Publisher News

Independent publisher PublicAffairs, known for its outstanding list of titles on social and political issues, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a special panel discussion, "Social Entrepreneurs: Changing the World" on Saturday, June 2, at BookExpo America.

Does your town love its Main Street? Starting May 2, Scholastic Inc. and the American Booksellers Association will offer a way for your town to prove it -- and a chance for participants to win a Main Street spending spree. Scholastic and ABA are partnering to bring the Main Street Contest -- an essay contest for children -- to Book Sense bookstores.

This week, ABA announced that ABA member bookstores have the chance to give away a trip for four to London to one of their customers as a Grand Prize in the "Independent Muggles for Harry Potter" sweepstakes, sponsored by Book Sense.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., as well as Frommer's 50th, and to make travel between Hotel ABA, the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Jacob Javits Center that much easier, Wiley will be sponsoring New York City subway MetroCards for all Hotel-ABA registered guests. The cards will be pre-loaded and available to booksellers at the welcome desk at Hotel ABA.

In preparation for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on July 21, Scholastic has launched a campaign centered on the seven most frequently asked questions regarding the content of the final volume in J.K. Rowling's record-breaking series and the fate of the characters that readers have grown to love -- or feel otherwise about -- since the publication of the first book in 1998.

It's spring! Whether you're casting about for a way to sate your wanderlust or pondering which titles to recommend to customers looking to fulfill their travel fantasies, you're covered: travel book publishers are busy tracking hot destinations and publishing books designed to please daring adventurers and armchair travelers alike.

Discount tickets for Joan Didion's play, The Year of Magical Thinking, are available for booksellers attending BookExpo America, courtesy of Vintage Books. The play, which stars Vanessa Redgrave, is based on Didion's National Book Award-winning memoir of the same name. The Year of Magical Thinking, at Broadway's Booth Theatre, includes additional material based on events occurring after the book's publication.

This week, Scholastic Inc. announced that J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will have a "record-breaking" first printing of 12 million copies in the U.S., as well as a multi-million dollar marketing campaign under the banner "There Will Soon Be 7." The book is scheduled to be released on July 21, at 12:01 a.m.

PublicAffairs will be celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special panel discussion, "Social Entrepreneurs: Changing the World," on Saturday, June 2, at BookExpo America.

Although last Friday's Delaware bankruptcy court decision approving the Perseus Books Group offer for Publishers Group West (PGW) answered the immediate concerns of many of the distributor's publisher-clients, it certainly is not the end of the story. Several small press publishers now under contract to Perseus recently spoke to BTW about the challenges of returning their focus to the task of publishing books while faced with a future that still holds some uncertainty.

On Monday, February 19, Koen-Levy Book Wholesalers announced via e-mail that it was closing, effective immediately.

Koen-Levy Book Wholesalers grew out of the closing of Koen Book Distributors in August 2005. Two months later, Levy Home Entertainment, a book distributor that services retail chain accounts in the 48 continental states, acquired certain Koen assets and formed Koen-Levy. The wholesaler opened in October 2005 in the former Koen buildings in Moorestown, New Jersey.

The second annual ABA Winter Institute concluded its two days of programming on Friday, February 2, in Portland, Oregon, and publishers who attended overwhelmingly praised the event, which combined education sessions and Rep's Picks presentations with a reception at Powell's, author events, and plenty of time for networking.

Random House's Weisberg Steps Down, Volini Appointed COO

On Wednesday, January 10, Perseus Books Group announced that it had signed a letter of intent with the Avalon Publishing Group under which Avalon would be merged into the Perseus Books Group.

"We admire Avalon's books, authors, and publishing approach," Perseus President and CEO David Steinberger said in a statement. "We're excited to be bringing the independent publishers that comprise Avalon together with Perseus."

As the fallout from Advanced Marketing Service's (AMS) decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of December continues to rain down on the book industry, much uncertainty surrounds the prospects of many of the small, independent publishing clients of Publishers Group West, AMS's distribution subsidiary.