Text editor offers how-to authoring volume

GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts, April 30, 2003 -- Veteran college textbook development editor Mary Ellen Lepionka, recently retired from Allyn & Bacon, wrote a how-to book drawing on her 20 years in the business. Lepionka has self-published Writing and Developing Your CollegeTextbook through her own house, Atlantic Path. As a development editor, Lepionka worked with authors and editors on more than 70 titles, including 22 first editions, for D. C. Heath; Ginn; Merrill; Prentice-Hall; Pitman; Little, Brown; Holt, Rinehart, & Winston; Addison Wesley; and Houghton Mifflin. She was with Allyn & Bacon 12 years. Her books have spanned U.S. and world history, English composition and literature, business management and international business, political science, education and special education, educational psychology and social psychology, human development, sociology and social problems, anthropology and archaeology, communication and public speaking, and criminology and criminal justice. She holds a master's degree in anthropology. She has taught at Boston University, Northeastern University, and other colleges. Contact: Atlantic Path

LEPIONKA SELF- PUBLISHED

Prentice adds BlueBolt design tools

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, New Jersey April 29, 2003 -- --Textbook publisher Prentice Hall entered a licensing agreement for adopters of its interior design, fashion and textile books to use BlueBolt online design tools. Through BlueBolt, students can explore and choose from more than 60,000 commercial interior finish products from 53 brands. Students also can find complete, accurate product specifications; explore color-true product imagery; create and save digital design boards; and even order samples online. BlueBolt is used at more than 125 U.S. design schools.

PRENTICE HALL

Holt releases Spanish, French web series

ORLANDO, Florida, April 28, 2003 -- Holt, Rinehart & Winston, a unit of Reed's Harcourt Education, launched its Holt Online Learning world languages series in Spanish and French. The series, offered from Level 1A and 1B to Level 1 and Level 2, is "the first complete series of Spanish and French textbooks in an electronic format available on the market," the company said.

HOLT, RINEHART & WINSTON

Harry Potter irrepressible in Arkansas

FORT SMITH, Arkansas, April 27, 2003 -- Harry Potter is back. The Cedarville, Arkansas, School Board was ordered by federal Judge Jimm Hendren to return copies of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books to library shelves. The judge said the books must be displayed "where they can be accessed without any restrictions other than those administrative restrictions that apply to all works of fiction." The Cedarville board had removed the books after a parent complained about "good witches" and "good magic" and parents, teachers and rulesbeing cast as "stupid and something to be ignored." Judge Hendren saw no evidence to support the claim that the books encouraged disobedience or posed a threat to school decorum. Restricting access, he said, denied the First Amendment rights to pupils.

FREE INQUIRY THE FICTIONAL HARRY EARLIER ARTICLE Book people rally against Harry Potter ban

Zick Rubin hangs own shingle

NEWTON, Massachusetts, April 26, 2003 -- Media lawyer Zick Rubin, himself a psychology textbook author, opened his own practice in Newton, Massachusetts, outside Boston. Rubin said he will continue to practice publishing, media, copyright, trademark, and Internet law, serving authors and other creators, publishing companies and other businesses, and educational, scientific, and cultural organizations. Rubin had been with the Boston firm Hill & Barlow, whose 44 partners decided to dissolve last fall. Contact: The Law Office of Zick Rubin 288 Walnut Street, Suite 230 Newton MA 02460 Phone: (617) 965-9425 (965-ZICK) Fax: (617) 965-9426

RUBIN EARLIER ARTICLE Venerable Boston law firm dissolves SA2 LIST Authoring lawyers

CTB releases new life-skills tests

MONTEREY, California, April 25, 2003 -- Test publisher CTB/McGraw-Hill released the fifth generation in its Tests of Adult Basic Education product line to help adult students prepare to take the recently revised General Education Development test. Covered are core reading, language, and math skills. Optional tests are available in language mechanics, vocabulary, and spelling. New advanced-level, criterion-referenced tests in writing, social studies, science, and algebra/geometry link TABE more closely to the new advanced content areas of the GED. The new TABE system aligns with changes in national standards for adult education, the company said.

CTB

Prometric ends paper and pencil exams

BALTIMORE, Maryland April 24, 2003 -- Exam publisher Prometric and the Human Resource Certification Institute hve converted the Institute's PHR and SPHR exams from paper and pencil to computer-based format for introduction in 2004. Prometric will deliver the computer-based tests for more than 20,000 HRCI test-takers a year.

