2020 North American Comics Sales Grow to $1.28 Billion (publishersweekly.com)

John Wiley and Sons Inc., announced its partnership with The Australasian Medical Publishing Company Pty Ltd (AMPCo) to publish the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA). The MJA is produced by AMPCo, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) — the most influential membership organisation representing registered medical practitioners and medical students of Australia. In the top 20 general medical journals globally, the MJA is the leading general medical journal in the Asia–Pacific region. The MJA covers issues surrounding Australian health care, clinical research and practices and developments within medicine. Wiley will assume online publishing and distribution responsibilities in January 2019. The partnership will provide institutional customers with access to the MJA via the Wiley Online Library platform. Click Read More below for additional information.

The retailer stated on its website that “It’s time to say goodbye.” “Every brand has a story and ours has taken an unexpected turn. “We may be saying goodbye before too long so we’re taking 70 percent off everything. Thanks for being part of our family & history,” they said. A week later, they seem to have made the decision to shut down operations, at least for the foreseeable future. They argue COVID-19 have led them down a path they didn’t expect, confirming both their physical stores and their e-commerce are closed and that they aren’t able to take orders, marking the end of a 3-decade story.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is planning to raise virtually all rates a bit in January, apparently including a one-cent hike of the Forever Stamp, to 50 cents. And it’s also hoping it will soon get the power to implement larger rate hikes. The USPS will raise rates for both market-dominant mail (such as First Class and Marketing Mail) and competitive mail (such as Priority Mail) on Jan. 21, 2018, postal officials told mailing-industry representatives this week. A postal official indicated that rates would rise from 1% to 3% for most market-dominant products, according to attendees at a meeting of the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee. Click Read More below for more of the story.