Association of American Publishers

The University of New Mexico Press, University of South Carolina Press and Indiana University Press have selected Ingram Content Group Inc. CoreSource as their digital content distribution system. The University Press of Florida, University of Virginia Press, and Wesleyan University Press recently enhanced their CoreSource relationship with the CoreSource Plus option. 

World Book Night U.S. has announced the selection of its honorary national chairperson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Anna Quindlen, and revealed the WBN 2012 U.S. book picks. In addition, World Book Night U.S. has opened the registration process for those wishing to become volunteer book givers.

Sales of print books fell 18.6% in the first nine months of 2011 in the major trade categories, according to figures reported to the Association of American Publishers. And although e-book sales jumped in the nine months—ahead 137.9% at the 15 reporting houses—the gain was not enough to offset the declines in the print segments. As a result, combined print and e-book sales fell 5.7% in the January–September period at the companies that take part in the AAP monthly survey.

Across most of Europe, e-books are taxed at full national value-added rates, which reach 25 percent in Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and other countries. Printed books, benefiting from an industry lobby, are taxed at a fraction of the full rates — and not at all in Britain.

It seems, Mr. Seaman said, that the value-added tax gap “discourages traditional publishers from innovating by effectively subsidizing them not to.”

Ignoring your digital readership potential is not an option; and treating e-books as an afterthought by offering up a recycled printer's PDF is not a digital strategy. For some types of highly formatted content, a PDF version may be useful, but if that's all you do, you'll be leaving significant distribution and enhancement options (aka revenue) on the table.

Today, Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care, launched a free 5-volume diabetes educational e-book series.

If predictability is a qualification for success, I suggest to you that we are, as an industry, in for a bit of a roller coaster ride for the next several years.

Amidst the Sturm und Drang of the present times, an infrequently remarked-upon fact has eluded us all, especially those of us focused on the so-called Future of Publishing.

It was probably a coincidence, but on one Sunday in July, two New York Times luminaries wrote columns complaining about books. Bill Keller, the outgoing executive editor, had a piece in the magazine headlined "Let's Ban Books, or at Least Stop Writing Them." In the Sunday business section, Bryan Burroughs, a regular reviewer and himself the author of multiple bestsellers, took on the preponderance of business books in an essay called "Compelling Tales, Rarely Told Well."

A decade ago Austin bookseller Steve Bercu faced a Texas-sized threat to his independent store: Borders planned to build a megastore just blocks away. So he dug in his spurs and garnered community support, keeping the franchise out of his area.

As of last week the national retailer is no longer a danger as the liquidation of its remaining stores ensues. But Bercu's 40-year-old BookPeople is up against the same challenges that led to Borders' demise— steady growth of e-books and the increasing lure of Amazon and other online sellers offering discounts over brick-and-mortar pricing.