Industry News

The Winter Institute education session “Indie Booksellers and the Business of Self-Publishing” examined the growth in self-publishing and outlined ways that independent booksellers can serve authors in their communities while benefiting their businesses.

The Grand Hyatt New York, located at 42nd Street and Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, will once again become Hotel ABA, the exclusive hotel for ABA member booksellers attending BookExpo America.

ABA welcomed 45 indie bookstores that opened for business in 2013 in 20 states. Among them were six branches of existing businesses. And in another sign of the vitality of independent bookselling, last year 13 established ABA member stores were bought by new owners.

Booksellers are encouraged to sign up now to secure a spot at this April’s ABC Children’s Institute in San Antonio, Texas. Registration for the institute and for reservations at the host hotel, the DoubleTree by Hilton San Antonio Downtown Hotel, will close on March 7.

Next Friday, February 28, is the last day to apply for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation’s expanded Scholarship Program, which will award up to $198,500 in higher education scholarships to current bookstore employees, owners, and their dependents and former Borders Group employees and their dependents.

Issue #5 of the IndieCommunication newsletter includes information about new themes and the March 1 deadline to implement the Authorize.net CIM gateway, as well as answers to frequently asked questions about the upgrade and migration from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7.

The “Kobo News & Updates” newsletter of  February 12 includes details on a Kobo Aura price reduction, the new Kobo partnership with Sony, eMagazine revenue coming soon, Valentine’s Day sales, and repatriated accounts.

This week, ABA sent e-mails inviting booksellers and prospective booksellers in the MPIBA and SIBA regions to its spring Booksellers Forums. In addition to an open forum discussion, each will feature the ABA education session “Conversations That Work.”

BEA author breakfast emcees announced; World Read Aloud Day to be celebrated March 5; Study shows changes in use of college course materials; Chronicle to distribute Twirl Books; Image recognition feature added to Amazon app

With the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary scheduled to hold a hearing on sales tax fairness on March 4, ABA is calling on booksellers to express their support by creating testimonials and meeting with their representatives at local district offices during the mid-February congressional recess.

This April’s Children’s Institute in San Antonio, Texas, will provide booksellers with a wide range of educational opportunities, including two focused, 45-minute talks and an hour-long education session that will feature leading experts in their fields.

Phoenix Books hosts Sustainable Communities Forum; The Book House reopens; Odyssey Bookshop going strong at 50; Moe’s honored

Herald the arrival of spring on March 20, less than 35 days from now, with new customizable spring poster and web banner designs, as well as some past favorites, from BookWeb’s Designs and Downloads.

Willy Vlautin, author The Free, talks about the struggle of daily life in our country, the qualities of strength and persistence in his characters, and the influence of music and literature on his career.

The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies will be hosting a free webinar on February 18 on the findings of the Independent Business Survey, a post-holiday survey of 2,602 independent business owners across the U.S., which was released last week.