BTW News Briefs

Matchbook Marketing to Offer Consulting to Indie Bookstores

Matchbook Marketing, a new company dedicated to helping independent booksellers promote themselves, is scheduled to officially launch its website on February 9.

Started by husband-and-wife team Gwyn and Jamie Ridenhour, Matchbook will provide a variety of customized services to booksellers, including print and e-mail newsletter marketing, social media consulting, website and logo design, and assistance to stores interested in expanding their school book fair capabilities.

As the foundation for their new consulting business, Gwyn Ridenhour, a children’s librarian, and Jamie Ridenhour, a professor of literature and an author, purchased The Reader’s Edge newsletter marketing program from Mark and Donna Paz Kaufman, partners in bookstore training and consulting firm Paz & Associates.

“We’ve always been passionate about literature and indie booksellers, and have centered our lives for a long time around the promotion of books and literary engagement,” said Gwyn Ridenhour. “We’re excited to launch this career that will both help all hardworking, creative booksellers and the book enthusiasts they serve.”

Images From Upcoming Illustrated Harry Potter Released

Credit: Illustrations by Jim Kay © 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Scholastic has released four exclusive new images from the eagerly anticipated, fully illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. 

The book’s publication is “set to be the landmark publishing event of 2015,” the company announced. The global publication of the deluxe hardcover edition on October 6, 2015, will be the first time that a fully illustrated Harry Potter book has ever been published.

Illustrated by Kate Greenaway Medal-winner Jim Kay, the images released Monday show four major characters from the Harry Potter books — Rubeus Hagrid, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Ron Weasley. Bloomsbury revealed the images simultaneously in the U.K.

Scholastic plans to publish each of the seven Harry Potter books as an illustrated edition, releasing one per year. Each edition will include an elegant ribbon marker and illustrated endpapers. 

Simon & Schuster Authors to Teach Online Courses

SimonSays, a new division of Simon & Schuster, will offer online video courses from bestselling authors to allow readers and writers to directly connect. The new initiative is seen as a supplement to the traditional book launch model.

The new platform, which launched January 12, features video courses from popular Simon & Schuster authors primarily from the mind-body-spirit, health and fitness, and wealth and personal finance categories.

The site’s programs both expand upon and complement each author’s published work, “keeping their ideas fresh during the intervals between books, as a testing ground for new ideas and concepts, and in the creation of user-friendly content that, in addition to direct to consumer sales, can be licensed to or sponsored by third-party companies and organizations,” said Liz Perl, S&S executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Each online course is designed for self-paced study and includes lifetime access to content that is mobile-optimized for smartphones and tablets.

Readers to Win Prizes, Raise Funds for NBF on National Readathon Day

Readers will demonstrate their love of literature on National Readathon Day, January 24, 2015, at bookstores, libraries, and other venues that will be hosting parties across the country.

National Readathon Day promotes reading and raises funds to support the National Book Foundation’s (NBF) educational programs, such as BookUp, which provides creative reading-based after-school activities for middle school children.

Readers are encouraged to share their National Readathon Day experiences with the #TimeToRead hashtag. Participants can pledge to make #TimeToRead on FirstGiving, where they can fundraise individually or as part of a team and earn exclusive rewards from the NBF. The Readathon will take place from noon to 4:00 p.m. in respective time zones and is sponsored by Penguin Random House, Goodreads, and Mashable.

The top fundraising team will have the opportunity for an exclusive reading with Phil Klay, author of Redeployment (Penguin), the 2014 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.

Penguin Publishing Group Makes Big Changes

Penguin Publishing Group has announced major changes for 2015, just months after Madeline McIntosh took the reins of the division created last September to combine all of Penguin’s adult imprints, Publishers Lunch reported.

Brian Tart, president and publisher of Dutton, Gotham, and Avery, will take over Viking as publisher and president, replacing Clare Ferraro, who has been president of Viking, Plume, and Hudson Street Press since 1999. The Gotham and Hudson Street imprints will be discontinued after summer 2015, with their future titles and backlists moving to other Penguin Group imprints.

Dutton will be aligned with Putnam and overseen by Ivan Held, who becomes president. Both imprints will keep separate editorial departments and publishing lists.

Penguin’s Plume imprint will combine with Blue Rider Press, with Plume Editorial Director Rachel Bressler and her team now reporting to Blue Rider President and Publisher David Rosenthal.

Betsy Hotel Offers Residency for James Laughlin Award Winners

The Academy of American Poets is partnering with The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, to offer recipients of the organization’s prestigious James Laughlin Award an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency at the hotel’s Writer’s Room.

During his or her residency, the James Laughlin Award recipient will be invited to participate in a public reading or salon to share his or her work with the community. In addition, the Academy of American Poets will provide the James Laughlin Award recipient with $5,000; will purchase copies of the winning book for 1,000 of its members; will feature the poet in its magazine, American Poets, and on its website; and will send the winner to New York City for the American Poets Prizes ceremony.

The James Laughlin Award, one of seven major American Poets Prizes, is the nation’s only second-book award for poetry that is given annually. The contest is open to all poets who are U.S. citizens; 2015 submissions will be accepted until May 15.