Shelf Awareness - Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade

Editors' Note

Welcome Aboard, Bookstores!

This week, we welcome the following bookstores that have signed up to have Shelf Awareness for Readers customized for their stores:

• City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, N.C.
• The Bookmark Shoppe in Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Lift Bridge Book Shop in Brockport, N.Y.
• The Family Bookshop in Deland, Fla.
• BookPeople of Moscow in Moscow, Idaho

The customized edition features the store's logo, an events feed with store events and buy buttons for each reviewed book that link back to the book's page on the stores' websites. The five stores join the more than 50 bookstores already enjoying the benefits of helping customers discover books via Shelf Awareness book reviews, author interviews and more. To see the full list of stores, click here. If you are interested in participating, find out more on our website or please contact marketing manager Christopher Priest at christopher@shelf-awareness.com.

Quotation of the Day

'Life's Too Short'

"At a certain point, you realize life's too short for this. We couldn't even talk to a human being. It's not a very satisfying way of doing business."

News

Penguin Settles with States, Consumers

Penguin Group has reached a $75-million settlement with 33 state attorneys general and private plaintiffs in the agency model e-book pricing case, Pearson said yesterday.

Penguin was sued by the Justice Department last year along with Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Apple. Three of the publishers--Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Hachette--reached settlements immediately and Macmillan this past February. The lone remaining defendant, Apple, is set to begin trial on June 3 in New York District Court.

In preparation for Penguin's merger with Random House sometime this year, the publisher reached a settlement with the Department of Justice in December. The settlement with the state and consumers will take effect after approval from a federal judge.

Judge: Borders Gift Card Holders Hold Worthless Cards

In the category of "isn't it over yet?" yesterday, a federal district court judge in New York upheld a ruling by the Borders bankruptcy case judge that the holders of 17.7 million gift cards worth an estimated $210.5 million--all unredeemed when Borders closed in 2011--are owed nothing.

According to Reuters, Judge Andrew Carter said allowing cardholders to try to recover money from Borders would upset the liquidation plan that is "substantially" completed. Furthermore, he said cardholders had failed to prove they met requirements for an exception.

Orbit Head Revolves Back to London

Tim Holman, who moved to New York from London in 2006 to help set up Orbit in the U.S., is returning to London, where he will continue to oversee Orbit's publishing programs in the U.K. and U.S. In the U.S., Orbit is a division of Hachette Book Group and consists of the Orbit, Yen Press and Redhook imprints. In the U.K., Orbit is the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, part of Hachette U.K.

Anne Clark, currently editorial director of Orbit in the U.K., is moving to New York from London, and will become deputy publisher of Orbit and will also oversee Redhook. Holman will continue to oversee Yen Press.

Future Seems to Be Now in Amazon's Office Plans

Amazon is proposing "inventive biosphere offices" as part of the company's project to transform three neighborhood blocks in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood into office towers and green space, the Post-Intelligencer reported.

Noting that Amazon "unveiled a slew of new drawings on Tuesday that reveal a series of colossal, mirrored, biospherelike domes alongside a taller rectangular building that could be its new campus," CNet observed that the "latest fad for tech companies' new office buildings seems to involve making them as far-out and avant-garde as possible. And Amazon is the newest firm to jump on that train."

According to the proposal, the intent behind the design is to "create an alternative environment... where employees can work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting. The generative idea is that a plant-rich environment has many positive qualities that are not often found in a typical office setting."

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In other Amazon news, the company is now selling its Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HDs in more than 170 countries. Shipments begin June 13.

Modern Times Bookstore Collective Seeks Support

Faced with an estimated debt of $100,000, San Francisco's landmark Modern Times Bookstore Collective members "told supporters at a meeting last week that the 41-year-old bookstore may have to close its doors in September," Mission Local reported. The collective's members "are asking for a skilled base of volunteers including lawyers, marketing and PR experts, and fundraising professionals who can help to shape future plans and develop alternative revenue sources such as online sales." They also discussed the possibility of a crowd funding campaign.

"We all know that we can't just sell books," said Lex Non Scripta, the collective's event planner. "We have to look at other ways to sustain the stores, like programing events or having cafes. We are all looking to a long-time sustainability plan."

Staff member Travis Culley said the meeting was "necessary, overdue and exciting because something must change. Who knows what shape [it] will take? But there's enough spirit to help, sustain and survive even the most complicated situation."

