Amazon Branches Out with Publishing Arm

«Amazon.com Inc. said it plans to launch a publishing imprint that will produce English-language translations of foreign-language books.
The imprint, AmazonCrossing, will acquire rights to books and hire writers to translate them into English before printing and selling them through Amazon's retail website, said Jeff Belle, Amazon's vice president of books.
"A very small percentage of books are translated from foreign languages into English and sold in the U.S. and U.K.," Mr. Belle said. "It is an imbalance," he said, and an area where Amazon is positioned to add to the market.» The Wall Street Journal