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Goodreads Sells Out to Amazon - What Are Your Friends Cancelling?
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As many of you have heard, Amazon announced Thursday that it had reached an agreement to acquire Goodreads.
This is distressing news for many reasons, and a particular slap in the face for NCIBA, which helped coordinate a December promotion in which bookstores featured titles chosen by Goodreads members as their annual favorites.
Some member stores have noted that they have already heard - and expect to be hearing more soon - from customers who might want to remove their book titles or cancel their Goodreads account. If you would like to refer them to the Goodreads customer account tools, here are relevant links on the Goodreads site: http://www.goodreads.com/help#delete_account In case any booksellers want to discuss the subjevct further with their customers, feel free to adapt or use as a starting point any of the following:
For any of you who care about the health and welfare of independent bookstores, the news that Amazon is acquiring Goodreads is distressing to say the least. Amazon has never been able to duplicate what independents do best - recommend the right book for the right customer. It has its algorithms, but that's not the same as a face-to-face conversation with your local bookseller. For it's part, San Francisco-based Goodreads approached Bay Area independent bookstores last Fall about a joint program that sought to promote the corporate entity's annual book awards in local bookstores. The program was an effort to increase Goodreads' brand and promote independents to Goodreads members, and folks at Goodreads went out of their way to extol the importance of bookstores to the culture of books and reading. Well, that didn't last long.
We've had queries from customers, so we are including information about how to cancel your Goodreads account. Even a small group exodus from Goodreads will draw attention and create opportunities to discuss the ramifications of an Amazon-dominated book world. Also, it removes the risk of you potentially receiving ongoing Amazon marketing messages via email. When Amazon takes over Goodreads later this year, your email and your reading profile belongs to them.
In any case, we want to assure you that we will continue to be available to talk books and share recommendations in person. It's what we've always done and will always love to do.
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Spring Gathering Updates
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As we ready for next Sunday's Spring Gathering in the Presidio, we wanted to let those of you attending (you can still sign up!) about a couple of changes and additions to the schedule.
First, we've switched the two education blocks - same sessions, just different times. Here's what the day looks like now:
8:45-10 - ABA Forum/Continental Breakfast
10:15-11:30 - Concurrent Education Sessions
Top Ten Things You Need to Do Now / Above the Treeline
11:30-12 - Awards Presentations
12-12:30 - Amy Tan!
12:30-1:30 - Lunch
1:45-2:45 - Rep Picks
3-4:15 - Concurrent Education Sessions
We're Not Here to Break Even / Throne of Games
4:30-5:30 - Author Reception
We've also added names to our Author Reception, and it promises to be a very cool meet-and-greet. Here's who will be on hand:
Daniel Brown
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics Viking
Dawn Dais The Sh!t No One Tells You: A Guide to Surviving Your Baby's First Year Seal
Karen Joy Fowler We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Marion Wood/Penguin
Andrew Sean Greer The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells Ecco
Kim Wong Keltner Tiger Babies Strike Back: How I Was Raised by a Tiger Mom But Could Not Be Turned to the Dark Side Morrow
Laleh Khadivi The Walking Bloomsbury
Jaron Lanier Who Owns the Future? Free Press
John Lescroart The Ophelia Cut Atria
Anchee Min The Cooked Seed: A Memoir Bloomsbury
Dana Reinhardt Odessa Again Random House Children
Glen Schneider Ten Breaths to Happiness: Touching Life in Its Fullness Parallax
Maggie Oman Shannon Crafting Calm Cleis
Corina Vacco My Chemical Mountain Random House Children
Walter Walker Crime of Privilege Random House
Katie Williams Absent Chronicle
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Johnson, Talbot, Sweet, Applegate Among Book Award Winners
| | The winners of the 2013 Northern California Independent Booksellers Awards have been chosen in eight categories and are highlighted in red below. This year's 42 finalists represented an extraordinary collection of titles and authors, and the closeness of the voting in several categories spoke to the quality of the nominees.
In the Teen Lit category, the voting wasn't just close; the two top vote-getters finished in a dead heat. Rather than create a tie-breaker, the NCIBA board voted unanimously to award both books the top prize.