PROMETRIC

Germany loosens copyright protections

Charles Bazerman (English), University of California, Santa Barbara, and Harvey S. Wiener (English), Marymount Manhattan College, wrote the fifth edition of Writing Skills Handbook (Houghton Mifflin). Steven A. Beebe (communication), Southwest Texas State University, and John T. Masterson (communication), Texas Lutheran University wrote the seventh edition of Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices (Allyn & Bacon). Margaret De Santos, online publishing general manager for O'Reilly & Associates, was named managing editor of Riverdeep's new Learning Company books division. Suzanne Draayer (music), Winona State University, edited Cancones de Espana (Scarecrow). Karen Orchard, director of the University of Georgia Press, was named director of Oregon State University Press.

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MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Fifth edition JAMES WATSON 1953 photo

Watson's biology classic in fifth edition

SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 22, 2003 -- The classic Molecular Biology, by James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, will be published in a fifth edition in December, publishers Benjamin Cummings and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press announced jointly. The release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the publication of the article by James Watson and Francis Crick that reported the structure of the DNA double helix. The first edition of Watson's Molecular Biology appeared in 1965. The new edition, written with five new authors, has been brought fully up to date, and incorporates insights very recently derived from genome sequencing in many organisms, the publishers said. The authors: Tania A. Baker (Massachusetts Instiute of Technology), Stephen P. Bell (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Alexander Gann (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Michael Levine (University of California, Berkeley), Richard Losick (Harvard University), and James D. Watson (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press is a not-for-profit science publisher.

BENJAMIN CUMMMINGS COLDSPRING HARBOR LABORATORY PRESS

Houghton makes post-Vivendi divestiture

BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 22, 2003 -- Textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin sold its Curriculum Advantage educational software subsidiary to Prime Entertainment of Atlanta, Georgia. The sale is the first Houghton spin-off since two Boston investment groups bought the company from Paris-based Vivendi last fall. Terms were not announced. Curriculum Advantage markets management software that is in use in more than 600 schools. Prime, which develops educational technology for the school and home markets, will structure Curriculum Advantage as a wholly owned subsidiary. Curriculum Advantage will continue to be based in Los Angeles.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN EARLIER ARTICLE Consensus: Houghton will be dissected

McGraw, Carnegie offer web econ lessons

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, April 22, 2003 -- McGraw-Hill/Irwin will market interactive experiments and online exercises developed at Carnegie Mellon University to support the teaching of economics. The online package, Online Experiments in Economics, was developed at Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon by John Miller, head of the Social and Decision Services Departent at the university. The package will be available with McGraw-Hill economics textbooks in the fall, including McConnell and Brue, Frank and Bernanke, Schiller, Colander, Samuelson and Nordhaus, and Slavin.. Through this interactive system, students will be able to trade in online markets to learn economic principles. In pilot tests, JP Lenney, president of McGraw-Hill/Irwin said, students have reported that they learned nearly as much about economic principles from their experience as a participant as they do from their analysis of the experiment as an observer.

IRWIN

Publishers issue book shortage report

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2003 -- A nationwide shortage of instructional materials is shortchanging students and obstructing efforts to meet higher standards and greater accountability, according a new publication from the Association of American Publishers. Entitled Less Than a Penny, the publication urges parents, teachers and policy-makers to make state and federal legislators more responsive to the problem. The publication's name coimes from the fact that the average amount spent on textbooks for every educational dollar is less than a penny. The publication highlights the findings of an AAP survey conducted with the National Education Association. The survey identified book shortages in all parts of the country, particularly in urban areas and in schools serving economically disadvantaged and minority students. Textbook shortages are fueling a disturbing "achievement gap" reflected in standardized testing between students in more affluent communities and those from communities that are economically hard-pressed, the report said.

FOR COPIES STEPHEN DRIESLER

Nelson, Sounds Virtual hatch French program

TORONTO, Ontario, April 21, 2003 -- Canadian publisher Nelson and Toronto-based high-tech developer Sounds Virtual launched a multimedia product for introductory college French. The partnership marks the first time in Canada that students will have a multimedia learning system for introductory French produced by Canadian companies. Content is from Patricia P. De Méo, James W. Brown and B. Edward Gesner's textbook, Bonne Route, published by Nelson. Newly produced video and audio clips will provide the content for Sounds Virtual's CAN-8 VirtuaLab, a network based interactive language training software platform. Bonne Route is entering its fourth edition.

