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Monday, April 26, 1999 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs St. Martin's Press Acquires Golden Books Adult Publishing Division Golden Books Family Entertainment and St. Martin's Press has announced the acquisition of Golden Books Adult Publishing Group by St. Martin's Press. St. Martin's presently distributes all of Golden Books' adult titles to the trade. The transaction will include the Golden Field Guides, Whitman Coin Guides and such successful titles as Stephen R. Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, Maria Shriver's What's Heaven? and Parents' Magazine Parents Answer Book. Some employees of the Golden Books Adult Publishing Group will move to St. Martin's Press. "The members of our Adult Trade Division deserve great credit for starting a company in this environment and seeing it through so successfully in terms of the quality of its publications, the significance of its author list, and the achievement of meaningful sales," said Richard E. Snyder, Golden Books Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "It is, therefore, with mixed emotions that we consummated this sale to ensure that the strategic mandate of Golden Books is fulfilled. We thank our colleagues, our authors and their agents for all of their efforts. We wish them well in what we hope is a bright future at St. Martin's." Sally Richardson, President and Publisher of St. Martin's Press Trade Division, stated, "We learned about the enormous strength of the Golden Field Guides and the Whitman Coin Guides through our distribution arrangement with Golden Books. In addition, we have been pleased to see the development of their strong media-friendly, family-based publishing program. We are delighted to have the opportunity to add all of these titles to the St. Martin's list. This acquisition fits perfectly with our plans to strengthen the St. Martin's Press backlist publishing program and offers us some exciting frontlist titles as well." Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Susan Faludi To Join Newsweek Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author Susan Faludi will be joining Newsweek as a Contributing Editor. In addition, the magazine will publish exclusive excerpts from her forthcoming book, Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man. The announcements were made today by Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker. ``Susan is one of the freshest and most provocative writers in the country on social change affecting both women and men, and we're delighted to add her voice to Newsweek,'' Whitaker said. ``Her new book is also sure to be one of the most talked-about cultural events of the year. Her last book, Backlash, reignited the whole debate over the successes and failures of feminism, and the new one on men's roles is destined to create just as big a stir.'' Faludi, who is based in Los Angeles, will start writing columns and other stories for Newsweek this summer. She'll cover how the women's vote and other gender issues will affect the 2000 presidential race as well as other social and cultural trends, Whitaker said. Prior to becoming an author, Faludi was a reporter for several major daily newspapers. After graduating from college, she began her career in journalism in 1981 as a copy clerk for The New York Times. She left the Times a year later and went on to hold reporting jobs at the Miami Herald, the Atlanta Constitution and the San Jose Mercury News. In 1990, Faludi joined The Wall Street Journal in its San Francisco bureau. There she wrote an article that earned her a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism in 1991, which was about worker lay-offs at Safeway supermarkets following a leveraged buyout. Nuance Launches Speech Central Nuance Communications, a provider of natural language speech recognition and speaker verification software, has announced the launch of Speech Central, an online resource for the speech industry. Speech Central provides a gateway for information and education on a wide range of speech topics. The speech industry's first portal will provide over 1,000 links to publications, universities, research institutions and speech vendors throughout the world in a categorized directory. Speech industry discussion forums and industry news will also be accessible though the site and, in the near future, content from industry experts, exclusively written for Speech Central, will be provided. "We created Speech Central because there was no single resource for people to find everything they needed to help them choose, build, purchase and support natural language speech recognition and speaker verification applications," said Ronald Croen, president and CEO of Nuance Communications. "As the recognized leader in the industry, we felt that we had an obligation to open the doors to the world of speech to a much wider audience. We believe that Speech Central, in addition to the other initiatives and products we are announcing today, will help to fill that need." Computer Shopper Launches CS Insider Website Ziff-Davis' Computer Shopper has launched a marketing website at www.csinsider.com. The site delivers information to technology marketers and builds upon Computer Shopper's history of providing technology marketing information and product trends. "We are incredibly excited to introduce a new product