FastPencil content was formatted as PDF files. But with the new format process, writers can generate content and store it in a format that will work on Kindle or any other e-reader.
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Goodman Reacquires Stone Bridge Press
Stone Bridge Press founder Peter Goodman has reacquired the Berkeley, Calif. publisher that he sold to Yohan, Inc, the Japanese book distributor, in 2005.
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Running Press Archive Donated to University of Pennsylvania
The archives of the Running Press have been donated to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, where they will become part of the university’s growing collection of materials about book publishing and the intellectual and esthetic history of Philadelphia.
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Haights Cross Communications Files Pre-Packaged Bankruptcy
With the support of lenders, Haights Cross Communications has filed for prepackaged bankruptcy in a Wilmington, Del. court.
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Conversation Piece: PW Talks to Daniel Menaker
PW talks with the legendary editor about his new book 'A Good Talk: The Story and Skill of Conversation' (Hachette/Twelve), and the publishing business then, now, and in the future.
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Disney Mum on Marvel Integration
New Year’s Eve 2009 saw the House of Ideas become the House of Mouse as Marvel’s stockholders approved the $4.3 billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment by Disney. Under terms of the agreement, Marvel shareholders received a total of $30 a share in cash plus approximately 0.7452 Disney shares for each Marvel share they owned.
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B&N Sales Lag
Sales at Barnes & Noble's retail stores fell 5% in the nine-week holiday period ended January 2, falling to $1.1 billion. Same-store sales declined 5.4% in the period, and the nation's largest book retailer acknowledged that results were below expectations. For the full third quarter that ends at the end of January, B&N had expected same-store sales to decline 1%—3%.
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Distribution Deals: Hachette Gets Peterson's, Perseus Takes Interweave
Hachette Book Group is taking over sales and distribution of test prep publisher Peterson’s titles (previously handled by S&S), beginning June 1. Perseus Distribution is taking over sales and distribution of arts and craft publisher Interweave Press (previously with IPG), beginning July 1.
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Simon & Schuster Reorganizes Field Sales Operation
As part of the reorganization of its field sales force, Simon & Schuster has created a new telemarketing department while reducing the number of reps in the field. Sources said that the addition of telemarketing reps somewhat offset the cut in number of field reps, resulting in a net job loss under 10.
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Actar Acquires Birkhäuser Architecture Titles
Actar, the publisher of books on architecture, graphic design, and contemporary art with offices in Barcelona and New York, has signed an agreement with Springer Science + Business Media to acquire the sales and distribution of titles from Birkhäuser Verlag in Basel, Switzerland. Birkhäuser will become an imprint of Actar but will remain in Basel.
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Kindle DX Adds Global Wireless
Kindle DX is now available with global wireless access, Amazon announced last night. Customers can now pre-order new versions of the 9.7-inch e-reader with wireless content delivery in more than 100 countries. The device also features auto-rotate capability and storage for up to 3,500 books. It is priced at $489 and ships January 19.
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Pre-Ordered Nooks On Way
Barnes & Noble issued a statement around noon on Wednesday announcing that all customers who had ordered the Nook before November 20 will receive the e-reader by Christmas. Last week, B&N said there was a chance a small percentage of customers who pre-ordered before November 20 may not receive the Nook by the holiday.
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Investor Takes 10% Stake in Barnes & Noble
Aletheia Research & Management has accumulated a 10.8% stake in the retailer, paying $137 million for 6.2 million shares.
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University Presses Gain Ability to Sell E-books
The University of Chicago Press has teamed with BiblioVault to develop a new tool that lets presses sell e-books directly from their own Web sites rather than limiting sales to retailers.
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