BTW News Briefs

S&S to Publish Sobol Fiction Winners

On December 6, the Touchstone Division of Simon & Schuster and Sobol Literary Enterprises, Inc. announced an agreement to publish the three winners of the inaugural Sobol Award for Fiction, which seeks to recognize talented, unpublished fiction writers.

The first-place winner will receive $100,000 from Sobol, as well as an advance against royalties from Simon & Schuster. The second- and third-place winners will receive $25,000 and $10,000, respectively, from Sobol and advances from the publisher. Only unpublished writers without literary agents are eligible to enter the contest.

The entry deadline for the Sobol has been extended to March 31, 2007. The awards will be announced in the fall of 2007.

NEIBA Seeks Applicants for Epstein Scholarship

The New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA) is currently accepting nominations and applications for its Isaac Epstein Scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship is awarded annually in memory of Isaac "Ike" Epstein, owner of Huntington's Bookstore in Hartford, Connecticut, and past treasurer of NEIBA. The scholarship honors Epstein's commitment to developing professional booksellers in New England.

Applicants must presently be working full-time in a NEIBA member bookstore. Candidates may apply directly for the scholarship or be nominated by others in the book industry. The $1,000 scholarship is for support of the bookseller's professional development, which may include attendance at BookExpo America, an ABA or Paz & Associates booksellers school,or other approved curriculum. Taxes, if applicable, are the responsibility of the recipient. Booksellers nominating themselves should describe in detail their background and the reasons for their interest in the award, as well as include a copy of their resume. Booksellers nominating someone else should indicate in detail why they are nominating the person.

Nominations/applications must include all the following information for both the applicant and the nominator: name, store name, current position, and store address. Submission should be sent to NEIBA, 1770 Massachusetts Avenue, #332, Cambridge, MA 02140 or e-mail [email protected]. Submissions must be received by January 31, 2007, to be considered.

Gift Cards for Kids, a Hot New Trend

On Thursday, December 7, the Associated Press reported that gift cards are becoming the trendy gift for kids. AP spoke with a number of people across the country who raved about gift cards' convenience, especially considering how difficult it is trying to figure out what children really want for Christmas. Tiffany Jenkins of White Plains told AP, "I prefer [gift cards] because I know, just from my kids, that they like to go into the store and get what they want."

Last holiday season, 72 percent of people who have children ages five to eight reported that their kids had received a gift card, at an average amount of $31 to $33, a study by third-party gift-card provider, ComData, found.

And Dan Horne, an assistant professor of marketing at Providence College who follows the gift-card industry, told AP that children keep asking for them, so parents keep buying them. "In a sense you're economically empowering them," Horne said. "Kids who don't have a lot of resources, all of a sudden you give them resources."

Microsoft Launches Live Search Books

PC World reported this week that Microsoft is taking a page from Google Book Search and launching its own book-search service, though it is "taking a more conservative approach to scanning works." Called Live Search Books, the service will index and make searchable the full text of books.

Additionally, Microsoft is striking up partnerships with libraries, universities, and publishers, PC World noted. Microsoft will also partake in the collective project "Open Content Alliance" with Yahoo, which doesn't have a stand-alone book search service. "However, unlike Google, Microsoft has chosen to index in-copyright books only if it has permission from the copyright owner. Both companies are also scanning books in the public domain," the article noted.