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Wednesday, May 20th 1998 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs 1998 ABBY Winners Announced The American Booksellers Association (ABA) announced that Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and The Hat by Jan Brett are the winners of the 1998 American Booksellers Book of the Year (ABBY) Awards. Cold Mountain, published by Atlantic Monthly Press, was this year's winner in the adult category, and The Hat, published by The Putnam Publishing Group, took top honors in the children's category. Chosen by independent booksellers across the country, the ABBY awards represent the books that booksellers most enjoyed recommending to their customers throughout the previous year. Both winners were critically acclaimed and became bestsellers, due in large part to "hand-selling" by independent booksellers across the country. "Hand-selling" is defined as the personalized relationships independent booksellers develop with customers, understanding their interests and reading habits and matching them with the right book. In addition to the top winner in each category, there are four 1998 ABBY honor books. In the adult trade category, these are, in alphabetical order:
Red Herring Announces New Look Red Herring has revamped its design. While continuing to offer editorial analysis of technology industry trends and coverage of private companies, the new redesign offers expanded feature stories, refined industry briefings, and greater coverage of the Internet as well as a new cleaner format. "This is an exciting time for us. Since 1993, Red Herring has both fostered and chronicled the technology industry's growth, building relationships with the industries most influential players." said Tony Perkins, founder, CEO, and editor in chief of Red Herring Communications. "Our new design embodies Red Herring's prominence in the industry and its leadership in the crowded business technology publication market. Red Herring has truly come of age." Journal Register Company to Acquire Taconic Media Journal Register Company President Robert M. Jelenic announced that Journal Register Company has reached an agreement to acquire Taconic Media, Dutchess County, NY, from Helen and Hamilton Meserve. The acquisition includes seven weekly newspapers, a tourism guide, a weekend magazine, and Dutchess Magazine, a quarterly magazine covering lifestyle and dining in Dutchess County. Combined, Taconic Media has 231,600 non-daily distribution. "Taconic Media will make an excellent addition to Journal Register Company and I am extremely pleased to announce this acquisition," Jelenic said. "We are building a seventh cluster, in the Mid-Hudson Region of New York, and Taconic Media will link our weekly operation in Putnam County with the Kingston Daily Freeman, which we are acquiring as part of the Goodson Newspaper Group. We expect excellent synergies among this growing cluster of newspapers. Dutchess County also abuts the Litchfield County portion of our Connecticut cluster, where we anticipate synergies with The Register Citizen in Torrington, as well as our weekly Housatonic newspapers covering Litchfield County." On Monday, May 18, Journal Register Company announced it had reached an agreement to acquire the Goodson Newspaper Group's Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio newspapers for $300 million. The Goodson acquisition includes five daily newspapers and 20 non-daily publications. Taconic Media will be Journal Register Company's 13th acquisition since its formation in 1990, and the Company's sixth acquisition since its May 1997 initial public offering. The transaction is expected to be completed by June 30. Taconic Media weekly newspapers include the Gazette Advertiser, serving Rhinebeck, Red Hook and Clinton; Harlem Valley Times, serving NorthEast, Amenia and Dover; Hyde Park Townsman, serving Hyde Park and Clinton; Millbrook Round Table, serving Millbrook, Washington, Clinton and Union Vale; Register Herald, serving Pine Plains and Stanford; The Voice Ledger, serving Pleasant Valley, LaGrange and Beekman; and the Pawling News Chronicle, serving Pawling. VNU Strengthens Its Professional Information Position in the United States VNU, a leading international publishing and information group, announced three acquisitions in the United States by its subsidiaries. These acquisitions are a 65% interest in the Sunshine Group, and full ownership of the trade publication Drama-Logue and three professional magazines in the field of foodservice. BPI Communications, Inc. in New York has recently finalized the acquisition of a 65% interest in Sunshine Group Worldwide, the New York-based group whose activities include three trade fairs and conventions and one trade magazine for cinema owners. The interest in the Sunshine Group gives BPI a position in the information market for movie production, distribution and exhibition. BPI will also acquire the trade weekly Drama-Logue from its current owner. Drama-Logue is a publication for actors in the Los Angeles market. The weekly is a competitor of BPI's Backstage West. The magazines will be combined and published under the name Backstage West/Drama-Logue. Bill Communications, Inc. in New York has recently acquired three trade periodicals from New Jersey-based publisher Young/Conway Publications, Inc. These titles are published for foodservice operators and distributors in the United States, Latin America, and Asia/Pacific. The acquisition of these titles is in line with Bill Communications' strategy to expand its delivery channels and global reach in key subject areas like foodservice. BPI Communications and Bill Communications are part of VNU USA, which also includes VNU Marketing Information Services and Standard Rate & Data Services (SRDS). BPI Communications publishes leading trade magazines in the field of entertainment, music, media and design. Philosophical Debate Online The world wide web, often portrayed as a solitary experience with emerging technologies and not our fellow human beings, is beginning to transmit a new "killer app" -- the human mind. Much like the recent boom in philosophical debate in cafes all over Paris, the internet too is becoming a worldwide center for examining the essence of being human. A visit to the weekly Philosophical Debate at the AboutLiving.com chat room suggests there is a growing number of philosophically minded individuals who think so. Every Tuesday at 2:20 EST these deep thinkers gather and choose topics for discussion. The thinkers make sure the character of such debates are retained: without form, structure, or moderators, topics are chosen by the online participants and, in the old style of public debate, anyone who dares takes the floor to open their mouth and, just as importantly, their mind. These philosophical chat forums can be found on The About Living site at http://www.aboutliving.com. Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
