In September, Simon & Schuster announced that they united the “editorial and publicity teams of its Pocket Books and Simon Spotlight Entertainment into a new imprint called Gallery Books.” I’m mentioning it because the Publishers Marketplace announcement for Michelle Diener said her two historicals, ILLUMINATIONS and BRILLIANCE, were sold to Micki Nuding at Gallery.

The Wall Street Journal reports the death of the slush pile. Yet the article names books found in slush piles in recent years. That sounds like a pulse to me.

Promotions at HarperCollins UK will affect women’s fiction. Lynne Drew is now publisher for fiction, including WF. Deputy publishing director Sarah Ritherdon will oversee commercial women’s fiction and will report into Drew. Ritherdon will work alongside Victoria Hughes.

Looking for new ways to sell your books? Stephen Elliott arranged book tours in people’s homes instead of bookstores. He said, “I sold about 1,100 books (not counting copies of my older books, which I was also selling) at 73 events. Seven hundred of those were books I purchased wholesale, a few hundred more were sold by local booksellers invited to the readings.”

Xerox is partnering with Espresso Books to produce On Demand Books in minutes for less than a penny a page. “This cutting-edge book solution, sold by On Demand Books, LLC, produces millions of copyrighted, public domain, out-of-print, or rare texts for consumers in a matter of minutes.”

Amazon launches a 70% Kindle Royalty Option.

This made me laugh. Barnes & Noble lied about Nook’s weight. One ounce less than claimed. I think the world will survive.

Another article on the return of the bonkbuster. Apparently sex, glitz and glamor are back in style. I’m wondering when sex was out of style.