Prestwick House Publishing Company to Purchase Milliken Publishing

Prestwick House, Delaware's leading educational publisher, has reached an agreement to purchase Saint Louis-based Milliken Publishing House for an undisclosed sum. The deal, scheduled to take place at the end of December, will increase Prestwick House's offerings by over 300 titles. Prestwick House plans to fully fold Milliken's operations into Prestwick House's Smyrna, Delaware-based headquarters by the beginning of the New Year.

Prestwick House has a history selling to the secondary English language-arts market, and this sale will expand its market reach to the k-6 market in all subject areas. "We're excited about the opportunity to reach out to more teachers and help revive this well-known brand, "says Prestwick House VP Operations, Jason Scott. "This acquisition opportunity came at the perfect time," continues Scott, "since we're in the midst of developing products to enter the K-6 market."

Prestwick House has tapped Publishing Manager, Jerry Clark to spearhead this new division. Clark's experience with all areas of Prestwick House's growth since he joined Prestwick House eleven years ago makes him the ideal choice to run this division. "Integrating Milliken into Prestwick House will bring the production and fulfillment efficiencies that we've developed to Milliken Operations," says Clark.

Website: http://www.prestwickhouse.com/

Rapid Fire Marketing Signs Agreement With Prominent Author

Rapid Fire Marketing has signed a Marketing Agreement with Steve Bonenberger, author of "Through Gates of Fire" trilogy series. The Agreement provides RPDM $120,000 over a 12 month period, as well as 25% of gross sales generated from The Company's efforts.

"Through Gates of Fire" is a fictional Christian novel written in a three part series. The books have received overwhelming response, as they are based on events to take place in the end times as described in The Bible.

The story revolves around a fictional character that has received incredible grace and blessings in his life, due to the "moral bank account" saved up by his parents before him.

The trilogy is now being marketed both retail and through Rapid Fire Marketing's website: http://www.rf2020.com/ . RPDM will also receive 25% of the gross sales generated through The Company's efforts.

HarperCollins Launches Book of Teens From All 50 States

"The generation gap between teens and their parents is bigger today than ever before," said photographer Michael Franzini, author of ONE HUNDRED YOUNG AMERICANS, a book from HarperCollins that goes on sale this week at all major bookstores.

Franzini -- a photographer, writer and Emmy-winning director -- traveled over 30,000 miles with his crew to photograph and interview a diverse group of 100 teens in all 50 states.

A crew of 8 people worked for half a year to identify the group of 100 young people that best represented a cross section of American teens.

The composition of this group matches census data for gender, race and sexuality. The group includes every kind of teenager: jocks and band geeks, gamers and stoners, emo kids and rappers, goths and vampires.

Unlike previous generations, today's teens have unlimited access to information, entertainment, social networking and more. Franzini calls them the "Instant Access Generation."

They have grown up with Google, MySpace, and text messaging. They have also grown up with broken families, war abroad, and a mass media assault at home.

100 YOUNG AMERICANS shows American teenagers as they want to be seen. It gives a rare glimpse into their private lives and the many social issues they wrestle with on a daily basis.

The book includes hundreds of lush photographs, as well as a narrative on each of the 100 teens. Key issues addressed include the following:

-- Social networking sites -- About half of all American teenagers have a
profile on MySpace, through which they have developed large networks of
on-line friends, sometimes numbering in the thousands. But, as several
of the teens in this book point out, MySpace has also become a platform
for a new wave of bullying and predation.

-- Cliques, identity and popularity -- High school cafeterias are as
rigidly divided as ever, along the old lines of race, class and gender.
But, thanks to the Internet, cliques that would not have taken root in
the past -- or would have been much smaller -- are now thriving and
often span the globe. For some teens, Instant Access means that the
world is a less lonely place.

