Harvard Business Press fires 14

Wind Gone author pleased at ending

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, May 14, 2002 -- The author of The Wind Done Gone, advertised as an unauthorized parody of the epic Gone With the Wind, said she was pleased that the copyright dispute about her work is over. Alice Randall told the Boston Globe: "I am pleased that this episode has come to an end." Randall's book, published by Houghton Mifflin, had been challenged by heirs of Margaret Mitchell as a copyright infringement because it drew from her original book, even though Randall told the story from the slaves' perspective. Said Randall: "I am honored to have been able to give voice to the thoughts and ideas that so many black people have had." Although neither side in the copyright dispute acknowledged giving in, Houghton agreed in the settlement to post an "unauthorized parody" label on the copy, which it had done earlier anyway.

COPY- RIGHT RANDALL EARLIER ARTICLE Suit settled

McDougal Littel launches e-editions

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 13, 2002 -- The 6-12 publisher McDougal Littel, a unit of Houghton Mifflin, announced it's going beyond web ancillaries to e-texts in the fall. The first McDougal e-texts will be derived from Algebra I and Algebra I: Concepts and Skills. The e-editions include multimedia simulations from ExploreLearning of Charlottesville, Virginia. Next to be converted to e-alternatives will be 13 geography, history and social science books, said McDougal marketing Vice President Sue Cowden. Also, all new books will be available in e-form. School districts will have a choice: Buy traditional bound editions or subscribe to e-editions. Cowden called the initial response to e-editions encouraging.

EL-HI HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Minnesota Press puts disputed pages on web

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, May 12, 2002 -- Responding to a cacophony of charges that one its new titles promotes pedophilia, the University Minnesota Press decided to let people decide for themselves. The Press posted the four pages that deal with child-adult sex from Judith Levine's Harmful to Minors on its web site. The Press' director, Douglas Armato, said critics have distorted Levine's work. Meanwhile, amid criticism from the Legislature, a universty-ordered examination is proceeding into how the Press chooses titles.

UNIVERSITY PRESSES UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS EARLIER ARTICLE SA2: Call off review

Danes to pay for copying U.S. works

Barbara Fine Clouse (English), Youngstown, Ohio, wrote the second edition of Jumpstart! A Workbook for Writers (McGraw-Hill). Theodore Buchholz, president at Harcourt College, was named president and chief executive at ExploreLearning. He succeeds Carl Frischkorn, who founded Explorelearning. Ric Martini (anatomy), University of Hawaii, wrote the fifth edition of Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology (Prentice Hall).

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Vivendi a bargain, but who has cash?

PARIS, May 11, 2002 -- The Paris conglomerate Vivendi, whose diverse holdings include U.S. textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin, could get out of its mounting debt problems by selling off part of the company -- if a buyer could be found. Carol Matlack, reporting for Business Week, said the stock is so low that some Vivendi parts would be good deals. But other media conglomerates that might be interested in them are mired in debt and not looking to major acquisitions. Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Universal Studios and USA Networks might fetch $30 billion. Houghton might fetch $2 billion. But, said Matlack: "Most leading media and communications companies are no shape to go on a prowl." Matlack, however, did not rule out joint acquisition deals. RELATED INFORMATION: FINANCIALS

TEXT- BOOKS CORPORATE PROFILE RELATED ARTICLE Vivendi eyes British utility acquisition

SA2: Call off Minnesota Press review

House committee considers Bush lid

Wind Done Gone suit settled

ATLANTA, Georgia, May 10, 2002 -- A confidential settlement ended a long-running copyright case, in which the issue was parody. The settlement was announced by the estate of Margaret Mitchell, who wrote Gone With the Wind in 1936, and publishing house Houghton Mifflin, which published a takeoff, Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone. The Mitchell estate had called Randall's book a ripoff and sued. Houghton had responded that the book was parody, which is permissble under case law. Said the joint statement: "Both sides continue to maintain the correctness of their respective legal positions." Houghton said it will make a financial contribution to Morehouse College at the request of the Mitchell estate. The statement said Randall's rights for movie and other adaptations of her book are not affected by the settlement.