NELSON

Pearson VUE wins security patent

BLOOMINGTON, Minnesota, April 20, 2003 -- Pearson VUE has won a patent for its new network of more than 200 high-security test centers specifically designed and built to deliver high-stakes exams for the professional licensure, certification, academic and human resource markets. The design patent is based on a number of security features built into the centers to safeguard the intellectual capital of Pearson VUE clients, said Bob Whelan, VUE vice president and general manager. High-stakes exams are delivered through a VUE-owned-and-operated domestic network of more than 3,600 sites in 130 countries.

VUE

Wiley puts Cochrane med titles on web

CHICHESTER, England, April 19, 2003 -- Publisher John Wiley & Sons Ltd. will deliver the Britain-based Cochrane Collaboration's healthcare products via Wiley InterScience, the companies announced. Cochrane's publishing activities encompass an established network of 50 research groups worldwide that cover a range of medical specialties that are continually updated. Cochrane has more than 1,600 complete, authoritative reviews, with about 100 to 200 new or substantially updated reviews added each quarter. Wiley will also make the products available on CD-ROM.

JOHN WILEY & SONS

Princeton Review: Revenue grew 29 percent to $89.2 million in 2002, compared to a year earlier. All of the company's units posted sales gains.

OK months away for Lagardere-Vivendi deal

PARIS, April 18, 2003 -- French publisher Lagardere said a European Union examination of its purchase of Vivendi Universal's European publishing operations will take until late summer at least, a Lagardere spokesperson said. The European Union is giving the deal an unprecedented examination, he said. Although the French government has approved the deal, many independent publishers and booksellers are opposed. Lagardere bought the bulk of Vivendi's publishing operations, except for U.S.-based Houghton Mifflin, which was sold to private investors.

VIVENDI EARLIER ARTICLE With Vivendi units, Lagardere is France's largest

Steven A. Beebe (communication), Southwest Texas State University, Susan J. Beebe, Southwest Texas State University, wrote the fifth edition of Public Speaking: An Audience-Centered Approach (Allyn & Bacon). D.R. Carmichael (accounting), and Paul Rosenfield (accounting) wrote the second volume of Accountants' Handbook: Special Industries and Special Topics (Wiley). Damodar N. Gujarati (economics), U.S. Military Academy, wrote the fourth edition of Basic Econometrics (McGraw-Hill Irwin). James R. Hitchner wrote Financial Valuation: Applications and Models (Wiley). Don Lankiewicz, vice president of social studiers editorial at Holt Rinehart & Winston, was named senor vice presdient. Earlier he was McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, before that Merrill.

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Book groups tackle USA Patriot Act

U.S. seeks Iraqi input for school books

Partisan Review folds after 68 years

BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 15, 2003 -- The culture and politics journal Partisan Review which has been floundering since the September death of cofounder and editor William Phillips, has issued its last number. Nina Koprulu, chair of the journal's advisory board, made the announcement. Kill fees have been issued to contributors whose articles had been accepted for future issues. John Silber, president of Boston University, publisher of the journal, said he had hoped that Phillips' widow, Edith Kurzweil, would finish the current volume, but the advisory board, which provides much of the funding for the journal, decided to end it, he said. The Partisan Reviewm in its 68th year, was a pre-eminent forum for leading U.S. intellectuals from the 1930s through the 1960s. At the journal's peak, ciruclation approached 15,000.

David A. J. Axson (business), Hackett Group, wrote Best Practices in Planning and Management Reporting: From Data to Decisions (Wiley). Michael Baye (economics), Indiana University-Bloomington, wrote the fourth edition of Managerial Economics & Business Strategy (McGraw-Hill Irwin). Daniel M. Dunn (communication), Purdue University-Calumet, and Lisa J. Goodnight (communication), Purdue University-Calumet, wrote Communication: Embracing Difference (Allyn & Bacon).

