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Friday, May 25, 2001 Publishing Industry Soundbytes · Babiesrus.com, LLC, an affiliate of Toys ``R'' Us, Inc., and Amazon.com announced that the two companies are launching a co-branded Baby store at Amazon.com. The co-branded Baby store will operate under the terms of the 10-year Strategic Alliance Agreement announced by Toys ``R'' Us, Inc.'s Toysrus.com subsidiary and Amazon.com in August 2000. Under the Agreement, Babiesrus.com assumes the merchandising, planning, buying and inventory management of the store's baby and juvenile products; Amazon.com manages all aspects of the online shopping experience, including website development, order fulfillment and customer service, and will house Babiesrus.com inventory in its U.S. distribution centers. · Hard Shell Word Factory has named Michele R. Bardsley, a freelance editor and epublished author, as its new Senior Editor. Bardsley, who has fifteen years of editing experience, has worked as a book editor in the small-press market since 1997. She entered the electronic market when she sold her first novel, a romantic comedy titled Daddy in Training, to Hard Shell Word Factory in 1998. She's worked as an editor for the company for the past year. Part of her duties as Senior Editor will include representing Hard Shell at conferences and conventions. Hard Shell Word Factory publishes fiction and nonfiction books, both electronic and print. · Line56, an ebusiness media company, announced an agreement with media distributor Inflight Newspapers, Inc. Under this agreement, Inflight will distribute 15,300 copies of the Line56 ebusiness print journal directly to business and first class travelers as well as in airline VIP lounges each month. Beginning with the June edition, Inflight will insert 500 copies of Line56 Magazine each day into complimentary daily newspapers on flights departing from New York metropolitan area airports. The newspapers with inserts will be placed onto first class and business class seats. The complimentary dailies include the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, USA Today and the New York Times. · The AARP Board of Directors announced the selection of William D. Novelli as their new Executive Director and CEO. Tess Canja, President, and Keith Campbell, AARP Chairman of the Board, made the announcement on behalf of AARP. Novelli is currently serving as Associate Executive Director/Public Affairs. He will begin in his new position June 4. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people 50 and older. It provides information and resources; advocates on legislative, consumer, and judicial issues; and offers a unique benefits, special products, and services for its members. These benefits include the AARP website, Modern Maturity and My Generation magazines, and the monthly AARP Bulletin. · Belo announced that Burl Osborne, president of the Company's Publishing Division and publisher of The Dallas Morning News, plans to retire as an executive officer on December 31, 2001. Osborne, who will be 64 in June, will continue to serve as a member of the Company's Board of Directors until the Annual Meeting of Shareholders in 2002, when he will retire from the Board in conformity with Belo policy. Osborne will assume the title of publisher emeritus of The Dallas Morning News, and will continue to serve as chairman of The Belo Foundation. James M. Moroney III, 44, will succeed Osborne as publisher and chief executive officer of The Dallas Morning News effective June 18, 2001. Robert W. Mong, Jr., 52, will be president and editor of The Morning News, a title last held by Osborne prior to his becoming publisher of the newspaper. Osborne will retire as an executive officer of Belo at year-end and will assume the title of publisher emeritus of The Morning News. · RoweCom Inc., a provider of solutions for purchasing and managing print and electronic content knowledge resources, announced that it has signed a letter of intent to be acquired by divine, inc., , an enterprise solutions company. · Twenty-five Business News Publishing Co. titles have implemented the iCopyright Instant Clearance Service on their websites. By clicking on the iCopyright icon, readers can license, purchase and receive content instantly, in bulk formatted e-mail, PDFs, or Web reprint formats. Business News Publishing titles that now offer the Instant Clearance Service include Plumbing and Mechanical, Floor Covering Installer, Point of Beginning, ICS Cleaning Specialist, and Air Conditioning, Heating, & Refrigeration News. Several other Business News Publishing websites plan to go live with the Instant Clearance Service later this year. · The premiere issue of Making Changes, is available. The monthly newsletter aims to give people the tools to live their lives to the fullest. The first issue features interviews with the founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) Bob Johnson, psychotherapist Douglas LaBier, plus information rich articles and coping advice. Regular departments will include features to help readers gain different perspectives on changing one's life. Kathryn Andrews, a veteran journalist and consultant, is the newsletter's creator and Editor-in-Chief. Ms. Andrews' journalism experience includes stints as a reporter with WJLA-TV in Washington, DC, bureau chief with PBS, political talk show producer with America's Voice, and host of the entertainment magazine show Screen Scene on