|
|
|
Reporters on Vivendi: It's a
meltdown| NEW YORK, June
30, 2002 -- Two Wall Street Journal reporters used the word
meltdown to describe the decline of Vivendi, the French conglomerate
whose interests include U.S. textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin. The
reporters, Bruce Orwell and Martin Peers, quoted sources that executive and
employee morale at the company's Universal entertainment units has tumbled.
Plummeting Vivendi stock, now 69 percent of ts value six months ago, has
rendered most of their stock options useless. Although Barry Diller, chief at
Vivendi Universal, has denied that spending cuts would make sense, employees
are bracing for them, the Journal reporters said. |
|
| 
VIVENDI
|
SA2 opens law web section
early| WINONA, Minnesota, June 29,
2002 -- Because of high author interest in the new Chodos opinion on
the "satisfactory manuscript" provision in book contracts, the Society of
Academic Authors rushed to open its new Case Law section on the SA2 web
site. The section has summaries of five important cases from the 1970s and
1980s that illuminate issues involving the "satisfactory manuscript" issue, said
SA2 editor John Vivian. "The Case Law section is lean at this point, but we
decided to open it early so SA2 members could bring themselves up-to-speed
on issues in Chodos," Vivian said. "In coming weeks we will flesh out
the section." See Authoring Law.
|
|
|
|
From Winkie Fordney,
award-winning life sciences author:
"Many years ago because of so
many takeovers by publishers, and I work for two, I decided to purchase stock
in the publishing companies I write for. The first time the shares split right after I bought them. Stocks in both companies continued to escalate. Then when one of my publishers was recently taken over and was not the buyer, I was paid off and made a profit. I have now bought stock in the company that took over. I
always get quarterly and annual reports and know what is going on at all times
through my stock broker about the publishers. This is just a handy hint but one
can make money through the books they write as well as through the stock
shares they own of the publisher they work for." |
|
|
HAVE A TIP TO SHARE?
LET OTHER AUTHORS KNOW
TELL
SA2 |
|
Thomson buys McGraw OJT-biz
lines| STAMFORD, Connecticut, June
28, 2002 -- Thomson bought selected courseware, technology and e-learning
content from McGraw-Hill's Lifetime Learning division. The content includes
subjects like improving sales performance and call center operations. The
acquisition augments Thomson's focus on "providing learning solutions that link
job performance to business objectives,"said Alex Brnilovich, president
ofThomson Enterprise Solutions. Terms were not announced.
|
|
|
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
 | Gabriel A.
Almond (political science), Stanford University G. Bingham Powell
Jr. (political science), University of Rochester, Kaare Strom
(political science), University of California, San Diego, and Russell J.
Dalton (political science), University of California, Irvine, wrote the seventh edition of Comparative Politics Today: A World View
(Longman). |
| Sari Factor, president of
McGraw-Hill's supplementary publisher Wright Group/McGraw-Hill, was
named president of Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, a pre-K-6 educational publisher.
Earlier she was with Tribune Education, ScottForesman and McDougal
Littell. |
| David Irons, vice president and
director of sales at Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, was named senior vice president of
sales at Harcourt's Holt, Rinehart & Winston. |
 | Richard
Labunski (journalism), University of Kentucky, The Educated Student:
Getting the Most Out of Your College Years (Marley and
Beck). |
 | Brian
Luke Seaward (health), University of Northern Colorado, wrote the second
edition of Health and Wellness Journal Workbook (Jones and
Bartlett). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Book due on Vivendi
mastermind| LONDON, July 27, 2002
-- An unauthorized biography of Jean-Marie Messier, whose assembled the
Vivendi corporate empire, including textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin, is
being written by two journalists at the Financial Times, former media
editor James Harding and Paris correspondnent Jo Johnson. Another
newspaper, the Guardian, described the book as a "hard-hitting
biography." The Guardian did not identify the publisher. "Publication of
the book will depend on the corporate fate of Mr Messier, who is hanging on to
his job by his fingertips following a disastrous stock market performance by
Vivendi since the turn of the year," the newspaper said. "Both journalists are
waiting to see if Mr Messier survives the next few months, when the pressure
for him to resign is expected to reach a crescendo." |
|
| 
MESSIER
|
Court won't audit Vivendi
governance| PARIS, July 27, 2002 --
The Paris Commercial court rejected a request by a committee of Vivendi
shareholders to examine the conglomerate's governance. The court said it found
no convincing grounds to justify an audit. Shareholder activist Colette Neuville
said her committee may appeal. Meanwhile, Neuville told the Wall Street
Journal that the target of her legal complaint, Vivendi chair Jean-Marie
Messier, had offered her a seat on the board of directors. She told hium no: "I'm
more useful where I am. I would be of no use on a board that has lost its
credibility." |
|
|
VIVENDI
|
Scholastic purchase widens British
outlet| NEW YORK, July 26, 2002 --
The U.S. publishing house Scholastic bought a 15 percent interest in the British
distributor Book People to give it a stronger foothold in distributing its products. Dick Robinson, Scholastic chair, said the first joint venture will bring together Scholastic's Red House unit with Book People's School Link operation, part of a 2 million customer base. The deal was US$18.3 million. |
|
|  SCHOLASTIC |
Vivendi stock off 69 percent in
2002| PARIS, June 24, 2002 -- Shares
in Vivendi, the troubled parent of textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin, fell 23
percent on the Paris exchange to their lowest in 13 years. Since January 1,
shares has lost 69 percent of their value. In the 19 months since Vivendi
acquired Seagram Company of Canada, owner of U.S. entertainment giant
Universal-MCA, the stock is down 75 percent. Vivendi officials declined
comment on the sell-off, but it came amid complex transactions that some
investors saw as an attempt to raise cash quickly. Vivendi is in debt somewhat
more than US$30 billion., A deal to sell a money-draining Italian pay-television
operation was falling apart, reports said. |
|
|
|
Publisher gives up to Texas
pressure| SUDBURY, Massachusetts,
June 24, 2002 -- Rather than t ake on conservative Texas snipers at textbook
content, publisher Jones and Bartlett gave up its entry for the official
state-approved science list -- University of Denver professor Daniel Chiras'
Environmental Science: Creating a Sustainable Future. Dean
DeChambeau, associate editor at J&:B, said conservative pressure groups
created too many obstacles: "There just isn't time and resources for us to go
through such a process." Chiras' widely used book, in its sixth edition, had
come under attack by one such group, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The
foundation faulted a number of passages, including "too many people
reproducing too quickly" could endanger the planet's health. Meanwhile,
reporter Dan Oko, writing in the magazine Mother Jones, said other
publishers are wooing not just the state adoption board but ideological pressure
groups by running manuscript by them for reaction so books can be modified to
please them. Among publishers pandering to the consevatives are Harcourt and
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Oko said. It is important to publishers
financially to be on the state adoption lists. School districts receive state aid for books only if they choose from the stated-approved list. School purcahses in Texas run about $570 million a year. |
|
|
CHIRAS/6e
JONES AND
BARTLETT |
Guild irked at silence on Danish
funds| NEW YORK, June 24, 2002 --
The Authors Guild, the largest U.S. authoring organization, said it has confirmed the Copyright Clearance Center has passed some funds recovered in a Danish lawsuit to authors. But about the Guild demand for an accounting, the Guild said: "CCC's stonewalling continues." The Copyright Clearance Center, based in Danvers, Massachusetts, is a clearing house for distributing funds collected abroad for the photocopying of U.S. works. The funds go to U.S. rightsholders, including authors. CCC has declined to divulge basic information about payments it has received from Copy-Dan, the Danish photocopy rights agency. Said the Guild: "The CCC declined to provide even cursory details of the
transaction (such as the fees the CCC is taking for handling the money) -- even
though it may affect the rights of authors in a long-standing suit brought by Ib
Lauritzen, a Danish literary agent, against Copy-Dan on behalf of U.S. authors
and others." The Guild complained publicly about CCC's silence in May, but
nothing happened: "Any hopes we harbored that (the Guild) might prod the
CCC into providing the sort of information that even the more lax publishing
houses routinely share have been dashed."
