HarperCollins

41% Percentage of items purchased worldwide over the Internet in the past three months that were books, making books the most popular online purchase. In the United States alone, books were the second-most popular purchase (38 percent) behind clothing, accessories and shoes (41 percent). Source: Nielsen Global Online Survey, January 2008 5 Number of Top 10 best-selling novels in Japan in 2007 that originated as cell-phone novels and were later republished in book form. Usually love stories written in short, text-message-like sentences, cell-phone novels are originally composed and shared with fans via cell phones. The top three best-selling novels were written by first-time, cell-phone

A recent story from satirical news source The Onion (www.TheOnion.com), entitled “Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book,” read: Sitting in a quiet, downtown diner, local hospital administrator Philip Meyer looks as normal and well-adjusted as can be. Yet, there’s more to this 27-year-old than first meets the eye: Meyer has recently finished reading a book. Yes, the whole thing. “It was great,” said the peculiar Indiana native, who, despite owning a television set and having an active social life, read every single page of “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. … Meyer, who never once jumped ahead to see what would happen

Charlottesville, Va. (February 15, 2008)–—INTERQUEST, a leading market and technology research and consulting firm serving the digital printing and publishing industry, and Book Business magazine, the leading trade publication for book printing and publishing as well as producer of the Publishing Business Conference and Expo, today announced an impressive and wide-ranging line-up of speakers for the Digital Book Printing Forum, which will be held Tuesday, March 11, 2008, during the annual Publishing Business Conference and Expo at the New York Marriott Marquis Hilton in midtown Manhattan. According to INTERQUEST Director Toby Cobrin, “These speakers bring hands-on expertise and insight into all aspects of digital

INTERQUEST, a market and technology research and consulting firm serving the digital printing and publishing industry, today announced an impressive line-up of speakers for the Digital Book Printing Forum, which will be held Tuesday, March 11, 2008, during the annual Publishing Business Conference & Expo (produced by Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines) at the New York Marriott Marquis in midtown Manhattan. The Forum Keynote will be delivered by Thomas Willshire, vice president of sales and marketing for the New York office of Continuum International Publishing Group. Continuum, which incorporates digital strategies into its traditional publishing model, is a fast-growing academic, religious

Jon Scieszka is on a mission—a mission to get more kids reading. In January, Scieszka, a veteran author of several best-selling children’s titles, including “The Stinky Cheese Man” and “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” was named the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Committed to a two-year term in his new role, Scieszka will travel the country and speak as an advocate of youth readership. The Library of Congress’ Center for the Book, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and the CBC Foundation created the new Ambassador position. The initiative is financially supported by

At the Sundance Film Festival last month, Sharp Independent at HarperCollins—the partnership formed in October 2007 between the independent film production company and the book publisher—announced several book titles optioned for film adaptation. Sharp Independent at HarperCollins was created to develop and produce motion pictures based on HarperCollins’ titles. It works with authors and their representatives to acquire the film rights for books from future, current and existing backlist adult titles. The titles that were announced for film adaptation are: “The Queen of Babble Series,” by Meg Cabot; “Live From Cape Canaveral” by Jay Barbree; “The Space Between Us,” by Thrity Umrigar; “The

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed children’s book author Jon Scieszka as the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The appointment was announced yesterday at the Mulberry Branch of the New York Public Library. The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature initiative was created by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and the CBC Foundation, and is financially supported by a variety of sponsors, including publishers Scholastic Inc., Macmillan, Candlewick Press, HarperCollins, Random House, Penguin and others. The new ambassador position, according to the organizations, is intended to raise national awareness of

HarperCollins imprint HarperTeen has partnered with MySpace to launch MySpace/HarperTeen. This new, interactive, online community provides teen readers with an opportunity to connect with one another on message boards and forums, as well as to interact with authors via author blogs and live chats. A “Weekend Read” bulletin informs readers of new releases, and, every Friday, users receive a book recommendation. Those who read the recommended title can then discuss it on the message boards the following week. (http://www.MySpace.com/harperteen) “With millions of teens spending their time online every day, it makes perfect sense for us to partner with MySpace to build

2007 might well be remembered as the year when, a few months after the final installment of “Harry Potter” hit the shelves to blockbuster acclaim, the “To Read or Not to Read” report was issued by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The report raised serious concerns about the future of reading in this country: Amount and proficiency are on the decline, the report found, especially among young adults and older teens. Then, there are new U.S. Census numbers, released in December 2007, that show that the number of hours per person spent reading consumer books has been basically flat over the

Longfellow’s celebration of the forest primeval finds its echo today in the green revolution taking place along the supply chain of the paper industry. Although—as I learned from interviewing people who prefer not be quoted on the subject—good intentions are ahead of actual practice, it is a harbinger nonetheless of the revolutionary transformations taking place in the paper industry’s business practices. Which brings me to the subject of this column: a snapshot of the globally transforming paper industry, the state of book-paper supply, and how the present outlook shapes your paper usage and purchasing strategies. As long as print products are foundational to the