Each Monday, here on Editor's Corner, I'm going to take a look at some of the news that has been dominating the book industry in the preceding week.

The news, as usual, is mostly gathered thanks to the excellent resources that are the Publishers Weekly website and the GalleyCat blog.

• Google settlement news: "in what some media outlets have termed a 'strong defense', Google responded to its recent critics, including the Department of Justice, in a court filing Thursday that urged the court to approve the settlement, claiming the deal's objectors 'have failed to articulate a meaningful principle' on which the Court could reject the agreement..."
• Simon & Schuster "has debuted a new Web site specifically for its partners -- authors, distributors, agents, booksellers, marketing clients and other vendors -- as part of a company-wide online initiative that began in January 2009 with the relaunch of its main site. The new b-to-b site can be found at www.simonandschuster.biz"
• Bookstore sales "finished 2009 on a weak, and disappointing, note falling 0.6% in December, to $2.03 billion, according to preliminary estimates released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. In contrast, the entire retail market had easily its best month of 2009 in December, with sales up 5.7%. For the full year, bookstore sales fell 0.8%, to $16.60 billion; compared to 2007, when bookstore sales were just under $17 billion, sales in 2009 were off 2.2%. Sales for the entire retail market were down 6.2% in 2008..."
• Google "has deleted a number of popular music blogs -- erasing years worth of writing and music criticism -- over copyright violations. The event has been dubbed Musicblogocide. (More...)
• Deadline Hollywood reports that the last book of the bestselling Twilight saga will be adapted into two films: "Filming on the back-to-back movies would begin in mid-October, and Summit Entertainment is looking at 'high end' directors. Breaking Dawn is the longest in Stephenie Meyer's 4-book series lengthwise and it's the most graphic -- presenting birth, attempted murder, death, and of course vampire bites."