San Mateo, Calif.

In a bid to take a leading position in the growing self-publishing market, Penguin has acquired self-publishing platform Author Solutions from Bertram Capital, a San Mateo, Calif.-based venture-capital and private-equity firm, for $116 million.

The acquisition comes less than a year after Penguin launched its own self-publishing platform, Book Country, and at a time when self-publishing firms are jockeying for favor with authors by offering new features and lower prices. A company statement about the acquisition did not mention Book Country.

(Press Release) San Mateo, Calif., August 4, 2010—CourseSmart, the world’s largest digital course materials provider, today announced the first group of colleges and universities that have been selected to participate in the company’s Faculty Instant Access program.

(Press Release) San Mateo, Calif., May 3, 2010—BookRenter, the leading online textbook platform company, today announced that it is joining the fight against youth illiteracy by providing new books to the children who need them most. Starting today, with every rental order placed, BookRenter will fund the donation of new, age-appropriate books for children in need. Also, to enable customers to truly act locally, customers can choose the specific U.S. state where children will receive the books funded by their order.

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