BTW News Briefs

Scholastic Releases Harry Potter Art

On March 8, Scholastic released the cover art of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth in J.K. Rowling's series. The book is due in stores on July 16. Mary GrandPre, the illustrator of all five previous U.S. editions of the Harry Potter books, created the cover art, which is available with guidelines on the Scholastic website for retailers and distributors: www.scholastic.com/custsupport/booksellers/harrypotter.htm.

Scholastic also announced the simultaneous July 16 release of a deluxe edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The edition will include a 32-page insert on special paper at the end of the book featuring near scale reproductions of GrandPre's interior art, as well as a never-before-seen piece of full-color art for the frontispiece. The deluxe edition will be a total of 704 pages and have a retail value of $60.

Launch of ISBN-13 Education & Support Project Announced

On March 4, the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) announced the launch of a new program, the ISBN-13 Education & Support Project, to focus on assisting organizations within the book industry better prepare for the changeover from 10- to 13-digit ISBNs. Laura Dawson, an independent consultant to the book industry, was appointed Project Manager.

Specifically commissioned by the Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) arm of BISG, the ISBN-13 Education & Support Project will develop ISBN-13 education and public relations initiatives to serve the industry over the next six months. Using the BISG website, collaterals, seminars, presentations, and other outreach efforts, the project will provide both general and detailed information on all aspects of ISBN-13, from why and how to get an ISBN, to the technical specs necessary for incorporating ISBN-13 into supply-chain databases. In addition to other initiatives, the project will keep tabs on industry readiness and offer regular ISBN-13 seminars and presentations as appropriate where people will have the opportunity to hear industry experts present and respond to specific implementation issues. For more information about the ISBN-13 Education & Support Project, contact Jeff Abraham at [email protected] or Laura Dawson at [email protected].

Ingram Book Group and O'Reilly Media Ink Publisher Services Agreement

On March 8, Ingram Publisher Services Inc., a subsidiary of Ingram Book Group Inc. that specializes in providing distribution services to publishers, and O'Reilly Media, Inc., an independent publisher of computer books, announced they have entered into an exclusive distribution agreement to begin September 2005. Under the new agreement Ingram will be the exclusive distributor of O'Reilly books, handling retail customer service, order-entry, and fulfillment.