The storied trade division at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt--publisher of everybody from Philip Roth to J.R.R. Tolkien--only generates five percent of the conglomerate educational publisher's profit and ten percent of its overall sales.

Yesterday HMH decided to take the trade division off auction block, despite having received "three formal offers" to buy it. The Boston Globe reported that the division includes 125 of the company's 4,000 employees, and the publisher's CEO Tony Lucki placed his hope in the educational division and federal economic stimulus.

Here's more from the article: "Lucki said he expected President Obama's stimulus plan to help sales in coming months, as money trickles down to hard-pressed school districts. 'We're fairly confident Mr. Obama will throw some money our way,' Lucki said. 'We will definitely get a good chunk of the stimulus.'" (Via Publishers Marketplace)