|
|
|
|
Wiley headquarters move has a
price| NEW YORK, June 23, 2002 --
The pending move of John Wiley & Sons corproate hedquarters across the
Hudson River to Hoboken, New Jersey, is costing $14.9 million, chief executive
William Pesce told investors. "The relocation will provide a more collaborative
and efficient work environment, relieve overcrowding in our current facility, and will meet the company's growth needs," Pesce said. The company took a $12.4
million charge against earnings in the fourth quarter of its latest fiscal year for the move. In part, the charge covered lease payments on the vacated New York
offices. An additional $2.5 million will be needed for duplicate rent through the move date and moving costs, Pesce said. |
| 
HOBOKEN-ON-HUDSON
Company to
occupy
one of towers |
Vivendi chief: I welcome
oversight| NEW YORK, June 23, 2002
-- The chief at Vivendi Universal, whose properties include textbook publisher
Houghton Mifflin, blamed the news media for a "misperception" that the
company's directors are displeased with him. In an interview with the magazine
Business Week, Jean-Marie Messier said news coverage has miscast a
new oversight committee as taking over day-to-day operations. "We announced
creation of a corporate governance committee, which, for me, is one of the
basics," he said. "I am in charge of the day-to-day job. If the board is not
satisfied with my job, it has to oust me, not to oversee these day-to-day
actions." While claiming "the strong support of a strong board," Messier
acknowledged that at least director "has expressed -- in a manner that I'm not
sure is in the best interest of all shareholders --his dissatisfaction with our stock price and the way the company is managed. OK. You have to live with it." He said Vivendi, despite major debt incurred for his acquisitions, including
Houghton, has strong profit margins. |
|
|
|
Changes due on "satisfactory"
clause| NEW YORK, June 23, 2002 --
Publishers can be expected to rewrite the "satisfactory manuscript" provision in
author contracts in the wake of a California author's court victory, said
publishing attorney Lloyd Jassin. The provision is a standard in the contracts
that publishers draft. The provision asserts that a publisher can abandon a book
if the manuscript isn't satisfactory. Because satisfactory typically isn't defined in the contracts, publishers had assumed the provision gave them
sweeping prerogatives. Noting the California case, in which a publisher
abandoned a book because the market dried up as it was being written, Jassin
said he expects publishers soon will insert new language that specifically allows them to drop a book if market conditions change. In the California case,
Chados v. West, a federal appellate court said a "satisfactory
manuscript" must be judged by its quality, not market
conditions. |
|
|
JASSIN
|
| A
Society of Academic Authors survey found publishers negligent in keeping
authors informed about corporate acquisitions and mergers and their effect of
authors' titles. Of the respondents, only a third of those with companies
involved in an acquisition or merger first learned of the deal from the publisher. There were, however, notable exceptions. One top-selling Houghton Mifflin author reported taking a call from a vice president with the news: "It was fairly classy. I asked questions that I could think of on the spur: 'Would there be staff shakeups?' Not yet. 'How would this affect my books.' It
wouldn't." |
| ABOUT
sa2
|
| John Wiley
& Sons: Sales 20 percent to $734.4 million for the fiscal year that
ended April 30. Net income grew 10.4 percent to $65 million, excluding a
one-time expense of moving the company headquarters to new Jersey.
|
Rosset memoirs now with
Algonquin| NEW YORK, June 23,
2002 -- The autobiography of First Amendment crusader Bary Rosset, in
progress since 1948, he says, will be published by Algonquin, insiders said.
Several earlier deals, with Doubleday, Seven Stories and Thunder's Mouth, all
imploded over contract disagreements and Rosset's delays. Rosset has been
continually unhappy with his manuscript keeps expanding and tinkering with it.
Insiders say the manuscript is impressive. The book dealdsnot only with
Rosset's legal battles for his Grove Press to publish literature with sexually
explicit passages but also with his correspondence with Samuel Beckett and his
World War II experience in China. |
|
|
 ROSSET |
|
State adoption slump hurts school
sales| WASHINGTON, June 22, 2002
-- Sagging el-hi school book sales, off 9.9 percent in April, compared to a year
earlier, and off 8.3 percent for the year, reflect troubled school budgets in much of the country. Sales in states with statewide adoption lists are down 16.4
percent, according to data from that the Association of American Publishers
gathered from its member publishers. The slump was attributed to declines in
state revenues due to the economic recession, all of which has affected state
funds earmarked for local school districts that buy the
books. |
|
|
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
| Michael Cavanagh, author
of mass media Internet guides for Allyn & Bacon, joined the journalism
faculty at the State University of New York at Stony
Brook. |
| Bruce Fehr, publishing
director at Perseus Press, was named director of the Smithsonian Instituion
Press. He succeeds Peter
Cannell. |
| Bruce Quinnell, former
Borders Group vice president and more recently a consultant, was elected chair
of the Reading Is Fundamental literacy advocacy
organization. |
 | Astrid M. Stec (psychology), University College of
the Fraser Valley, and Douglas A. Bernstein (psychology), University
of Surrey and University of South Florida, wrote the second edition of
Psychology: Fields of Application (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Author triumphant in cancellation
case| LOS ANGELES, California, June
22, 2002 -- A publisher cannot use the "satisfactory completion" provision in a
contract to trample an author's rights, said author Rafael Chodos after winning
a case against a publishing company for cancelling his book on grounds that not
as many copies could be sold as it had originally thought. Chodos called his
victory in a federal appeals court a landmark for author rights. The publisher,
Bancroft-Whitney, now owned by West, was told be the appellate court that it
will have to compensate Chodos for the time he spent writing the book -- three
years. Chodos, a lawyer, said he expects damages will exceed $1 million, more
than the book itself would have likely have earned. The U.S. District Court that
originally heard the case will determine the
damages. |
|
|
|
| Michael W. Apple, "The Socio-Historical
Roots of State Control," in Philip G. Altbach, G.P. Kell, H.G. Petrie and L.W.
