Product Launches

As Google awaits approval of a controversial settlement with authors and book publishers, the company’s plan to create an immense digital library and bookstore may face yet another hurdle.

On Wednesday, the American Society of Media Photographers and other groups representing visual artists plan to file a class-action lawsuit against Google, asserting that the company’s efforts to digitize millions of books from libraries amount to large-scale infringement of their copyrights.

(Press Release) New York, NY, April 7, 2010—The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has today released its annual estimate of total book sales in the United States. The report, which uses data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales data from eighty-six publishers inclusive of all major book publishing media market holders, estimates that U.S. publishers had net sales of $23.9 billion in 2009, down from $24.3 billion in 2008, representing a 1.8% decrease. In the last seven years the industry had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.1%.

(Press Release) April, 2, 2010, SEATTLE—Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced its Kindle App for iPad is now available in the App Store. The app lets users select from over 450,000 books from the Kindle Store on iPad and features Amazon Whispersync technology that saves and synchronizes customers' last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, iPad, and more.

George Slowik, who was publisher of Publishers Weekly in the 1980s and 1990s, has bought the trade publication from Reed Business Information. The sale was announced in a press release from Mr. Slowik’s new company, called PWxyz, created to house the Publishers’ Weekly magazine, Web site and related assets.

SAN FRANCISCO — Last month, John Doerr, one of America’s most celebrated venture capitalists, announced that he would step down from the board of Amazon.com, a company that he helped to finance and build. At the time, Amazon said Mr. Doerr “has decided not to stand for re-election and will focus more of his time on new ventures.”

But people with direct knowledge of the matter, who would not speak for attribution because they were not authorized to discuss it, now say Mr. Doerr’s decision was prompted by a Federal Trade Commission inquiry into the relationship between Amazon and Google, where Mr. Doerr is also a director. It was not clear whether the commission had begun a preliminary inquiry or a formal investigation, or whether it was still looking into it.

Publishers have emerged victorious in the e-book pricing war with Amazon. The world's largest online retailer has conceded to the demands of three major publishing houses and will cease heavily discounting new best-selling e-books, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon and Macmillan already exchanged fisticuffs about money in February with Macmillan leaving the ring unscathed. Now Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins have joined the bandwagon in refusing to allow retailers to set e-book prices.

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and EDItEUR—the international body that maintains ONIX product information standards—working in collaboration with representatives from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the U.K. Publishers Association (PA), have made provisions to the "ONIX for Books" standards to allow for a standard means of communicating agency model sales terms for e-books.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced that it will release the first new title from Stephenie Meyer in nearly two years. "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" is a novella told from the point of view of Bree, a character originally featured in Eclipse, the third book in the "Twilight" series. The 192-page novella will be released at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, June 5 in hardcover for $13.99, with a first printing of 1.5 million copies. It also will be available as an e-book beginning at 6 a.m. EST on June 5.

The consumer market for U.S. book publishers has changed significantly in the past three years, driven largely by fundamental shifts in the way books are published, found and ultimately purchased by readers. These changes sometimes leave publishers with more questions than answers in determining what their next move ought to be to keep pace with today's consumer.

(Press Release) Norwalk, Conn., March 30, 2010 — Barbra Streisand, the legendary actress, singer, and director, will appear at this year's BookExpo America (BEA) at the Opening Night Keynote Reception on Tuesday, May 25th.  She will be interviewed before thousands of booksellers and book industry professionals about "My Passion for Design", to be published by Viking on November 16, 2010. It will be Ms. Streisand's first appearance on behalf of the book.