COPY- RIGHT RANDALL RELATED ARTICLE Judges deny appeal

McGraw seeks science, technical authors

Leapfrog offers stock to public

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2002 -- Six-year-old Leapfrog Enterprises, which has proposed expanding more into the K-5 school market, announced plans to issue stock to the public to raise, it hopes, $150 million. Details of the initial public offering were in documents filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Leapfrog said the funds would go to reduce debt and for general corporate purposes. Leapfrog, of Emeryville, California, includes the former Knowledge Universe. Revenues in 2001, $314 million, were double the year before. The company's focus has been educational gadgets and interactive materials for the consumer market. Schools sales last year were 2.7 percent of its total revenue.

EL-HI

Vivendi eyes British utility acquisition

PARIS, May 9, 2002 -- A subsidiary unit of troubled Vivendi International announced a complex deal to buy Southern Water of Britain, a utility company, for US$2.9 billion. The subsidiary, Vivendi Environment, said the acquisition will boost its financial situation and thus help parent Vivendi International. A company announcement said the deal is structured to minimize any financial burden on Vivendi International, whose acquisitions in recent years, including Universal movies and Houghton Mifflin textbooks, have strained its debt load. RELATED INFORMATION: FINANCIALS

TEXT- BOOKS CORPORATE PROFILE RELATED ARTICLE Vivendi debt status now next to junk bonds

Academic genres not sharing in output growth

Brooks/Cole adds math web aids

POMPANO BEACH, Florida, May 7, 2002 -- An e-learning company, Elluminate, will make its virtual classroom service available to students using Brooks/Cole math books, the companies announced. Elluminate's vClass offers live instruction, homework help and tutoring. Brooks/Cole is a unit of Wadsworth, which is owned by Thomson Learning.

Infotrieve broadens database bevy

Garry Berger (law), Pound Ridge, New York, wrote "Avoiding Copyright Infringement Under the Safe Harbor Provisions of the DMCA" for Client Times (July 2002). Karen Billings, vice president of major business initiatives at Bigchalk, was named vice president of the Education Division at the Software and Information Industry Association. Paul Martin Lester (photography), California State University, Fullerton, wrote Visual Communication: Images with Messages (Thomson).

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Vivendi debt status now next to junk bonds

PARIS, May 6, 2002 -- A leading debt rating service, Moody's, dropped the long-term senior debt rating of the troubled conglomerate Vivendi to Level Baa3. Any lower, the rating would the same as junk bonds. Moody's acted after a second disclosure of off-balance-sheet obligations that will run Vivendi's debt possibly to US$31.8 billion. Also, the company has just completed an expensive purchase of Barry Diller's USA Networks by borrowing $2.4 billion. After the Moody's downgrade was announced, Vivendi shares dropped again. The stock now is down 49 percent this year. The stock is down 60 percent from December 2000 when Vivendi acquired Universal, the U.S. movie studio, from Seagram of Canada. In the meantime, acquisitions have included U.S. textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin What this means for authors: Vivendi's cost of borrowing for day-to-day operations suddenly became much more expensive. If the company decides to sell some units to raise cash and reduce debt, and if its Houghton is a candidate, authors need to be concerned, even alarmed. Houghton authors could find themselves in other houses with competing titles, which inevitably leads to a thinning. For the same reason, authors with whatever house might acquire Houghton need to be concerned. RELATED INFORMATION: FINANCIALS

TEXT- BOOKS CORPORATE PROFILE RELATED ARTICLE Vivendi now paying for "Lonely Bull" COMMENT American- izing done right -- and wrong

Textbooks buck U.S. book export trend

Wiley acquires German tech publisher

DARMSTADT, Germany, May 6, 2002 -- The technical publisher GIT Verlag was acquired by United States-based publisher John Wiley & Sons. GIT produces about 25 periodicals in biotechnlogy, chemistry, engineering and security. Terms were not disclosed. GIT Verlag reported sales of US$10 million in 2001. Most of its products are in German.

