While blog posts and press releases around the world have been full of carping about the proposed settlement of two lawsuits against Google related to their Book Search library project, the judge in the matter had a much simpler response: tentative approval. Judge John Sprizzo’s order was made public yesterday, and he set a June 11 date for a fairness hearing to “decide if the deal is fair, reasonable and adequate.” AP
CEO Steps Down in Advance of RBI Sale
With the decision on a potential sale still unclear, Reed Business ceo Gerard van de Aast is resigning his position as of December 15 and leaving the Reed Elsevier boards. Van de Aast runs both RBI, the unit that is up for sale, and Reed Exhibitions, which the parent company is retaining. He has run the division for the past eight years. CEO of RBI UK Keith Jones will take over as acting ceo, “pending resolution of the current divestment process.”Release
Obama Book Club, Part Two
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s TEAM OF RIVALS continues to benefit the most from the Obama boost, but today’s papers focus on the president-elects additional interest in books about FDR. On 60 Minutes this Sunday–the most-watched episode of the program in “at least nine years” according to the Hollywood Reporter–Obama told Steve Kroft, “There’s a new book out about FDR’s first 100 days and what you see in FDR that I hope my team can – emulate, is not always getting it right, but projecting a sense of confidence, and a willingness to try things.” More than one publisher thought he meant […]
People: Anderson Adds Children's Agency; Borders SVP Retires; and More
UK agent Darley Anderson has hired the former head of children’s at Borders, Becky Stradwick to build the client list of children’s book authors as part of a new offshoot, the Darley Anderson Children’s Literary Agency. Also in the UK, Robert Caskie has joined PFD as an agent. He was at MacFarlane Chard Associates, after six years at Capel & Land. SVP of merchandising for the children’s, multimedia (music and movies), newsstand, calendar and game categories at Borders Linda Jones will retire from the company December 19. She joined the company in 1995 as a merchandising director for Waldenbooks. Those […]
Sourcebooks Offers Enhanced eBook
Following their successful pairing of books with discs offering supplementary audio and visuals through the Sourcebooks MediaFusion imprint (beginning with We Interrupt This Broadcast in 1998), the publisher is experimenting with extending that idea to enhanced digital books. Today they are releasing via their own site the digital version of Grammy winner Marty Stuart’s Country Music: The Masters, which released as a physical book last Friday. The ebook version includes a 13-minute video on “the making of” the project, but the most innovative part of Sourcebooks’ approach may be on price. The ebook lists for $19.95 (and they were providing […]
Toews Wins Writers' Trust Prize
Miriam Toews has won the Rogers Writers’ Trust prize–one of Canada’s big three awards for fiction–for her fifth novel, THE FLYING TROUTMANS. CBC