Industry News

Workman promo offers free holiday recipe sampler to anyone who sets up a Kobo eBook account through an ABA member bookstore between October 15 and November 12; Kobo to run 48-hour sale on select group of eBooks, starting October 19; BookWeb adds Kobo promotions calendar

Conversations about censorship and First Amendment rights filled indie bookstores across the country during last week’s celebration of the 31st annual Banned Books Week.

Bill to limit Amazon’s advantage moves forward in France; Reading Group Choices’ 2014 guide out now; National survey details reading habits; NRF predicts modest growth during holidays; Consumers use smartphones, tablets to shop; California Bookstore Day website live; NCAC in New York Times Sunday Dialogue; Thurber Prize goes to Dan Zevin; Penguin Random House merges audio; HarperCollins joins Scribd’s e-book subscription service; Chronicle Books goes green; BISG announces new mission statement, industry award winners, F+W Media partnership

The Association of American University Presses and its members are inviting independent booksellers to join in celebrating the second annual University Press Week, to be held from November 10 through 16.

As the Health Insurance Marketplaces opened for business, ABA made available on BookWeb the PowerPoint presentation “The Affordable Care Act: What the Healthcare Law Means for Your Small Business,” an overview that is being presented at ABA’s education session at each of the fall regional trade shows.

Winter Institute 2014 is now booked to capacity; waiting lists are forming for event registration and for reservations at the host hotel.

Last Thursday, Amazon affiliates in Maine began receiving notices informing them of the termination of their affiliate relationships as of October 6.

World Book Night U.S. is partnering with Shindig to announce the titles for next year’s celebration via video chat on October 23, 2013, as well as to conduct a month-long WBN countdown in March/April 2014.

Five e-book promotions were recently added to the IndieCommerce Publisher Promotions page. Categories include gardening, food and cooking, and titles by Robert Morgan.  

Baker & Taylor’s Indie Next Promotion in a Box simplifies the process of promoting the month’s most anticipated titles.

NetGalley has launched a new feature that enables ABA member booksellers to nominate titles to the Indie Next Lists via its galley review program.

More than 100 independent bookstores are receiving funds from author James Patterson’s College Book Bucks program, which awards college-bound high school seniors with gift certificates ranging from $250 to $1,000 to be spent at an IndieBound-affiliated bookstore of their choice. 

There is less than two weeks left for ABA members to submit nominations for Board directors to the Nominating Committee, chaired by Valerie Koehler of Houston’s Blue Willow Bookshop.

Booksellers are singing praises for Graeme Simsion’s debut novel, The Rosie Project, their top pick for the October 2013 Indie Next List. Here, Simsion talks about the winding path that led to him to The Rosie Project and what booksellers can expect from him next.

ABA announced this week that a select group of the new line of Kobo eReaders and tablets will soon be available for order from Ingram: the Kobo Aura and Kobo Aura HD eReaders and the Kobo Arc and Kobo Arc HD tablets. In connection with the launch, Kobo is phasing out the Kobo Mini and the Kobo Arc 16G, 32G, and 64G.