When I saw the job listing for an Editor at Orbit I was worried that my old pal Devi Pillai had gotten the axe. Turns out that's not the case; Orbit is actually planning on doubling the size of its list in the US over the next 3 years taking its title output to 70-80 per year by 2011 (and 10% for the next 3 years in the UK). And, according to publisher Tim Holman, "Hachette Australia will start to publish SFF titles under the Orbit imprint later this year."

At a time when some houses are cutting back on staff (I'm looking at you Houghton and Doubleday), Orbit is currently hiring an additional editor in the US, and will be making further appointments in due course. In the UK, Bella Pagan has been promoted to Commissioning Editor, and Marketing Executive Samantha Smith has taken on a number of editorial responsibilities. Darren Turpin has also joined the imprint as an additional Marketing Executive, focusing on online marketing campaigns. Orbit's latest national bestseller is Matter by Iain M. Banks which is number one on the Locus hardcover list this month

Shortly after last week's item on Michael Moorcock ran, I got a care package from Weird Tales that included several recent issues, including one that had come out just that week with a new Elric of Melniboné story from Moorcock. In all honesty, "Black Pearls" struck me as somewhat formulaic, but that might just be because I'd read a bunch of tortured, angstful Elric stories in a short timeframe—at any rate, the rest of the three issues I read over the weekend were awesome, grounded in stories like Erik Amundsen's "Bufo Rex," Amanda Downum's "Catch," and John Kirk's "The Talion Moth." (If that last one isn't going to be part of a series, I'm going to be awfully disappointed.)

On the nonfiction front, Elizabeth Genco (disclosure: a pal) is doing a bangup job interviewing writers like Melissa Marr and Jacqueline Carey, but there's also wonderful conversations with China Miéville and James Morrow. And there's a swell series of articles from Kenneth Hite exploring H.P. Lovecraft's use of place in his fiction, from the cursed towns of Massachusetts to the barren sandscapes of the Middle East. The most recent issue includes a list of "the 85 weirdest storytellers" that's eclectic enough to include Nick Cave and David Lynch alongside Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. If you're interested in where horror/"dark fantasy" is headed these days, this seems like a pretty good starting point.

In 2005, 31% of the roughly 1.5 billion books printed in the US were returned to publishers. Guess what: that not only doesn't make sense for anyone's bottom line -- people don't buy more books because they see big luxuriant stacks of books on offer, it seems!-- it's bad for the environment!

As is buying and selling paper-stacks at all, of course, but let's not think about that for the moment. In an article about Bob Miller's new HarperCollins "studio's" no-returns policy, sustainable-living publisher Margo Baldwin explains the rationale behind the no-returns deal she has struck with 30 bookstores: "In this age of global warming it's insane to be shipping books back and forth across the country for no good reason. It's just a waste of energy and, not only that, it still encourages the overproduction of books -- many of which end up in landfills."

So will the entire book industry change the way it does business based on these concerns? Maybe not: "'It would require Random House or HarperCollins to develop an entirely new business model,' said [Jim] Milliot of Publishers Weekly. 'And that is not going to happen.'"

There are no 'Harry Potter' titles on the Times bestseller list for the first time in 10 years.

Tucker Max's 'I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell' is still on there, though -- and it has been for three years. Yes: three years.

On her Tumblr, which is obviously where I get most of my news, the Observer's Doree Shafrir bitches that the Times ran their review of Barbara Walters' memoir 'Audition' yesterday despite Knopf's explicit warning that no reviews should run before May 6. "It's sort of bullying of a paper like the Times to publish their review first, just because they can. It's not like Knopf is never going to send Janet Maslin another book," she points out.

But it's also worth noting that the book's gossipiest revelations -- like the news of Walters'affair with a senator -- broke much earlier in a non-review context, despite the embargo. Of course it's publicists' job to position books cleverly, but it does seem unfair to leak buzzy details strategically while telling reviewers they must hold off on writing about the book. This just makes it obvious that the only point of an embargo is to focus review coverage around pub in a way that will create a sales spike that boosts bestseller-list chances. Scandalous.

According to Bertelsmann insiders in Germany, whispering in the NY Times's ear, Random House CEO Peter Olson is expected to resign "in the next few weeks," because "lower profits at Random House and steep losses in its American book clubs" have hurt the bottom line at the parent company, and the leadership "has lost patience."

PW Daily says similar rumors were floating around London last month, adding Olson's health and future career plans into the mix. The article adds that, according to a Random House spokesperson, "Olson is maintaining a regular schedule for today and the forseeable future."

"I think the publishing industry in general has done a poor job of teaching authors how to be proactive about their own books," Walker publisher George Gibson (left) told the audience at a Saturday afternoon Los Angeles Times Festival of Books panel on the future of indie publishing. "It is essential that publishers figure out the Internet because publishers haven't done that." Akashic Books publisher Johnny Temple agreed about the need to come to terms with the technological advances: "I can't be blind or naive to the fact that culture is constantly evolving," he said, but he can still take steps to influence that process—instead of complaining that nobody reads anymore, he suggested, publishers can use digital media to "reach out to the communities that are being ignored."

Susan Weinberg of PublicAffairs talked about her company's recent success rushing an e-book by George Soros to "print," and then offered some practical marketing advice for authors. "If you can develop a sizable e-mail list of people who have a serious affinity for what you're saying," she proposed, "the effect is like an appearance on NPR." And James Atlas found himself wishing that Robert Miller, who'd been spotted around the UCLA campus, was here to join in the discussion—in the meantime, he said that when he talks to people outside of publishing, "the idea that this is an industry is just laughable." (As in, you have to pay retailers to get your products featured in their stores, and you have to let them return the unsold products and refund their money?) Reflecting on the panel's title ("Where do we go from here?"), "the answer I came up with... was 'I don't know,'" Atlas admitted. "After 12 years, I really feel like a novice still."

Former Houhgton Publisher Janet Silver, downsized during the Harcourt merger, is now taking her authors to Nan A. Talese. According to the Observer, "Silver has formally moved three of her authors to her new list at Doubleday: Monique Truong, Peter Ho Davies and John Pipkin. That leaves about a dozen more, all of whom, according to Ms. Silver, could still end up following her to Doubleday," including Philip Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer. However, according to Publishers Lunch,

HMH trade and reference president Gary Gentel says that "with distinguished publisher Becky Saletan and a staff of a dozen editors and the smarts of the combined Houghton and Harcourt publicity, sales and marketing departments in place...Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has a bigger presence than ever in the industry and is geared up to publish Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer and an ever-expanding list of award-winning and bestselling authors for many years to come."

The fact that Houghton Mifflin, once a beloved, ambitious literary house, has been all but dismantled as a result of the Harcourt merger, suggests that authors will be even more eager to jump ship now...

New Hyperion president Ellen Archer is refining her strategy in the wake of founder and longtime president Bob Miller's departure: She has promoted relatively new hire Will Balliet, who had been Editorial Director, to Editor in Chief and Executive Director, and she's imported Mindy Stockfield, who had been a VP of Digital Media at Disney-ABC television -- Disney also owns Hyperion -- to oversee a new "Digital Marketing" department. Stockfield had been responsible for production and operations of DisneyChannel.com, PlayhouseDisney.com, ToonDisney.com, RadioDisney.com, Jetix.tv and ABCKids.com. This means that Hyperion's website will probably stop being so sad, and it's also another clear indicator that the relationship between Hyperion and ABC-Disney is getting cozier.