Canadian Novelists File Plagiarism Suit

Canadian authors Wayson Choy, Paul Yee, and Sky Lee have filed a C$6 million plagiarism suit against Ling Zhang’s novel Gold Mountain Blues. The novel was first published in China, where a blogger noted similarities in plot lines.

Amazon Debuts Lending Library

Amazon launched the Kindle Owners Lending Library for Amazon Prime members who can now borrow one book a month for free. None of the big six publishers are participating.

Liveright Hires Adams

Katie Henderson Adams has joined Liveright & Co. as editor, acquiring literary nonfiction and fiction. She was previously at Other Press.

Wiley Sues Pirates

John Wiley & Sons filed a copyright infringement suit in New York charging 27 “John Does” the publisher claims are illegally copying and distributing its For Dummies books through the Bit Torrent file sharing software.

Google eBookstore Opens in Canada

Google’s eBookstore launched in Canada on November 1. Google has agreements with the Canadian arms of most multinational publishers.

Consortium Twitter Chat

Consortium Sales & Distribution has launched a weekly 30-minute Twitter Chat focused on indie publishers and hosted by its marketing deptartment. The Chat (#indieview) takes place every Wednesday between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. CST.

AAP Denounces Arrest of Turkish Publisher

The AAP has publicly condemned the arrest of Turkish publisher Ragip Zarakolu, who was taken into custody by Turkish authorities on October 28 on antiterrorism charges. Zarakolu won the International Publishers Association’s Freedom to Publish Prize in 2008.

Harlequin Results Improve

Results at Harlequin improved in the third quarter ended September 30, but were still down compared to the third quarter of 2010. Revenue fell to C$115.7 million from C$117.5 million. Parent company Torstar said digital sales at Harlequin rose C$7.5 million in the quarter.

HarperCollins Quarterly Results Rise

HarperCollins had “a great quarter,” reporting an increase in revenue and profit over first-quarter results last year, according to information released as part of News Corp.’s results for the first fiscal quarter of 2012. Print books sold through physical book stores accounted for 71% of sales in the U.S. and 77% of sales worldwide.

O’Reilly Inks New Holt Deal

Bestselling conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly has re-upped with his new publisher, Henry Holt, adding two new books to an earlier deal. He now has three forthcoming titles from Holt, all of which will be edited by Gillian Blake. Holt publisher Steve Rubin took world rights for both new books. O’Reilly is represented by Eric Simonoff at William Morris Endeavor.