Scholastic Confronted Again on Negative Option Clubs A couple has filed suit against Scholastic in a Seattle federal court, seeking class action status, over practices related to the company’s negative-option book club. A release from the plaintiffs attorneys charges, “according to the complaint, Scholastic uses its marketing presence within elementary schools to convince parents to purchase educational products, and then bombards parents with unsolicited goods, demanding payment in violation of state and federal law.” They compare their case to Federal Trade Commission charges that Scholastic settled in a consent decree last year. At the time, the FTC said the agreement […]

More IPO Drama Expected at Bertelsmann Though Bertelsmann executives have announced publicly that they are prepared for a public offering of shares in the company by minority owner Group Bruxelles Lambert, the FT reports that the controlling Mohn family is not at all prepared. One former company executive tells the paper, “For Liz Mohn it’s a dynastic question. She doesn’t want outsiders peering in because she fears for her children’s careers. That’s the battle for Bertelsmann of these last years.” But if Bertelsmann wants to buy out their partners, it’s estimated they would have to pay between 5 billion and […]

Monday, January 30 Our Usual Reminder If for some reason this has reached you even though you are not a paying member of PublishersMarketplace, please visit the link below to join us all the time for complete deal reports and more. Click to register http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/register.shtml Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time […]

The Day the Lies Stopped, and What Happens the Next Day I’m confident that you already know everything you want to know about James Frey and Nan Talese’s appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday, and have formed whatever opinions you may. First, just a couple extra matters of fact. Yesterday afternoon, Doubleday as a house recanted its earlier position of full support and did issue an apology: “The controversy over James Frey’s A MILLION LITTLE PIECES has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance […]

Frey Acknowledges Mistakes on Today’s Oprah; Readers Sue “Now like many of you, I have a million little questions,” Oprah Winfrey says of James Frey at the top of today’s show — an evolution of the viewpoint she expressed in a phone call to the Larry King Show. An ABC news report says that on the broadcast, Frey admits, “I think I made a lot of mistakes in writing the book and promoting book.” Winfrey asks, “Do you think you lied or do you think you made a mistake?” “I think probably both,” he said. Appearing on the show with […]

A Small Note Your chef has a stomach ailment today, so Lunch comprises mostly bland foods. We’ll hope for a heartier meal tomorrow. Kloske Is New Publisher of Riverhead The Penguin Group announced that Simon & Schuster executive editor Geoffrey Kloske will take over on February 13 as publisher of Riverhead, reporting to Susan Petersen Kennedy. She comments in the announcement, “Luck would have it that Geoffrey Kloske, whom I have long admired, will now join Penguin Group’s senior editorial team and take the helm of one of New York’s finest publishing programs. His wide-ranging editorial interests, his eye for […]