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R.I.P.: August Fruge| BERKELEY, California, July 28, 2004 -- The retired director of University of California Press, August Fruge, died at age 94. At the Press from the early 1940s through the 1970s he was noted for innovative commercial publishing practices to academic prublishing. His notable acquisitions included The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui WAy of Knowledge by Carlos Castaeda in 1968 |
Reading report called "disturbing"WASHINGTON, July 20, 2004 -- A report from the National Endowment for the Arts showing a startling decline in book readership should be equally disturbing for all Americans, said Pat Schroeder, presdeint of the Association of American Publishers. "The NEA report sent an electric shock throughout the publishing world," saidSchroeder. "Although it confirmed something that we've suspected, quantifying the decline in literary readership is really chilling,"Schroeder said. She noted one bright spot -- the immense popularity of serious non-fiction, political books and biographies. "I think we can find some encouragement in the fact that when people want information and a real understanding of world events, they are turning to books to provide the in-depth analysis and substance they canšt get from 90-second sound bites or two-minute prime time TV news items."
Having said that, however, Schroeder stated that the biggest challenge for publishers and for the country is to make sure that children are "hooked" at an early age on reading for pure pleasure: "We need to redouble our efforts as a nation -- to focus the same intense energy, purpose, and resources that put a man on the moon into early childhood reading, to develop necessary skills and especially to inculcate in children a love of reading that will last a lifetime." |
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Thomson buys Info Holdings| STAMFORD, Connecticut, July 11, 2004 -- In a $441 million deal, the publishing giant Thomson acquired Information Holdings Inc. to strengthen its presence in the pharmaceutical and life sciences markets. IHI will be integrated into Thomson's Scientific & Healthcare Group. Thomson chief executive Richard Harrington said that the acquisition will help sales of the Scientific & Healthcare group to "double over the next five to seven years through growth of existing businesses and strategic acquisitions." IHI;s information businesses include the IDRAC, Master Data Center and MicroPatent, databases. Its Liquent unit provides life science regulatory intelligence and publishing solutions. |
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THOMSON
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
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| Paul S. Boyer (history), University of Wisconsin, Madison, Clifford E. Clark Jr. (history), Carleton College, Joseph F. Kett (history), University of Virginia, Neal Salisbury (history), Smith College, Harvard Sitkoff (history), University of New Hampshire, and Nancy Woloch (history), Barnard College, wrote the fifth edition of The Enduring Vision (Houghton Mifflin). |
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| Frank Huisman and John Harley Warner edited Locating Medical History: The Stories and Their Meanings (Johns Hopkins). |
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| Dean Kowalski (philosophy), University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, wrote Classic Questions and Contemporary Film: An Introduction to Philosophy (McGraw-Hill). |
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Please
tell
us
about
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latest
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Reading for pleasure slippingWASHINGTON, July 10, 2004 -- A new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, Reading at Risk, documents an ongoing and precipitous drop in the number of readers in the United States, especially of fiction, poetry and drama. Based on a U.S. Census Bureau study that polled more than 17,000 adults, the report shows that fewer than half of Americans over the age of 18 -- only 46.7 percent -- had read a novel, short story, play or poem in the preceding year, a decline of 10 percent in literary reading between 1982 and 2002. Here is what the report said about literary reading by age groups:
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65-74
75-up
Total |
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| 1982
59.8%
62.1%
59.7%
54.9%
52.8%
47.2%
40.9%
56.9% |
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| 1992
53.3%
54.6%
58.9
56.9
52.8%
50.8%
40.4%
54.0% |
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| 2002
42.8%
47.7%
46.6
51.6
48.9%
45.3%
36.7%
46.7% |