Prentice Hall sells series to Aspen

CHICAGO, May 6, 2002 -- A series of business and financial management titles from Prentice Hall has been sold to Wolters Kluwer North America. Terms were not announced. Going to Kluwer's Aspen line are GAAP Handbook, Accounting Deskbook, IT Policies & Procedures, Lawyer' Deskbook, Complete Guide to HR Law and Labor & Employment Law. The acquisition strengthens Aspen's legal, accounting and financial product line, which already included Strafford accounting newsletters and the Miller accounting series.

Kluwer selling e-titles online

DORDRECHT, The Netherlands, May 6, 2002 -- The academic publisher Kluwer launched an e-bookstore for academic and research professionals The site features e-books in Adobe Portable Document Format in biology, chemistry, computer science, electrical engineering, medical science, materials science, physics, and social sciences. More than 150 titles are available, with dozens being added each week, the company said. Kluwer is also developing an e-bookstore for institutions to purchase site licenses.

E-BOOK SITE

Attorney: Authors can reclaim copyright

Publishers honor Barney Rosset finally

NEW YORK, May 5, 2002 -- One of the 20th century's great First Amendment crusaders, Barney Rosset, who put Grove Press on the map, was honored with the Curtis Benjamin Award from the Association of American Publishers. Rosset published Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1951 and then began an eight-year battle against government censorship. The battle almost bankrupted Grove Press, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the D.H. Lawrence classic could not be restricted despite lusty passages. An irony is that the Benjamin Award is from AAP, yet Rosset had virtually no support from fellow publishers in the 1950s. Rosset also went to court against censorship of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and William Burrough's Naked Lunch and prevailed. Among other authors he published: Allen Ginsberg, Jean Genet and Malcolm X.

FREE SPEECH ROSSET

McGraw chief's compensation: $3.8 million

NEW YORK, May 5, 2002 -- In the annual Forbes magazine ranking of how much U.S. chief executives earn, Harold McGraw of McGraw-Hill was again the leader among publishing companies. McGraw's salaries and bonuses totaled $1.6 million for the latest fiscal year, itself a 29 percent drop from the previous year. But then there was other compensation: $2.1 million. The total: A tad shy of $3.8 million -- way off his $12.9 million package a year before. His stock in McGraw-Hill, however, grew slightly to $29.4 million. The compensation of executives with other major education publishers was not included in the Forbes ranking, which was limited to U.S. companies. Pearson, Thomson and Vivendi all are foreign-owned. How McGraw ranked among other media executives: Viacom Properties include CBS Sumner Redstone $15.6 million McGraw-Hill Harold McGraw $3.8 million USA Networks Now part of Vivendi Barry Diller $2.6 million Tribune Company Former school publisher John Madigan $1.2 million Disney Michael Eisner $1.0 million

MCGRAW RELATED ARTICLE Vivendi execs buying more stock

Firm offers booking site for authors

CHANDLER, Arizona, May 4, 2002 -- An Arizona firm, Five Star Publications, launched a web site to make authors available to talk-show bookers, news reporters, and lawyers looking for expert witnesses. Linda Radke, president, charges $99 for authors to sign on to the site, which is called "Authors and Experts." Media people search the site free, Radke said. Also, she said, organizations needing a guest speaker list their needs on the site. Radke, a 16-year veteran of publishing and marketing business, said she has succeeded in getting publicity for her clients on "60 Minutes," on Fox-TV News, and in dozens of national magazines.

