The marketing team behind film adaptation of Dr. Seuss‘ The Lorax have made more than 70 deals for promotional product tie-ins.

Comedian Stephen Colbert gave a sarcastic pitch (written in verse) asking for more: “I’m demanding more branding of Loraxian stuff!” The pitch included suggestions such as Lorax-themed SUV’s, oil drills and McDonald’s meals.

Follow this link for a full transcript of Colbert’s ranting rhyme and click here to watch the video. What do you think?

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The conservative group One Million Moms is urging Toys ‘R’ Us to stop stocking an Archie Comics issue that features a gay wedding.

In issue 16 of the Life with Archie series, Kevin Keller, Archie Comics’ first openly gay character, gets married to his boyfriend. One Million Moms has created a form letter for parents to email to the toy store. You can read the complete letter below…

The letter concludes with this threat: “Please remove all the same-sex ‘Just Married – Archie’ comic books immediately from your shelves. My decision to shop in your stores depends on it.”

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In our forthcoming So What Do You Do? interview with mega-bestselling author Jackie Collins, she reveals exclusively to us, that within the next three weeks she will release an eBook for The Bitch, a complete rewrite of her previous version of the novel, with a price point of $2.99 or less.

Seth Godin, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and even billionaire Mark Cuban have gone the DIY route, and now Collins is joining their ranks.

Although she will continue to work with her traditional publisher for other books, Collins was going through her old work recently when she thought that The Bitch would be the perfect eBook. The novel was also a movie, which Collins said “wasn’t that good and didn’t turn out the way that I wanted it to.”

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The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America has responded to the Amazon/Independent Publishers Group (IPG)  contract lapse by removing Amazon links for books on its website

The site now links to other retailers, including Indiebound.org, Powell’s and Barnes & Noble.

SFWA explains the move on its site: “SFWA is redirecting Amazon.com links from the organization’s website  to other booksellers because we would prefer to send traffic to stores where the books can actually be purchased.” SF books that are only available through Amazon will remain linked to the Amazon product page. Read more

Should more poets self publish? We caught up with poet Susie DeFord to find out why she chose to self-publish Dogs of Brooklyn this year.

In an interview with GalleyCat, the poet shared the unique problems poets face when self-publishing. For years, this poet has built her Susie’s Pet Care business while writing poems about the furry, funny creatures she works with every day.

DeFord reflected on her choice in the interview: “I probably wouldn’t wait so long to consider self-publishing. I paid to submit to first book contests for almost two years, so I lost money and time trying to do it the old-fashioned way. I suppose that time spent revising/ editing/ swearing/ and feeling rejected made for a better book and some character building, but there are so many cool easy ways to self-publish and get your work out there from blogs to books.”

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A group of authors, publishers and organizations (including the Association of American Publishers) have created a book caravan to bring “contraband” books back into Tuscon, Arizona schools.

Beginning March 12th, the Librotraficante (featured in the video embedded above) will caravan from Houston to Tucson handing out banned books. Follow this link if you want to donate to the cause.

Last year, Arizona passed the controversial H.B. 2281, a bill banning school curriculum “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.” Along with the bill, a number of ethnic studies books have been removed from school district shelves (list follows below).

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Here are some handpicked titles from our New Books section. Want to include your book? Just read our Facebook Your New or Upcoming Book post. Don’t forget to include your title’s exact release date and a link.

Austentatious by Alyssa Goodnight: “It started innocently enough. While browsing in one of Austin’s funky little shops, Nicola James is intrigued by a blank vintage journal she finds hidden among a set of Jane Austen novels. Even though Nic is a straight-laced engineer, she’s still a sucker for anything Austen-esque. But her enthusiasm quickly turns to disbelief once she starts writing in the journal—because somehow, it’s writing her back…” (January 2012)

The Flowers of War by Geling Yan and translated by Nicky Harman: “Based on true events, this powerful novel is set in December 1937 after the Japanese have taken Nanking. A group of terrified schoolgirls hide in the compound of a Catholic church run by Father Engelmann, an American priest who has been in China for many years. The church is supposedly neutral ground in the war between China and Japan. But it becomes clear the Japanese are not obeying the international rules of engagement.” (January 2012)

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Former GalleyCat editor Ron Hogan hopes to raise $4,500 on Kickstarter to launch an app version of his author interview blog, “Beatrice.” The funds will allow Hogan to make the app available free of charge.

Here’s more about the project: “I’d been looking at the app format for a while, with an eye towards recording interviews on video, selecting highlights from each conversation to stream alongside feature-length transcripts, then bundling two, three, maybe four interviews into thematic “issues” of a Beatrice app which could be priced something like $1.99 or $2.99 apiece. It’d be cool to be able to give the interviews away for free, but I didn’t see how I could afford to do it. Until now.”

If the fundraiser is successful, Hogan will unveil the Beatrice app at BookExpo America in June. The premiere issue, titled “Life Stories,” will feature interviews with three memoirists, including Half a Life author Darin Strauss, Revolution author Deb Olin Unferth and You Must Go and Win author Alina Simone.

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The Pinterest social network may still be closed to the general public, but that’s not stopping readers and writers from using the site as a resource. Currently, anyone can use these Pinterest boards for eBook fans to find free digital books.

The site lets users create virtual “pinboards” by pinning images of their favorite things. It includes a host of pages dedicated to books, including a number of pages dedicated to free eBooks. At Mediabistro we have been exploring the site to help writers and readers learn how to use it.

At eBookNewser we have put together a list of 10 Pinterest boards for eBook fans. At GalleyCat, we have put togethers  Pinterest Tips for Writers and Pinterest Boards for Book Lovers. Read more

VIDA: Women in Literary Arts have released a report entitled “The Count 2011,” revealing that male writers outnumbered female writers in many publications last year.

Picking up on where last year’s report left off, this report tracks the statistics of gender balance among writers published at literary magazines, including The New Yorker (overall: 165 women, 459 men), Poetry (overall: 134 women, 179 men) and The Threepenny Review (overall: 19 women, 37 men).

They also looked at authors reviewed, book reviewers, and interviews at certain publications, including: Harper’s (book reviewers: 13 women, 65 men) and The New York Times (book reviewers: 273 women, 520 men).

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