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Survey: Book job satisfaction signs down| NEW YORK, July 9, 2004 -- Job satisfaction waned in the U.S. book industry, according to an annual survey by the trade journal Publishers Weekly. The percentage of industry members who reported high job satisfaction fell from 64 percent in 2002 to 59 percent. Most strikingly, PW commented, only 32 percent of respondents said they expect to be in the same position two years from now, down from 48 percent in 2002. Also, there has been a slight softening in pay raises. Although the average raise last year was 4.9 percent, only two-10ths of a percent down from 2002, some underlying trends were weaker. Most significantly, the percentage of respondents who reported receiving a raise of less than 3 percent in 2003 rose to 19 percent. The survey, based on 563 responses on questionnaires sent to PW subscribers, who cover the broad spectrum of publishing, including both the trade and educational segments. |
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Prof OK'd to re-post research on web| KINGSTON, Rhode Island, July 8, 2004 -- The University of Rhode Island changed its position and will allow prof Donna Hughes to post two articles on her university-provided web site. University President Robert Carothers said the articles re "protected by the university's firm commitment to academic freedom." Earlier, Hughes was told to take down the articles because a British couple had threatened a libel suit. Hughes did so, but appealed for reconsideration and brought the Association of American University Professors into the case. The articles, drawn from Hughes' research on the international trafficking of women and children, do not name the two people who threatened to sue, but they claim they could be identified by anyone who read British publications that had named them. |
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Online limits back to Philadelphia court| PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, July 7, 2004 -- The fate of the Child Online Protection Act was not wholly sealed by the U.S. Supreme Court opinion that the a lower court was correct in barring criminal prosecutions and civil actions under its terms. The Supreme Court instructed the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to conduct a full trial to give the government an opportunity to prove that the law is the least restrictive means to achieve Congress' goal of shielding minors from unsuitable Internet material. The guidance for the trial is a reminder from the Supreme Court that the Constitutional requires that government must always use the less-restrictive means when there is a legitimate interest in limiting First Amendment-protected speech. At the Supreme Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, expressed strong doubt that the government will be able to demonstrate that law, which criminalizes speech at its source, would be more effective than filters and other less restrictive alternatives. |
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College sales drop reversedNEW YORK, July 6, 2004 -- Horribly lagging college textbook sales grew 66.2 percent for May to $64 million, but the increase only helped reduce year-to-date losses, according to the latest monthly report from the Association of American Publishers. For the yea, colleges sales through May were off 11.7 percent from a year earlier. More positive was the K-12 report, with net sales gained 17.9 percent in May, reaching $350.2 million, providing for the strong 12.6 percent growth for the first five months. Still, el-hi sales have a way to go to recover from recession-fueled losses the past three years. Here is the year-to-date data as extrapolated from 92 reporting publishers:El-hi
Univ press (hard)
Professional, scholarly
Univ press (soft)
College |
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| 12.6%
-2.5%
-5.3%
-10.2%
-11.7%
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Journal Clues returns| WASHINGTON, July 5, 2004 -- After a short hiatus, Clues: A Journal of Detection, the only U.S. scholarly journal devoted exclusively to mystery and detective fiction, returns with a theme issue on Margaret Allingham. The executive editor is Margaret Kinsman of London South Bank University. The managing editor is Elizabeth Foxwell, of Heldref Publications, which over management from Popular Press at Bowling Green State University after 22 years. Heldref Publications is a division of the Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation. |
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| Courier. Sales grew 9 percent to $55.5 million in the company's third quarter, ended June 26, compared to the previous year. Income rose 9 percent ro $5.2 million. Book manufacturing, one measure of book industry strength, revenue was up 8 percent.
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| Houghton Mifflin. Sales grew 4.7 percent to $138 million in the company's first quarter, ended March 31, compared to the previous year. Net income was minus-$90.4 million, compared to $120.6 million a year earlier. El-hi sales rose 15.9 percent, college fell 12.7 percent, trade and reference fell 4 percent.
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| Wiley:. Sales grew 8 percent to a record $293 million for the company's fiscal year, ended April 30, compared to a year earlier. The professional and trade group increased 6 percent; scientific, technical and medical, 6 perceny; higher-ed 3 percent.
