Random House Inc.

As the publishing world processes the news that Random House and Penguin could merge, Twitter has been filled with amusing posts from authors, readers and publishing professionals.

The Random House Group has launched an ‘emotigraph’ digital campaign, charting the mood and thoughts of the digital world, in order to promote the new novel by Sebastian Faulks, A Possible Life.

Having launched today, the emotigraph will capture and display pictures, text and posts, updating constantly to illustrate the current mood of the digital world based on ‘hashtags’ used by Twitter and Instagram users.

Random House parent company Bertelsmann has called a report surfacing in the German media that it is considering a merger with Penguin Books or HarperCollins "speculation."

The Random House Foundation, Inc., currently home to the Random House Creative Writing Competition, announces the Random House Teacher Awards. Funded by the Random House Foundation, Inc., the awards will recognize the nation’s most dynamic and resourceful teachers who use their creativity to inspire and successfully instill a love of reading in students. These teachers will be awarded grants to help make their innovative reading programs possible.

FremantleMedia and Random House, two companies owned by the Bertelsmann AG media conglomerate, have teamed up to create Random House Television. The new entity will focus on creating and developing television content from Random House books.

In a memo this morning, Markus Dohle, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Random House and member of the executive board of parent company Bertelsmann AG, announced that Madeline McIntosh been promoted to the company's Chief Operating Officer.

McIntosh, 43, had been serving as Random House's President, Sales, Operations and Digital.

Said Dohle in a memo to his colleagues: "When I asked Madeline McIntosh in 2009 to rerejoin Random House I believed she had the wide-ranging skill set, service-focused ethic, and strategic aptitude necessary to help us drive our business forward and increase the audience for our authors' works. In her role as President, Sales, Operations and Digital, she has exceeded expectations."

To better connect publishers with their audience (and give them a shot at acquiring new readers), Link.me has been forging partnerships with the top book publishers to launch trials, deals, promotions, and more through QR codes. In October, Link.me signed with its newest client, McGraw-Hill, and as an example of the kind of work they’re doing, one of the publishing company’s recent publications, “The Zappos Experience” embedded QR codes in over 15 individual chapters. The goal was, of course, to bring The Zappos Experience “to life."

Three major publishers said on Wednesday that they would allow their authors to access book sales data directly online, a move that appeared to challenge Amazon and its continued efforts to woo authors.

POLITICO has taken its second step into the book business today with the launch of  an online bookstore, in partnership with Random House, of political books curated by POLITICO’s editors. A quick gander through its debut arrangement shows books ranging from Herman Cain’s campaign autobiography to Matt Taibbi’s Griftopia.

With so many book apps on the market tailored for kids, Book Business wanted to get to the heart of some more adult apps.