BEA Buzz Books Part II: Children's, YA

BookExpo America is where Marissa Moss, author of the bestselling Amelia's Notebook series, will launch Creston Books, to be distributed by Publishers Group West. She aims to publish debut works, as well as work by established authors that might be a little different than what they are known for. Her first list includes the nonfiction How to Be Human: the Diary of an Autistic Girl, written by Florida Frenz, an autistic 15-year-old; Lola Goes to Work by Marcia Goldman, about a dog that wants to be a therapy animal; the picture book Cozy Light, Cozy Night, which showcases Elisa Kleven's storytelling and artistic abilities; and Rotten Pumpkin by David M. Schwartz, with photographs by Dwight Kuhn, illustrating just what happens when a pumpkin decays.

"She's got great taste," said Becky Quiroga Curtis from Books and Books in Coral Gables, Fla., of Moss's foray into publishing. Curtis served as chair of the children's and young adult part of the ABA's Celebrate Debut Authors panel of booksellers, which has spent the past few months reading new work to be selected for the fall program. [Details about the program are available in the ABA booth.]

Not surprisingly, If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan, about a girl's forbidden love in Iran, from Algonquin's new Young Readers imprint, made that list. Other notable titles from Algonquin Young Readers include The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick and Somebody Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon. Curtis said she is impressed by Algonquin's new line and was especially moved by Somebody Up There Hates You, which is about a boy in hospice care and his relationship with a girl across the hall. "Algonquin is very thoughtful and a very special publisher," she said.

Ellen Scott from the Bookworm in Omaha, Neb., also served on the ABA Celebrate Debut Authors committee, and she named Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott (Holt, Aug.) as a top YA pick. A former English teacher, Scott liked that an English teacher in the book gets one slacker kid to interact with another, she said. Rainbow Rowell might live in Omaha, but booksellers across the country are waiting to get their handselling hands on Fangirl (St. Martin's, September), her follow-up to Eleanor & Park.

With the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination in November, there will be plenty of tie-in books, but bestselling presidential historian James Swanson presents the story as it has never been told before, to a YA audience, in The President Has Been Shot! (Scholastic, Sept.)

Robert McDonald at the Book Stall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka, Ill., read and loved The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell and Ian Schoenherr (Dial, Oct.), about a girl who stumbles upon a secret world where beloved pets and other tamed animals go after they die. The book, translated from Norwegian, has been compared to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Golden Compass.

McDonald also looks forward to the new book from by Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn trilogy. In Steelheart, the first in a new series, a burst in the sky gives ordinary men and women extraordinary powers--but also makes them evil. For middle graders, McDonald said the new book by Matthew Cody, Will in Scarlet (Knopf, Sept.), with its Robin Hood theme, is a bit of a departure for the author of Super and Powerless, but is equally solid. And Cristin Stickles at McNally Jackson in New York City said Ann Ursu's followup to Breadcrumbs, titled The Real Boy (Walden Pond, Sept.), is "incredible."

Susan Cooper's new book, Ghost Hawk (Margaret K. McElderry, Aug.), is one Cathy Berner at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston is eager to sell. "It's a way for us to introduce her Dark Is Rising series to a new generation of readers," she said. Set in colonial times, Ghost Hawk tells the story of a boy caught between the kindness of the Wampanoag community who have shown his settler family how to sustain themselves, and the rising tensions with the new arrivals who covet Wampanoag land. That captured the interest of Andrea Vuleta, now the executive director of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association, formerly of Mrs. Nelson's Toy & Book Shop, La Verne. Also on Vuleta's list is Counting by 7's by screenwriter-turned-author Holly Goldberg Sloan (Dial, Aug.). "The character is shockingly bright and possibly autistic," said Vuleta. "She has to really gauge her responses to people." Stickles called the author's voice "new and honest."

Rooftoppers, a debut by Katherine Rundell (S&S, Sept.), which is about a group of kids who go roof-hopping in Paris at night, is also getting a lot of good buzz for middle-grade readers.

For younger children, several booksellers named The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel, June), as their top pick. "It's exactly what you think it is: the crayons go on strike," said Stickles. Curtis at Books and Books called it "genius." Two books by old favorites on Vuleta's list are Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown (Little, Brown, Sept.) and Locomotive by Brian Floca (Richard Jackson/Atheneum, Sept.).

