Publishing News: News from the media & publishing world

After 30 years, his second National Book Award
MSNBC, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Judges for the National Book Award honored a comeback, giving the fiction award to Peter Matthiessen's "Shadow Country," a thorough revision of a trilogy of novels from the 1990s. The 81-year-old author last won a National Book Award nearly 30 years ago. [More...]

Argentine Daily Installs Protec Editorial, Advertising Systems
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Madrid-based Protec will supply editorial and advertising systems to Argentina's La Gaceta de Tucuman, which is moving toward a convergent newsroom. [More...]

Associated Press CEO Foresees 10% Fewer Jobs At His Organization Next Year
Business Week, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Associated Press CEO Tom Curley just concluded a town hall meeting in New York--beamed to staffers in remote bureaus--in which he said the news cooperative’s staff will shrink by 10% next year. He did say, according to one attendee (and... [More...]

B&N Sales Sink; Sees Gloomy Holiday
Publishers Wekly, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Total revenue at Barnes & Noble fell 4.4% in the third quarter with comp sales at its superstores off 7.4%. The company predicted that sales same store sales in the fourth quarter will fall between 6% and 9%. B&N.co was a bit of a bright spot with third quarter sales up 2%. [More...]

Barnes & Noble swings to 3Q loss
International Herald Tribune, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Barnes & Noble Inc. reported a larger-than-expected quarterly loss Thursday on significant drops in traffic and consumer spending at its stores. The bookseller also reduced its full-year sales and earnings forecasts, sending its shares down sharply. [More...]

NYT Co. Newspaper Ad Revenue Tumbles 17.2% in October
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Newspaper and other print advertising fell 17.2% in October, helping to push total revenue at The New York Times down 9.4% compared to October 2007, the company said late Thursday. [More...]

BBC One and BBC Two to stream live online from next week
Times Online, Thursday, November 20, 2008
The BBC is to begin showing all its programmes live over the internet from next week, raising questions about the long-term viability of the licence fee. [More...]

BBC Trust expected to knock back online local video plans
Guardian Unlimited, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Controversial plans by BBC management to launch a £68m network of local news websites with video content are expected to be rejected in their current form by the BBC Trust, based on evidence presented to the trustees. MediaGuardian.co.uk understands that the evidence in what is called the public value assessment presented to the BBC Trust as part of its public value test points towards ... [More...]

Book Prizes Awarded With Nod to History
New York Times, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Annette Gordon-Reed won the National Book Award for nonfiction for “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,” while Peter Matthiessen won the fiction award for “Shadow Country.” [More...]

Analyzing Obama's Love Of Comic Books
NPR, Thursday, November 20, 2008
According to press reports, President-elect Barack Obama's favorite superheroes are Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian. But what do these picks say about Mr. Obama? We talk to Gabriel Fowler, owner of indie comic book store Desert Island, about what the superheroes could reveal about the next president. [More...]

AP Could Lose 10% of Staff By End of 2009
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
"The AP, which recently instituted a strategic hiring freeze, may need to reduce staff over the next year. If so, it hopes to achieve much of the reduction through attrition," the news cooperative said in a statement. [More...]

Davis newspaper publisher, 8, ready to retire after one year
The Sacramento Bee, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Finnegan O'Toole Boire, shown delivering his weekly newspaper, the Weekly Block, last March, has new plans: to create his own video game and to sell his colorful drawings of birds and space aliens. After meeting his goal of producing a year's worth of copy, the 8-year-old publisher of a Davis newspaper has decided to move on to other ventures. "I told everyone that I'm retiring," said ... [More...]

Digital Magazine Search Service Launched
Folio Mag, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Digital magazine vendor Zinio today announced the launch of Zinio Inside, a service that enables publishers and users to search content within digital magazine products. [More...]

Editor of Proceedings magazine fired - Navy News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Navy Times
Navy Times, Thursday, November 20, 2008
The U.S. Naval Institute, the publisher of Proceedings magazine, has fired its well-known editor, author Robert Timberg. Timberg, a former journalist, was at the helm of Proceedings, a forum for military thinkers for more than 100 years, for about three years. [More...]

Former Times-Gazette publisher Koehl dead at 95
AP via Yahoo! Finance, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Former Ashland Times-Gazette publisher Fred Koehl, who worked at the newspaper for 44 years, has died at age 95. Koehl, who retired in 1980, died Monday at Samaritan Hospital. [More...]

Global Media Executives Protest Gaza Press Ban
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Leaders of the world's biggest media organizations filed a protest with Israel's prime minister Wednesday criticizing the government's decision to ban journalists from entering the Gaza Strip for the last two weeks. [More...]

Hemings book wins national award
UPI, Thursday, November 20, 2008
NEW YORK, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The National Book Award for non-fiction was bestowed on Annette Gordon-Reed in New York Wednesday night for her book, "The Hemingses of Monticello." [More...]