Weis, editors. Textbooks in American Society: Politics, Policy and
Pedagogy. State University of New York Press,
1991. |
| Brad Thompson, "If I Quiz Them, They
Will Come," Chronicle of Higher Education, Volume 48 (June 21, 2002),
Issue 41, Page B5. Thompson, who teaches at Pennsylvania State University at
University Park, reports on his experience with daily quizzes to encourage
students to read their assignments. There is a message here for textbook
authors. |
Watch for new
"walk-away" provisionWINONA,
Minnesota, June 21, 2002 -- Publishing house attorneys are scrambling to
introduce new wording in author contracts to allow publishers to walk away
from a book project during the authoring process, the Society of Academic
Authors reported in a Contract Alert to SA2 members. Watch for contract
wording that says the publisher may abandon a project if it perceives that
market interest in the book has changed, the society said. John Vivian, of the
society, said: "Some publishers had assumed they could use their traditional
'satisfactory manuscript' provision to abandon a book if the market dried up,
leaving the author high and dry even if the manuscript otherwise was
satisfactory." A California federal appellate court now has ruled, however, that a publisher cannot employ the "satisfactory manuscript" provision for market
reasons. "SA2 applauds the ruling," Vivian said. "For a publisher to misjudge
the market for a book and then scuttle it alleviates the publisher of the risk
attendant in agreeing with an author to produce a book. It meant the author
assumed all the risk, which isn't right," Vivian said.
What this
means for authors: Now that a court has narrowed the parameters within
which a publisher can apply the "satisfactory manuscript" provision, authors can
expect a new market-sensitive provision that will give publishers new
prerogatives to walk away. Confronted with such a provision, authors should
insist on a walk-away payment that compensates them for their energy and
time plus a cancellation sum equivalent at least to royalty income expected from
a first edition. |
|
| |
WHAT
TO DO
Review new and
also updated contracts carefully.
If you find a more restrictive
"satisfactory manuscript" provision, don't sign.
Immediately
contact:
SA2 |
|
Houghton analysis: Vivendi true to
plan| BOSTON, June 21, 2002 --
Although the incoming chief executive at Houghton Mifflin has no textbook
company experience, the appointment of Hans Gieskes is hardly incongruous,
the book industry newsletter Subtext said. Gieskes' background on the
technology side of publishing clearly indicates the strategy of Vivendi, owner of Houghton, to repurpose Houghton's content for wider, more diverse markets,
Subtext said: "This means taking the company digital and international."
The Dutch-born Gieskes, 48, takes office July 1. Vivendi has been consistent
since acquiring Houghton that it wanted a more international direction for the
company. Most of Gieskes' background is 16 years with Reed Elsevier in the
Netherlands. More recently he has been with Lexis-Nexis and Monster.com in
the United States. |
|
|
|
U-press cutbacks worry MLA
officerCAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts,
June 21, 2002 -- The president of the Modern Language Association's
executive committee, Stephen Greenblatt, said cutbacks at university presses
threaten the quality of the U.S. professoriate. In a letter to MLA members,
Greenblatt said the cutbacks are narrowing a traditional outlet for good work by
junior faculty members. Because tenure hinges on publication, careers are in
jeopardy, he said: "Higher education stands to lose, or at least severely to
damage, a generation of young scholars." Although Greenblatt's comments
were concerned with scholarship in literature, the problem of university press
cutbacks in editorial staff and in their lists has wide implications. He called on tenure committees to ease their requirements for book publication and look
more to journal articles, high-level lecture forums, and e-journals.
What this means for authors: The landscape of academic authoring is
changing. Now as universities insist on break-even budgets from the presses
that were founded to promulgate worthy scholarship regardless of economics,
we will see fewer scholarly books, Professor Greenblatt is right in
recommending new attention to other outlets for young professor's
work. |
|
| |
| Peter Benjaminson.Publish
Without Perishing: A Practical Handbook for Academic Authors. National
Education Association, 1992. A general handbook for all academic authors
published jointly with the National Writers Union. Discusses issues of "getting
published," contracts and royalties among others. |
| June Kronholz. "Bibliography Mess:
The Internet Wreaks Havoc With the Form," Wall Street Journal,
Volume 239 (May 2, 2002), Number 86, Pages A1-A6. Kronholz, writing for a
general audience, has fun with the variety of academic styles -- APA, Chicago,
MLA, NISO, Council of Science Editors, NLM, plus the lawyers, the engineers,
the musicians, and all the others. Kronholz's news angle is how these meisters
of style are dealing with Internet citations. The answer is no surprise: Each in its own way and not very satisfactorily considering, she says, "the anarchies of
cyberspace." |
| Edward J. Larson, "Constitutional
Challenges to Textbooks," in Philip G. Altbach, G.P. Kell, H.G. Petrie and L.W.
Weis, editors. Textbooks in American Society: Politics, Policy and
Pedagogy. State University of New York Press, 1991. |
Largest U.S.
textbook publisher: Pearson| DARIEN,
Connecticut, June 21, 2002 -- British-owned Pearson Education remained the
largest U.S. education publisher based on 2001 revenues, with McGraw-Hill a
distant second, according to a ranking by the trade journal Subtext.
Pearson revenues grew 24.1 percent. Reed and Thomson had dramatic
increases due to the acquisition of Harcourt, whose titles they split up. Because some publishers don't break out education sales, like Vivendi, which lumps its Houghton Mifflin and games divisions together, some data in the Subtext report is estimated. |
|
| |
Pearson
McGraw-Hill
Thomson
Vivendi
Reed
Scholastic
WRC Media
Wiley |
|
| $ 3.7 billion
2.3 billion
1.9 billion
1.0
billion
834 million
310 million
232 million
165
million |
|
| 24.1 percent
16.5 percent
33.4 percent
9.0
percent
186.6 percent
0.0 percent
5.8 percent
3.1
percent
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
 | Philip C. Kolin
(business), University of Southern Mississippi, wrote the sixth edition of
Successful Writing at Work (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Peter F.
Cannell, director of the Smithsonsian Institution Press, died of a brain
tumor at his Bethesda, Maryland, home on May 18. He was 47. He had been
director at the Smithsonian since 1996 and expanded the Smithsonian authoring
pool especially in biology, botany and zoology. |
 | Edward
S. Greenberg (political science), University of Colorado, and Benjamin
J. Page (political science), Northwestern University, wrote the fifth edition of Struggle for Democracy: Election Update
(Longman). |
 | Arnold J.
Goldman (law), Relin, Goldstein & Crane, and William D.
Sigismond (law), Monroe Community College, Amherst, wrote the fifth
edition of Business Law: Principles and Practices (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Delta buys EPS reading, testing
firm| CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts,
June 20, 2002 -- A testing and supplements company, Educators Publishing
Service, was purchased by Delta Education. Terms were not announced. EPS,
in business since 1949, is known for Mel Levine's All Kinds of Materials series,
Explode the Code phonics series, and Worldly Wise test-preparation series.
Delta chief executive Gary Facente EPS will continue with its president, Nick
Gaedhe, in charge. Facenta said the new national focus on education standards
speak well to EPS and Delta's
growth. |
|
|
|
Britannica issues one-volume
encyclopedia| CHICAGO, June 20,
2002 -- Encyclopedia Britannica has boiled down its 32-volume flagship
encyclopedia to 2,080 pages and a single volume, Britannica Concise
Encyclopedia. The abridgement is the first of six one-volume titles scheduled for release this year, said President Ilan Yeshua. The series will be the ultimate desk set, Yeshua said. The new encyclopedia has 28,000 entries. Yeshua said the company also remains committed to multi-volume products, citing a
forthcoming update of the Encyclopedia Britannica and the reacquisition of the
Compton's Encyclopedia. |
|
| |
Publishers honor school science
magazine| WASHINGTON, June 20,
2002 -- The Association of Educational Publishers presented its Golden Lamp
award to Science World Magazine, a school publication published by
Scholastic. The Golden Lamp recognizes excellence in numerous categories,
including books, instructional materials, periodicals and technology. Science
World Magazine also was named the association's periodical of the
year. |
|
| |
Survey: Merger news late to authors
| WINONA, Minnesota, June 19, 2002
-- Authors are the last to be informed by publishers about corporate acquisitions and mergers that affect the authors' books, according to a new survey by the Society of Academic Authors. The survey found that fewer one-third of textbook authors first learned of a pending corporate consolidation from their publishers. One author learned long after the fact when he showed up at a
professional convention and saw his book displayed in a new publisher's booth.
