2010 London Book Festival Call for Entries

2010 LONDON BOOK FESTIVAL CALL FOR ENTRIES

LONDON/AUTHORLINK NEWS/May 24, 2010--The 2010 London Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual competition honoring the best of international publishing. The event will hold its annual awards program in January, 2011 at the city's famed Grosvenor House.

The 2010 London Book Festival will consider books in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Italian in the competition. The works may be published, self-published or independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, children's books, poetry, art/photgraphy, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, comics/graphic novels, e-books, wild card (anything goes!), science fiction, romance and biography/autobiographical works.
A panel of judges will determine the winners based on the following criteria:
1) The story-telling ability of the author;
2) The potential of the work to win wider recognition from the international publishing community.
Our grand prize for the 2010 London Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 in U.S. funds and a flight from your city of entry to London OR Los Angeles - your choice!

ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.
1) General Non-fiction
2) General Fiction
3) Children's books
4) E-books
5) Comics/graphic novels
6) Wild Card
7) Teenage
8) Science fiction
9) Romance
10) Biography/Autobiography
11) Audio/spoken word
12) How-To
13) Poetry
14) Art/Photography

FESTIVAL RULES: London Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain a print-out of the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.
NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: The Festival will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries at the LondonBookFestival.com web site.

Deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of business on November 25, 2010. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail and the results posted on the site. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions.

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at http://www.londonbookfestival.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you by calling our office at 323-665-8080. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee via check, money order, credit card payment or PayPal online payment of $50 in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee. Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC.

Entry packages should include one copy of the book; a copy of your official entry form; the entry fee or receipt from online payment; and any relevant marketing materials, i.e., press kits or other material that illuminates the background of your book. Entries should be mailed to:

JM Northern Media LLC
The London Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Blvd. Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028, USA
AWARDS: The London Book Festival selection committee reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any project.

The London Book Festival is produced by JM Northern Media LLC, producers of the Hollywood Book Festival, New York Book Festival and DIY Book Festival. We are sponsored by the Larimar St. Croix Writers Colony, eDivvy, Westside Websites and Shopanista.

Borders Raises $25 Million to Transform Brand

Borders Raises $25 Million to Transform Brand

ANN ARBOR, MICH/AUTHORLINK NEWS/May 21, 2010—Borders Group, Inc. has announced that an entity controlled by Bennett S. LeBow has agreed to invest $25 million in the company through a private purchase of 11.1 million shares of the company’s common stock.

The investment--coupled with the company’s recently announced financing--will strengthen Borders’ balance sheet and help fund the transformation of the Borders brand. Mr. LeBow’s investment will support several important financial and strategic initiatives such as improving the company’s capital position, addressing the store network to maximize productivity and profitability, maximizing the digital opportunity including growing Borders.com, and developing strategic business partnerships. The purchase is expected to close later today.

In connection with the investment, Mr. LeBow has joined the Board of Directors and has also been elected Chairman. Mr. LeBow is the Chairman of Vector Group, Ltd. (NYSE: VGR). Howard Lorber, who serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vector Group, has also joined the Board of Directors of Borders Group.

Additionally, in order to create the nine-member Board as required by the terms of the transaction, Richard “Mick” McGuire has resigned from the Board of Directors.

"I am pleased to welcome Ben aboard as the new Chairman," said McGuire. "Borders has made great progress in improving its financial and operating condition by exiting non-core businesses, reducing fixed costs, improving working capital efficiency, and focusing on operational excellence. More recently, the executive team has begun the process of repositioning the business and in-store experience to succeed in a future of electronic delivery..."

Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. and its affiliates, which currently is a major shareholder of Borders Group, has indicated its support for the transaction.

Details of the purchase agreement will be included in a Form 8-K to be filed promptly with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, through its subsidiaries Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) is a leading specialty retailer of books as well as other educational and entertainment items. The company employs approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders® and Waldenbooks® stores. Online shopping is offered through borders.com.

