Industry News

Authors Lauren Groff and Elizabeth Alexander, whose recent books have been number one picks on this year’s Indie Next Lists, were also honored to have their titles named favorites by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, respectively.

On Tuesday, December 15, bestselling author and literacy advocate James Patterson announced the names of 87 independent booksellers chosen by him to receive holiday bonuses totaling $250,000.

The Drake Hotel on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile — Hotel ABA for BookExpo America 2016 — offers a special rate that is available exclusively to ABA member booksellers until February 16, 2016.

Beginning with today’s issue, Bookselling This Week will be arriving in subscribers’ inboxes on Wednesday afternoons each week.

The 2015 Indie Bestseller Lists, featuring the year’s top-selling titles at hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, are now available as PDFs, Word documents, and in HTML format.

Booksellers will have the chance to meet Scholastic authors and illustrators and enjoy drinks and dessert at the publisher’s Meet & Treat After Party at Winter Institute 2016.

For the first-ever Backlist Book Swap at the Winter Institute, booksellers and publishers are asked to bring a copy of their backlist favorite to swap with a colleague, and to share that title now via a form on BookWeb.

A Wi11 education session led by Total Computing Solutions’ Jim Hammons will review data security and PCI compliance standards to show booksellers how they can better protect their customers’ credit card data and their own businesses from liability.

The Board of Directors and staff of the UConn Co-op have issued a response to the University of Connecticut’s RFP for a new bookstore operator.

Major publishers are offering expedited order fulfillment programs this holiday season and booksellers who have utilized similar programs in the past say they offer big benefits that all stores should consider.

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.

ABA is offering members not currently using the IndieCommerce program the chance to win a free year of the e-commerce platform for indie booksellers.

Nominations are now being sought for the 2016 PW Bookstore of the Year and the PW Rep of the Year awards. Anyone with ties to the book industry may nominate candidates by January 10.

Groups representing booksellers and authors joined in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 2, to urge the court to review a lower court decision that found Apple violated antitrust law by conspiring to influence e-book pricing.