Amazon, Google at LBF
The digital buzz at the London Book Fair floor included speculation about Amazon's e-book reader and the increasing number of U.K. publishers that have signed on for Google's Book Search. Amazon's reader is said to be a step up from the Sony Reader device, with a sharp screen and e-commerce option. It's likely to be priced at $400 and available in the spring. Google held seminars on its Book Search service, with testimonials from publishers like Cambridge University Press on increased book sales. Google also previewed a new service, Online Access, that lets readers rent or buy content to read on their computers. The service is expected to be unveiled later in the year.
Brodie Leaves Roaring Brook
Deborah Brodie, one of the three founders of Roaring Brook Press, is leaving the company May 16. RBP publisher Simon Boughton said her departure was "not acrimonious." He said RBP is making a number of changes and it was a "mutual" decision for Brodie to leave. "We had different ideas about the future direction," he said.
Nelson Teams With RBA
The Spanish division of Thomas Nelson, Grupo Nelson, has teamed with Spanish publishing company RBA Editorial Group to bring marketing and distribution support to Nelson titles in Spain.
Feb. Store Sales Drop
Bookstore sales tumbled 6.5% in February, to $1.01 billion, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Bookstore sales for the two first months of 2007 were down 3.1%, to $3.19 billion. Sales for all of retail were up only 1.5% in February and up 3.9% in the two-month period.
Peterson's Distribution
S&S will take over Peterson's Nelnet's trade book sales and distribution to bookstores, mass market stores, warehouse clubs and wholesalers. The educational publisher operates Web sites and publishes books on colleges, grad programs, distance learning, professional training and test preparation.
PW Teams With Publishers Portal
Publishers Weekly has teamed up with Publishers Portal, which hosts book excerpts provided by Barnes & Noble, to provide access to the company's first chapter service. Through the deal, consumers can go to publishersweekly.com and click on the Publishers Portal icon to access more than 115,000 excerpts.
Nelson Signs Cosby Book
Thomas Nelson has a one-book deal with comedian Bill Cosby for Come On, People! On the Path from Victims to Victors, to be co-written with Harvard professor Alvin F. Poussaint. The book is slated for October.
Sex & Politics
Seven Stories Press is publishing I Had to Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard's Fall, a memoir by Mike Jones, the male prostitute who publicly outed anti-gay minister Ted Haggard as a former client, which subsequently got Haggard removed from his post as head of the National Association of Evangelicals and pastor of his church. Seven Stories is releasing the book, written with Sam Gallegos, in June with a 50,000-copy printing.