Heslin named VP/executive editor at Providence Journal
Foster's Daily Democrat, Thursday, November 20, 2008
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Thomas E. Heslin has been named vice president and executive editor at The Providence Journal. [More...]

How Are Syndicates' Non-Newspaper Oriented Sister Companies and Divisions Affected by Recession?
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
During the past few months, this section of E&P has focused on how the recession is affecting syndicates and the creators they represent. But what about the non-newspaper-oriented sister companies/divisions of syndicates? How is the recession affecting them? [More...]

Internet ad revenue rises 11 pct in 3Q to $5.9 bln
AP via Yahoo! Finance, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Internet advertising revenue rose 11 percent in the third quarter to an estimated $5.9 billion, the second best quarter on record as advertisers put money into ads where impact is more easily measured, according to a report released Thursday. [More...]

Journal Communications October revenue slips
AP via Yahoo! Finance, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Media company Journal Communications Inc. said Thursday that revenue for its publishing and broadcast segments dipped 2.8 percent in October, as publishing ad sales declines continue to weigh on the industry. [More...]

Journalists, Attorney Lauded With Press Freedom Awards
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Five journalists and an attorney who has long battled for press freedom were cited Thursday for risking their lives and liberty to report the news, often under the pressure of authoritarian regimes. [More...]

Luvison named publisher of Morning Times
WFMJ Youngstown, Thursday, November 20, 2008
SAYRE, Pa. (AP) - Veteran newspaper executive Kelly Luvison has been named publisher of the Morning Times of Sayre. [More...]

NYT Co. Chops Dividend
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
The New York Times Co. has addressed how it can potentially take care of some of that pending loan payment of around $400 million due in May 2009. The company announced it is chopping its dividend following in the footsteps of peers like Lee, McClatchy, and A.H. Belo. [More...]

P&G, Google cooperate on targeting customers
San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, November 20, 2008
P&G, Google work together on targeting customers The world's largest consumer products company and the online search leader are working together to learn more about each other and about targeting customers. Procter & Gamble Co. said Wednesday that it has done... [More...]

PC Magazine goes online-only
The Globe and Mail, Thursday, November 20, 2008
After 27 years as a print publication, computer magazine is ditching its print edition [More...]

PC Magazine, a Flagship for Ziff Davis, Will Cease Printing a Paper Version
New York Times, Thursday, November 20, 2008
It is the latest of several magazine publishers to drop a print edition, as advertising plummets and the cost of printing a paper version rises. [More...]

Arizona State Gets Bullish on Journalism Education
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
As the newspaper business struggles to survive, journalism would seem to be a hard sell for young people trying to pick a career. [More...]

Pensions frozen at Random House Inc.
International Herald Tribune, Thursday, November 20, 2008
America's largest trade publisher, Random House Inc., has frozen the pensions of its current employees and eliminated them for future hires, the latest cuts in an industry hit by declining sales and anticipating, at best, a difficult 2009. [More...]

Penton Reorganizes Aud. Dev. Groups
Folio Mag, Thursday, November 20, 2008
B-to-b publisher Penton Media is in the process of restructuring its audience development groups, FOLIO: has learned. [More...]

Philadelphia paper starts magazine for affluent
AP via Yahoo! Finance, Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Philadelphia Inquirer has started a new bimonthly magazine called I that targets the rich. The magazine's first issue was tucked into 115,000 newspapers Thursday. It was distributed to home delivery customers and certain newsstands in affluent ZIP codes, mostly in the suburbs. [More...]

Possley, Who Won Pulitzer For 'Trib' Before Resigning, Turns Up -- On the Rival 'Sun-Times' Front Page
Editor And Publisher, Thursday, November 20, 2008
The byline on the investigative story splashed across the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times Thursday is familiar, out of place, and nostalgic all at the same time. [More...]

Rewriting the book on profitable publishing
Guardian Unlimited, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Your typical Silicon Valley startup is run by a rarely washed teenager with borderline Asperger's Syndrome, who's never heard of profit but wants to sell for billions, right? That makes Blurb very atypical. Eileen Gittins, its chief executive, is female, for a start; and stylish. She's also been through the whole web 1.0 boom and bust, where she first ran Personify, an e-commerce ... [More...]

Rutgers prof wins National Book Award for Nonfiction
The Star-Ledger, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Annette Gordon-Reed Annette Gordon-Reed, a professor of history at Rutgers-Newark, has won the 2008 National Book Award for Non-fiction for her work "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family." An interview with the author. Gordon-Read is the first African American... [More...]

Tate Publishing Named Best Book Publisher To Work For
PRWeb via Yahoo! News, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Tate Publishing & Enterprises has been named to the list of "Best Places to Work in Oklahoma, 2008". [More...]

U.S. National Book Awards go to slave, outlaw books
Reuters, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Reuters - A book about a slave family with ties to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and novel about a notorious Florida outlaw were among the winners at America's 59th annual National Book Awards on Wednesday. [More...]

Publishing News for: Wednesday, November 19, 2008