BET. · Coremetrics, Inc., a provider of data-driven business intelligence solutions, has appointed Scott Kauffman as president and CEO. Before joining Coremetrics, Kauffman served as president and CEO of several venture-backed start-ups, including eCoverage, a direct-to-consumer online insurance company, and AdKnowledge, an application service provider that developed buy-side advertising management solutions. As president and CEO of Coremetrics, Kauffman will provide the company's strategic direction and manage day-to-day operations. Brett Hurt, founder and former CEO, will remain active in Coremetrics' business operations and will serve as chairman of the board and chief architect. · Mark Lacter returns to the Los Angeles Business Journal as editor, effective June 11, 2001, it was announced by publisher Matthew Toledo. Lacter, a veteran journalist who worked for the Los Angeles Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle and Investor's Business Daily among others, served as editor of the weekly publication from July 1996 to February 2000, and was most recently a senior editor at Forbes magazine. Current editor, Michael Stremfel, will assume the post of associate editor of the paper. · ebuild, a website for building products, announced it is partnering with Hearst Business Media's Structured Content Unit to complete the ebuild Guide to Building Products. According to the terms of the joint operating agreement, Structured Content is providing its proven data engineering expertise to ebuild. The result will be the addition of over 12,000 new products each month into ebuild's guide. Developed by Hanley-Wood, LLC, a media company for the residential building industry, the Guide to Building Products will help professionals--and consumers--find, compare, and store product information. · Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation announced that Anne Buford has joined the company as Vice President of Corporate Communications effective immediately. In her new role, Ms. Buford is responsible for directing the public relations activities across all Polo Ralph Lauren brands. She reports to Ralph Lauren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Polo Ralph Lauren and Roger Farah, President and Chief Operating Officer, Polo Ralph Lauren. Ms. Buford began her career at Vogue in 1991 and rose to the position of Communications Director for the magazine. · Penton Media's Electronics Group named Tets Maniwa as editor-in-chief of its new Netronics magazine. Netronics, which debuted last week, reaches 50,000 engineers and technical managers in the networking and communications industries. Maniwa brings more than 25 years of high-tech industry and editorial experience to his position at Penton. Before joining Netronics, Maniwa was director of content for EEdesign.com, a CMP website that focuses on EDA tools and methodologies. Prior to that, he was editor-in-chief of Integrated System Design (ISD) magazine and its associated website. · CMP Media LLC announced the launch of the Canadian edition of its world leading publication dedicated to the reseller value channels, CRN (formerly Computer Reseller News). The bi-weekly Canadian edition will be complemented with a website both to be published by QMP Media Inc., a Canadian media company. The debut issue of CRN Canada has a 36-page folio, and an initial circulation of 16,000 Canadian resellers and solutions providers. · The McGraw-Hill Companies announced it has completed its acquisition of Frank Schaffer Publications from Torstar Corporation, originally announced on May 17, 2001. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Frank Schaffer Publications' product lines will be integrated into McGraw-Hill Children's Publishing (MHCP), an educational publisher for the mass retail and educational dealer markets. Frank Schaffer Publications is a leading brand of supplementary educational materials in the educational dealer and teacher stores market for pre-K through grade 8. Its curricula include various disciplines, including language arts, math, science, social studies and religion. · The Hoover Institution of Stanford University, a center of research focusing on public policy, economics, and political science, announced that it will become the new publisher of Policy Review, one of the nation's leading public policy journals. With the acquisition of Policy Review, operating from offices in Washington, D.C., the Hoover Institution establishes an ongoing presence in the nation's capital. As a Hoover publication, Policy Review will continue as a forum for debate and detailed analysis of current affairs, drawing on research and ideas from Hoover Institution fellows and other leading thinkers and writers. Policy Review is published bimonthly and is available by subscription and at many newsstands. · TheScientificWorld Inc. announced that Taylor & Francis, Mary Ann Liebert Inc., Biosis, Medline and CABI will become part of TheScientificWorld service that provides users with access to the content of its partners' scientific journals and online delivery of single articles and article abstracts. The company requires no subscription fees for its service and allows users to search scientific databases for free and purchase only those articles needed to accelerate their science. · netLibrary, a provider of ebooks and content management services, announced the availability of its TitleSelect service, a new online catalog that facilitates faster and easier