The Associated Press

Will it break a record? Probably. But is it good? That’s the big question of the day, as “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling’s first adult novel, “The Casual Vacancy,” hit shelves this morning. It was protected by a number of security procedures, including a stringent non-disclosure agreement, so only a few reviews leaked out before the 1 a.m. EST embargo time.

Writer, analyst, and eloquent opinionator Gore Vidal died today. He was 86. The LA Times reports that he died Tuesday in his Hollywood Hills home, from complications related to pneumonia.

In his lifetime, Vidal received the National Book Award, wrote many novels, short stories, plays and essays.

Barbara Grier, a founder of what once was the world's largest publishing house of literature about gays and lesbians, has died. She was 78. Her partner in life and business, Donna McBride, said Grier died of cancer on Thursday at a hospital in Tallahassee, Fla.

"In North America, depending on whose numbers you want to believe, e-books are already 15-25 per cent of book business," said Bill McCoy, executive director of the International Digital Publishing Forum, speaking earlier this month from Frankfurt, where he was attending one of the world's largest book fairs.

50 years ago, Lawrence Hoyt opened The Walden Book Store, which would later become Borders Group. Now, Borders is closing its doors for good.

Two events occurred recently that some have called the biggest news to hit the industry in decades. First was the announcement of the settlement between Google, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors Guild, regarding Google’s controversial Book Search tool. The settlement allows Google to make millions of books available for consumers to read or buy through Google Book Search; but the big news is that Google will provide compensation to publishers and authors for their works. The settlement also established a Books Rights Registry (supported by the $125 million settlement paid by Google), which will monitor such compensation as well as work to resolve any additional disputes.

Adult trade publishers with a “change is good” attitude are finding success in today’s market. From promoting literacy to experimenting with new marketing initiatives, such as social networking sites and author videos, and new distribution formats, such as e-books and digital downloads, industry leaders are now acting upon, not resisting, the significant turn the publishing world has been taking. Data indicates that while monthly sales fluctuate, overall, sales are still up, and many publishers are proactively striving to keep them that way. Last month, The Association of American Publishers (AAP) reported that adult hardbound book sales totaled $2.8 billion in 2007, a 7.8-percent increase

With the U.S. economy on shaky ground, book publishers, like so many others, are honing in on ways to cut costs while growing their businesses. This often means tapping the resources of thirdparty partners to manage the aspects of the publishing business that fall outside the publisher’s core competencies (creating and marketing great content)—things like physically managing inventory and fulfilling orders from retail partners and consumers. For fulfillment help, publishers may turn to their book printers, which often have warehousing and fulfillment operations to complement their manufacturing services, or to a third-party fulfillment specialist. Location, Location, Location Direct-mailers will tell you that minimizing mail

41% Percentage of items purchased worldwide over the Internet in the past three months that were books, making books the most popular online purchase. In the United States alone, books were the second-most popular purchase (38 percent) behind clothing, accessories and shoes (41 percent). Source: Nielsen Global Online Survey, January 2008 5 Number of Top 10 best-selling novels in Japan in 2007 that originated as cell-phone novels and were later republished in book form. Usually love stories written in short, text-message-like sentences, cell-phone novels are originally composed and shared with fans via cell phones. The top three best-selling novels were written by first-time, cell-phone

Publishers of all sizes have to manage detailed and vital information about the rights they own, the rights they have sold, and the royalties they either owe or are owed. It can be a significant accounting undertaking. Especially with the burgeoning digital marketplace, book publishers are increasingly redistributing their content in any number of ways and thus, generating additional revenue––as well as the need to manage additional rights and royalties. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions on the market today, from services that help publishers license their content to those that help automate the tracking and payments process to save time and