Wiley Buys Stake In U.K. Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, through its Wiley Europe subsidiary, has acquired a majority stake in Capstone Publishing Ltd. Based in Oxford, England, Capstone publishes professional business and management titles. The company has more than 40 new titles under contract and a backlist of about 100.

Mark Allin and Richard Burton, who founded Capstone in 1996, will retain a minority stake in the company and will continue to lead the publisher's operations. In a statement, Allin and Burton said they were "delighted with the deal" in that it preserves the company's autonomy while giving Capstone the resources to expand its print and online operations. Capstone has annual revenues of approximately $1.5 million.
--Staff

L.A. Firm Buys GoodStory
In the first consolidation in the online rights marketplace, Los Angeles-based Creative Planet has acquired GoodStory.com for an undisclosed amount of stock. Founded earlier this year by the Web development firm KPE, headed by Mark Patricof, GoodStory.com allows published and unpublished authors to post brief descriptions of their works on the GoodStory site for a small fee (News, Feb. 21).

Allen DeBevoise, president and CEO of Creative Planet, told PW GoodStory "has done a great job of creating a marketplace for written materials." Anthony Jacobson, who helped develop the GoodStory site as president, will continue in that capacity; he and his staff are moving from New York to Los Angeles. DeBevoise said Creative Planet will be able to provide GoodStory with the necessary resources to "scale things up." GoodStory had hoped to go live with its site by May, but it is still undergoing beta testing. "We hope to be live some time this summer," DeBevoise said.

Creative Planet owns a number of service operations and Web sites aimed at professionals in the movie, television, commercial and music video businesses. Authors who sign on with GoodStory "will be plugged into a network where there are lots of buyers," DeBevoise said. DeBevoise plans initially to promote GoodStory to the movie and television development community, although, he added, Creative is interested not only in screenplays but books as well. Creative Planet is also reviewing GoodStory's original business model, which called for a fee of $10-$15 for each description posted plus "noninvasive corporate sponsors."
--Jim Milliot

Lackluster Year for EDC
An 2.1% increase in sales, to nearly $8 million, in its publishing division, and flat sales of $8.9 million in its home division resulted in a 1.1% gain in total revenues, to $16.8 million, at Educational Development Corp. for the year ended February 29, 2000. Net earnings at the company dropped 16.8%, to $1.1 million.

In fiscal 2000, EDC's home division was still recovering from changes made in its compensation package to its home consultants in 1996 that cut into sales. Because of upgrades made in 1997 and 1998, as well as new incentive plans for fiscal 2001, EDC is optimistic that sales and earnings in the division will improve in the current year. The company has about 3,600 consultants.

The gain in the publishing division's sales was due to increased penetration of the retail market, particularly in mass merchandise outlets. Sales to the national chains were also up as the company restructured its sales force to better serve those accounts.

EDC's plans for fiscal 2001 include increasing sales through gift stores, as well as introducing an interactive reading and phonics program
--Jim Milliot

Nominations for Roger Klein Due
Nominations are being sought for the biennial Roger Klein Award for excellence in editing, to be given early in 2001. Nominations for outstanding editors who have been active in trade publishing for at least 10 years should be sent to PEN/Roger Klein Awards, c/o PEN American Center, 568 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10012.

Nominations can be made by authors, agents or publishers; include a list of books on which the editor has worked, and four supporting letters.
--Staff

Small U.K., U.S. Houses Merge
U.K.-based business book publisher Nicholas Brealey Publishing has agreed to acquire Intercultural Press. Located near Portland, Maine, Intercultural publishes books and training materials for people who live, work and study outside of their own culture.

Under the deal, the companies will create a new imprint, NB Intercultural, that will focus on materials covering the subject of how to cross cultures successfully around the world. The new imprint is expected to be launched in 2001. In addition to the new imprint, the two companies will continue to focus on producing titles for their specific niches. Toby Frank will continue as president of Intercultural Press, while Nicholas Brealey will become publisher and chairman. Brealey said the new alliance "is about growing globally and reinventing our position as a niche publisher. It is also about realizing the original goal of becoming the world's smallest publishing multinational."

Among Nicholas Brealey's top titles are Riding the Waves of Culture and When Cultures Collide. Its titles are distributed in the U.S. by National Book Network. Intercultural Press titles include the new releases Figuring Foreigners Out and The Third Culture Kid Experience, as well as the popular backlist titles Survival Kit for Overseas Living and The Art of Crossing Cultures.
--Jim Milliot

Mass. to Focus On Irish Books
As part of the Boston Irish Tourism Association's $100,000 marketing campaign called "Massachusetts: Ireland's Other County," the organizers are asking booksellers and publishers to help make books and authors a central part of the promotion.

"We just want to be able to say, hypothetically, that Seamus Heaney is reading at Harvard Square, if, in fact, he is," said Michael Quinlin, the tourism board's spokesperson. "Massachusetts has the highest percentage of Irish-Americans in the U.S.," he added. Quinn pointed to such Irish-related titles as Heaney's translation of Beowulf (FSG) and Frank McCourt's 'Tis (Scribner) on the bestseller lists.

Information can be sent to Quinlin at BostonIrish@mediaone.com. The Web site is www.irishmassachusetts.com.
--Staff


Correction
In our first post-BEA roundup (News, June 12), it was incorrectly stated that PWReligion BookLine, the e-mail newsletter being launched later this summer, would be free only to subscribers of the print magazine. Religion BookLine will be free to all who register for it.
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