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Creative Associates tapped for Iraq project

McGraw chief's salary, bonus: $2.2 million

NEW YORK, April 13, 2002 -- The chief executive at McGraw-Hill, Harold McGraw, earned almost $2.2 million in 2002, the Wall Street Journal reported. McGraw's compensation package included $1,017,500 in salary and $1,169,200 in bonuses. The total, $2,186,700, was down 42 percent from the year before. The data, in the Journal's annual databank on executive compensation, said McGraw also had almost $9.6 million in long-term option gains, almost $4.5 million in unrealized option gains, and $876,000 in other gains. That brought his total realized direct compensation to $12.7 million and total potential direct compensation to $17.1 million.

MCGRAW $17.1 million with stock options EARLIER ARTICLE Choice expected on Bertelsmann- Springer sale

Bertelsmann whittles Springer suitors to three

GÜTERSLOH, Germany, April 12, 2003 -- The German mnedia group Bertelsmann narrowed the field of bidders for its scientific publishing unit, BertelsmannSpringer, to three. There had been seven cash offers, but the short list includes only joint bids from Blackstone and CVC, Cinven and Candover, and Apax Partners and Taylor & Francis. Bertelsmann had been seeking U.S.$1.07 billion. BertelsmannSpringer includes 70 publishing companies, which Bertelsmann has insisted be sold as a unit. Industry observers expect the new owner to streamline operations, which include 25,000 book titles and more than 700 magazines.

BERTELSMANN SPRINGER EARLIER ARTICLE Choice expected on Bertelsmann- Springer sale

Stephen M. Kosslyn (psychology), Harvard University, and Robin S. Rosenberg (psychology), Lesley University, wrote the second edition of Psychology: The Brain, the Person, the World (Allyn & Bacon). Thomas Puge (economics), New York University, wrote the 12th edition of International Economics (McGraw-Hill Irwin). Dennis L. Wilcox (public relations), San Jose State University, Glen T. Cameron (public relations), Missouri School of Jouralism, Philip H. Ault (public relations), South Bend Tribune, and Warren K. Agee (public relations), University of Georgia, wrote the seventh edition of Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics (Allyn & Bacon).

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Bancroft prizes to slavery historians

NEW YORK, April 11, 2003 -- Historians James F. Brooks and Alan Gallay have won the 2003 Bancroft Prizes in U.S. history and diplomacy for books dealing with the history and socioeconomic impact of slave trade among Native Americans. Brooks' Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands, was published by the University of North Carolina Press. Brooks is on the research faculty at the School of American Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is also an adjunct associate professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Gallay's The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717, was published by Yale University Press. Gallay teaches at Western Washington University.

BROOKS GALLAY

Senate OKs manuscript tax deal

107 jobs go in WRC blood-letting

NEW YORK, April 10, 2003 -- In a downsizing in response to sluggish sales, supplemental education publisher WRC Media has eliminated 107 positions in recent months, mostly administrative and office support. Chief executive Martin Kenney said the savings will be about $9 million a year. Kenney said he expects to turn around last year's losses. Some WRC divisions scored modest sales increases in 2002, but most didn't. Nothing was enough to offset a 25.3 percent decline at CompassLearning. SEE FINANCIALS

WRC MEDIA

Reinvented Varsity Books making money

Kristin DeVivo, research manager at LeapFrog and SchoolHouse, was named diretcor of evaluation and research at the Scholastic education division. Robert H. Frank (economics), Cornell University, and Ben Bernanke (economics), Princeton University, wrote the second edition of Principles of Macroeconomics (McGraw-Hill Irwin). William Murdick (English), California University of Pennsylvania, emeritus, wrote A Student Guide to College Composition (Jain).

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Morningstar gives Wiley high marks

CHICAGO, April 10, 2003 -- The Morningstar investment advisory service gave publisher John Wiley & Sons its highest five-star rating. Morningstar noted that Wiley has returned 23 percent annually to investors over the last 10 years.

JOHN WILEY & SONS

Sylvan sells K-12 operations

SA2 site carried 96 March items

School software sales slows

KEEDY IN TUNE Pioneer textbook author-activist Mike Keedy is retired in Florida but hardly quiet. Keedy, second from the left, is Bye Bye Blues, which is described as "a little known barbershop quartet, except around Polk County."

Postal rates stable; publishers pleased

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2003 -- The U.S. book publishing industry praised Congress for stabilizing postal rates to 2006 by giving the Postal Service new money to fund its employees' pensions. Without the new money, the Postal Service would have raised rates. Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, said that publishers had been "hit especially hard by the recent series of postal rate increases." Said Schoeder: "This legislation will give us a little breathing room."