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Used textbooks may be over $2 billion | NEW YORK, July 4, 2004 -- More than one-third of the dollars that U.S. students spend on college textbooks is for used books, according to book industry expert Albert Greco at Fordham University. There are no data on college used book sales, but Greco estimates it at $2 billion a year, not counting student-to-student sales. Sales of new college textbooks in 2003 was $3.8 billion. Greco, who develops data for the Book Industry Study Group, said that used books also becoming a bigger factor in the trade-book business too. Greco said the erosion is serious, with probably 7 to 14 percent of the dollars spent on trade books going to used books. It's not a meltdown yet, he said. |
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Study: U-press sales moving upwardNEW YORK, July 3, 2004 -- University presses can be expected to grow revenue modestly over the next five years, probably averaging 2.4 percent annually, the Book Industry Study Group said. Paperbound books will continue to generate slightly more revenue than hardbounds, but hard sales will grow slightly faster. The market, $448 million in 2003, will reach $520 million. These are the projections:2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008 |
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| $ 448 million
460 million
475 million
490 million
505 million
520 million |
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MID-YEAR REVIEW
John Vivian's annual wrapup of the news for academic authors has been called the most valuable service that any authoring organization can offer its members. Now for the first time Vivian offes a mid-year review on the state of academic authoring. His pick as the most significant news has been the unanticipated, dramatic fall-off in college sales -- down nine-fold in one recent month. "For authors, the shock will hit in September," he says. "March royalty checkes reflected strong Fall 2003 shipments, but now the unsold returned books will be subtracted. Many authors whod di well in March will be in the hole."
YEAR-ENDER |
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TOP STORIES
1. College sales free fall
2. Sudden discount e-textbooks
3. Calofornia pricing report
4. El-hi's Bush boost
5. Univerity press slippage
6. Rising permissions costs
7. Print-on-demand technology
8. Journal pricing
9. Elsevier easily bullied
10. Patriot Act resistance |
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
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| Rick Antle (accounting), Yale University, and Stanley J. Garstka (accounting), Yale University, wrote the second edition of Financial Accounting (South-West). |
| Scott Barnes, vice president and assistant general counsel at TRW, was named vice president and general counsel at Harcourt Assessment. |
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| Robert A. Divine (history), University of Texas, T. H. Breen (history), Northwestern University, George M. Fredrickson (history), Stanford University, R. Hal Williams (history), Southern Methodist University, Ariela J. Gross (history), University of Southern California, W. Brands (history), Texas A&M University wrote the seventh edition of America Past and Present (Longman). |
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Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
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Berkshire looks beyond packaging| GREAT BARRINGTON, Massachusetts, July 2, 2004 -- Upstart Berkshire Publishing, launched five years ago as a reference book packager, will issue its own list starting with the two-volume Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction in September. The editor is William Sims Bainbridge. The husband-wife team behind Berkshire, Karen Christensen and David Levinson, said they plan to move into trade books by 2006. |
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Popular psychology series planned| NEW YORK, July 1, 2004 -- A series of psychology books aimed at general readers was announced by Alpha Books, an imprint of New American Library. Spokesperson Vicki Skelton said the fist titles, on bipolar dirorders, food addictions and sex, will be issued in November under the series label Psychology Today Here to Help. The series is a joint project with the magazine Psychology Today. |
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Millbrook, 21st Century in bankruptcy purge | MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, July 1, 2004 -- Financially troubled Millbrook, which is in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, agreed to sell the Millbrook Press and 21st Century Books to a Minneapolis-based children's and educational house, Lerner Publishing Group. The bankruptcy court judge has asked for other offers. If none is received the Lerner deal is expected to go through. Millbrook Press and 21st Century imprints have a backlist of 1,200 titles, mostly for school libraries. Millbrook ealier sold its Roaring Brook trade list to Holtzbrinck. Its Caldecott has also been sold. Next will be winding down the Copper Beech imprint. |
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