When publishers do bring authors up-to-speed, it is after the deal is all done.
Invariably, in-house staff people all are informed before authors. Without
exception, authors are last to get the official notice. In no case did a respondent report receiving the federally required preliminary disclosure statements that parties in merger talks must file with investors and the government. Although some authors felt reasonably well informed through newspapers and other sources about pending corporate consolidations, about half rated their experience between 1 and 3 on a scale with 10 as being fully
informed. |
|
|
|
| CROSSING INTO
PLAGIARY: By its nature, scholarship draws on previous scholarship,
which means that academic writers run the risk of drawing too heavily on
what's come before. The line can be blurry, which makes for lively ethics
debates. Attorney Zick Rubin, a textbook author himself, points out that a
transgression also can be copyright infringement, a legal issue with stiff
penalties. |
|
| 
RUBIN
FULL
ARTICLE |
| SA2 --
GIVING ACADEMIC AUTHORS A
VOICE |
|
Tech-certification partnership
announced| SAN ANTONIO, Texas,
June 19, 2002 -- Thomson-owned Course Technology, a provider of computer
education products, announced a partnership with Certiport, a creator of a
performance-based certification programs, to distribute Certiport's new Internet
and computing certification exams. Course Technology will distribute Certiport
exams to students and instructors in colleges and universities and K-12 schools.
David Saedi, a Certiport vice president, said the partnership "fills a gap for
promoting and validating foundational skills so necessary in today's digital
economy." The exam, called IC3, will be "an industry standard for measuring
basic computer literacy for academia and the workplace," he said. The
companies' joint announcement cited research that the academic community
faces a daunting problem in assuring students have achieved computer
literacy. |
|
|
COURSE
TECHNOLOGY |
Authors endorse new SA2 siteWINONA,
Minnesota, June 19, 2002 -- Academic authors continue praising the SA2 news
service. Here are excerpts from the latest messages:
"A good deal more verve."
"Your SA2
e-publication is most helpful in keeping me informed of developments in the
business end of textbook publication while I concentrate on writing. Your
reporting on changes at Vivendi are very informative and relevant."
"Keep up the great work with the SA2 organization."
"Nothing
clubby or limpid about SA2. Keep it up."
"Had only I learned of the
SA2 site before I signed the dotted line. This is ... invaluable information."
|
|
| <
small>ABOUT
sa2
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
 | Richard N. Aufmann (math), Palomar College,
Vernon C. Barker (math), Palomar College, and Joanne S.
Lockwood (math), Plymouth State College, wrote the seventh edition of
Basic College Mathematics: An Applied Approach (Houghton
Mifflin). |
 | Karen O'Connor (political science), American
University, Larry J. Sabato (political science), University of Virginia,
Stefan Haag, (political science), Austin Community College, and
Gary A. Keith (political science), Tarleton State University, wrote the
Texas edition of American Government: Continuity and Change
(Longman). |
 | Ann
Honan Rodrigues (business), Katharine Gibbs School, Providence, wrote
the second edition of English That Works (Houghton
Mifflin). |
 | Frank A.
Schubert (law), Northeastern University, wrote the seventh edition of
Introduction to Law and the Legal System (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Whence now
BertelsmannSpringer?GÜTERSLOH, Germany, June 19, 2002 -- Plans by
Bertelsmann to sell its Springer science publishing subsidiary launched
speculation about possible suitors. The U.S. publisher John Wiley & Sons
seemed to be the odds-on favorite among industry observers. Wiley has been in
an acquisition mode. Adding the $710 BertelsmannSpringer unit to Wiley's
$260 million science, technical and medical publishing business would propel
Wiley into league with STM leader Reed, whose STM revenues are about $1
billion. Industry observers said too that Springer's list, which includes 120
Nobel laureates, would fit neatly with Wiley's list. Might Reed want Springer?
Yes, say the experts, but they add that it probably isn't going to happen because there would be anti-trust objections. Other possible suitors: Wolters Kluwer of Europe and Thomson of Canada, the second and third largest STM players.
What this means for authors: The most-often mentioned
companies to acquire BertelsmannSpringer all are solid financially. We would
expect a seamless transition for academic
authors. |
|
|
|
| Daniel L. Elliott and Arthur.
Woodward, editors. Textbooks and Schooling in the United States.
University of Chicago Press, 1990. A valuable collection of articles on textbooks and their relationship to the educational system in the United States. Separate chapters focus on the progressive era, 1930-1950, and the postwar era,
1950-1980. Attention is given to small publishers. |
| Peter Kendrick and Enid L. Zafran,
editors. Indexing Specialties: Law. Information Today, 2001. Kendrick
and Zafran have compiled chapters that cover a broad range of challenges in
legal indexing. They begin with practical advice for new legal indexers. One
chapter addresses indexing statutory materials. |
| Kenneth K. Wong and Tom
Loveless, "The Politics of Textbook Policy: Proposing a Framework," in
Philip G. Altbach, G.P. Kell, H.G. Petrie and L.W. Weis, editors. Textbooks
in American Society: Politics, Policy and Pedagogy. State University of
New York Press, 1991. |
Harcourt aims at new
e-products| BOSTON, Massachusetts,
June 18, 2002 -- The Harcourt publishing house, owned by Reed Elsevier of
Britain, has established an eLearning Group to develop new products and
services, the company announced. The group will integrate Classroom Connect,
a recent acquisition, with other online activities, including iLearningOnline
Interactive, a K-12 online assessment program. The group, also, will coordinate
Harcourt's alliance with software publisher Riverdeep to develop e-basal
products, Ann Foster, who heads the new group, formerly was e-learning
director at Reed's Britain-based educational publishing division. The Foster
group's mandate includes finding e-applications across all Harcourt product
lines. |
|
| |
Court nixes town restrictions on
speechWASHINGTON, June 18,
2002 -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that government restrictions on
door-to-door proselytizing violate the right to free speech afforded citizens in
the nation's constitution. The 8-1 decision struck down an Ohio town
government's requirement that religious groups, politicians and even Scouts
have a town permit to knock on doors and state their piece. In the majority
opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote:"It is
offensive, not only to the values protected by the First Amendment but to the
very notion of a free society, that in the context of everyday discourse a citizen must first inform the government of her desire to speak to her neighbors and then obtain a permit to do so." What this means
for authors: This is not an authoring decision, but it represents further
Court endorsement of the general concept that citizen expression cannot be
restricted by government. That notion is at the heart of academic inquiry and
exchange of ideas and information. |
|
| |
Berteslmann selling science, other
units| GÜTERSLOH, Germany,
June 17, 2002 -- German-based media titan Bertelsmann intends to sell off 25
percent of non-core assets, including scientific journal publisher
BertelsmannSpringer, chief executive Thomas Middelhoff said. Middelhoff said
options include selling the unit, merging it with another publisher, or a
management buy-out. The Springer unit has been one of Bertelsmann's more
profitable enterprises, but, said Middelhoff, it is not a leader in scientific,
technical and medical publishing. Bertelsmann, he said, wants to dominate the
fields it is in. In STM publishing, Wolters Kluwer, Reed Elsevier and Thomson
are far ahead of Bertelsmann. Besides Springer, Middelhoff said 25 other
Bertelsmann units are on the market -- all in preparation for the family-held
company's first public stock offering in two or three
years. |
|
|
|
| LEADING AUTHORS: A SERIES |
TOM
MCKNIGHT
Approaching mid-career as a scholar, Tom
McKnight found himself invited to join the co-authoring team of geography
luminaries Edwin Foscue and Langdon White. Over the next three editions
McKnight became the sole author of their landmark college textbook. He has
found additional success with another multi-edition textbook and numerous
other titles.
