Bookselling
A couple of weeks ago Book Expo announced a preliminary count of 7,425 attendees at the mots recent, saying the group was “comprised primarily of booksellers, librarians, retailers and media.” But a new infographic from the show provides a more precise count of 1,289 booksellers & retailers, and 1,597 librarians in attendance. We asked about the composition of the remaining 4,414 attendees tabulated, which included 860 press registrants, and who came from “various categories including Distributors, Educators, Film & TV Professionals, Licensing Professionals, Literary Agents and Wholesalers among others.” The show spokesperson says they will provide further details once the full audit is complete.
Macmillan has paired with the Book Industry Charitable Foundation for a pilot Macmillan Booksellers Professional Development Scholarship program, aiming to “provide professional development to booksellers traditionally underrepresented within the industry.” They will give up to $500 each for booksellers from traditionally underrepresented groups to attend a regional trade show. They will award nine scholarships, one for each regional independent bookseller association.
San Francisco’s Booksmith will open a 2,800-square-foot “satellite space” called the Bindery on July 4. Located down the street from the original store, the Bindery will be an event space with a beer and wine bar and also host a bookstore called the Arcana project with a “highly inclusive” 10,000 title selection presented in chronological order.
Rainy Retreat Bookstore in Juneau, AK changed ownership as of June 15. New owners Tori Weaver and Alexei Painter plan to make the shop more of a “presence in the community,” as well as creating space for live musical performances, expanding the store’s social media presence, and adding rare books to their inventory.
Forthcoming
Dutton will publish a new John Green novel, Turtles All the Way Down, on October 10. According to the publisher, the book is “about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara.” The book is Green’s first novel in six years and he calls it his “first attempt to write directly about the kind of mental illness that has affected my life since childhood.”
Initiatives
Open Road has launched a program to market backlist titles on behalf of other publishers across all sales channels, with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as an early customer. HMH trade publishing president Ellen Archer says in the announcement: “We’re aware of the success Open Road has had marketing its own list. As another publisher with a robust list of iconic backlist titles, we are interested to see how the focus and sophistication they bring to backlist marketing will benefit our list.”