Kennedy

It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced today its plans to publish, in the summer of 2013, a new memoir by the legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans, and to republish his unforgettable autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. The books will be published both in print and in an innovative digital multimedia edition—the first of its kind—including rare and previously unreleased visual and audio material. The deal was negotiated by Calvert Morgan, publisher of It Books, and Helen Breitwieser of Cornerstone Literary Agency.

Even as more readers switch to the convenience of e-books, publishers are giving old-fashioned print books a makeover. Publishers are putting more thought into books' aesthetics. Many new releases have design elements usually reserved for special occasions deckle edges, colored endpapers, high-quality paper and exquisite jackets that push the creative boundaries of bookmaking. If e-books are about ease and expedience, the publishers reason, then print books need to be about physical beauty and the pleasures of owning, not just reading. When people do beautiful books, theyre noticed more, said Robert S. Miller, the publisher of Workman Publishing. Its like

The U.S. book publishing industry consumed approximately 1.1 million tons of book paper in the year 2000. That required cutting down an estimated 25 million trees. Figures for 2001, published in 2002 by the American Forest and Paper Association, report 914,000 tons of paper were used for U.S. book publishing. Trees required to meet demand: 19 million. Yet the average recycled content level (by fiber weight) across printing and writing grades is only 5%. The disparity between the ecological impact of publishing versus the meager levels of recovered materials in paper is driving responsible publishers to be part of the solution, instead of the problem. To date,