And of course, everyone will be clamoring for the new Lemony Snicket, When Did You See Her Last? (Little, Brown, Oct.), and for two by Neil Gaiman: Fortunately, the Milk (Harper, Sept.) for children and Ocean at the End of the Lane (Morrow, June) for adults.

Tomorrow tune in for indie presses, nonfiction and sleepers. --Bridget Kinsella

[See BEA Buzz Books Part 1 here.]

Notes

Image of the Day: Greatest Librarian and Great Escort

During a visit to San Francisco, Josh Hanagarne, author of The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family (Gotham), posed with media escort extraordinaire David Golia. Hanagarne commented: "You do hire a media escort for the author to lean on."

Larry Keenan on Ferlinghetti, the Bookseller

Ferlinghetti in 1965, by Larry Keenan

On its Facebook page, City Lights Books, San Francisco, Calif., highlighted a recollection by the late Larry Keenan, a legendary Beat and counterculture photographer, about his encounter in 1965 with poet and bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti:

"I followed Lawrence around his bookstore, City Lights, one day, noting his attention to detail. He did everything in the bookshop, no job too big or too small. I asked him how he handled being a Beat poet and bookstore owner. He told me that when he comes to work at the store he is all business. Besides, he never considered himself a Beat poet but rather a painter. I am still knocked out by this news because he has the bestselling poetry book in the world with his book, A Coney Island of the Mind."

Personnel Changes at Storey Publishing, S&S

Pamela Art, longtime publisher and president of Storey Publishing, is retiring, and in related changes COO Dan Reynolds is becoming CEO and president while editorial director Deborah Balmuth is becoming publisher.

Art has been part of the company since its founding in 1983. Reynolds joined the company as CFO in 1995 and has also been sales director. Balmuth began at Storey as a project editor in 1993, was promoted to acquisitions editor in 1997 and editorial director in 2001.

At BEA at booth #939 on Friday, May 31, 4-5 p.m., Storey will celebrate its 30th anniversary with fellow Workman imprint Algonquin Books, which is also turning 30.

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Julia Prosser has been promoted to deputy director of publicity of the Simon & Schuster imprint at S&S. She joined the company in 2003 as a publicity assistant.

More Royalties for ABFFE

Nice move. After receiving $8,000 in royalties in March from sales of My Bookstore, published by Black Dog & Leventhal, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is receiving $4,750 in royalties from Read This! Handpicked Favorites from America's Indie Bookstores, which was published last September by Coffee House Press.

My Bookstore collects essays about authors' favorite independent bookstores, edited by Ronald Rice. Read This! is a collection of lists detailing the 50 favorite books of indie booksellers.

Ingram Publisher Services Adds Four Publishers

Ingram Publisher Services has added the following publisher clients:

Smoke Alarm Media, a firefighter-owned media company, publishes a series of cookbooks. Its Signature Tastes cookbook series captures iconic restaurant recipes from regional locations around the world. IPS is handling distribution in the U.S. and Canada, including e-book distribution and POD services.

Little Pickle Press publishes such titles as What Does It Mean to Be Green? and What Does It Mean to Be Global? And recently was named to B-Lab's "Best for the World" list that recognizes organizations that are environmentally-friendly, humanitarian and good to their employees. IPS is handling U.S. and Canadian sales and distribution, including e-books.

Mouse Prints Press is the publisher of a new series titled Maurice's Valises, adventure books that tell the stories of world voyages drawn from historical moral teachings. IPS is handling full-service distribution and sales for the company in the U.S. and Canada, including e-books.

Jumping Jack Press is the pop-up book imprint of Up With Paper, dedicated to publishing the finest keepsake pop-up books for children. Popular titles are Snowflakes and Toy Story. IPS is handling sales and distribution in the U.S. and Canada to select retailers.

Book Trailer of the Day: Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish

Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff (Doubleday), the author's posthumous novel-in-verse.

Media and Movies

Media Heat: Kelly Starrett on Becoming a Supple Leopard

Tomorrow on MSNBC's the Cycle: Alison Buckholtz, author of Standing By: The Making of an American Military Family in a Time of War (Tarcher, $15.95, 9780399163791).

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This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe: George Packer, author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27, 9780374102418).

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Tomorrow on the View: Kelly Starrett, co-author of Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance (Victory Belt Publishing, $59.95, 9781936608584).

