Time Warner Cable

NEW YORK -- Lagardère SCA will acquire Time Warner Book Group, the fifth largest U.S. book publisher for $537.5 million. Through this transaction, Lagardère's Book Publishing branch will become No. 3 worldwide. This is a major step in fulfilling a Lagardère objective to create a balanced portfolio in three main languages, French, English and Spanish. Time Warner Book Group is a major trade publisher, with many best-selling authors, including Nelson DeMille, Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson, David Baldacci and Malcolm Gladwell. Besides adult trade, it publishes illustrated, religious and children's books and has also developed an audio-book imprint. Time Warner Book Group

It wasn’t too long ago—about three to four decades—that bookstore chains made no room on their shelves for religious publications. Out of necessity, religious bookstores were conceived, says Rolf Zettersten, publisher of Time Warner Faith, Nashville, Tenn. Times are much different now. Religious books line the shelves of major outlets like Barnes & Noble and Borders, and can be ordered online with just one click. And some large publishers that previously saw religious publishing as a niche market have created religious imprints of their own. Texts representing everything from Judaism and Christianity to Muslim and Hindu are more accessible than ever and frequently

You would think it was one of the best kept secrets in the publishing business. … It's not that publishers don't repackage and remarket returns and unsold inventory. It's that they don't want the consumer to know. "This is a secret because no one wants to talk about it. It is recycling at its best," says David Dunn, chairman of Dunn & Co., in Clifton, Mass., a self-proclaimed "book hospital" that repairs books and repurposes hardcover returns. If the public perceives such books as "recycled," the publishers would have a perception problem, and the consumer may reconsider the purchase. Traditionally, publishers deplete unsold inventory through discount

If you're considering offshore sourcing, here are some additional words of caution. Milton Batalion, senior vice president of production and manufacturing for Time Warner Book Group, says selecting an offshore printer is much like selecting a domestic printer. But no matter what printer you choose, challenges can arise in managing such a long-distance relationship, primarily in shipping and potential delays. Rail congestion, for example, has been a recent concern, as it is making it difficult for book shipments arriving on the West Coast to be moved on time. "It could be just the peak season, but it's also likely that there is just a

Offshoring has taken on new meaning in recent years. The Web, electronic file transfer, advancements in foreign technology and faster, better ways to communicate globally have all stirred the waters of opportunity for tapping the American marketplace from overseas. A global marketplace has swelled beyond what many expected. For some, this means greater opportunity, savings and growth. For others, it means the promise of more jobless Americans, more abandoned factories, more unfair labor competition. For many book publishers, specifically, it means more options for manufacturing books cost-effectively. It means new options for digital content creation, design and editorial. It means increased profitability, growth

Handheld E-Book Reading By Donna Loyle, Editor They're getting smaller, smarter and cheaper—all at the same time. In the last year or two, numerous handheld e-book reading devices have hit the market. Innovative features include audio capabilities; built-in dictionaries; revolutionary easy-on-the-eyes type; backlit LCD screens; highlighting ability; direct Internet connections; and much more. While this article does not cover all of the e-book readers available (for example, many e-titles can be read on Palm PDAs, which are not marketed as e-book reading units), the information below offers a quick roundup of some of the latest and coolest devices recently introduced. RCA REB1100

Microsoft's release of the Pocket PC with e-book reader software may mark a crucial step in the development of electronic books. Here's why. By Danny O. Snow In ancient times, alchemists sought in vain for the mythical "Philosopher's Stone," fabled to transmute base metals into precious ones. The lure of turning lead to gold was irresistible, but the Philosopher's Stone proved elusive, and the alchemists faded away after centuries of fruitless searching. In recent times, publishers have been equally tantalized by the potentials of e-publishing: a way to make books available worldwide without printing costs, without warehousing and inventory, without shipping, without returns, and

By Donna Loyle Some of the country's largest book publishing companies recently unveiled major new electronic-book initiatives, bringing renewed energy into the e-book arena. Time Warner's iPublish.com at Time Warner Books, New York City, scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2001, will offer fiction and non-fiction content created specifically for the Internet, according to company officials. Meanwhile, Random House and Simon & Schuster, along with Microsoft, gave away copies of Michael Crichton's new novel Timeline, as well as some "Star Trek" series novels, all downloadable onto Microsoft's new e-book Reader software. In June, CBS News and Simon & Schuster, both owned by Viacom, co-published an exclusive

A Review of New E-Publishing Products From Adobe and Microsoft By Danny O. Snow New technologies may make publishers want to echo Robert Frost's classic lament, that a traveller can follow only one fork in the road at a time. Major new products specifically designed for delivery of online content have set the publishing industry abuzz, amid a flurry of controversy over earlier efforts to bring e-books more squarely into mainstream markets. Software industry leaders now offer e-publishers new strategies for the presentation of online content to readers -- but both systems must face the challenge of protecting intellectual property for the author and publisher. WebBuy and PDF

ONLINE BOOKSELLERS Since it was impossible to include everyone, we offer this listing below as a mere snapshot of the emerging business models in this exploding field. Browse this list to get an idea of how today's book publishers sell their wares--both printed and electronic--online. By spending just a few minutes on the Internet yourself, you will probably find even more companies . . . WHO: www.agoodbook.com, "Your basic $4.95 download" WHAT THEY SELL: e-books downloadable for $4.95; the site has an association with www.amazon.com WHAT FORMAT: PDF, HTML. WHO: www.amazon.com, "Earth's biggest selection" WHAT THEY SELL: printed books, CDs, gifts, DVD and video,