A full-color poster featuring the winners will be available at the upcoming Spring Gathering. Any store not attending next Sunday can request a mailed copy of the poster at hut@nciba.com. You can also access written blurbs for each of the finalists here. We encourage you to use them as shelf talkers, Facebook posts, or any other way you can think of.
FICTION
Equal of the Sun Anita Amirrezvani Scribner
The Gilly Salt Sisters Tiffany Baker Grand Central
Telegraph Avenue Michael Chabon Harper
Hologram for the King Dave Eggers McSweeney's
A Working Theory of Love Scott Hutchins Penguin
The Orphan Master's Son Adam Johnson Random House
NONFICTION
Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicals and Reagan's Rise to Power Seth Rosenfeld FSG
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus Bill Wasik & Monica Murphy Viking
I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen
Sylvie Simmons Ecco
Season of the Witch David Talbot Free Press
Waging Heavy Peace Neil Young Blue Rider REGIONAL TITLE
The Final Leap: Suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge John Bateson UC Press
San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History & Architecture Philip P. Choy City Lights
Black Fire: The True Story of the Original Tom Sawyer - and of the Mysterious Fires that Baptized Gold Rush-Era San Francisco Robert Graysmith Crown
God's Hotel: A Doctor, A Hospital, and A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine Victoria Sweet Riverhead
Northern California Craft Beer Guide Ken Weaver Cameron + Co.
POETRY
Time of Useful Consciousness Lawrence Ferlinghetti New Directions
Collected Poems Jack Gilbert Knopf The Book of a Thousand Eyes Lyn Hejinian Omnidawn
After Urgency Rusty Morrison Tupelo Press
Useless Landscape, or a Guide for Boys D.A.Powell Graywolf
FOOD WRITING
The Great Meat Cookbook Bruce Aidells HMH
Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones Kris Hoogerhyde, Anne Walker, Dabney Gough Ten Speed
Hubert Keller's Souvenirs Hubert Keller Andrews McMeel
Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts Alice Medrich Artisan
Vietnamese Home Cooking Charles Phan Ten Speed
CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett Hyperion
Extra Yarn Mac Barnett Balzer & Bray
Too Tall Houses Gianna Morino Viking Children Georgia in Hawaii Amy Novesky, illustrated by Yuyi Morales Harcourt Children's Books
Dangerously Ever After Dashka Slater Dial
Baby Bear Sees Blue Ashley Wolff Beach Lane
MIDDLE GRADE READERS
The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook Joanne Rocklin Abrams
Kepler's Dream Juliet Bell Putnam
Who Could It Be at This Hour? Lemony Snicket Little Brown for Young Readers
The Cabinet of Earths Anne Nesbet Harper
The One & Only Ivan Katherine Applegate Harper
TEEN LIT (Two-Way Tie)
Eve and Adam Michael Grant & Katherine Applegate Feiwel and Friends
The Disenchantments Nina LaCour Dutton
Valkyrie Rising Ingrid Paulson Harper Teen
Under the Never Sky Veronica Rossi HarperCollins
Time Between Us Tamara Ireland Stone Hyperion The Rivals Daisy Whitney Little, Brown
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"Hut's Place: Weekly Words About Books"
Weekly Column Touts
New Titles, Good Reads
On Store Shelves
| | NCIBA Executive Director Hut Landon is now writing a weekly column called HUT'S PLACE. The column, which is sent via email through Constant Contact to subscribers (for free), is aimed at book consumers. The goal is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what booksellers are recommending in their stores, comment on titles landing on bestseller lists, and pass on occasional news about the book world.
Oh, and singing the praises of independent bookstores as often as possible.
Hut's Place is designed to be a quick, fun read for book-buying customers and to motivate them to visit their local independent more frequently. Books mentioned are almost all new, recently-released titles that are stocked in most stores and readily available through wholesalers. Back issues of the column can be accessed here.
We understand that some booksellers want to (rightly) control the content that goes out to its customers and that this may not fit the bill. But for a store that would like to send the column out to its mailing list, it can be branded with your logo - check with Hut for details.
If you're so inclined, email office@nciba.com and we'll send you a copy of the column. Then, if you wouldn't mind, simply forward that email to anyone you think would be interested; let them know they can subscribe for free by clicking the Join Our Mailing List button in the column.