selection of titles, collections and order placement by acquisitions and collections librarians. With TitleSelect, customers can explore the entire collection, searching by author, title, publisher, subject, keyword, netLibrary ISBN, print ISBN, eBook ID and publication date. Users can also use TitleSelect to customize existing netLibrary collections to meet their specific library's needs. Once a title list is prepared, the user can download or email it to colleagues for review, and then place an order with netLibrary online. TitleSelect also allows online tracking of order status. · Blue Zone, Inc., an interactive broadcast solutions company, announced that it has received a Staff Determination from the Nasdaq Stock Market stating that its common stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq Smallcap Market, effective on the open of business on June 6, 2001. · Tyndale House Publishers has acquired most of the remaining subsidiary rights for the bestselling Left Behind Series from authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins in a deal negotiated by Rick Christian, president of the Colorado Springs-based literary agency Alive Communications. The agreement gives Tyndale most subsidiary rights, including printed matter, abridged audio, apparel and merchandising, but excludes unabridged audio, film, video and television rights. In response to the newly acquired rights, Tyndale has moved Dan Balow from Director of Marketing for Tyndale Trade Books to Director of Business Development for the Left Behind Series. Balow will continue to oversee marketing for the apocalyptic thrillers and will now manage licensing, subsidiary rights, product development and publishing operations. Tyndale Vice President Ron Beers continues as publisher for the series. Tyndale has sold more than 40 million copies of the eight adult end-times novels and related products. Another four adult titles are scheduled over the next four years -- starting with book nine, Desecration, to release on October 30, 2001. The line includes a series of kids novels and dramatic audios. · Wolters Kluwer North America (WKNA) said that it has named Jane Butler to the position of president and CEO of Aspen Publishers, New York City and Gaithersburg, Md., a provider of legal, business and healthcare information and electronic services. She succeeds Edward Latta in the position. Butler has more than 20 years of experience in legal, scientific and textbook publishing, 12 of which have been with Aspen. Most recently, she was executive vice president of the company, with responsibility for a number of legal and health care publishing units, sales and marketing, new media and human resources. · John Schueler, publisher of the Star Tribune since April 1998, announced plans to step down for personal reasons. In announcing his resignation to employees today, Schueler said, ``I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Star Tribune, and in the Twin Cities, but it's now time for me to pursue other interests.'' Robert J. Weil, vice president, operations at The McClatchy Company, the newspaper's parent company, will assume responsibilities as interim publisher until a replacement is named later this summer. The management change is effective immediately. Weil, 50, will continue in his corporate role and will work out of Minneapolis until a new publisher is appointed. · The Chicago Tribune has launched the Chicago Tribune Community Relations Internet site to more effectively communicate with customers and communities-at-large about the Tribune's community involvement. The site provides information about Chicago Tribune's major community relations activities, events, sponsorships, volunteer activities, and philanthropy in the city and the suburbs. Sponsorship and grant guidelines are provided to help guide nonprofit organizations and event producers about the Tribune's community involvement support. · The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced its election as Chair of the Rights and Rules Working Group of the Open eBook Forum (OeBF), an international coalition working to create an open and commercially viable standard for interoperability of digital rights management (DRM) systems. Scott Edwards, SIIA associate general counsel, will assume the role as Chairperson of the working group. The OeBF Rights and Rules Working Group involves representatives of more than a dozen leading software and information companies, including Adobe, ContentGuard, Digital Goods, Digital Owl, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, IBM, InterTrust, McGraw-Hill Companies, Microsoft, Random House and Rightscom. The OeBF has been officially incorporated since May 2000, and it has been developing eBook-related standards since 1988. · Virginia Ellis, an award-winning reporter who has worked for the Los Angeles Times since 1988, has been named Sacramento Bureau chief. Ellis most recently won national recognition for a series of stories that ultimately led to the resignation of California's Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush. She was awarded the 2001 George Polk and Selden Ring awards and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in beat reporting for that coverage. Ellis succeeds Rone Tempest, who is becoming senior California correspondent after serving as bureau chief since 1999. 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 © 1997-2011 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
