BTW News Briefs

Paz & Associates Offers Bookstore Job Board

Paz & Associates has launched a Job Board, where bookstore employees looking for new opportunities can find positions in management, buying, events, and marketing, as well as senior positions on the sales floor. Current listings include management positions for author Jeff Kinney’s new bookstore and for a start-up in the Pacific Northwest.

“Although there are websites within the book industry that feature employment ads, most are geared towards publishing or are subscription-based with limited access,” said Donna Paz Kaufman. “There has not been a dedicated, accessible source for employees to find opportunities to advance their careers in retail bookselling. We hope to facilitate these connections between jobs and qualified candidates with this free service.”

Bookstore owners are invited to submit postings for senior and management level positions including store manager, sales floor manager, events coordinator, marketing manager, buyer, and senior bookseller; the site is not intended for entry-level recruiting. Booksellers seeking senior level positions are also invited to submit a posting to the Job Board. Both owners and booksellers can use the contact form at PazBookBiz.com or e-mail copy to [email protected].

Apple Reaches Settlement in E-Book Class Action Suit

On Monday, Apple reached an out-of-court settlement in a class action lawsuit regarding e-book pricing bought by 33 states and others. The settlement avoids a trial in which Apple faced more than $800 million in claims. The plaintiffs’ suit contends that Apple overcharged consumers by $280 million for e-books and called for penalties amounting to three times that amount. A trial to determine the amount of damages was scheduled for July 14.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the exact terms of the settlement are under seal and need to be approved by the court. The settlement is contingent on the outcome of Apple’s appeal of last year’s antitrust ruling by Judge Denise Cote in a case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, which found that Apple colluded with five major U.S. publishers to drive up the e-book prices. Apple continues to argue that it has not violated antitrust laws and is fighting to remove a court-appointed monitor.

Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group Names Award Winners

On June 17, the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group named the winners of its 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, a non-profit awards program judged by leaders in the indie book publishing industry to identify indie books that deserve to reach a wider audience.

To help indie authors and publishers reach a wider audience, the top 60 books in the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards will be reviewed by New York literary agent Marilyn Allen of Allen O’Shea Literary Agency or one of Ms. Allen’s co-agents for possible representation in areas such as distribution, foreign rights, film rights, and other rights.

Grand prize winners in the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards are:

• Nonfiction: The Boy Who Lived With Ghosts, by John Mitchell (Inclusic)
• Fiction: A True Novel, by Minae Mizumara (Other Press)

Each received a prize of $1,500.

A complete list of 2014 winners and finalists is available at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards website. Entries are also being accepted for the 2015 awards, which are open to fiction and nonfiction books from independent authors and publishers worldwide released in 2013, 2014, or 2015 or with a copyright date of 2013, 2014, or 2015.

Survey Finds Majority of Parents Believe Summer Reading Not a Top Priority

A study released on June 18 by Macy’s and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) found that, despite research on the importance of summer reading in preventing children from losing literacy skills, only 17 percent of parents say reading is a top summer priority.

The survey, conducted by Harris Poll, also found that children spend nearly three times as many hours weekly watching TV or playing video games as they do reading in the summer.

Among the study’s other findings:

• Parents who consider reading to be extremely or very important are twice as likely to have a child who reads every day.
• Children who were involved in a reading program last summer were up to two times more likely to read every day. Yet, over half of parents said their child did not participate in a reading program at all last summer.
• Despite the proliferation of e-books and digital formats, 83 percent of parents said their child preferred print books for summer reading, compared to 7 percent preferring tablets and 4 percent preferring e-readers.

To help counteract the survey’s findings, Macy’s and RIF announced the launch of the 11th annual Be Book Smart campaign to support children’s literacy. Be Book Smart begins June 18, and invites customers nationwide to give $3 at any Macy’s register in-store to help provide a book for a child and get $10 off a purchase of $30 or more. Macy’s will donate 100 percent of every $3 to RIF. The campaign ends July 13.

Ingram Publisher Services Adds Three Publishers

Ingram Publisher Services has announced the addition of Actar Publishers, Plough Publishing House, and Re.ad Publishing, Inc. to its list of publisher clients.

Actar is a publisher and distributor of architecture and design books on critical issues in the research and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism. Publishers distributed by Actar D include Artifce, DOM, eVolo, ORO, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Yale School of Architecture. Ingram Publisher Services is handling the distribution of titles in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to books, Plough Publishing House publishes Plough Quarterly magazine and online content on Christian living, social issues, the spiritual life, parenting and education, poetry, and literary fiction. Ingram Publisher Services is handling U.S. sales and distribution of Plough titles.

Re.ad Publishing is a full-service publishing house and interactive platform for independent authors to purchase content, post reviews, and communicate with other users that share a common interest. Re.ad publishes fiction, non-fiction, academic documents and other content. Ingram Publisher Services is handling distribution of titles in the U.S. and Canada for all Re.ad imprints.

PEN Announces Bellwether Prize Winner, Literary Awards Longlist

On Wednesday, PEN American Center announced the shortlists for its 2014 Literary Awards in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, essay, and other categories, as well as the winner of the biannual PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.

The shortlist includes nationally and internationally acclaimed writers, including Janet Malcolm, W. S. Merwin, David Sedaris, Deborah Solomon, and James Wolcott, as well as new and emerging writers from around the world. See the complete shortlist here.

In May, for the first time ever, PEN issued a longlist for the awards to bring attention to more authors than ever before and to the variety of important works of literature that creative freedom has made possible. Winners of the awards will be announced on July 30.

On the eve of the shortlist announcement, PEN named Ron Childress the winner of the biannual PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction for his unpublished novel And West Is West during an event at New York’s Housing Works Bookstore Café. The PEN/Bellwether Prize, founded and entirely funded by novelist Barbara Kingsolver, celebrates an emerging voice whose work addresses issues of social justice. As part of the prize, Childress will receive $25,000 and a publishing contract with Algonquin Books.