that taps into the power of the Internet as a communication vehicle," says Al DiGuido, Executive Vice President E-commerce/Computer Shopper. "CS Insider is full of information to help marketers in all categories chart a strategy in today's challenging marketplace. We plan to cover key issues and market research affecting e-commerce and to provide specific information that marketers can put into action immediately to help improve their business." CS Insider includes a variety of articles that will be updated and archived frequently, covering a range of topics from technology marketing and e-commerce trends to effective selling techniques for direct marketers. The site also features full research reports from Computer Shopper, including the "Value Added Report" - tracking configuration and pricing trends in the desktop and notebook markets, as well the "Computer Shopper Executive Summary" - monitoring top products and brands in print and on the web. CS Insider works in conjunction with ZDInsider, a Ziff-Davis customer relationship program designed to add value to the marketing programs of the companies who do business with ZD. "Computer Shopper has been in the business of helping companies grow their businesses for 20 years," says Carla McLeod, Group Marketing Director. "We took that expertise to the web when we launched our website, computershopper.com on ZDNet. Now we're sharing that in the hopes that other companies will be able to find success in e-commerce." Primedia Acquires Florida Sportsman Magazine and FloridaSportsman.com Primedia Inc. has acquired the Florida Sportsman magazine, FloridaSportsman.com, Florida Sportsman Shows and the Florida Sportsman Live! Radio Network, of Miami, Fla. Florida Sportsman magazine, which will join Primedia's more than 25 other outdoor recreation enthusiast titles. FloridaSportsman.com, an e-commerce site which includes the Florida Sportsman Outdoor Store, will join Fly Fisherman's Virtual Flyshop website and the 20 other Primedia outdoor recreation sites. The business will continue to operate in Florida and Karl Wickstrom, founder of Florida Sportsman, will stay on in his role as publisher. The Florida Sportsman products will be operated by Primedia Special Interest Publications. "Fishing, which is the number one outdoor recreation hobby in Florida, is a market supported by true enthusiasts," said William F. Reilly, chairman and chief executive officer of Primedia. "A regional fishing and boating title such as Florida Sportsman is exactly the type of property that fits so well with our targeted media company. Over the past two years we have focused on acquiring titles that are targeted to the strong demographic category of fishing and boating enthusiasts." Florida Sportsman magazine, founded in 1969 and published monthly, has a circulation of 110,000. It is the leading editorial voice for the Florida fishing community. Florida Sportsman also produces various products such as the Florida Sportsman Fishing Charts, Fishing Planners and Lawsticks (measuring tools), and publishes unique resource books, including Sport Fish of Florida. I-Search Digest Monitors AltaVista's "Relevant Paid Placements" Last week AltaVista launched a controversial new program that enables advertisers to bid on top search terms and pay for their links to appear above the search engine's normal Web search results. Termed "Relevant Paid Placements," the program has caused a major stir in the Internet community due to the potential conflicts with the search engine's objectivity in providing search results. AltaVista has stated that the results will be clearly separated and identified as advertiser content, but many feel that less sophisticated Web users will not make the differentiation. In addition, there is controversy over the relevancy of the keywords that advertisers are purchasing. Wired News reported that the word "Flowers" was sold to BrandsforLess.com, a site that sells a variety of merchandise including flowers, and "Free" was purchased by Netaddress.com, a company that offers free e-mail. I-Search Digest, an e-mail discussion list on search engine optimization, is monitoring all major developments and providing news and updates on the situation to its subscriber base. The twice-weekly free e-mail newsletter boasts over 4,500 subscribers who discuss issues related to placing well in keyword queries on major search engines. The list is moderated by Marshall Simmonds, senior search engine strategist for online marketing firm MMG. "The members are split on the recent developments," said Simmonds. "What is truly incredible is the amount of posts I've received on the topic. The debate is very lively and informative. What's more, I've asked all members who submit to I-Search regarding the AltaVista thread to 'cc' AltaVista and Double Click, the company coordinating ad buys for them. Everyone has complied, resulting in over 75 e-mail messages, both supportive and discouraging, to the companies." Around the Web Author DeLillo Awarded Jerusalem Prize Nando.net Borders Seeks New CEO After Pfeffer's Resignation Publishers Weekly E-Book News Publishers Weekly Electronic Books are Poised to Become a Key Medium CNN Internet a Real Find for Rare Books Mercury News NEBA Launches 'New England Reader' Publishers Weekly "Webzine for Action" Joke Draws Big Bids Editor & Publisher 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. |