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Tomorrow on NPR's On Point: Jon Wiederhorn, co-author of Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal (It Books, $32.50, 9780061958281).

This Weekend on Book TV: Olympia Snowe

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this holiday weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Tuesday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, May 25
7 p.m. Nancy Rubin Stuart talks about her book Defiant Brides: The Untold Story of Two Revolutionary-Era Women and the Radical Men They Married (Beacon Press, $26.95, 9780807001172). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 a.m.)

8 p.m. Richard Haass discusses his book Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America's House in Order (Basic Books, $25.99, 9780465057986). (Re-airs Monday at 5:15 a.m.)

9 p.m. Marcia Coyle presents her book The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution (S&S, $28, 9781451627510).

10 p.m. After Words. A.B. Stoddard interviews former Senator Olympia Snowe, author of Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress (Weinstein Books, $26, 9781602862173). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m., Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.)

11 p.m. Donald Rumsfeld talks about his book Rumsfeld's Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War and Life (Broadside Books, $27, 9780062272850). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 a.m.)

Sunday, May 26
12 a.m. Paul Farmer discusses his book To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation (University of California Press, $26.95, 9780520275973).

1:30 a.m. Victor Davis Hanson presents his book The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost--From Ancient Greece to Iraq (Bloomsbury Press, $28, 9781608191635).

1 p.m. Thomas Sowell talks about his book Intellectuals and Race (Basic Books, $25.99, 9780465058723). (Re-airs Sunday at 8:30 p.m. and Monday at 1 a.m.)

3:45 p.m. Mika Brzezinski discusses her book Obsessed: America's Food Addiction--And My Own (Weinstein Books, $26, 9781602861763).

6:30 p.m. Book TV in London presents Lady Antonia Fraser, author most recently of Perilous Question: Reform or Revolution? Britain on the Brink, 1832 (PublicAffairs, $29.99, 9781610393317), discusses the political crisis in England in 1832 and the late playwright Harold Pinter. (Re-airs Monday at 2:30 a.m.)

10 p.m. Nathaniel Philbrick talks about his book Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution (Viking, $32.95, 9780670025442).

Books & Authors

Awards: Brit Wins Washington Prize; Man Booker International

Stephen Brumwell has won the George Washington Book Prize for George Washington: Gentleman Warrior (Quercus) and received the $50,000 prize on Tuesday at a black-tie dinner at Mount Vernon, Washington's home in Virginia. A native of England, Brumwell worked many years as a newspaper reporter before he went back to school and earned a Ph.D. in history. He has written several award-winning histories.

The Prize, honoring the year's "best book about America's founding era," is sponsored by Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Mount Vernon.

The Prize jury praised George Washington: Gentleman Warrior as "well-written and engaging," adding, "In the hands of this fine biographer, Washington emerges as a flesh and blood man, more impressive than the mythical hero could ever be."

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Lydia Davis won the £60,000 (about US$90,909) Man Booker International Prize, which is "awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world stage." Sir Christopher Ricks, chairman of the judges, said her "writings fling their lithe arms wide to embrace many a kind. Just how to categorize them? They have been called stories but could equally be miniatures, anecdotes, essays, jokes, parables, fables, texts, aphorisms or even apophthegms, prayers or simply observations." Davis is also known for her work as a translator of French literature and philosophy.

Store Is Ecstatic About Maya Was Grumpy

"Anyone can put words and pictures on a page, but in Maya Was Grumpy it's masterfully done," said Keri Holmes Rojas, of Cornerstone Cottage Kids in Hampton, Iowa.

Rojas and her colleagues first learned about Courtney Pippin-Mathur's new book, published in March by Flashlight Press, when they received a sample from the ABA--and they immediately got behind it. "We read the samples to people in the store and started taking orders," Rojas said. "By the time it hit street date, we had already sold a case."

The book has been displayed prominently as part of Cornerstone Cottage's Children's Book Week front-window display. This display is called "Where the Wild Things Read," and features colorful stuffed animals reading various children's books. Rojas noted: "We have a camouflage crocodile reading Where the Wild Things Are, and we have a lion, which we nicknamed 'Elvis,' reading Maya Was Grumpy."

In the book, the eponymous Maya carries a stuffed lion with her. According to Rojas, the lion's facial expression always matches Maya's. "It's the kind of thing you wouldn't notice the first time, but we've all read the book hundreds of times," Rojas said, laughing. "And it's that sort of visual storytelling that really makes a picture book a picture book."