Barnes & Noble PubIt! for Self-Published Authors

Barnes & Noble PubIt! for Self-Published Authors

AUTHORINK NEWS/May 20, 2010--For authors who simply want to publish their own work, Barnes & Noble is offering PubIt!(www.bn.com/pubit). The online system allows self-published authors to access and sell eBooks and other content on Barnes & Noble's Online and Digital Platforms.

The easy-to-use publishing and distribution platform offers authors of self-published works expanded distribution, visibility and Digital Rights Management protection.

PubIt! titles will be distributed through BN.COM and Barnes & Noble's eBookstore, which currently offers more than one million digital titles to millions of dedicated customers in-store and online.

Details about PubIt's royalty model and compensation process will be available next week.

Barnes & Noble customers will be able to browse, sample, buy and download the digital content in seconds to their devices with free BN reader software. Using Barnes & Noble's Read In Store(TM) technology, NOOK(TM) customers can also browse the complete contents of PubIt! titles while in Barnes & Noble stores.

PubIt! titles will be accessible on hundreds of devices including: NOOK by Barnes & Noble, PC, Mac®, iPad(TM), iPhone®, BlackBerry® and others. For more information on free BN eReader software and apps, visit www.bn.com/ebooks/download-reader.asp.

More information on PubIt!, which will be available this summer at www.bn.com/pubit.

Editor's Note: One wonders if we are simply creating more giant slush piles here.

Indy Book Publishers Name Franklin Finalists

Indy Book Publishers Name Franklin Finalists

AUTHORLINK NEWS/May 18, 2010--The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) has announce finalists in the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Awards™. The three finalists in each of the 50 categories were selected from among more than 1,300 entries. One winner per category will be announced at the Benjamin Franklin Awards ceremony on Monday evening, May 24 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

Let us know what you think of the winners. A complete listing of finalists can be found on the IBPA website

Anybody read any of these? How do they compare with releases by major publishers?

Google Hooks Up With Verizon Against iPad

Verizon Wireless is working with Google Inc. on a tablet computer, as the company tries catching up with iPad host AT&T. They say they'll have devices ready to show early next year. So, why do we need yet another tablet computer? Well, this one is supposed to be faster than all the rest, especially good for running video. We'll see. --May 12, 2010

McGraw-Hill Reports Growth, Digital Sales Soar

McGraw-Hill Reports Growth, Digital Sales Soar

YORK/AUTHORLINK NEWS/April 27, 2010--The McGraw-Hill Companies today reported an increase of 63.9% in net income to $103.3 million for the first quarter of 2010, compared to $63.0 million for the first quarter of 2009. Revenue grew by 3.7% in the first quarter to $1.2 billion. The company saw double-digit growth in digital sales in its professional division, while the international market slowed.

"Recovery in global bond markets, solid results in U.S. higher education, which is benefiting from double-digit growth in digital products and services, and an outstanding performance in global energy information markets were major factors in our first quarter," said Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies. "The operating margin expanded in all three segments."

Education: Revenue for this segment increased by 1.5% to $317.2 million in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. The operating loss for the period was cut by 19.3% to $61.8 million. Foreign exchange rates increased revenue by $5.8 million, and had an unfavorable impact on the operating loss of $2.4 million.

The McGraw-Hill School Education Group's revenue declined by 9.0% to $111.6 million in the first quarter as a modest gain in the instructional materials market was offset by a decline in the testing market.

The McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Professional and International Group's revenue increased by 8.3% to $205.7 million in the first quarter.

In the elementary-high school market, the McGraw-Hill School Education Group increased sales. Because most school districts do not make significant new purchases in this period, supplemental, residual and intervention orders accounted for most of the activity in the adoption states. North Carolina, usually the only adoption state to purchase new materials in the first quarter, was not in the market this year. In the open territory, the McGraw-Hill School Education Group benefited from large orders for world languages in Ohio, reading in Maryland and music in South Dakota, as well as supplemental and residual orders.

Growth in the expanding formative testing market was offset by the planned phase out of statewide custom contracts in California, Florida and Arizona. McGraw-Hill Education's Acuity, a leader in the formative assessment market, continued to add new customers.

For McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Professional and International Group, surging sales of digital products contributed to a strong first quarter performance in the U.S. college and university market and improved results in professional markets.

Increased demand fueled by higher enrollments carried through from the fourth quarter of 2009 into the first quarter of 2010 in higher education. Double-digit revenue increases were produced by e-books, online courses and online homework management assessment products for students, including McGraw-Hill Connect(TM), the industry's most advanced interactive platform.

McGraw-Hill Higher Education's best sellers in the first quarter included:

Sanderson, Computers in the Medical Office, 6th Edition
Shier, Hole's Human Anatomy and Physiology, 12th Edition
Garrison, Managerial Accounting, 13th Edition
Judson, Law and Ethics for Medical Careers, 5th Edition
Feldman, Essentials of Understanding Psychology, 8th Edition

In professional markets, digital revenue increased at a double-digit rate and traditional book sales in retail channels got off to a positive start in the first quarter. AccessPhysiotherapy, the sixth vertical site in the AccessMedicine(TM) suite of online subscription platforms for medical students, educators and physicians, was launched in the first quarter. AccessPhysiotherapy includes content from across McGraw-Hill Education, including Anatomy and Physiology Revealed, a virtual dissection tool from McGraw-Hill Higher Education, and Clinical Sports Medicine videos from McGraw-Hill Australia.

Revenue, excluding the impact of foreign exchange, declined slightly in international markets.

Booksellers Name Indies Choice Award Winners

Announcing the 2010 Indies Choice Book Award Winners!

NEW YORK, NY/AUTHORLINK NEWS/April 12, 2010--The American Booksellers Association late last week announced the winners of the 2010 Indies Choice Book Awards, reflecting the spirit of independent bookstores nationwide and the IndieBound movement.

This year's winners were chosen by the owners and staff at ABA member stores nationwide in more than four weeks of voting. Book of the Year winners and Honor Award recipients are all titles appearing on the 2009 Indie Next Lists.

The 2010 Book of the Year winners are:

Adult Fiction: Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (Knopf)
Adult Nonfiction: The Lost City of Z, by David Grann (Doubleday)
Adult Debut: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam)
Young Adult: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
Middle Reader: When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books)
New Picture Book: The Lion and the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown)
Kate DiCamillo was voted Most Engaging Author both for being an in-store star and for having a strong sense of the importance of indie booksellers to their local communities.

ABA members also inducted three of their all-time favorites into the Indies Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame:

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz (Atheneum)
Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans (Viking)
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson (Viking)
"Our sincere congratulations go out to all of the 2010 winners," said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. "Every one of these authors has created a truly unique work that independent booksellers have enthusiastically supported and enjoyed handselling during the past year. We look forward to honoring each of them at the Celebration of Bookselling Lunch at BEA."

Five Honor Award recipients were also named in each category, except Picture Book Hall of Fame.

Adult Fiction Honor Award recipients:

Border Songs, by Jim Lynch (Knopf)
Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin (Scribner)
The Children's Book, by A.S. Byatt (Knopf)
Generosity: An Enhancement, by Richard Powers (FSG)
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel (Holt)
Adult Nonfiction Honor Award recipients:

Animals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Lit: A Memoir, by Mary Karr (HarperCollins)
Stitches: A Memoir, by David Small (W.W. Norton)
Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder (Random House)
When Everything Changed, by Gail Collins (Little, Brown)
Adult Debut Honor Award recipients:

The Earth Hums in B Flat, by Mari Strachan (Canongate)
The Piano Teacher, by Y.K. Lee (Viking)
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, by Reif Larson (Penguin Press)
Still Alice, by Lisa Genova (Pocket)
Tinkers, by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press)
Young Adult Honor Award recipients:

Going Bovine, by Libba Bray (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
If I Stay, by Gayle Forman (Dutton Juvenile)
Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, Keith Thompson (illus.) (Simon Pulse)
Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)
Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking Juvenile)
Middle Reader Honor Award recipients:

