HarperCollins

The preliminary program and speaker roster for the upcoming IDPF conference at BEA is now available at idpf.org/db14/. IDPF Digital Book 2014, the professional digital conference at Book Expo America, is May 28-29, 2014 at the Javits Center in New York City.

TORONTO -- Torstar Corp., owner of the Toronto Star and other newspapers, is selling the Harlequin book publishing company for $455 million to global media company News Corp. and it will be run as a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

Torstar (TSX:TS.B) says the sale will strengthen its financial position and a portion of the net proceeds will be used for debt reduction.

Harlequin, known for its romance books, has been part of Torstar for 39 years.

Ebook subscription service Scribd, which charges users $8.99 per month for unlimited access to a library of about 300,000 ebooks, plans to announce Tuesday that it's added about 1,000 books from reference publisher Wiley - including the well-known "For Dummies" series - to its offerings.

That 1,000 figure encompasses most of the under-$40 books in Wiley's catalog. More expensive titles, like $100-plus textbooks, aren't included.

Harper Lee has agreed for To Kill a Mockingbird to be made available as an ebook and digital audiobook, filling one of the biggest gaps in the digital library.

In a rare public statement released through her publisher, HarperCollins, Lee said: "I'm still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries. I am amazed and humbled that Mockingbird has survived this long. This is Mockingbird for a new generation."

The announcement came almost a year after she sued her former literary agent Samuel Pinkus to regain rights to her novel.

"Longform" is a buzzword these days and it's generally used to refer to nonfiction works for adults. But Toronto-based illustrated storytelling platform Storybird thinks longform can work for a younger crowd, too, and this week it rolled out options that let writers serialize longer illustrated works. Until now, Storybird's two available formats were picture books and poetry.

There's big money in star memoirs.

But even as hot book deals are in the works from names like Lena Dunham and Bryan Cranston, the most sizzling celebrity tales have yet to be told by the legends who lived them.

From Angelina Jolie to Mick Jagger and A-Rod to Taylor Swift, some of the biggest stars are holding out, leaving publishers lusting for their juicy tell-alls.

A blitz of new book contracts and the success of recent autobios only add to their demand.

When e-book service Entitle launched last December, one of the main selling points was the idea that subscribers truly own their books. Now the company says it has given users even more control by allowing them to transfer books to their Nooks, Kobos or Sony Readers.

All of the innovators interviewed in this section, whether from trade, academic, or independent publishing, have joined the digital revolution and are pushing the industry into a sustainable future, exploring new products and services, and adapting to disruption.

"The Innovators" special feature package this issue have something in common: the abilit

A recent lawsuit brought before the U.S. District Court in New York offers readers a glimpse into a battle raging behind the scenes in traditional publishing. The dispute, between authors and publishers, has been going on for several years and there are times it affects which titles you’re able to get as e-books.

Much of the e-book market is for new titles, but by no means all.