The New York Times

Literary agents and editors have a long tradition of meeting over lunch to talk about work.  I always found it to be a lovely perk of the industry to conduct business while dining at one or another of New York¹s fine dining establishments (on the company tab, of course). In this “Lit Lunch” segment of Pub Buzz, I'll take the occasional peek at who's lunching with whom and what they're chatting about.

Will it break a record? Probably. But is it good? That’s the big question of the day, as “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling’s first adult novel, “The Casual Vacancy,” hit shelves this morning. It was protected by a number of security procedures, including a stringent non-disclosure agreement, so only a few reviews leaked out before the 1 a.m. EST embargo time.

William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, today announced plans to publish Jenna Miscavige Hill’s headline-making memoir about her life inside the Church of Scientology. The book, entitled Beyond Belief: My Secret Life inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape, will be published on February 1, 2013. In her memoir, Jenna--the niece of the church’s leader, David Miscavige--tells the dramatic and bizarre true story of growing up in Scientology and how she ultimately was able to break away from the church

“Search drives sales,” said Google’s Gavin Bishop at a much-anticipated Monday afternoon session at the two-day Digital Book World Discoverability and Marketing conference at New York’s Metropolitan Pavilion. Bishop delivered results from a study the search giant did of 250 New York Times bestselling titles from 2010-2012, analyzing 130,000 search queries on said titles across laptops, smart phones and tablets.

A judge has preliminarily approved the states’ $69 million ebook pricing settlement with publishers, but consumers won’t receive any payments until after a hearing is held in February 2013. Payments would range between $0.25 and $1.32 per ebook.
states, u.s. states, map, united statesphoto: Shutterstock   

Federal district judge Denise Cote has preliminarily approved (PDF) the states’ $69 million ebook pricing settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.

On Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., a record 280-plus top national and international authors and participants will join bibliophiles, booksellers and literary organizations on 14 stages at Borough Hall, Columbus Park, St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights Public Library, Brooklyn Law School, the Brooklyn Historical Society and St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church for the seventh annual Brooklyn Book Festival.

CT – September 13 – Tantor Media, one of the largest independent audiobook publishers in the nation, is venturing into the realm of print and e-books.

Today in books and publishing: E.L. James' husband isn't a dom; Cosmopolis reconsidered; NYPD called in for Junot Díaz reading; Pussy Riot to storm e-readers.

Pussy Riot: the e-book. The City University of New York's Feminist Press plans to release Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer for Freedom on Sept. 21st. The e-book will collect writings about the punk band/feminist collective who incurred the Russian government's wrath by performing an anti-Putin song in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

If you've been living under a rock, you may be unaware that on Thursday, Sept. 13, your friends at Book Business, Publishing Executive and the Publishing Business Conference and Expo will be brining you the Publishing Business Virtual Conference.

The rush to create large, free online classes has generated anxiety at universities around the country. With finances already tight and with a surge of movement toward online learning, universities are being forced to move quickly to change centuries-old models of learning. Terms like historic, seismic and revolutionary now pop up in descriptions of the challenges that higher education faces in the coming years.

Many institutions have been preparing for these changes for years, building infrastructure and expertise, experimenting and recruiting, and integrating online learning into long-term strategies.