AUTHOR SERVICES BOOKING SITE

Vivendi paying for "Lonely Bull"

PARIS, May 3, 2002 -- More distressing news hit the press for shareholders in Vivendi, the French conglomerate whose properties include Hollywood film and music interests and Houghton Mifflin the textbook publisher. Vivendi owes $250 million to music producer Jerry Moss and "Lonely Bull" trumpeter Herb Alpert because the company's stock has fallen so badly that a pay-off clause was triggered. The off-the-balance sheet arrangement dates to a deal with Moss and Alpert's Rondor Music Inc. Vivendi, whose shares have fallen 45 percent this year, doesn't have the money. Borrowing may run its debt load to US$31.8 billion. What this means for authors: Nobody can be sure, but if Vivendi has to sell off some operating units to raise cash, respectfully profitable Houghton Mifflin might fetch well. RELATED INFORMATION: FINANCIALS

TEXT- BOOKS CORPORATE PROFILE RELATED ARTICLE Houghton owner's stock off 42%

McGraw bright spot: Higher-ed text sales

NEW YORK, May 3, 2002 -- Publishing giant McGraw-Hill will have double-digit growth in college textbook sales again this year, chairman Terry McGraw said. Higher-ed was among few bright spots in the company's first-quarter report to shareholders. Sales were especially strong bin business and economics, McGraw said. He said el-hi sales may pick up during the year if states receive federal money from the new No Child Left Behind law. McGraw blamed slumping el-hi sales on state budgets and Virginia's decision to postpone reading adoptions. RELATED INFORMATION: FINANCIALS

TEXT- BOOKS MCGRAW

Wolters seeks buyer for Kluwer Academic

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands,, May 3, 2002 -- The academic publisher Wolters Kluwer announced plans to sell a subsidiary, Kluwer Academic, to focus its offerings in health fields. The sale will have minimal effects on Kluwer Academic, the company said, noting that much of the subsidiary's scientific and technical content falls outside of the health realm. "The pending sale of Kluwer will have no impact on the current and future products and services," the subsidiary said. "We will continue operations normally and will develop new products and services as always."

Vivendi looking for internal revenue growth

BOSTON, May 3, 2002 -- The chair of Vivendi Universal, whose holdings include movie, television and music producers as well as education publisher Houghton Mifflin, laid out the company's plans for coming months. No more acquisitions, said Agnès Touraine. She said the focus would be on developing synergies that contribute to internal revenue growth and on reducing debt. Touraine's statements, made to investors, cited revenue growth in the first quarter of 2002 in the publishing division, which includes Houghton, J.R.R. Tolkien books and Kids Interactive. The movies unit has done well at the box office with "A Beautiful Mind." RELATED INFORMATION: FINANCIALS

TEXT- BOOKS CORPORATE PROFILE

Minnesota Press gains support on Harmful

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, May 2, 2002 -- The Free Expression Network strongly supported the University of Minnesota Press, which has been attacked for its decision to publish Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Minors from Sex by Judith Levine. In a statement, the Network said: "Ideas become controversial when they challenge conventional wisdom. Many are unwise. However, some are beneficial, challenging us to examine our basic assumptions and consider changing the way we have always done things. The First Amendment exists to allow us to debate the wisdom of those ideas and make up our own minds. Censorship only supports a status quo that cannot otherwise be defended." The statement applauded the University of Minnesota Press decision to "enrich the public debate about this essential issue." Signatories included the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, Association of American Publishers, Association of American University Presses, Association of Research Libraries, Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression, Feminists for Free Expression, Freedom to Read Foundation, First Amendment Project, Modern Language Association of America, National Humanities Alliance, National Coalition Against Censorship, Online Policy Group, Peacefire, Publishers Marketing Association, PEN American Center, PEN New England, and the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association.

UNIVERSITY PRESSES LEVINE HER BOOK RELATED ARTICLE Minnesota Press finds out who its friends are

Fred Blevens (masscom), Southwest Texas State University, wrote "Keeping Scholarship Strong: Top 10 Tips for Reviewing Manuscripts" in Clio Among the Media (Summer 2002), Pages 1, 6. Paul Tippens (physics), Powder Springs, Georgia, wrote the sixth edition of Physics (Glencoe McGraw-Hill). John Vivian (masscom), Winona State University, and Peter Maurin (masscom), Mohawk College, wrote the third Canadian edition of The Media of Mass Communication (Prentice Hall Canada). Andy Yablin, director of North American transportation at Pepsi, was named vice president of global logistics at Scholastic. Yablkin reports to Beth Ford, senior vice president for global operations and information technology.

