The New Yorker

 Anonymity was short-lived for the former Navy SEAL member who has written a first-person account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Less than 24 hours after the book’s existence was first reported, Fox News revealed the author as Matt Bissonnette. Defense Department and military officials later confirmed his identity.

Penguin, the book’s publisher, said it would forge ahead with its publication plans despite the reports that named the author. The book will be released on Sept. 11.

Back by popular demand as part of the annual ALA Virtual Conference (July 18 and 19, 2012),  Booklist editors Brad Hooper and Donna Seaman will host 30-minute author lunches, interviewing popular and thought-provoking authors Katherine Boo and Christian Kiefer.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - It could all change quickly, but independent booksellers again have good news to report as the publishing industry prepares for its annual national convention, BookExpo America. Core membership of the American Booksellers Association rose by 55 over the past year, from 1,512 to 1,567. It's the third straight increase for the independents' trade organization after years of double digit and triple digit declines brought on by superstore chains and online sellers such as Amazon.com. The independents have stabilized even as the economy suffers and the market shifts dramatically from physical stores to digital purchases.

In an experimental move, The New Yorker is planning to release a short sequel to Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, through 140-character installments on Twitter. "Black Box" takes a A Visit from the Goon Squad character and paints her as a female spy in the 2030s. As she goes undercover among suspected terrorists, she keeps a mental log of events — all in dispatches of 140 characters or less. The format naturally lends itself to serialization on Twitter — and indeed, Egan said that she came

Struggles over the sale and distribution of digital books are wreaking havoc on the publishing industry, and amid all the confusion, one question continually surfaces: Are e-books fairly priced?

"Are E-Books Fairly Priced?" is a two-part article looking at battles over e-book pricing within the publishing industry. Part 1 examines how marketplaces initially set prices of e-books, and how publishers reasserted their power through an agreement with Apple.

Publishing, that cheeky teaser of mind, body, and soul, enjoys the same level of excitement and drama as other fields, if not more. As with every industry out there, it plays host to a crazy ensemble cast of heroes, villains, threats, challenges, underdogs, and other archetypes. Then conflict happens — or at least publishers come across a conflict that needs addressing. What follows are just some of the few exciting adventures that go down in the publishing world.

Executives at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt say they do not believe they will sell as many print copies of the new dictionary as they did of previous editions. That is why there is a free companion Web site for the dictionary, at ahdictionary.com. That is also why the dictionary is being made available as an app and for e-readers. (The app is free with the purchase of the print dictionary and $24.99 if bought separately.)

(h/t Teleread)

My first published literary effort, an article about New York City, appeared in 1945 in a magazine called Gotham, the house organ of the New Yorker Hotel. Since this is 2011, I claim 66 years as both a participant and observer of American publishing.

The Knopf Doubleday Group will launch The eBook Insider as an ebook available free to consumers.

This year, the book publishing industry has its own version of Black Friday or Cyber Monday. It's called Christmas Day.