Advocacy

The D.C. Council’s Committee heard testimony from small business owners and small business advocates who spoke to issues including the rising cost of rent and property taxes, the lack of small commercial spaces available for small businesses, and consumers’ shift to large chain retailors and online shopping.

"We firmly support Hachette in publishing A Warning, written by an anonymous senior official in the Trump administration. The right of someone to publish under a pseudonym or anonymously is crucial in any free and democratic society,” said David Grogan, director of the American Booksellers for Free Expression.

Registration for the Antitrust Symposium, to be held January 21, sold out within 24 hours; based on the high demand, ABA is growing the program so more booksellers can attend.

Said Bond, “Indie bookstores are so important to the American way of life. Indie bookstores create a sense of community in towns and cities in a way that large corporations cannot.”

In a comprehensive 22-page letter, ABA makes the case as to why Amazon is a burgeoning monopoly and provides a detailed review of Amazon’s anticompetitive conduct.

Banned Books Week served as an opportunity for booksellers to spread awareness about the dangers of censorship through both in-store visual depictions and social media campaigns.

Booksellers should mark their calendars for Tuesday, January 21, when ABA will present an Antitrust Symposium in D.C. in conjunction with the 2020 Winter Institute in Baltimore.

This installment features a wrap-up of Banned Books Week as well as an exploration of the impact big technology companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook have on free speech.

The U.S. government seeks to recover all proceeds earned by Snowden because of his failure to submit his memoir, Permanent Record, for pre-publication review.