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University Press Books Seeking Partnership
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University Press Books/Berkeley 2430 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, California 94704 510-548-0585 telephone 510-849-9214 fax E-mail upb@universitypressbooks.com Springtime 2013
Business Opportunity in Berkeley
We are seeking an investing partner and bookstore manager
From Bill and Karen McClung, General Partners
We are planning to substantially retire in 2014 and are currently in the process of restructuring the UPB partnership, in harmonious and successful operation since 1974. The partnership owns University Press Books/Berkeley and manages and owns part of the building at 2430 Bancroft Way.
We are aiming to find a qualified investor/manager who can make an investment of $50,000 to purchase at least a 25 percent interest in our UPB partnership and assume many of our management responsibilities.
Such a person would also have opportunities to participate in our companion partnerships -- The Musical Offering & Café and The UPB Investment Group (which owns our building) -- and we would also want a managing investor to participate in our affiliate non-profit, The 2430 Arts Alliance, which was formed in 2010 to encourage and promote scholarly and literary publications, classical music, and other arts in Berkeley.
If you or someone you know would like to explore these opportunities with us, please contact us by mail or email.
William McClung, General Partner
williammcclung@mac.com
http://universitypressbooks.com
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Four New Indie Promotions From ABA, Publishers
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"I wanted to...tell you a big *thank you* for your support in following up on the Thanks for Shopping Indie campaign and the extra discount from the publishers...All-in-all, the difference credited to my account(s) [is] equal to almost eight hours of support staff time at my store."
- Kate Rattenborg, Dragonfly Books
Dear Bookseller,
Following on the success of the holiday 2012 multi-publisher promotion Thanks for Shopping Indie, we are pleased to introduce Celebrate (With) Indies, four additional promotions created just for the indie channel. Celebrate (With) Indies is the result of on-going conversations with Publishers; we hope you support it enthusiastically!
 Each store may participate in one, two, three, or all four promotions. All titles offered in the Celebrate (With) Indies promotions have been chosen by your bookselling colleagues, and many of them are recent Indie Next and Indie Bestseller books. Celebrate Debut Authors With IndiesIndies are known for introducing new authors to readers, so celebrate what you do best. This promotion will be offered twice in 2013; the first set of Spring/Summer titles and publisher terms are listed on the sign-up page, BookWeb.org/celebrate, and a new set of titles and terms will be announced in Fall, 2013. For this promotion, Publishers have agreed to offer, at their option, one of the following special terms on a per title basis: A 10% rebate for adult title for first three months of sale, or 7.5% rebate for children's title for first three months of sale*; OR150 days dating; ORA display allowance; OR$2 per book (adult hardcover title) on books ordered during the first 3 months on sale, or $1 per book (children's hardcover or trade paperback or adult trade paperback) ordered during the first 3 months on sale. If you choose to participate in Celebrate Debut Authors, you will agree to: Promote at least 6 of 11 chosen titles. (Children's-only stores are not required to promote the adult titles.) Choose your titles during the sign-up process. The title list and per title publisher offer will be available on the sign-up page. Order at least 3 copies of hardcover and children's titles, 5 copies of paperback titles; display allowance titles may have different order requirements. Build a dedicated Celebrate Debut Authors display with each book to be displayed for no less than two weeks. Distribute an in-store marketing flyer, and promote the debut titles through social media, staff picks, author videos, and the like. CELEBRATE MOMS WITH INDIES, 3. CELEBRATE DADS WITH INDIES and/or 4. CELEBRATE GRADS WITH INDIESCelebrate three major buying periods with these promotions. Publishers have agreed to offer +5 points and/or 150 days dating on qualifying orders for each. If you choose to participate you will agree to: Order 10 of 20 titles for each promotion. To qualify for the promotion, Moms titles must be ordered between March 14 and May 1, and Dads/Grads titles must be ordered between March 14 and June 3. Order at least 3 copies of each hardcover, 5 copies of each paperback, and 3 copies of each children's title. Display the featured titles in-store for at least a week for each of these promotions that you are supporting. Promote Celebrate Moms With Indies, Celebrate Dads With Indies, and Celebrate Grads With Indies in newsletters, through social media, as staff picks, and the like. All title choices and per title publisher terms will be listed on the sign-up page. * Your store must be reporting weekly sales to BookScan to take advantage of the POS rebate titles in the Debut Authors promotion. If your store is not currently reporting to BookScan, please contact your ABA Member Relationship Manager to find out how to start. If you have any questions about Celebrate (with) Indies, please let me know. Joy Dallanegra-Sanger BSI Inc.,
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ABFFE Seeking Donations for Art Auction
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The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression ( ABFFE) and the ABC Children's Group at the American Booksellers Association are seeking donations of original art for the 2013 Children's Book Art Silent Auction and Reception at BookExpo America. This marquee event is expected to draw hundreds of attendees from the children's book industry, including booksellers, publishers, authors, artists, illustrators, other industry professionals, fans of illustrated children's books and supporters of the free speech rights of young readers. Last year's auction raised over $30,000 in support of ABFFE, which sponsors the Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP) and Banned Books Week.  This year's event will be held on Wednesday, May 29, 2013 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. It will be hosted by bestselling authors Jack Gantos, a Newbery medal winner, and Lauren Myracle, whose books top the list of the country's most challenged titles. Gantos and Myracle have written a letter urging artists and illustrators to donate to the auction. The auction is an opportunity for artists and publishers to call attention to both recent and forthcoming illustrated titles through the display of original artwork from those books.
