Industry News

Chicago booksellers’ response to coming Amazon store draws media coverage; SIBA trade show to move to spring in 2018; Counterpoint Press to merge with Catapult; John Ingram to receive 2016 BISG Award for Excellence; Oprah’s Book Club selects Love Warrior; Shortlist for Center for Fiction First Novel Prize revealed; Winners of William Saroyan International Prize for Writing announced

Josh Niesse and Megan Bell, the owners of Underground Books, a used, rare, and antiquarian bookstore, will open Hills & Hamlets Bookshop next month in the urbanist green living community of Serenbe, in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia. The new store’s inventory will be predominantly new books.

Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, declared a new holiday at the end of summer: On August 27, the store held a one-day sale that it called a First Amendment Sales Tax Holiday.

IndieCommerce users and non-users alike will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with an IndieCommerce staff member at this fall’s regional trade shows.

The platforms of the four U.S. presidential candidates — Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republican Donald Trump, Libertarian Gary Johnson, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein — address policies that could significantly impact small businesses.

Edelweiss/Treeline Education and Outreach Coordinator Joe Foster encourages booksellers to check out the new and improved features in the next generation of Edelweiss — Edelweiss+ — which launched in beta last week.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation is asking booksellers to participate in a survey that will give the organization a better understanding of the current needs and experiences of the nation’s bookstore employees.

On September 1, ABA joined American publishers, authors, and librarians in a letter urging President Obama to protest the widespread suppression of free speech in Turkey during his meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan in China.

ABA’s Nominating Committee begins its search today for qualified candidates to stand for election to the ABA Board of Directors in 2017. Any ABA member may nominate a qualified candidate; self-nominations are acceptable.

The American Booksellers Association today revealed the dates and location for its fifth ABC Children’s Institute.

Thirty prospective and existing booksellers attend Paz workshop; Amazon to open bookstore in Chicago; German publishers, booksellers join petition for free expression in Turkey; Penguin Random House introduces Subway Reads; Globe Pequot launches Lone Star Books; Pen Center USA announces award winners; Wendell Berry to receive Voice of the Heartland Award; Thurber Prize finalists, Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award winners announced

Roundabout Books, a new general-interest bookstore opening this October in Bend, Oregon, will feature a sizeable children’s section and a café serving local beer, coffee, and snacks.

Longtime bookseller Nick Setka died on Friday, August 26, of cancer. He was a manager at Book Passage in Corte Madera and San Francisco, California.

This year’s Banned Books Week promotion from Ingram features an additional discount on more than 450 banned or challenged titles plus a Banned Books Week banner while supplies last.

A California bill that is expected to be signed into law will require private-sector companies with five or more employees either to offer an employer-sponsored retirement plan or to automatically enroll their employees in a new state-run Secure Choice retirement plan.