WRC Media: Sales fell 9.3 percent in 2002 to $210 million, compared to a year earlier. The company blamed delays in federal funding for school materials, especially at WRC's CompassLearning unit.

West adds financial information company

LOS ANGELES, California, April 6, 2003 -- Media giant Thomson bought Los Angeles-based Elite Information Group for $122 million. Elite, which provides financial and management products and consulting services, will be folded into Thomson's West legal publishing subsidiary as a complement to Thomson's Westlaw and Dialog. Elite, which has more than 400 employees, will continue operating out of Los Angeles under chief executve Christopher Poole.

WEST

Choice expected on BertelsmannSpringer sale

GÜTERSLOH, Germany, April 5, 2003 -- Five bidders remain active for BertelsmannSpringer, the science and business unit of German publisher Bertelsmann, insiders said. Three private equity firms have dropped out of the competition. According to sources, the frontrunner is Candover/Cinven of Britain. A decision is expected in a few days.

BERTELSMANN SPRINGER EARLIER ARTICLE It's over: Houghton back in U.S. hands

Messier kept living on Vivendi dole

NEW YORK, April 4, 2003 -- The saga of Jean-Marie Messier and Vivendi won't end. Messier was the acquisition-binging chief executive who led the French conglomerate Vivendi to the brink of bankruptcy and then in July was fired. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, Messier failed to leave the $17.5 million New York apartment that Vivendi had bought for his use. Even after his firing, as Vivendi was unraveling, including the forced sale of U.S. textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin to raise cash, Messier had asked to stay in the apartment. OK, said the new management in Paris, but only through December and only if you pay rent. Twenty-thousand dollars a month would do, they said. In March, Messier was still ensconced in the apartment, which had been remodeled for an additional $3 million. Under pressure, Messier finally moved. But now it's been learned, the Journal reported, quoting "people close to the matter," Messier had stopped paying the rent back in November. The Journal asked him about it, but he said he was gaged by a confidentiality agreement.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN EARLIER ARTICLE Bertelsmann- Springer bidders down to 8

Authors asked to help save forests

SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 3, 2003 -- A new nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving forests, Green Press Initiative, called on authors to insist in their contracts with publishers that their books be printed on recycled paper. A small group of authors has been solicited to start the campaign, an Initiative spokesperson said. These authors include Fritjof Capra, Tao of Physics; Paul Hawken, Natural Capitalism; Julia Butterfly Hill, Legacy of Luna; Winona LaDuke, Like Tributaries to a River; and Andrew Weil, Natural Health -- Natural Medicine. Hawken's Natural Capitalism has been printed on "affordable 100 percent postconsumer recycled book stock," the Initiative said: "If all books were printed on 100 percent recycled paper, the act of publishing and reading would begin to heal our forests and promote sustainable economic activity." Twenty publishers were early supporters, the Initiative. These include Ash Tree, Chelsea Green, Cornell University Press, Wiley's Jossey-Bass, Newmarket Press, New Society, Sierra Club, and New World Library. According to the Green Press Initiative, the book industry uses 25 million trees a year. More information: Green Press Initiative

GREEN PRESS CAPRA HAWKEN HILL LADUKE WEIL

Sherry Litwack, vice president and editorial director at Course Crafters, was named pre-K-6 publisher and vice president and director of product development and planning at the Sundance unit of Haights Cross Communications. John H. Postlethwait (biology), University of Oregon, and Janet L. Hopson (biology), University of California, Santa Cruz, wrote Explore Life (Brooks/Cole). Joe Reynolds, president and chief executve at Proquest Information & Learning, was named president of Scholastic Librray Publishing. Earlier he was with Thomson. He founded bigchalk.com and XanEdu. Allan J. Tobin (biology), University of California, Los Angeles, and Jennie Dusheck (biology), University of California, Santa Cruz, wrote the second edition of Asking About Life (Brooks/Cole).

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University press sales resurging

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2003 -- Sales of university-press books continued their resurgence in February, according to the latest report from the Association of American Publishers. Educational and professional sales for the year are not strong compared to a year earlier. Here are the year-to-date AAP data for Febuary, extrapolated from 74 member-publishers, for genres in which academic authors write: University press (hard) University press (soft) El-hi College Professional, scholarly 30.2 percent 14.4 percent 2.2 percent -5.3 percent -14.6 percent

EARLIER DATA