Biographical
profile |
|
French court asked to probe
Vivendi| PARIS, June 17, 2002 --A
self-appointed committee of Vivendi shareholders asked a French court to
investigate whether company governance has broken down. If the court
concludes there has been a breakdown, shareholders could sue Vivendi
executives and members of the board for their losses, according to Colette
Neuville of the ad-hoc committee. Shares have dropped 55 percent since
January 1. The Neuville committee has hired the New York law firm of Weil,
Gotshal ∧ Manges to pursue its interests. Neuville said she is concerned
that Vivendi chair Jean-Marie Messier blind-sided board members to the debt
implications in a slew of recent acquisitions, including U.S. textbook publisher
Houghton Mifflin. Vivendi debt has passed US$30 billion. |
|
|
|
Kluwer apologizes for employee's
words| NEW YORK, June 17, 2002 --
Kluwer Academic Publishers "deeply regrets" the statements made to the
president of the Arab-American Institute by an employee outside of work, said
the company president, Peter Hendriks, in a public statement. "These statements
in no way reflect the beliefs or values of this company," Hendriks said. "Kluwer
Academic Publishers abhors violence and intolerance both in speech and in
action. We are committed to the ideals of life, liberty, equality and respect for all people regardless of age, gender, color, race, creed, national origin, religious beliefs, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, and veteran's status. These beliefs are reflected in all of Kluwer's practices and policies. Kluwer Academic Publishers will respond quickly and appropriately to those whose words or deeds are detrimental to our business principles or
interests." |
|
|
KLUWER
ACADEMIC
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
 | E. Thomas
Garman (finance), InCharge Institute of America, and Raymond E.
Forgue (finance), University of Kentucky, wrote the seventh edition of
Introduction to Law and the Legal System (Houghton
Mifflin). |
 | William Stallings
(computer science), wrote the sixth edition of Computer Organization and
Architecture: Designing for Performance (Prentice
Hall). |
 | Douglas J. McQuaid (accounting), Wenatchee
Valley College, and Patricia A. Bille (accounting), Highline Community
College, wrote the seventh edition of College Accounting (Houghton
Mifflin). |
 | Joshua S. Goldstein (political science), American
University, wrote the fifth edition of International Relations
(Longman). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Vivendi taps online exec for
Houghton| PARIS, June 16, 2002 -- An
experienced online publishing executive, Hans Gieskes, was named chief
executive of Vivendi-owned U.S. textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin. The
announcement said that Gieskes will help Houghton expand overseas with an
online emphasis. Gieskes succeeds Nader Darehshori, who is retiring. For the
past year, since Vivendi acquired Houghton, Darehshori has also been working
at online initiatives. Agnès Touraine, chief executive at Vivendi Universal Publishing, the Vivendi unit that operates Houghton, emphasized continuity: "There is no revolution," she said. Gieskes spent most of his career at Reed Elsevier, digitizing publishing. In 1997, he became chief executive of Reed's Lexis-Nexis online research service. In 2000 he was named president of the online job search site Monster.com but left a year ago and went into consulting. Houghton has reported strong returns under Vivendi, Touraine emphasized. She called the integration with Vivendi "very, very good" with people working well together. Spokesperson Collin Earnst said the Boston payroll has grown slightly in recent months to 1,210. |
|
|
|
Historian to Congress: Keep records
open| CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, June 16, 2002
-- Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. urged Congress to
nullify President Bush's executive order against public access to presidential
documents after a president leaves office. In a letter to the House Governmental
Relations Committee, Schlesinger said Congress should stand by its 1978 action
to assure that presidential documents become available. "Why in the world the
President would wish further to restrict access to unclassified documents and
thus to narrow a statute that Congress passed after careful inquiry into the
issues involved?" Schlesinger asked. Answering his own question, he said: "The
suspicion is bound to arise that the people behind Executive Order 13223 have
some things they wish to conceal from Congress, from the American people
and from history." |
|
|
|
| RECYCLING
ORPHANS: Eventually a book loses the earning power that a
publishing house needs to keep it in inventory. That doesn't mean it's done.
Veteran author Frank Silverman suggests self-publishing to keep an orphaned
title in print and up-to-date. |
|
| 
SILVERMAN
FULL
ARTICLE |
|
| Lori Lathrop.An Indexer's Guide
to the Internet, second edition. Information Today, 1999. Lathrop, president
of the American Society of Indexers, expands on the 1994 edition with useful
sites for indexers. Strengths include selecting equipment and service providers,
locating other indexers and professionals online, deciphering "geek speak,"
designing web sites, and using Internet search tools. Lathrop includes a glossary and bibliography. |
| MIDYEAR
ASSESSMENT: Just when it seemed textbook publishing had
stabilized into a few giant global players, scrappy but well-heeled upstarts have launched challenges. In this midyear assessment, veteran industry observer John Vivian says authors who had bemoaned the diminished diversity and
competition of the 1990s may get what they wished for. As he sees it, time will
tell whether we're truly on the brink of a reconfigured textbook industry. In the meantime, he says, authors have a growing number of competent publishers to
which to send prospectuses. |
|
| 
VIVIAN
FULL
ARTICLE |
| SA2 --
GIVING ACADEMIC AUTHORS A
VOICE |
|
Journal gigged on relaxed ethics
rule| BOSTON, June 16, 2002 -- A
former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Jerome
Kassirer, criticized the journal's decision to accept reviews and commentaries
on new drugs from researchers involved with the products. Kassirer was
unfazed by the Journal explanation that important contributions were
being precluded by the former absolute ban. In an interview with the Wall
Street Journal, Kassirer said that good reviewers without a financial interest can always be found. He acknowledged that the New England Journal will still forbid reviews from anyone with more than $10,000 in recent income from the manufacturer of the drug being commented on, but he was
unimpressed. Ten-thousand dollars is a lot to many researchers and will
undermine a crucial perception that they haven't been bought off. Kassirer was
the editor from 1991 to 1999. |
|
|
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
 | Wilbert J. McKeachie (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Barbara Hofer (educational psychology),
Middlebury College, Nancy Van Note Chism (educational psychology),
Ohio State University, Erping Zhu (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Matthew Kaplan (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Brian Coppola (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Andrew Northedge (educational psychology),
Open University, Claire Ellen Weinstein (educational psychology),
University of Texas, Austin, Jane Halonen (educational psychology),
James Madison University, and Marilla D. Svinicki (educational
psychology), University of Texas, Austin, wrote the 11th edition of
McKeachie's Teaching Tips Strategies, Research, and Theory for College
and University Teachers (Houghton Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Site to launch author biography
series| WINONA, Minnesota, June 16,
2002 -- A biographical series on notable academic authors, to be published on
the SA2 site, was announced by the Society of Academic Authors. The series,
called "Leading Authors," will include in-depth profiles on authors who have
made significant contributions, said John Vivian, the society's founder and
editor. "These will be useful case studies for all authors on how the masters do
their work," Vivian said. The society welcomes nominations of notable authors
for the series, he said. A schedule of one profile a month is planned, beginning
in June. |
|
| <
small>ABOUT
sa2
|
Scholastic opens new Arkansas
warehouse| MAUMELLE, Arkansas,
June 16, 2002 -- Educational publisher Scholastic opened a 500,000-square foor
warehouse in Maumelle for its home-schooling products. Initially the facility has 150 employees. The payroll will grow to 500 when a Des Plaines, Illinois,
facility and rented warehouses elsewhere are consolidated at Maumelle. It is
expected that all Scholastic products eventually will go through the new
facility. |
|
|
SCHOLASTIC |
Investing tip: Vivendi too riskyNEW YORK, June 16, 2002 -- The corporate parent of
textbook company Houghton Mifflin, France-based Vivendi, took another hard
knock, this time in the pages of the business magazine Fortune. Under a
headline "Hot Media Stocks," reporter Brian O'Keefe listed Vivendi as "don't
buy." Wrote O'Keefe:"Trolling for good assets on the
cheap can be risky. Consider Vivendi International. After a rough spring for
CEO Jean-Marie Messier, it's hard to tell if the stock has just gone for a dip -- or if it's sinking for good. It's fallen more than 50 percent in the past year. A value? We think not. Messier survived rumors of his demise, but his
countrymen in France are seething about his move to New York. And the
company's holdings in European telecom and pay-TV scare off
many." O'Keefe quotes Mark Greenberg of the
Invesco Leisure mutual fund about Vivendi: "Too complicated a balance sheet."
