BTW News Briefs

Deadline Nearing for Vonnegut Display Contest

In celebration of the release of If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?, a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s words of advice for graduates compiled by Dan Wakefield, Seven Stories Press is inviting independent booksellers to deck out their windows with Vonnegut titles from Seven Stories and other publishers for a Kurt Vonnegut/Graduation Window Display Contest.

Photo entries are due by Wednesday, May 28, and may be submitted to [email protected]. The grand prize winner will receive an original, signed Vonnegut print and two runners-up will each receive five copies of If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?, signed by Wakefield. Winners will be selected by Seven Stories Press staff and will be announced at BEA in the Seven Stories Press booth and on Seven Stories’ social media.

Keywords Press to Publish YouTube Stars

Atria Publishing Group, a division of Simon & Schuster, is teaming with Hollywood’s United Talent Agency to establish the new imprint Keywords Press, which will publish books by YouTube entertainers including Shane Dawson and Justine Ezarik, reported the New York Times.

Keywords Press will aim to release 10 titles each year in print and digital formats, spanning the genres of fiction, nonfiction, comedy, advice, memoir, and more. Most Keywords books will be crowdsourced, allowing fans of the authors to be involved in the development and publishing process, and the titles will be published faster than through a traditional imprint. The Times also noted that Keywords authors will get an advance payment and will have a higher share in profits than normal.

Fifteen New Countries Exhibiting at BEA

Fifteen new countries will be participating in BookExpo America this year, bringing the total number of countries exhibiting to 23 and the number of new exhibitors in total to 183. The countries appearing at the 2014 trade show that were not represented in 2013 include: Albania, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Korea, Kuwait, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, and United Arab Emirates.

“It is always pleasing to have new people at our show and so I am especially happy that we have 15 countries visiting us this year that were not at the show in 2013,” said BEA Show Manager Steve Rosato.

BookExpo America will take place in New York City at the Jacob K. Javits Center on May 28 – May 31. A complete listing of exhibitors is available here.

Christopher Award Winners Celebrated

The winners of the 65th Christopher Awards were honored at a gala in New York City on May 15. The authors of 10 books for adults and young people were among the winners recognized for working toward affirming the highest values of the human spirit. See the full list of winners here.

Appearing in the photo (right), from the left, are Christophers Chaplain Rev. Jonathan Morris;  Christophers vice president and chief operating officer Mary Ellen Robinson; Bob Dotson, author of American Story (Viking Press/Penguin Group); Wayne B. Drash, author of On These Courts (Touchstone); and Tony Rossi, Christophers director of communications.

Burmese Bookseller and Publisher to be Honored at BEA

The Association of American Publishers International Freedom to Publish Committee will award the 2014 Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award to Burmese bookseller and publisher Dr. Thant Thaw Kaung, who has acted as a leader in keeping books and literature alive in Myanmar while under an authoritarian regime.

The award, created in 2002, recognizes a book publisher outside of the U.S. that has demonstrated courage and fortitude in the face of restrictions on freedom of expression. Kaung said about his win, “One can understand the value of freedom to publish only when he or she is under a repressive and authoritative system.”

The award will be presented at the Book and Author Breakfast at BookExpo America on Saturday, May 31.

S&S E-Book Backlist Now on Oyster, Scribd

Simon & Schuster is making its backlist e-book titles available to consumers through subscription services Oyster and Scribd, both of which offer flat-rate plans allowing subscribers an unlimited number of e-book reads.

The offerings from S&S include all backlist e-books from the company’s worldwide divisions. The titles will be available to consumers in all countries where Oyster and Scribd offer their services and where Simon & Schuster holds e-book rights. S&S authors will also be able to see subscriber reading habits and purchasing activity for their titles.

Ingram Grows its MyiLibrary Offerings

Ingram Content Group is adding to its range of titles available through the MyiLibrary® e-book platform with frontlist and backlist e-books from publishers Hachette Book Group, O’Reilly Media, and Kensington Publishing. Academic libraries will also have access to titles from the Royal Society of Chemistry, CN Times Books, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers and others.

The MyiLibrary platform offers online e-content solutions for libraries, providing a single source for content hosting, archiving, discovery, access, and purchasing for academic, professional, and public libraries worldwide.