Fresh off her global Olympics cameo reading an excerpt of “Peter Pan” to the bazillion viewers who gaped at the London 2012 Games Opening Ceremony, author J.K. Rowling now gets to turn her attention back to her own magic-fueled kid-lit fantasy that ended up spanning a few generations: Harry Potter.

Rowling earlier this year announced she's writing a book for adults, her first foray beyond the Potter Empire that has kept her busy since Harry hit bookshelves back in 1997. Moving on from Potter publisher Bloomsbury with the move, Rowling stated, "The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life."

The last Potter book came out in June of 2007, and the last movie last year, but Rowling can't quit Harry — not just yet.Continue reading...

In addition to the expected kids' marketing tie-ins such as a McDonald's Happy Meal promotion, Ice Age: Continental Drift  opens in movie theaters today with a mobile campaign it hopes moviegoers will find cool: GoldRun’s augmented reality mobile app.

Using the free photo app, available for iPhone and Android, fans can pose with more than a dozen characters, including Scrat, narrated by Chris Wedge, Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Dennis Leary) and Sid (John Legquizamo), from the fourth film (expected to top the box office this weekend) in the wildly popular Ice Age series.Continue reading...

When you manufacture electric razors, you spend a lot of time thinking about the shape of people’s faces and noticing how much the simple construction and care of a face communicates about somebody.

Procter & Gamble’s Braun brand took that notion and created the “Wear your face” campaign, which is now turning into a book that will benefit UNICEF. The book, Wear Your Face: Portraits of Men of Varying Ages, Origin, and Character, was the idea of BBDO Proximity Duesseldorf creative director Olaf Reys, who worked on the Braun campaign for P&G.

Reys teamed up with some of the world’s best-known photographers to capture some of the world’s best-known faces, including George Clooney, Robert de Niro, Mickey Rourke, and Mick Jagger.

“Today the male public image is multifaceted and malleable, presenting a kaleidoscope of diversity and sophistication,” Reys said in a press release. “The work I amassed is a visual documentation of how far society has moved towards a more tolerant interpretation of masculinity – and femininity.”Continue reading...

With libraries reporting waiting lists in the thousands and retailers reporting over 10 million copies sold in just a month and a half, the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey and its siblings 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed has not only dominated The Hunger Games trilogy but (mercy!) "ripped through the virginity" of America's familiarity with, and openess to, BDSM.

Much to the delight of its publisher, the trilogy by E.L. James is being banned in libraries across the nation, where "pornography," not "literature," is used to describe the tome. And the only thing nearly as popular as reading the book is writing about how terrible it is as a book. (True fact: The books started as fan fiction featuring characters from the Twilight series — now it's inspiring fan fiction.)

Capitalizing on the new craze for "mommy porn" is "leading fetish company" Stockroom.com, which reports a "a remarkable surge in inquiries."Continue reading...

"I believe excellence has a lot to do with being able to really anticipate customers' needs, and to then transform that deep understanding into the basis for an impeccable execution in terms of service.This, along with quality and distinctiveness, is what luxury should ultimately be about.

Now more than ever before, luxury means self-indulgence and self-reward. And this can be embodied by a made-to-order item or by an absolutely exclusive service or treatment. Luxury has gained a more individual significance, ideally allowing us to choose his, or her, own meaning and way of experiencing it: and that can be interpreted as a desirable item as well as a state of extreme comfort."

— Francesco Trapani, CEO Bulgari, from an interview by Manfredi Ricca and Rebecca Robins featured in their new book, Meta-luxury: Brands and the Culture of Excellence, now available in the U.S. from Palgrave Macmillan

Despite serious challenges on the home front of her network, OWN, Oprah Winfrey on Monday launched Oprah’s Book Club 2.0, an interactive, multi-platform reading club for her community of fans on Oprah.com, readers of O Magazine and OWN viewers.

The best-selling memoir Wild, by Cheryl Strayed (Knopf), is her first selection with special digital editions of the autobiography — plus exclusive content including a reader’s guide and Oprah’s notes on her favorite passages — available for Kindle, Nook and Apple's iBookstore.

To say that Oprah’s Book Club has been successful for Oprah, for her fans, and for the book industry is an understatement, so relaunching the franchise marks a pivotal return to one of the core pillars of her brand and connection with her community.Continue reading...

Microsoft has invested $300 million in a digital venture with Barnes & Noble in a bid to make the bookseller's Nook e-reader available to millions of new customers, from consumers to students, through integration with the Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system. 

"Our complementary assets will accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices, enabling people to not just read stories, but to be part of them," commented Microsoft president Andy Lees to the BBC. "We're on the cusp of a revolution in reading."  

“The shift to digital is putting the world’s libraries and newsstands in the palm of every person’s hand, and is the beginning of a journey that will impact how people read, interact with, and enjoy new forms of content,” said Lees in a statement.

Microsoft gets a 17.6% share of the yet-unnamed joint venture, for now (Hulu-like) being called NewCo, with Barnes & Noble owning the remaining 82.4%. The deal includes Barnes & Noble’s College business and the company’s shares are up more than 80%, reaching $25, the highest level since 2009.Continue reading...

In a milestone of digital dominance in the publishing industry, Encyclopaedia Britannica will cease publication in print and move entirely to digital.

It’s been a good (print) run for the Encyclopædia Britannica (Latin for "British Encyclopaedia"), the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still around, first published between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland in three volumes.Continue reading...