- Categories:
BTW News Briefs
Printer-friendly versionPenguin Random House to Launch #GiveaBook Campaign
Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced the launch of #GiveaBook, a social media campaign designed to both promote books as gifts this holiday season and give back to U.S. children in need. For every use of the hashtag #GiveaBook on Facebook and Twitter before December 25, Penguin Random House will donate a book to the Save the Children organization, up to 25,000 times.
The #GiveaBook campaign officially begins on November 29 (Small Business Saturday) and runs through December 24. PRH said that #GiveaBook was designed to encompass books and authors from all publishers, and for readers of all ages. The campaign is on Twitter @giveabooknow; on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/giveabooknow; and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/giveabooknow . In conjunction with last night’s National Book Awards ceremony in New York City, the first #GiveaBook author videos were posted on the #GiveaBook Facebook page.
PRH noted that booksellers can get involved by building displays and by creating their own #GiveaBook challenge videos and sharing them with customers via social media, websites, and e-mail newsletters. Marketing materials for retailers are available for download at tinyurl.com/GiveaBook.
Patriot Act Reform Falls Short
The USA Freedom Act (S. 2685), which would have strengthened protections for civil liberties that are threatened by domestic spying by the National Security Agency and other government agencies, fell two votes short in the Senate Tuesday night, November 18. Supporters needed 60 votes to proceed to a debate on the bill but tallied only 58 in a vote that was mainly along party lines. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) strongly opposed the bill on the grounds that it would hamper the fight against ISIS and other terrorist threats. “This is the worst possible time to be tying our hands behind our back,” he said.
The American Booksellers Association and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression endorsed the Freedom Act when it was introduced because it would have restored the protections for the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated by the USA Patriot Act in 2001. Though those protections were dropped in the House legislation and were not included in the substitute bill introduced in the Senate this summer, ABA and ABFFE saw passage of the Freedom Act as a first step toward more substantive change.
Efforts to reform the Patriot Act will continue. Several sections of the Patriot Act, including Section 215, are due to expire next summer unless they are reauthorized. Section 215 allows the government to secretly search any relevant records in a terrorism investigation, including the records of bookstores and libraries.
Lennertz Starts ExpressEdit.net
Book industry veteran Carl Lennertz, who was most recently executive director of U.S. World Book Night, which suspended operations this summer, has launched www.ExpressEdit.net, an editing service for aspiring writers.
SIBA Receives $40,000 Grant for 40th Anniversary
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) has received a $40,000 grant from the Reba and Dave Williams Foundation for Literature and the Arts, in honor of SIBA’s 40 years of support for area bookstores. The grant will be use to bring every SIBA member store to SIBA’s 40th Anniversary Discovery Show, to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, from September 18 – 20, 2015.
“It is a marvelous statement of support for the importance of independent bookselling,” said Executive Director Wanda Jewell, “and we’re going to rise to the challenge to bring 100 percent of SIBA member bookstores to Raleigh in 2015. Reba and Dave will be on hand to kick off the show as the keynotes at our Industry Breakfast in Raleigh on September 18, 2015.”
The Reba and Dave Williams Foundation also sponsored scholarships for bookstores to attend the SIBA trade shows in 2013 and 2014.
Ingram Publisher Services Adds Three Clients
Ingram Publisher Services has announced the addition of AMPress, Diversion Publishing, and Inkshares to its list of clients.
Diversion Publishing is a New York City-based publisher with a list of almost 700 fiction and nonfiction titles, including romance, science fiction, mystery, suspense, business, sports, pop culture, and history genres. Ingram Publisher Services is handling sales and distribution in the U.S. and Canada for the company.
Since January 2014, Inkshares, which is backed by ICG Ventures, has used crowd-funding to select and fund 11 books. Sales and distribution in the U.S. is being handled by Ingram Publisher Services; Inkshares’ e-book distribution will be through Ingram's CoreSource Plus, offered through Lightning Source.
AMPress, which was founded 15 years ago by writer Archer Mayor, specializes in the mystery genre. Ingram Publisher Services is handling sales and distribution of titles in the U.S. and Canada for the publisher, beginning with a series of 18 recently republished tiles from Mayor's Joe Gunther mystery series. Additional projects are in development.
All three publishers will also use print-on-demand services through Lightning Source Inc.
U.K. Books Are My Bag Campaign Boosts Sales
Book sales at shops in the United Kingdom and Ireland that participated in this year’s Books Are My Bag campaign (BAMB) were up by 3.9 percent for the week beginning October 9. The Bookseller reported that bookshops gave away special bags designed by British artist Tracey Emin and held “Big Bookshop Parties” on October 11, inviting customers to events and, in some cases, serving cake and wine.
Nielsen Book Research found that sales of physical books through all channels were down 1.0 percent in value and 1.7 percent in volume terms for the week of October 11, but sales through indies and chains participating in BAMB were up 3.9 percent in value and 3.6 percent in volume based on year-on-year comparisons.
A survey of Booksellers Association members found that 61 percent of bookshop customers were aware of the campaign, which was originally designed by the advertising agency M&C Saatchi. Average store traffic was up by nearly 15 percent, and those shops running specific events said their sales increased by an average of 19.5 percent.