Book on Twin Towers suddenly a best seller
The author of scholarly book on the World Trade Center suddenly finds himself a best-selling writer because of tragedy. "It's a very conflicted situation," said Angus Kress Gillespie, author of "Twin Towers," a scholarly history of the World Trade Center that topped the Hot 100 list on Amazon.com.

Publishing Industry Reconsiders Attending Frankfurt Book Fair
Though none of the 792 U.S. exhibitors have cancelled yet, many editors and agents are wondering if they want to fly across the Atlantic in early October. German security focuses on the hall with the Americans, British and Israelis; the neighboring hall used to house Arab publishers, but they recently were moved.

Novel Effort to Ban Books
"In the past 20 years, about seven books have been challenged in Fairfax County schools. In a recent 15-month span, there have been three others, and challenges to more books are waiting in the wings."

British book retailer buys Whitcoulls
Following months of negotiations Blue Star Group has sold Whitcoulls, New Zealand's biggest book and stationary chain, to British book retailer W H Smith.

Lawyers appeal to reinstate ban on `Wind' book
Lawyers for the estate of author Margaret Mitchell asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to overturn a ruling that permits the publication of a parody of "Gone With the Wind."

After Dropping Doubleday, Tuesdays With Morrie Author Goes With Hyperion
The Disney-owned house offered up more than $5 million for 'multiple' books of fiction and nonfiction. But can any publisher repeat the 5.5 million-copies success of Albom's first book?

Publishers scan 'Hitch Hiker' PC for final book
The final work of the writer Douglas Adams, who died of a heart attack three weeks ago, is due to be published this autumn, including an unfinished new novel and the screenplay for the long-awaited film of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the book that made his name ­ and fortune.

Vivendi Buys Houghton Mifflin
One of the last independent educational book publishers, Houghton Mifflin, home of the American Heritage Dictionary, has been sold to French entertainment and media giant Vivendi Universal for $2.2 billion

eBooks Now Eligible for National Book Awards
National Book Foundation will consider eBook submissions along with traditionally printed books in established award categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature.

More Science for Ebooks
NetLibrary, a provider of eBooks and Internet-based content/collection management services is partnering with Majors Scientific Books to meet increased demand for eBooks in the health sciences marketplace.

Libraries will expand collections with eBooks
Patrons of some of Chicago's public libraries soon will offer access to more than 1,600 titles via eBooks from netLibrary, a leading provider of electronic books and Internet-based content services.

Adobe Targets Higher Education With Launch of eBook U
Adobe has recently launched Adobe eBook U, a joint project between Adobe and a select group of higher education institutions to explore the use and impact of eBooks on educational environments.

eBooks: Download Them, or Make Your Own!
PocketPC Magazine teaches you about the tools and tricks you need to create your own elegant eBooks

Ebrary To Provide Digital Reproductions of Historical Documents
DSI Publishing Group, a division of Digital Scanning, Inc., a provider of conversion and scanning services, will make its collection of early American history reproductions available online through ebrary.com.

Primedia Close to Buying Inside.com
Powerful Media is understood to have struck a deal to sell its high-profile US media website, Inside.com, to Primedia, publisher of such magazines as Seventeen and Modern Bride, and owner of About.com.

Random House to Acquire Prima Communications
Prima Communications, Inc., a publisher of video and computer game strategy guides, has agreed to be acquired by publisher Random House, Inc.

Harry Potter and the Money Mine
The publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth in the series and the fastest selling title in history, helped Bloomsbury increase turnover by 143% to £50.7m last year.

Court Asked to Stop 'Gone With the Wind' Rewrite
In a case testing the legal limits of literary allusion, an Atlanta trust for the benefit of Margaret Mitchell's heirs has filed suit to block the publication of a novel that retells parts of her Civil War novel "Gone With the Wind" from a slave's perspective.

ABA Denied Monetary Remedy in Antitrust Trial
In a partial victory for Barnes & Noble and Borders Group, Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has denied the American Booksellers Association and its 27 bookstore co-plaintiffs the ability to claim monetary damages should they win their antitrust lawsuit against the two chains.

Why eBooks are Sputtering
eMarketer tries to explain what went wrong with the great promise of electronic books.

Thriller writer Robert Ludlum dies at 73
Suspense writer Robert Ludlum, the prolific author of ``The Scarlatti Inheritance'' and other complex spy thrillers that routinely topped bestseller lists, died Monday in Naples, Florida after suffering a massive heart attack, a family spokesman said. He was 73 years old.

Authors to Protest Amazon
The Author's Guild protests Amazon.com's used book sales.

Bezos' Comments Hint At A Gloomy Future For Amazon
If there were any doubts remaining that these are scary times for Internet darling Amazon.com Inc., they were erased Monday when the British Broadcasting Corp. released portions of an interview with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in which he suggested that Internet stocks, and Amazon in particular, might not be a wise investment.

Korean Raids Seize $14 Million in Pirated Books
Stepping up copyright enforcement efforts in Asia, South Korean law-enforcement officials, with the support of the Association of American Publishers, netted more than 600,000 counterfeit English-language books in a February 26 raid on the warehouse of Han Shin, one of the largest, best-known book distributors and publishers in South Korea.

Childrens book profiles Amazon.com CEO Bezos
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos' star power has sputtered, but he's still famous enough to be portrayed as a hero to America's youth in a new book.

Random House Sues ePublisher for Rights To Novels (March 2, 2001)
Random House Inc. is suing an e-publisher for selling electronic versions of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," William Styron's "Sophie's Choice" and six other titles.

Books Were Us (March 2, 2001)
It was a new kind of bookshop - and it seduced Britain into a new love affair with books. But when the browser's paradise ballooned into an empire, it all started to go horribly wrong. Stephen Moss on the rise and fall of Waterstone's

Taiwan Bars Japanese Author For Book About Sex Slaves (March 2, 2001)
Taiwan has barred a Japanese cartoonist from visiting the island, temporarily blacklisting him for a book that says many Taiwanese women volunteered to work as sex slaves for the Japanese army.

E-books: The Internet's Latest Premature Undertaking? March 2, 2001
Despite the expectation that the e-book space will not mature for at least two to five years, every major New York book publisher is building an e-book division or cutting deals to safeguard their brand.

What Ebook Readers Want March 1, 2001
A survey of Internet users found that four out of ten are receptive to the concept of ebooks. One in ten users have either purchased or received an ebook as a gift and at least one in five users say they are somewhat likely to purchase an ebook within the next six months.

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