O'Keefe's "do buys": AOL Time Warner, Liberty Media, Viacom. His "don'ts:"
Disney, Fox, News Corp, Vivendi. |
|
|
|
May tally for SA2 site: 130
items| WINONA, Minnesota, June 16,
2002 -- In a monthly performance report to members of the Society of
Academic Authors, editor John Vivian said 130 items had been posted on the
SA2 news and information site in May. The items included a contract alert on a
new "me first" provision that is showing up in some publisher contract
proposals. Six tables were added to the SA2 data banks. Two how-to columns
and numerous opinion pieces and position statements were posted. "The best
way to catch up on highlights is to review the e-mail news alerts summary,"
Vivian said: Alerts
Summary |
|
| ABOUT
sa2 |
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
| Philip C. Kolin
(business), University of Southern Mississippi, wrote the sixth edition of
Successful Writing at Work (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Peter F.
Cannell, director of the Smithsonsian Institution Press, died of a brain
tumor at his Bethesda, Maryland, home on May 18. He was 47. He had been
director at the Smithsonian since 1996 and expanded the Smithsonian authoring
pool especially in biology, botany and zoology. |
| Edward
S. Greenberg (political science), University of Colorado, and Benjamin
J. Page (political science), Northwestern University, wrote the fifth edition of Struggle for Democracy: Election Update
(Longman). |
| Arnold J.
Goldman (law), Relin, Goldstein & Crane, and William D.
Sigismond (law), Monroe Community College, Amherst, wrote the fifth
edition of Business Law: Principles and Practices (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Delta buys EPS reading, testing
firm| CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts,
June 20, 2002 -- A testing and supplements company, Educators Publishing
Service, was purchased by Delta Education. Terms were not announced. EPS,
in business since 1949, is known for Mel Levine's All Kinds of Materials series,
Explode the Code phonics series, and Worldly Wise test-preparation series.
Delta chief executive Gary Facente EPS will continue with its president, Nick
Gaedhe, in charge. Facenta said the new national focus on education standards
speak well to EPS and Delta's
growth. |
|
|
|
Britannica issues one-volume
encyclopedia| CHICAGO, June 20,
2002 -- Encyclopedia Britannica has boiled down its 32-volume flagship
encyclopedia to 2,080 pages and a single volume, Britannica Concise
Encyclopedia. The abridgement is the first of six one-volume titles scheduled for release this year, said President Ilan Yeshua. The series will be the ultimate desk set, Yeshua said. The new encyclopedia has 28,000 entries. Yeshua said the company also remains committed to multi-volume products, citing a
forthcoming update of the Encyclopedia Britannica and the reacquisition of the
Compton's Encyclopedia. |
|
| |
Publishers honor school science
magazine| WASHINGTON, June 20,
2002 -- The Association of Educational Publishers presented its Golden Lamp
award to Science World Magazine, a school publication published by
Scholastic. The Golden Lamp recognizes excellence in numerous categories,
including books, instructional materials, periodicals and technology. Science
World Magazine also was named the association's periodical of the
year. |
|
| |
Survey: Merger news late to authors
| WINONA, Minnesota, June 19, 2002
-- Authors are the last to be informed by publishers about corporate acquisitions and mergers that affect the authors' books, according to a new survey by the Society of Academic Authors. The survey found that fewer one-third of textbook authors first learned of a pending corporate consolidation from their publishers. One author learned long after the fact when he showed up at a
professional convention and saw his book displayed in a new publisher's booth.
When publishers do bring authors up-to-speed, it is after the deal is all done.
Invariably, in-house staff people all are informed before authors. Without
exception, authors are last to get the official notice. In no case did a respondent report receiving the federally required preliminary disclosure statements that parties in merger talks must file with investors and the government. Although some authors felt reasonably well informed through newspapers and other sources about pending corporate consolidations, about half rated their experience between 1 and 3 on a scale with 10 as being fully
informed. |
|
|
|
| CROSSING INTO
PLAGIARY: By its nature, scholarship draws on previous scholarship,
which means that academic writers run the risk of drawing too heavily on
what's come before. The line can be blurry, which makes for lively ethics
debates. Attorney Zick Rubin, a textbook author himself, points out that a
transgression also can be copyright infringement, a legal issue with stiff
penalties. |
|
|
RUBIN
FULL
ARTICLE |
| SA2 --
GIVING ACADEMIC AUTHORS A
VOICE |
|
Tech-certification partnership
announced| SAN ANTONIO, Texas,
June 19, 2002 -- Thomson-owned Course Technology, a provider of computer
education products, announced a partnership with Certiport, a creator of a
performance-based certification programs, to distribute Certiport's new Internet
and computing certification exams. Course Technology will distribute Certiport
exams to students and instructors in colleges and universities and K-12 schools.
David Saedi, a Certiport vice president, said the partnership "fills a gap for
promoting and validating foundational skills so necessary in today's digital
economy." The exam, called IC3, will be "an industry standard for measuring
basic computer literacy for academia and the workplace," he said. The
companies' joint announcement cited research that the academic community
faces a daunting problem in assuring students have achieved computer
literacy. |
|
|
COURSE
TECHNOLOGY |
Authors endorse new SA2 siteWINONA,
Minnesota, June 19, 2002 -- Academic authors continue praising the SA2 news
service. Here are excerpts from the latest messages:
"A good deal more verve."