-- Sex -- More than half of American high school seniors have had sex and
almost one third of all girls get pregnant before they turn 20. Yet,
along with a rise in sexual freedom and experimentation, there has also
been a surprisingly successful safe-sex and abstinence movement in
America, strengthened by the new information technologies. A number of
the teens in this book are proud of the fact that they intend to wait
until marriage.

-- Drugs -- Most teens know where to get marijuana, and many know where to
get cocaine or crystal meth. But today's young people have also
learned how to get high on the drugs they find in their parents'
medicine cabinets. Several teens in the book talk about their
life-shattering experiences with drugs, including prescription drugs
like Oxycontin and over-the-counter medicines like Robitussin.

-- Gang violence -- Many of the kids in this book describe their
experiences with gangs, but the most powerful representation of
gang-driven destruction is a graphic one. The last image in the book
is of a young man lying in a coffin, a 13-year-old victim of a drive-by
shooting.

-- Religion -- Many of the teens in this book are deeply religious, some
in spite of their parents' atheism or agnosticism. Although it is
often blamed for the spread of violent and pornographic images, Instant
Access has also brought many young Americans closer to God.

-- Family -- More than a third of all American families are stepfamilies.
The stories in this book make it clear that kids who live with
stepparents face added difficulties. But they also address the
problems of "helicopter parents" who-aided by cell phones-intrude into
their kids' lives, direct their activities, and inhibit their growth
and independence.

These are just a few of the topics covered in 100 YOUNG AMERICANS, a book that captures the beauty and complexity of American youth today.

"With the budget and crew dedicated to the creation of this book, we could have made a feature film," said executive producer Brett Henenberg, who supervised the production and accompanied Franzini to all 50 states.

The book's web site http://www.100youngamericans.com/ includes many images from the book and stories about 25 of the 100 teens.

Petite Modeling Memoir Signs With Publisher

On over twenty pages of Google, Isobella Jade is known as the petite model who wrote a book at the Apple Store when she was homeless and didn't have a computer. However, her title is now including Author, Blogger, Podcaster, and "wizard of self promotion," as quoted in Advertising Age.

Her height and unexpected success, has inspired her modeling memoir called "Almost 5'4"." She has recently signed her world rights to The Friday Project in the U.K. "I found them on Publishersmarketplace.com and I immediately liked The Friday Project's edge, raw nature and the humanistic voice found in the books they had published previously like Blood, Sweat and Tea."

Currently Isobella Jade is writing daily modeling tips, modeling advice and giving help to other petite models on her blogs and podcast called Model Talk: www.blogtalkradio.com/isobellajade

She says of the Internet, "If you can handle the self promotion and the upsetting difficulties sometimes, then the Internet is a great place to start promoting yourself as a model, actor, musician, or artist. The Internet has changed the entertainment and modeling industry forever and the word model and the image of a Supermodel can now be created from hits and clicks on the screen. I have made myself a model from scratch, and I have never seen anyone my height trying to be a professional model, but that doesn't mean I won't still be trying."

The Friday Project will release Isobella Jade's book Almost 5'4" in January 2009.

Penguin to publish Scotiabank Giller Prize Anthology

Penguin Group (Canada) will publish The Scotiabank Giller Prize: 15 Years of Prize-Winning Fiction in 2008 to mark the 15th Anniversary of the Giller Prize.

Penguin Group (Canada) is recognized as the country's pre-eminent publisher of literary anthologies, and on its list of critically acclaimed bestsellers, has recently published The Penguin Book of Summer Stories (edited by Alberto Manguel), The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories (edited by Jane Urquhart), The Penguin Book of Crime Stories (edited by Peter Robinson), and The Penguin Book of Women's Stories (edited by Lisa Moore).

To this prestigious list, Penguin now adds the most glamorous of anthologies, The Scotiabank Giller Prize: 15 Years of Prize-Winning Fiction. The book was conceived by Penguin Editorial Director Andrea Magyar, warmly embraced by Giller Prize founder Jack Rabinovitch and presented to lead sponsor Scotiabank in the summer of 2007.