BTW News Briefs

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Small Business Administration to Host Twitter Chat on Holiday Marketing

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will hold a Twitter chat on Thursday, November 17, at 3:00 p.m. EST/12:00 p.m. PST to prepare businesses for the holidays with useful marketing tips.

Hosted by @SBAgov, the organization’s chat will feature tips and tricks aimed at helping small business owners succeed during the holiday shopping season, including how to make the most of Small Business Saturday on November 26.

Interested businesses can follow along on Thursday with the hashtag #SmallBizHoliday.

Miami Book Fair to Be Broadcast Live on C-SPAN’s BookTV

The 33rd annual Miami Book Fair will be broadcast live on BookTV/C-SPAN2 on Saturday, November 19, from 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday, November 20, from 10:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

The live schedule includes author talks and viewer call-in segments from the channel’s outdoor set. This is the 19th year that C-SPAN has covered the yearly festival on BookTV.

Viewers can also access the BookTV video archives to watch more than 220 hours of Miami Book Fair coverage from past years as well as visit an online library of contemporary nonfiction authors who have appeared at the event.

Nominations Open for 2017 Small Business Week Awards

Bookstores and other small businesses throughout the U.S. are invited to submit nominations for the Small Business Administration’s 2017 National Small Business Week awards.

The awards feature a number of categories suitable for different businesses, including excellence in exporting, disaster recovery, and federal procurement, as well as SBA’s signature award, National Small Business Person of the Year.

Businesses should submit a complete nomination package including a background form, nomination form, and a photo of the nominee. Depending on the award, additional information may be required.

To submit a nomination for your business, visit the SBA website.

New Zealand Booksellers Recovering After Earthquake

New Zealand booksellers are recovering after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake caused extensive infrastructure damage, hitting the country’s South Island just after midnight on Monday, November 14.

Throughout New Zealand, thousands of people were stranded and buildings collapsed. The quake was followed by a tsunami that caused two meter-high waves to reach the shore.

Booksellers NZ’s office in the Wellington CBD was closed on Monday and Tuesday, while staff worked remotely. Several member booksellers also reported temporary store closures, according to the Booksellers NZ Twitter feed.

On Tuesday, the Booksellers NZ website announced changes to logistics and freight for Penguin Random House New Zealand, including how PRHNZ will be managing stock into the region going forward.

Philip Hoffman Named New Chairman of Penguin Random House

On January 1, 2017, Philip Hoffman, will succeed John Makinson as chairman of Penguin Random House, following Makinson’s retirement at end of this year. Hoffman is the former chief corporate finance and strategic development officer at Pearson PLC, PRH’s parent company.

Makinson has served as the company’s chairman for nearly three-and-a-half years during his 15-year career with Penguin and Penguin Random House. He had been CEO of the Penguin Group prior to its merger with Random House. Following the merger, Makinson was named chairman of the trade publisher and Markus Dohle, CEO of Random House, took over that role at PRH.

Hoffman has worked for Penguin and Pearson in numerous leadership positions over the last 27 years, including the Pearson PLC executive committee and a chairmanship on the Audit Committee. He also served on the Penguin Random House board of directors since the company was formed in 2013.

George Gibson to Join Grove Atlantic

George Gibson, whose position as publishing director at Bloomsbury USA is being eliminated due to a restructuring by the division’s U.K. parent company, will join Grove Atlantic as executive editor in January.

Announcing the appointment, Morgan Entrekin, Grove Atlantic publisher and CEO, said, “Everyone at Grove Atlantic is thrilled that George Gibson will be joining us. George is admired here and around the world as a brilliant, gracious, passionate publisher and editor.”

Gibson, who was at Bloomsbury for 23 years, also held positions at Walker & Co. and David R. Godine.

Diamond Book Distributors Names Graphic Novel Marketing Associate

Diamond Book Distributors has hired Ashley Kronsberg as the company’s new graphic novel marketing associate working mainly on marketing to independent bookstores.

At her new post, Kronsberg will handle DBD’s BookShelf outreach marketing to educators and librarians and will be charged with managing the company’s websites and e-newsletters. She will also help create new marketing efforts to reach out to independent bookstores.

Simon & Schuster Acquires Adams Media

Simon & Schuster has signed an agreement with F+W Media to acquire Adams Media, a publisher of practical nonfiction based in Avon, Massachusetts.

Adams Media publishes approximately 200 frontlist titles per year and has a backlist of more than 1,200 titles. Along with their popular Everything series, which includes The Everything Kids’ Science Experiments Book, Adams’ major publishing categories are self-help and wellness, business and personal finance, parenting, and cooking. The company also publishes targeted fiction in their Merit Press, Crimson Romance, and Tyrus Books lines.

Karen Cooper, currently vice president of books and content at Adams Media, will lead Simon & Schuster’s new Adams Media imprint as vice president and publisher, reporting to Simon & Schuster’s president and CEO, Carolyn K. Reidy.

Chronicle’s #GiveBooks Campaign Kicks Off with Author’s School Visit

To kick off its annual holiday campaign, #GiveBooks, Chronicle Books teamed with First Book to sponsor a November 9 assembly at George V. Brower School/P.S. 289 in Brooklyn, New York, featuring Brendan Wenzel, author of Chronicle’s They All Saw A Cat.

Since 2011, Chronicle Books’ #GiveBooks campaign has encouraged readers to give books as gifts for the holidays. For the third year, Chronicle is partnering on the campaign with First Book, which will give 30,000 Chronicle Books titles to young readers in need.

2017 PNBA Book Awards Shortlist Announced

The shortlist has been announced for the 2017 Pacific Northwest Book Awards.

For the 2017 awards, PNBA’s award committee comprised of nine volunteer booksellers from Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association member stores considered more than 325 nominated titles published during 2016.

The committee chose 15 titles, from which a maximum of six winning books will be selected in December. Winners will be announced in January 2017.

See the entire 2017 PNBA Book Awards short list here.