The Perseus Books Group

Bookish (www.bookish.com) a one-stop, comprehensive online destination designed to connect readers with books and authors, launches today, providing visitors with exclusive content and insider access to A-list writers. Notable launch stories include: A joint interview with legendary crime fiction writer Michael Connelly and prize-winning suspense author Michael Koryta, revealing that Connelly had begun a book centering on a school shooting prior to the tragedy in Sandy Hook. The article also features juicy tidbits about both Connelly and Koryta’s upcoming books: www.bookish.com/connelly

Small Demons, the innovative start-up that connects all the details of all the books we read into a connected web of information, announced today that it has added a fifth of the big six book publishers with the addition of Penguin to its catalogue.  Having already inked deals with Simon & Schuster, Random House,Harper Collins and Hachette, Small Demons now has content deals with five of the big six publishing houses. Many books within the Penguin collection, including bestselling genre fiction and the world's leading classics brand Penguin Classics, will begin to appear on the site over the course of 2013, allowing readers to explore their favorite books and draw surprising connections between seemingly disparate literary worlds: from Jack Kerouac's jazz legends to Jim Butcher's Chicago wizards, from Jane Austen's genteel England to Charlaine Harris's tumultuous Bon Temps, Louisiana.

The National Book Awards ceremony is getting the Oscars treatment, reports the New York Times. In addition to adding a red carpet, hiring a DJ and inviting celebs like, ahem, Molly Ringwald, the awards board appears to be making a push toward higher-profile nominees, noting, as per the report: “Fame or obscurity, small press or large, should have no bearing on your deliberations."

In addition, as per the Times' Leslie Kaufman, the finalists (Junot Díaz, Dave Eggers, Louise Erdrich, Ben Fountain and Kevin Powers) were announced on Morning Joe. —Brian Howard

Numbers show that the publishing industry is handling the rise of e-readers better than what folk knowledge might suggest.

The fall publishing season is in full swing. There can hardly have been a year with more luminaries atop both the fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists; J. K. Rowling, Michael Chabon, Ken Follett, Junot Diaz, among others, represent literary acclaim and commercial appeal. Diaz is having an especially good run. Stephen Colbert, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Young, Bob Woodward, and Salman Rushdie are just a sampling of the nonfiction bestsellers.

The twenty Finalists for the 2012 National Book Awards were announced this morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” hosted by Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Willie Geist. David Steinberger, Chairman of the National Book Foundation’s Board of Directors and President and CEO of Perseus Books Group, appeared as a guest on the show. This was the first time that the National Book Award Finalists were announced on television.

“If you came here looking for a map, good luck,” joked Perseus Book Group's Rick Joyce, noting that figuring out the new world of discoverbility is “not about map following, but about map building.”

While the metaphor might seem extreme, when it comes to marketing and discoverability in the Internet age, publishers really are, like the early explorers, in uncharted territory. This was the theme of opening keynote delivered by Joyce,  Perseus's Chief Marketing Officer to the gathered publishing professionals at the Metropolitan Pavilion for the first Digital Book World Marketing and Discoverability conference.

Nine of the country's leading independent publishers have taken a bold step, and deserve public recognition for their action. On June 25, they submitted a cogent, twenty-page comment to the court objecting to the Department of Justice's settlement with the three publishers on the grounds that it would "adversely impact competition -- harming independent publishers, authors, booksellers and consumers -- and should be rejected." The case itself would still go forward, unless it is dismissed by the judge or is settled in some way that remains to be devised.

Broadthink, a boutique branding and new business development media company, is bringing the world of vintage and new romance content to the underserved target market of women through its newest company BroadLit®. By combining the popular genre of romance with the emerging world of new media technology BroadLit is putting a new slant on romance and delivering it to today’s women.

Edwards Brothers Malloy is pleased to announce its support for World Book Night, an annual celebration designed to spread a love of reading and books.  In one day, April 23, 2012, the organization and its thousands of volunteers will go out into their communities to promote books and reading by giving out half a million free paperbacks.

Comedy Central is taking its brand to bookstores. The network is launching a publishing imprint with Running Press (part of the Perseus Books Group) with plans to release everything from memoirs to joke and novelty books. The first title from Comedy Central Books will be a holiday themed novelty book from comedian/actor Denis Leary. It’s set to roll out in October with a multi-platform marketing push highlighted by a new Leary-headlined comedy special on the network the will be reminiscent of 2005's Merry F#%$in' Christmas.