Pearson Company

Join hosts Book Industry Study Group — the standards and research body for the US publishing industry — and Bowker Market Research — a leader in consumer research for the US & UK — as they debut results from the first ever Global eBook Monitor (GeM). This virtual webinar, offered on both the 2nd and 23rd of April will host participants from around the world thanks to the support of participating partners Pearson, Tata Consultancy Services and AT Kearney in making the seminar available to the global publishing community.

At a press conference in New York, Apple has revealed its next target: the humble school textbook. It has released iBooks 2, an updated version of the e-reader app that introduces functionality for educational textbooks on iPad. Apple also released iBooks Author, a free self-publishing tool, and, in the final blow of its education barrage, Apple released an iTunes U app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. This gives you instant access to that bumper selection of free educational content from schools around the world.

Dorling Kindersley, the division of Penguin that publishes children, travel and reference titles, made a strong case for how it is moving to a “flat” content model, where a printed book is only one of many output options. The digital publisher of DK also said that companies like his need to do this to be ready for the next big thing in books—whatever it is—but as is so often the case for old media industries, the change is “massive” and not easy for everyone in publishing.

LONDON—Penguin's Chief Executive John Makinson said on Tuesday the publisher's Christmas list was strong -- with authors including comedian Lee Evans, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" writer Jeff Kinney, and Tom Clancy -- although not as strong as last year's. Sales in the first nine months of the year were flat.

André Schiffrin, 76, a leading figure in the New York book publishing world, quit Pantheon in 1990 to establish a not-for-profit independent publishing house, The New Press, explaining that economic trends prevented him from publishing serious books.

Schiffrin describes the crisis in Western publishing in his 2011 book, The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read. In 2010, in Words and Money, he commented on the role of conglomerates in the newspaper and film business.

Leading U.K. book Printer Clays has announced the installation of a Kodak Prosper 1000 Press as part of its integrated book production line, which includes a Muller Martini Sigmaline In-Line Finishing System. The integrated book line with the Prosper 1000 Press is up and running after a smooth installation period.

Just in time for the back-to-school season, iPad interactive textbook publisher Inkling has secured $17 million in Series B funding from investors including Tenaya Capital, Pearson Education, Jafco Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

Inkling works with textbook publishers to rebuild existing textbooks for the iPad, incorporating search, quizzes, note-sharing, audio and video other interactive features. Students can preview free sample chapters and can also buy textbooks by the chapter, starting at $2.99, through Inkling’s store.

A consumer rights class-action law firm today announced it has filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that Apple and five of the nation's top publishers illegally fix prices of e-books

Broad based opportunities are unfolding from the U.S. federal stimulus program School Improvement Grants. Market research firm Simba Information finds in its latest report that PreK-12 publishers are teaming up with program implementation partners.

Inkling, a San Francisco-based company that publishes textbooks for multi-touch devices such as the iPad, has secured significant minority investments from McGraw-Hill and Pearson, the two largest educational content providers in the world. According to an Inkling press release, "The investment signals a major endorsement from the publishing industry for the Inkling platform as a leader in the rapid shift to digital textbooks."