Please tell us about your latest project: EDITOR

Houghton owner's stock off 42%

PARIS, May 1, 2002 -- Shares in the France-based conglomerate Vivendi, which has owned U.S textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin for 11 months, dropped precipitously after the company disclosed an off-the-balance sheet liability. Since January 1, shares gave dropped 42.5 percent. The liability involves guarantees to speculators to buy back shares at earlier prices. The deal raised money to finance stock options awarded to company executives. In disclosing the deal, Vivendi said it might need to borrow US$900 million to meet the obligation, pushing the company's already high debt load to US$29.3 billion. What this means for authors: This disclosure adds to Vivendi's instability following its rapid expansion through acquisitions, including Houghton, into one of Europe's largest-capitalized companies. Nervous investors now have rendered the company's stock one of Europe's worst performing.

CORPORATE PROFILE RELATED ARTICLE Vivendi an acquisition target? COMMENT American- izing done right -- and wrong

Authors' society issuing e-mail alerts

School cows Press into cancelling book

BALTIMORE, Maryland, May 1, 2002 -- The widely respected Johns Hopkins University Press bowed to legal pressure from a private girls school and cancelled plans to publish a history about the school. The decision raises questions about how free university presses are to publish controversial ideas, said reporter Jennifer Ruark, who exposed what happened in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Although the facts have been muddled in months of rhetoric, it seems that officials at the Bryn Mawr School didn't like what doctoral student Andrea Hamilton said in her dissertation. When they learned that Johns Hopkins was planning to publish the dissertation, they invoked a document that Hamilton signed in 1995 for access to the school's archives: "No record, nor any part of a record, may be published or reproduced without prior written permission." Johns Hopkins declined to comment on its decision. A retired Johns Hopkins publishing law attorney, Frederick DeKuyper, who not involved in the controversy, said it's common for corporations to try to control research and comment about them, especially with trade secrets, but it was a surprise that an educational institution would try to inhibit the publication of scholarship. An irony is that several reviewers of Hamilton's manuscript called it "gentle" on Bryn Mawr.

UNIVERSITY PRESSES JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS RELATED ARTICLE Jennifer K. Ruark. "The History That May Never Be Read," Chronicle of Higher Education (April 26, 2002), Pages A16-A18.

Minnesota Press finds friends, critics over sex title

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, May 1, 2002 -- As the University Minnesota launches a review of the acquisition procedures at its Press, organizations are lining up for and against the release of a book on juvenile sex issued by the University of Minnesota Press. The book, Harmful to Minors by Judith Levine," was castigated by Concerned Women for America as "every child molester's dream." The director of the University of Minnesota Press, Douglas Armato, said critics have distorted Levine's work. Only four pages deal with intergenerational sex, Armato noted. Levine advocates more openness about sex among teens but hardly advocates pedophilia, he said. Defending publication of the book so far are the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, Association of American Publishers, Association of American University Presses, and the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union.

UNIVERSITY PRESSES UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS RELATED ARTICLE Minnesota ups press run

Wiley acquires British medical publisher

GUILDFORD, England, May 1, 2002 -- The technical publisher A&M, which specializes in pharmaceutical and healthcare publications, was acquired by United States-based publisher John Wiley & Sons. Most A&M products have controlled circulation. The company also publishes the Pharmafile directory. Terms were not disclosed. A&M reported sales of US$7.5 million in 2001.

