Author Solutions Acquires Publishing Assets of Trafford Publishing

Author Solutions announced Monday the acquisition of the publishing assets of Trafford Publishing of Victoria, British Columbia. Since its founding, Trafford has helped more than 15,000 authors from more than 120 countries publish and bring to market nearly 20,000 new titles.

"As more and more authors turn to indie book publishing, we are seeing strong double-digit growth in North America as well as the UK, and we believe the time is right to accelerate our international expansion. The Trafford brand gives us a platform to help more writers become published authors around the globe," said Kevin Weiss, ASI president and chief executive officer.
Established in 1995, Trafford was the world's first company to offer an on-demand publishing service and an early adopter of the Internet bookstore model. Weiss added, "Trafford's strong Canadian and UK presence and roster of more than 15,000 authors make it a valuable addition to our family of author services brands."

In 2008, the ASI author services brands brought to market more than 21,000 new titles, including one out of every 20 new titles put into distribution in the U.S. Overall, ASI's catalog now includes more than 120,000 titles from more than 85,000 authors.

Website: http://www.authorsolutions.com/

Oxford University Press USA Joins PubEasy Book Ordering Service

PubEasy, the global inquiry and ordering service for the book industry, today announced that Oxford University Press in the U.S., which is affiliated with the largest scholarly press in the world, has joined the growing PubEasy community of booksellers and suppliers.

Founded in 1586, Oxford University Press (OUP) is the largest scholarly press in the world, with a network of divisions, branches and related companies around the globe, from Australia and New Zealand to South Africa, India, Japan, and the United States. OUP first opened an office in New York in 1896 and the publisher's titles have won 14 Pulitzer Prizes, in addition to many other major book awards and New York Times bestsellers.

As a new PubEasy member, joining its affiliate OUP, which is an existing member, Oxford University Press, Inc.'s (OUP USA's) catalog of more than 25,000 titles will now be available to retail booksellers for purposes of checking price and availability on various book titles, placing online orders, receiving email acknowledgments of new orders, and tracking the status of book orders.

OUP USA joins a growing number of academic publishers who are making their catalogs available on PubEasy, including McGraw-Hill, SAGE, Bedford, Freeman & Worth, and Chicago Distribution Services, which includes the University of Chicago Press among its 70 academic press distribution clients.

Website: http://www.pubeasy.com/

Chicken Soup for the Soul Launches New Book Club

Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC., the company behind the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, one of the best-selling and most-beloved series of all time, is launching its first-ever book club in April 2009. The company has teamed up with two industry leaders, Traffic Marketplace, the world's fifth largest online advertising network [source: ComScore], which is set to handle global marketing, and Alta Resources, the global leader of integrated sales, service and fulfillment solutions supporting many other world-class brands.

Upon joining the book club, members will receive three books and sign up to buy eight more within 18 months. In a unique feature, members will be able to direct the shipment of each month's books to friends or family members as gifts by managing their account online.

Website: http://www.chickensoup.com/

Antitype Press Launches with Lesbian Fiction Release

"Especially in an economic downturn, books are a great resource and that is proven in increased sales," said Aimee White, Business Development Manager of Antitype Press in the UK. "And that's especially true in the lesbian fiction market, where there is quite a stunted growth in formats that break away from the community norm of detective or Mills and Boon type lesbian fiction. We're responding to calls for novels that are more quirky."

The lesbian fiction market has seen a boom over the last few years with an increase in publishers, especially in the US that has filtered through the UK.

One of the main issues facing publishers is attracting a suitable calibre of writer. Ensuring that submission process runs smoothly, Antitype Press has secured a small team of professional editors. Aimee explained, "It's easy for a publisher to want to bulk their books up with authors en masse because of the savings this can have with Print On Demand, but this can also damage your brand and that's something we really don't want to so. Also, with increased authors on your books it is easy to create an impersonal culture and that's not what we're about."

Antitype Press' first signing was E.A.Gray and her dark religious fiction about salvation and redemption in Heaven and Hell.

"I wanted to do something that made Heaven and Hell seem more accessible for the lesbian community," said E.A.Gray, "not for any specific religious beliefs myself, but because the Bible is a pretty good story. So I dragged it all into a modern day setting but kept it dark, following the premise of a Greek Tragedy."

Despite the difficulties faced by some areas in the economy the demand for books remains steady, and in some sectors, it is even increasing.

"I really think it comes down to this, if you're a good writer then you'll go far no matter what the economy is doing," Aimee concluded.

Website: http://www.antitype-press.co.uk