"Your SA2
e-publication is most helpful in keeping me informed of developments in the
business end of textbook publication while I concentrate on writing. Your
reporting on changes at Vivendi are very informative and relevant."
"Keep up the great work with the SA2 organization."
"Nothing
clubby or limpid about SA2. Keep it up."
"Had only I learned of the
SA2 site before I signed the dotted line. This is ... invaluable information."
|
|
| <
small>ABOUT
sa2
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
| Richard N. Aufmann (math), Palomar College,
Vernon C. Barker (math), Palomar College, and Joanne S.
Lockwood (math), Plymouth State College, wrote the seventh edition of
Basic College Mathematics: An Applied Approach (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Karen O'Connor (political science), American
University, Larry J. Sabato (political science), University of Virginia,
Stefan Haag, (political science), Austin Community College, and
Gary A. Keith (political science), Tarleton State University, wrote the
Texas edition of American Government: Continuity and Change
(Longman). |
| Ann
Honan Rodrigues (business), Katharine Gibbs School, Providence, wrote
the second edition of English That Works (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Frank A.
Schubert (law), Northeastern University, wrote the seventh edition of
Introduction to Law and the Legal System (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Whence now
BertelsmannSpringer?GÜTERSLOH, Germany, June 19, 2002 -- Plans by Bertelsmann to sell its Springer science publishing subsidiary launched speculation about possible suitors. The U.S. publisher John Wiley & Sons seemed to be the odds-on favorite among industry observers. Wiley has been in an acquisition mode. Adding the $710 BertelsmannSpringer unit to Wiley's $260 million science, technical and medical publishing business would propel Wiley into league with STM leader Reed, whose STM revenues are about $1 billion. Industry observers said too that Springer's list, which includes 120 Nobel laureates, would fit neatly with Wiley's list. Might Reed want Springer? Yes, say the experts, but they add that it probably isn't going to happen because there would be anti-trust objections. Other possible suitors: Wolters Kluwer of Europe and Thomson of Canada, the second and third largest STM players.
What this means for authors: The most-often mentioned companies to acquire BertelsmannSpringer all are solid financially. We would expect a seamless transition for academic
authors. |
|
|
|
| Daniel L. Elliott and Arthur.
Woodward, editors. Textbooks and Schooling in the United States.
University of Chicago Press, 1990. A valuable collection of articles on textbooks
and their relationship to the educational system in the United States. Separate
chapters focus on the progressive era, 1930-1950, and the postwar era,
1950-1980. Attention is given to small publishers. |
| Peter Kendrick and Enid L. Zafran,
editors. Indexing Specialties: Law. Information Today, 2001. Kendrick
and Zafran have compiled chapters that cover a broad range of challenges in
legal indexing. They begin with practical advice for new legal indexers. One
chapter addresses indexing statutory materials. |
| Kenneth K. Wong and Tom
Loveless, "The Politics of Textbook Policy: Proposing a Framework," in
Philip G. Altbach, G.P. Kell, H.G. Petrie and L.W. Weis, editors. Textbooks
in American Society: Politics, Policy and Pedagogy. State University of
New York Press, 1991. |
Harcourt aims at new
e-products| BOSTON, Massachusetts,
June 18, 2002 -- The Harcourt publishing house, owned by Reed Elsevier of
Britain, has established an eLearning Group to develop new products and
services, the company announced. The group will integrate Classroom Connect,
a recent acquisition, with other online activities, including iLearningOnline
Interactive, a K-12 online assessment program. The group, also, will coordinate
Harcourt's alliance with software publisher Riverdeep to develop e-basal
products, Ann Foster, who heads the new group, formerly was e-learning
director at Reed's Britain-based educational publishing division. The Foster
group's mandate includes finding e-applications across all Harcourt product
lines. |
|
| |
Court nixes town restrictions on
speechWASHINGTON, June 18,
2002 -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that government restrictions on
door-to-door proselytizing violate the right to free speech afforded citizens in
the nation's constitution. The 8-1 decision struck down an Ohio town
government's requirement that religious groups, politicians and even Scouts
have a town permit to knock on doors and state their piece. In the majority
opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote:"It is
offensive, not only to the values protected by the First Amendment but to the
very notion of a free society, that in the context of everyday discourse a citizen must first inform the government of her desire to speak to her neighbors and then obtain a permit to do so." What this means
for authors: This is not an authoring decision, but it represents further
Court endorsement of the general concept that citizen expression cannot be
restricted by government. That notion is at the heart of academic inquiry and
exchange of ideas and information. |
|
| |
Bertelsmann selling science, other
units| GÜTERSLOH, Germany,
June 17, 2002 -- German-based media titan Bertelsmann intends to sell off 25
percent of non-core assets, including scientific journal publisher
BertelsmannSpringer, chief executive Thomas Middelhoff said. Middelhoff said
options include selling the unit, merging it with another publisher, or a
management buy-out. The Springer unit has been one of Bertelsmann's more
profitable enterprises, but, said Middelhoff, it is not a leader in scientific,
technical and medical publishing. Bertelsmann, he said, wants to dominate the
fields it is in. In STM publishing, Wolters Kluwer, Reed Elsevier and Thomson
are far ahead of Bertelsmann. Besides Springer, Middelhoff said 25 other
Bertelsmann units are on the market -- all in preparation for the family-held
company's first public stock offering in two or three
years. |
|
|
|
| LEADING AUTHORS: A SERIES |
TOM
MCKNIGHT
Approaching mid-career as a scholar, Tom
McKnight found himself invited to join the co-authoring team of geography
luminaries Edwin Foscue and Langdon White. Over the next three editions
McKnight became the sole author of their landmark college textbook. He has
found additional success with another multi-edition textbook and numerous
other titles.
Biographical
profile |
|
French court asked to probe
Vivendi| PARIS, June 17, 2002 --A
self-appointed committee of Vivendi shareholders asked a French court to
investigate whether company governance has broken down. If the court
concludes there has been a breakdown, shareholders could sue Vivendi
executives and members of the board for their losses, according to Colette
Neuville of the ad-hoc committee. Shares have dropped 55 percent since
January 1. The Neuville committee has hired the New York law firm of Weil,
Gotshal ∧ Manges to pursue its interests. Neuville said she is concerned
that Vivendi chair Jean-Marie Messier blind-sided board members to the debt
implications in a slew of recent acquisitions, including U.S. textbook publisher
Houghton Mifflin. Vivendi debt has passed US$30 billion. |
|
|
|
Kluwer apologizes for employee's
words| NEW YORK, June 17, 2002 --
Kluwer Academic Publishers "deeply regrets" the statements made to the
president of the Arab-American Institute by an employee outside of work, said
the company president, Peter Hendriks, in a public statement. "These statements
in no way reflect the beliefs or values of this company," Hendriks said. "Kluwer
Academic Publishers abhors violence and intolerance both in speech and in
action. We are committed to the ideals of life, liberty, equality and respect for all people regardless of age, gender, color, race, creed, national origin, religious beliefs, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, and veteran's status. These beliefs are reflected in all of Kluwer's practices and policies. Kluwer Academic Publishers will respond quickly and appropriately to those whose words or deeds are detrimental to our business principles or
interests." |
|
|
KLUWER
ACADEMIC
|
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
| E. Thomas
Garman (finance), InCharge Institute of America, and Raymond E.
