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Product Development Assets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Apr. 30, 2017	Apr. 30, 2016
Product Development Assets [Abstract]
Product development assets	$ 99,275	$ 72,126
Book Composition Costs [Member]
Product Development Assets [Abstract]
Product development assets	28,884	34,697
Accumulated amortization	172,600	179,600
Royalty Advances [Member]
Product Development Assets [Abstract]
Product development assets	28,320	31,182
Other Product Development Costs [Member]
Product Development Assets [Abstract]
Product development assets	42,071	6,247
Accumulated amortization	26,400	$ 19,700
Other Product Development Costs [Member] | Atypon Systems Inc [Member]
Product Development Assets [Abstract]
Product development assets	$ 28,000

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Product development assets consist of composition costs and royalty advances to authors. Composition costs, primarily represent the costs incurred to bring an edited commercial manuscript to publication including typesetting, proofreading, design and illustration, etc. Royalty advances to authors are capitalized and, upon publication, are recovered as royalties earned by the authors based on sales of the published works.

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- Definition

Accumulated amortization of other deferred costs capitalized at the end of the reporting period. Does not include deferred finance costs, deferred acquisition costs of insurance companies, or deferred leasing costs for real estate operations.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.17)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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