Textbook excellence winners chosen

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, May 1, 2002 -- A family writing team, headed by patriarch Bill Pasewark of Lubbock, Texas, perennial winners of awards from the Text and Academic Authors Association, won another TAA Texty award for a new computer book. The Pasewarks were among authors of 14 books awarded TAA Texty or McGuffey longevity awards. Textys: Scott G. Pasewark,William R. Pasewark Jr., William R. Pasewark Sr., Carolyn Pasewark Denny, Frank M. Stogner, Jan Pasewark Stogner and Beth Pasewark Wadsworth, Microsoft Office XP; Paul Siegel, Communication Law in America; Frederic Martini, Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology; William Stallings, Operating Systems; Michael Sullivan, College Algebra; Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Modern Operating Systems; and Antony C. Wilbraham, Dennis D. Staley, Michael S. Matta and Edward L. Waterman, Addison Wesley Chemistry 2002. McGuffeys: Antony C. Wilbraham, Dennis D. Staley and Michael S. Matta, Addison Wesley Chemistry; C.W. Fetter, Applied Hydrogeology; Marilyn T. Fordney, Insurance Handbook for the Medical Office; Michael Mescon, Courtland Bov´e and John Thill, Business Today; William Stallings, Computer Organization and Architecture; Thomas L. Tedford and Dale A. Herbeck, Freedom of Speech in the United States; Jean-Paul and Rebecca Valette, Contacts: Langue et Culture Françaises.

PASEWARKS: FAMILY OF AUTHORS Scott, Bill Jr., Carolyn, Jan, Frank, Bill Sr., Rhonda Davis; Beth Pasewark Wadsworth didn't make the shoot SIEGEL WITH AVID LAW STUDENT Texty Winner

Scholasic releases Red reading program

NEW YORK, May 1, 2002 -- Educational publisher Scholastic unveiled a research-based professional development program, Scholastic Red, for teachers in reading instruction. The online program combines individualized self-paced instruction with on-site support for pupils. Scholastic Red is aligned to national and state standards and also is correlated to all major reading programs. Scholastic said it has pilot-tested the program in 10 school districts.

EL-HI

Pearson buys DDC for Prentice Hall

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 1, 2002 -- Textbook publisher Pearson Education bought DDC, formerly known as Dictation Disc Co., and plans to absorb the company's 400 software and computer training products into Pearson's Prentice Hall secondary and post-secondary lines. Terms were not announced. The DDC products will go into computer-related publications and teacher training and assessment materials.

McGraw exec: Selling textbook parts

NEW YORK, May 1, 2002 -- The future of textbooks and reference works is slicing and dicing their content for electronic delivery to users, a McGraw-Hill vice president told the trade journal Publishers Weekly. Bob Bolick, who heads new business development for McGraw, foresees selling chapters and excerpts for desktop, laptop, e-books and palm-held devices. So far, McGraw has about 2,000 titles in e-book formats. Of several e-book formats the company is using, Bolick said Acrobat's PDF seems best for graphics-heavy textbooks and professional titles.

TEXT- BOOKS

Scholastic acquires Teacher's Friend

RIVERSIDE, California, May 1, 2002 -- Educational publisher Scholastic bought Teacher's Friend, which produces teacher classroom decoratives, for about $6 million. The company, based in Riverside, California, was started by Karen and Richard Sevaly in 1986. Its inventory has more than 700 decorative items, including bulletin boards, banners and posters. Sales exceeded than $4 million in last year.

EL-HI

McGraw-Hill: Revenues fell 8.5 percent to $281.6 million in the latest quarter, ended March 30, compared to a year earlier. There was a net loss of$ 71.8 million. Company explanation: Professional, international and el-hi sales were off. Higher-ed gains were "solid."

Thomson: Revenue grew 11 percent to US$1.66 billion in the latest quarter, ended March 31, compared to a year earlier. There was a net loss of US$34 million. Company explanation: Seasonal weakness at Thomson Learning and the cost of integrating Harcourt assets.

Vivendi Universal Publishing: Revenues grew 4 percent to US$541 million in the latest quarter, ended March 31, compared to a year earlier. Revenue was up 6 percent in the Houghton Mifflin textbook unit.