This year's auction is also an opportunity to honor Maurice Sendak, who inspired so many artists and was a champion of free speech. It will include a special section for artists who wish to create pieces as a tribute to Sendak.
For the first time this year, people around the world will be able to participate in the excitement of the BEA auction by bidding in an online auction to be held the week before the Javits event. Artists and illustrators interested in contributing to the auction should send an e-mail to the auction manager, Kristen Gilligan, to let her know to expect the donation and then fill out the Artwork Donation Form. More information about donations can be found in the auction's FAQ. The deadline for donations is April 29. Tickets for the auction and reception, on Wednesday evening, May 29, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., are $99 and can be purchased here. Tickets are free to all member bookstores of the ABC Children's Group at ABA.
ABFFE has created an auction website. Details of the coming events, including a preview of the art in both auctions, will be posted there.
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Poster Reminds Customers That Books Make Great Gifts All Year Round
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The NCIBA has done a new color printing of its poster touting books as gifts that's available free to any interested bookstore member. The message is simple - books make great gifts for any person and any occasion; to date, more than 75 stores have requested and received posters.
The impetus for the poster's creation came from the notion that, although book buyers may spend less on themselves in tough times, they will usually not shirk on spending when purchasing a gift. So why promote books as great gift ideas only during the holiday season? Book customers purchase gifts all year round, so let's remind them that books are the perfect answer.
The poster, measuring 11x17 and printed on card stock, can be ordered for free by emailing hut@nciba.com. Or use the concept to create your own messaging and let us know what you come up with.
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ABA MEMBERSHIP OFFER!
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As a member of NCIBA, we would like to extend to non-members of ABA a special offer to join our national association for $50 for your first year. Founded in 1900, the ABA is a not-for-profit trade organization devoted to meeting the needs of its members through education, business products and services, marketing and advocacy.
Now more than ever, whether a new or used bookstore, it is important for indie bookstores to be part of a larger network. And while the economy is still difficult, and the industry ever-changing, we are confident that indies have a profitable future ahead.
ABA membership includes:
Education and networking, where you can expand your knowledge of the industry through web-based curriculum guides as well as programs like the annual Winter Institute;
The Book Buyers Handbook, a fully-searchable database directory of up-to-date information on publisher's contact information, current promotions and special offers;
IndieBound D.I.Y, with over 100 design files that can be used for in-store and online marketing, all inspired by local first and independent business advocacy;
Online Bookseller forums, where you can communicate with other indies all over the country and post questions and comments;
For a full list of ABA membership benefits, please visit this page. According to NCIBA executive director Hut Landon, this is an offer that no bookseller should pass up. "One factor that is pivotal to the success of independent booksellers is their association with ABA and their regional organization. Trust me when I tell you that no other category of retailers has access to the kind of education, advocacy, information, and overall support that independent bookstores do. Furthermore, the ABA's influence in bettering publisher terms over the years has positively impacted the bottom line of every member bookstore."
This offer expires on May 15, 2013, so join today using the promo code regional13. |
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