Forgue (finance), University of Kentucky, wrote the seventh edition of
Introduction to Law and the Legal System (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| William Stallings
(computer science), wrote the sixth edition of Computer Organization and
Architecture: Designing for Performance (Prentice
Hall). |
| Douglas J. McQuaid (accounting), Wenatchee
Valley College, and Patricia A. Bille (accounting), Highline Community
College, wrote the seventh edition of College Accounting (Houghton
Mifflin). |
| Joshua S. Goldstein (political science), American
University, wrote the fifth edition of International Relations
(Longman). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Vivendi taps online exec for
Houghton| PARIS, June 16, 2002 -- An
experienced online publishing executive, Hans Gieskes, was named chief
executive of Vivendi-owned U.S. textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin. The
announcement said that Gieskes will help Houghton expand overseas with an
online emphasis. Gieskes succeeds Nader Darehshori, who is retiring. For the
past year, since Vivendi acquired Houghton, Darehshori has also been working
at online initiatives. Agnès Touraine, chief executive at Vivendi Universal Publishing, the Vivendi unit that operates Houghton, emphasized continuity: "There is no revolution," she said. Gieskes spent most of his career at Reed Elsevier, digitizing publishing. In 1997, he became chief executive of Reed's Lexis-Nexis online research service. In 2000 he was named president of the online job search site Monster.com but left a year ago and went into consulting. Houghton has reported strong returns under Vivendi, Touraine emphasized. She called the integration with Vivendi "very, very good" with people working well together. Spokesperson Collin Earnst said the Boston payroll has grown slightly in recent months to 1,210. |
|
|
|
Historian to Congress: Keep records
open| CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, June 16, 2002
-- Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. urged Congress to
nullify President Bush's executive order against public access to presidential
documents after a president leaves office. In a letter to the House Governmental
Relations Committee, Schlesinger said Congress should stand by its 1978 action
to assure that presidential documents become available. "Why in the world the
President would wish further to restrict access to unclassified documents and
thus to narrow a statute that Congress passed after careful inquiry into the
issues involved?" Schlesinger asked. Answering his own question, he said: "The
suspicion is bound to arise that the people behind Executive Order 13223 have
some things they wish to conceal from Congress, from the American people
and from history." |
|
|
|
| RECYCLING
ORPHANS: Eventually a book loses the earning power that a
publishing house needs to keep it in inventory. That doesn't mean it's done.
Veteran author Frank Silverman suggests self-publishing to keep an orphaned
title in print and up-to-date. |
|
|
SILVERMAN
FULL
ARTICLE |
|
| Lori Lathrop.An Indexer's Guide
to the Internet, second edition. Information Today, 1999. Lathrop, president
of the American Society of Indexers, expands on the 1994 edition with useful
sites for indexers. Strengths include selecting equipment and service providers,
locating other indexers and professionals online, deciphering "geek speak,"
designing web sites, and using Internet search tools. Lathrop includes a glossary and bibliography. |
| MIDYEAR
ASSESSMENT: Just when it seemed textbook publishing had
stabilized into a few giant global players, scrappy but well-heeled upstarts have launched challenges. In this midyear assessment, veteran industry observer John Vivian says authors who had bemoaned the diminished diversity and
competition of the 1990s may get what they wished for. As he sees it, time will
tell whether we're truly on the brink of a reconfigured textbook industry. In the meantime, he says, authors have a growing number of competent publishers to
which to send prospectuses. |
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VIVIAN
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GIVING ACADEMIC AUTHORS A
VOICE |
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Journal gigged on relaxed ethics
rule| BOSTON, June 16, 2002 -- A
former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Jerome
Kassirer, criticized the journal's decision to accept reviews and commentaries
on new drugs from researchers involved with the products. Kassirer was
unfazed by the Journal explanation that important contributions were
being precluded by the former absolute ban. In an interview with the Wall
Street Journal, Kassirer said that good reviewers without a financial interest
can always be found. He acknowledged that the New England Journal
will still forbid reviews from anyone with more than $10,000 in recent income
from the manufacturer of the drug being commented on, but he was
unimpressed. Ten-thousand dollars is a lot to many researchers and will
undermine a crucial perception that they haven't been bought off. Kassirer was
the editor from 1991 to 1999. |
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING
PEOPLE |
| Wilbert J. McKeachie (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Barbara Hofer (educational psychology),
Middlebury College, Nancy Van Note Chism (educational psychology),
Ohio State University, Erping Zhu (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Matthew Kaplan (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Brian Coppola (educational psychology),
University of Michigan, Andrew Northedge (educational psychology),
Open University, Claire Ellen Weinstein (educational psychology),
University of Texas, Austin, Jane Halonen (educational psychology),
James Madison University, and Marilla D. Svinicki (educational
psychology), University of Texas, Austin, wrote the 11th edition of
McKeachie's Teaching Tips Strategies, Research, and Theory for College
and University Teachers (Houghton Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
Site to launch author biography
series| WINONA, Minnesota, June 16,
2002 -- A biographical series on notable academic authors, to be published on
the SA2 site, was announced by the Society of Academic Authors. The series,
called "Leading Authors," will include in-depth profiles on authors who have
made significant contributions, said John Vivian, the society's founder and
editor. "These will be useful case studies for all authors on how the masters do
their work," Vivian said. The society welcomes nominations of notable authors
for the series, he said. A schedule of one profile a month is planned, beginning
in June. |
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Scholastic opens new Arkansas
warehouse| MAUMELLE, Arkansas,
June 16, 2002 -- Educational publisher Scholastic opened a 500,000-square foor
warehouse in Maumelle for its home-schooling products. Initially the facility has 150 employees. The payroll will grow to 500 when a Des Plaines, Illinois,
facility and rented warehouses elsewhere are consolidated at Maumelle. It is
expected that all Scholastic products eventually will go through the new
facility. |
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SCHOLASTIC |
Investing tip: Vivendi too riskyNEW YORK, June 16, 2002 -- The corporate parent of
textbook company Houghton Mifflin, France-based Vivendi, took another hard
knock, this time in the pages of the business magazine Fortune. Under a
headline "Hot Media Stocks," reporter Brian O'Keefe listed Vivendi as "don't
buy." Wrote O'Keefe:"Trolling for good assets on the
cheap can be risky. Consider Vivendi International. After a rough spring for
CEO Jean-Marie Messier, it's hard to tell if the stock has just gone for a dip -- or if it's sinking for good. It's fallen more than 50 percent in the past year. A value? We think not. Messier survived rumors of his demise, but his
countrymen in France are seething about his move to New York. And the
company's holdings in European telecom and pay-TV scare off
many." O'Keefe quotes Mark Greenberg of the
Invesco Leisure mutual fund about Vivendi: "Too complicated a balance sheet."
O'Keefe's "do buys": AOL Time Warner, Liberty Media, Viacom. His "don'ts:"
Disney, Fox, News Corp, Vivendi. |
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May tally for SA2 site: 130
items| WINONA, Minnesota, June 16,
2002 -- In a monthly performance report to members of the Society of
Academic Authors, editor John Vivian said 130 items had been posted on the
SA2 news and information site in May. The items included a contract alert on a
new "me first" provision that is showing up in some publisher contract
proposals. Six tables were added to the SA2 data banks. Two how-to columns
and numerous opinion pieces and position statements were posted. "The best
way to catch up on highlights is to review the e-mail news alerts summary,"
Vivian said: Alerts
Summary |
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