Industry News

The sponsors of Banned Books Week are asking booksellers to respond to a short online survey, which will help organizers improve the only national celebration of the freedom to read.

Effective January 1, the operations of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression will be integrated into ABA’s in order to expand the free speech programming available to independent booksellers.

Amazon wins control of .book domain name; AMIBA offering buy local resources in Spanish; Indies Introduce author wins 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize; National Readathon Day to support NBF’s literacy efforts; First Amendment Groups express concern over Kings Canyon School Board review process; Courtney Muller named executive vice president at Urban Expositions; 2014 National Outdoor Book Award winners announced

The American Booksellers Association’s Board of Directors met from October 19 to October 21 in Santa Rosa, California, and covered a range of business.

Richard Flanagan wins Man Booker Prize for Fiction; First Amendment groups challenge Idaho school’s parental consent form; Eric Schwartz joins Columbia University Press as editorial director

ABA and the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association are urging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to veto a bill that discriminates against independent bookstores that mistakenly disclose customer information to the police and other third parties.
 

France’s Patrick Modiano wins Nobel Prize for Literature; Mary Rasenberger named Authors Guild executive director; Policy research institute says Amazon should collect sales tax in Ohio; Free speech groups caution Waukesha School Board; Ingram Content Group opens POD facility in California; Winners of European Union Prize for Literature announced at Frankfurt

Egmont USA for sale; Authors Guild seeks investigation into Amazon’s practices; Persepolis reinstated in Ball-Chatham classrooms; Kirkus announces finalists for 2014 prize; John Kenney wins Thurber Prize for American Humor; National Book Foundation names 5 Under 35

Digital galleys of an array of adult and children’s titles in the Winter/Spring 2015 Indies Introduce Debut Authors and New Voices promotion are now available on NetGalley.

Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time (Ballantine Books), discusses why she chose to write about elephants, how she researched their behavior, the strength of mother-daughter bonds, and the role independent booksellers have played in her career.

With the recent release of the paperback edition of Stephen Jimenez’s controversial The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard, ABFFE President Chris Finan reflects on the failed efforts to force 23 bookstores to cancel their events for the book last year and announces plans for an ABFFE program at Winter Institute.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and five independent bookstores are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in federal court this week challenging a new Arizona criminal law that bans nude images.

Booksellers are responding enthusiastically to the latest Banned Books Week promotion from Ingram Content Group and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

David Mitchell, the author of The Bone Clocks, recently spoke with Bookselling This Week about the inspiration for his latest bestseller, some of the characters readers might recognize from previous novels, and his own experience working in a bookstore.

Booksellers who place orders for 30 or more books from an expanded list of banned or challenged titles before October 3 will receive an additional discount from Ingram, as well as a free “Banned Books Week in a Box” display kit.