Al Capone Shines My Shoes, by Gennifer Choldenko (Dial)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly (Holt)
Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
A Season of Gifts, by Richard Peck (Dial)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin (Little, Brown)
New Picture Book Honor Award recipients:

All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon, Maria Frazee (illus.) (Beach Lane Books)
The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown (Little, Brown)
Listen to the Wind, by Greg Mortenson, Susan Roth (illus.) (Dial)
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, by Brian Floca (Richard Jackson Books)
Otis, by Loren Long (Philomel)
Most Engaging Author Honor Award recipients:

Isabel Allende
Laurie Halse Anderson
Libba Bray
Michael Chabon
Abraham Verghese
All of the Indies Choice Book Award winners and Honor Award recipients are being invited to the Celebration of Bookselling Lunch on Wednesday, May 26, at New York's Javits Convention Center. The event is free and open exclusively to two booksellers from each ABA member store. Booksellers who would like to attend should register individually as soon as possible via an electronic reservation form on Bookweb.org. Questions regarding the lunch should be addressed to Mark Nichols, ABA industry relations officer, at mark@bookweb.org.

Random House Merges Ballantine and Bantam Dell

Random House Merges Ballantine and Bantam Dell

NEW YORK, NY/AUTHORLINK NEWS/April 13/2010--Random House today merged the Ballantine and Bantam Dell impritns into a single new Ballantine Bantam Dell division, under the supervision of senior vice president Libby McGuire. Bantam Dell executive vice president and publisher Nita Taublib will leave the company.

Random House Publishing Group president Gina Centrello said in an emploee memo: "I am saddened that with the organizational changes we are announcing this morning for Ballantine and Bantam Dell" Taublib will "step down." Centrello said Taublib is a "one-of-a-kind editor and a team-building publisher. . .she is one of the rare publishing executives who combines a keen editorial appreciation for a diverse range of authors with the skillful execution of all the administrative details that go into bringing their books into the marketplace."

Random House editorial director Jennifer Hershey will now serve as editor-in-chief of BBD, overseeing all Ballantine, Del Rey and Bantam editors. Ballantine editorial director Linda Marrow and Bantam editorial director Kate Miciak will report to Hershey. She will continue to edit her own list of authors as editor-at-large for the Random House imprint. Hershey's little Random position has not been filled. The editorial department will continue under Susan Kamil.

Scott Shannon, Publisher of Del Rey/Spectra, adds responsibility as mass market publisher for BBD, and Kim Hovey is associate publisher for the new group. Both will continue to report to McGuire. Gina Wachtel has been elevated to mass market associate publisher. Trade paperbacks for all the BBD lines will continue to be published under the direction of senior vice president and publisher Jane von Mehren.

Since an earlier consolidation of Bantam Dell, some departments already had merged, including publicity and rights. Until now, however, Ballantine and Bantam Dell had retained separate editorial departments.

Pulitzer Winner Harding to Publish With Random House

Paul Harding, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel TINKERS, is under contract with Random House for his next two books. Random House Editor in Chief Susan Kamil, who is also the Editorial Director of The Dial Press, acquired U.S. rights at auction from Ellen Levine at Trident Media Group and will edit the novels.
The first novel in the contract will be titled ENON, and will be set in the same fictional town as TINKERS.
“We are thrilled that Paul Harding has been the recipient of this honor,” said Kamil. “He is a writer of astonishing talent and we are looking forward to being the publisher of his future work.”

Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced for 2010

Pulitzer Prize winners for 2010 Letters, Ddrama and Music were announced today April 12, 2010)

Paul Harding won the fiction prize for his novel “Tinkers,” while the drama award went to the musical “Next to Normal,” with music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. Liaquat Ahamed won the history award for “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World,” the biography prize went to T. J. Stiles for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt” and the general nonfiction prize went to David E. Hoffman for “The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy.”

Jennifer Higdon won the music prize for her Violin Concerto while the poetry award went to Rae Armantrout for “Versed.”

For the complete list of winners in Letters, Drama and Music go to The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/business/media/2010-Arts-Pulitzers.html