Advocacy

ABA is urging member bookstores to submit their responses to the eighth annual post-holiday survey, conducted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance and Advocates for Independent Business, before the January 27 deadline.

American Small Business Championship contest opens; Berkley becomes part of Putnam/Dutton; ALA joins Penguin Random House in support of National Readathon Day; We Need Diverse Books announces inaugural mentees; William Johnson named Lambda Literary program director; Winners of 2016 Pacific Northwest Book Awards revealed; The Story Prize finalists announced 

ABA bookstore members are strongly encouraged to participate in the eighth annual post-holiday survey, which aims to find out how independent businesses are faring, what their key challenges are, and whether the localism movement has had a positive impact in their communities.

Here is a look at some of this week’s minimum wage stories from around the country. ABA is encouraging its members to reach out to town, county, or state officials to ensure they have a voice in any minimum wage discussions that take place in their communities.

ABA issued a statement on January 7 expressing “extreme concern” over the fate of five employees of a Hong Kong publisher and its bookstore who have apparently been taken into custody by Chinese authorities and taken to the Chinese mainland.

ABA is encouraging member stores to complete the eighth annual post-holiday survey conducted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Advocates for Independent Business. A link to the survey was sent via e-mail on Tuesday, January 5.

Popularity of print books tops LA Times list of 2016 book trends; Ann Patchett’s WSJ article heralds “The Return of Bookstores”; Penguin Random House sells Author Solutions; Authors groups pen open letter calling for fairer terms from publishers; The Nation names new assistant literary editor

Northshire Bookstore owner Chris Morrow’s response to a customer who yelled at staff and threatened to put the store out of business for displaying an illustrated copy of American Qur’an has received widespread support.

Attorneys representing two New Orleans bookstores and ABA urged a federal judge to block enforcement of a new Louisiana law that requires website owners to verify that visitors to their sites are 18 or older before providing access to non-obscene material that could be deemed “harmful to minors” because of its sexual content.

Here is a look at some of this week’s minimum wage stories from around the country, including an announcement from the U.S. Department of Labor that it will be making increasing the federal minimum wage a key priority.

Nominations open for CBC’s Teen Choice Book Awards; Books-A-Million becomes private company again; Ingram acquires Aer.io; Penguin Random House raises #GiveaBook campaign level to 50,000 books

A plan to read a children’s book about a transgender girl to a Wisconsin elementary school class was cancelled in late November, when school officials were threatened with legal action. However, the attempted censorship appears to have backfired, writes ABFE Director Chris Finan.

Kiva, a nonprofit, peer-to-peer microlender, has rolled out Kiva Zip to help small business owners in the U.S. gain access to capital via interest-free loans.

2016 PEN Literary Awards longlists announced; Chicago Review Press CEO announces retirement; James LaRue to head ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom; S&S to distribute Insight Editions; Matt Baldacci joins Shelf Awareness

Here’s a report on a phone meeting between staff from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office and John Hutchison of the Open Door Bookstore & Gift Gallery and two ABA staff members to discuss New York State’s proposed minimum wage increase, as well as a roundup of minimum wage stories in the news around the country.