Shelf Awareness Celebrates 15 Years

Shelf Awareness, which publishes newsletters for general readers and people in the book business, celebrated its 15th anniversary this June.

In a dedicated issue published on June 29, Shelf Awareness reflected on its working relationship with the American Booksellers Association. “The first Winter Institute, created by the American Booksellers Association, took place in January 2006, and we feel a kinship with the conference, which has become wildly popular and the single most-important bookseller event in North America,” the publication wrote. “We had a good feeling about it from the beginning, as we expressed in our report on the first show, in Long Beach, California. ‘Grade for ABA’s First Winter Institute: A+.’ In fact, we wrote our very first check as a business to sponsor badge holders, which many of you have collected over the years.”

Book industry professionals have taken to social media to wish the publication a happy anniversary. Here are some highlights:

• Silver Unicorn Books in Acton, Massachusetts, posted to Twitter: “Happy 15th anniversary to our friends at @ShelfAwareness!!! We haven’t been here for all of your 15 years, but we know that our lives as booksellers would be infinitely harder without your indispensable news, reviews and more! Here’s to the next 15!!!”
• Book publicist Lissa Warren posted to Twitter: “Happy 15th birthday to @ShelfAwareness! That's a lot of years of being good to us book publicists and our authors.”
• Author Leila Sales posted to Twitter: “Happy 15th birthday to @ShelfAwareness, the only e-newsletter that I read every single day! Thank you for everything you do for our industry.”
• Literary agent Michael Bourret posted to Twitter: “My day always starts by reading Shelf Awareness. Congrats on 15 years!”
• Greystone Books posted to Twitter: “15! Wow! Happy birthday, Shelf Awareness, from all of us here at Greystone Books and @GreystoneKids! We are grateful for all that you do!”
• Author Maria Vale posted to Twitter: “Happy 15th Birthday to @ShelfAwareness! Started when naysayers said #IndieBookstores were doomed, you showed how important they were to our communities. Here’s wishing you another 15 years as you lead the way through another tough time.”

Congratulations from the ABA team!