Stuart Applebaum

Lagardére, parent company of book publisher Hachette, and Bertelsmann, parent company of book publisher Random House, both announced financial results for the first six months of 2013. Of the two, Lagardère provided more detail on digital results: Digital made up 11.3 percent of Lagardère Publishing’s net sales worldwide, compared to 8.4 percent a year ago. Ebooks now account for 34 percent of adult trade book sales in the U.S., compared to 27 percent last year, and 31 percent in the U.K., up from 22 percent last year.

As diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk and retailer Target become the latest companies to distance themselves from Paula Deen, her recipes are still number one y'all.

Fans have ensured the embattled chef's upcoming book, “Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up,” is already a best seller.

The tome has reached the number one spot on Amazon's best sellers list and is currently second on Barnes & Noble's Top 100 list. Huge interest for a book that's not scheduled to be released until October 15.

Country Inns & Suites By Carlson announced a partnership with Random House, Inc. to enhance one of the hotel's most popular signature programs, the Read It & Return Lending LibrarySM.

Random House will supply 30,000 books to Country Inns & Suites hotels twice a year in the U.S. and Canada through the partnership. The Read It & Return Lending Library is located in the lobby of each Country Inns & Suites hotel in the U.S. and Canada and includes children's, fiction, mystery/suspense, non-fiction and teen titles.

Until the transaction is closed (likely late 2013 pending regulatory approval), official news about the Random House Penguin venture is expected to be scarce. And yet questions abound. Why did two of the biggest players in book publishing throw in their lot together? Will further contraction occur in its wake? Will this give the new entity more leverage in its negotiations with mighty Amazon? And if so, will it be enough to matter?

We rang up four industry experts and asked them what—if anything—it all means for publishers and publishing.

Random House had its corporate Christmas party on Wednesday night in New York, and word is that Santa likes bondage. A lot.

Markus Dohle, the chief executive of Random House, promised employees — from top editors to warehouse workers — a $5,000 bonus to celebrate a profitable year. The cheering went on for minutes, according to people in attendance.

Call it 5,000 shades of green.

Penguin held its Halloween party at its Soho headquarters the Friday before Sandy in an atmosphere of foreboding. Weather reports were forecasting a destructive path for the hurricane, but the employees were preoccupied by another impending storm. Dressed in their ghoulish costumes, they whispered about a takeover by rivals at Random House.

Within publishing, rumors that the companies might join forces felt like news of a merger between the Yankees and Red Sox.