The original art from Maya Was Grumpy is currently on display as part of a traveling Maurice Sendak exhibit, and Rojas hopes to bring Pippin-Mathur's art to the store some time next year. "We have a very active local arts council, and we're working with them to hopefully get the art and the author in store next year," Rojas said.

In lieu of bringing the author to the store now, Pippin-Mathur has signed and sent 20 bookplates, which Rojas plans to include with the next copies sold. The author has also sent stickers and bookmarks; Rojas is encouraging customers who have already bought a copy of the book to come in and grab some. Rojas also plans to add Maya Was Grumpy to the store's "keeper list," or list of picture books that are always kept in stock.

"There are a lot of picture books, and with the exception of the classics, we're usually onto the next one after selling one or two copies," Rojas explained. "We have things called 'teachable topics,' and Maya is one of those. We all have days when we're grumpy." --Alex Mutter

Attainment: New Titles Out Next Week

Selected new hardcover titles appearing next Tuesday, May 28:

The Son by Philipp Meyer (Ecco, $27.99, 9780062120397) follows several generations of a Texas family.

Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz (Bantam, $28, 9780553807738) is the latest Odd Thomas novel.

Zero Hour by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown (Putnam, $28.95, 9780399162503) continues the Numa Files series.

Roosevelt's Centurions: FDR and the Commanders He Led to Victory in World War II by Joseph E. Persico (Random House, $35, 9781400064434) explores FDR's use of wartime powers.

American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics by Dan Savage (Dutton, $26.95, 9780525954101) contains a sex columnist's observations.

Smile at Strangers: And Other Lessons in the Art of Living Fearlessly by Susan Schorn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25, 9780547774336) is the memoir of a columnist and karate black belt.

A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Dutton, $26.95, 9780525954002) is the latest Department Q mystery.

Book Review

Review: Instructions for a Heatwave

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell (Knopf, $25.95 hardcover, 9780385349406, June 18, 2013)

1976: London is in the grip of a record-breaking heat wave, making everyone uncomfortable and on edge. One morning in July, Gretta Riordan discovers that her newly retired husband, Robert, who left the house to buy a newspaper, has cleaned out his bank account and disappeared. Maggie O'Farrell (After You'd Gone; The Hand that First Held Mine) starts Instructions for a Heatwave with this premise, then takes readers on journeys interior and exterior--recounted in flawless prose that will have you reading while strap-hanging, standing in line or waiting at a stop light.

Gretta calls upon her three children--Michael Francis, Monica and Aoife--to help her suss out what on earth happened to her once faithful partner of more than 30 years. The three haven't been home at the same time for years, and the baggage they bring is not in suitcases. Michael Francis, a history teacher whose marriage is failing, is perpetually disappointed that he had to cut his Ph.D. studies short to provide for his wife when she became inconveniently pregnant, and she knows it. Everyone loved Monica's first husband, Joe, but he left her when he found out that she did something he found unforgivable; now she's married to a distracted antiques dealer with two daughters from a previous relationship who loathe her and let her know it at every turn.

Aoife is bright, intuitive and creative, but she has been a problem child and a screamer from the get-go. Her school career was equally disconcerting; the letters that were supposed to make words and then sentences never stood still for her. She still can't read, but she has arranged her life so that no one knows. She's been in New York for the last three years, estranged from her sister all this time--for the same reason Joe left Monica.

Gretta, meanwhile, is hooked on all kinds of pills given to her over the years by helpful doctors. They make her a bit fuzzy now and then and lead to erratic housekeeping but she keeps herself together most of the time.

Long-held personal and family secrets are unearthed when they all go to Ireland because someone has seen Robert there. Gretta knows more than she has ever told anyone--even Robert--but all is revealed. --Valerie Ryan

Shelf Talker: An Irish family saga, replete with secrets, rivalries and misbehavior becomes a compelling and entertaining story in Maggie O'Farrell's hands.

The Bestsellers

Top-Selling Self-Published Titles

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Life Code by Dr. Phil McGraw
2. Real by Katy Evans
3. Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase
4. Promise Me Darkness by Paige Weaver
5. Rock with Me by Kristen Proby
6. Knight & Stay by Kitty French
7. Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey
8. The Shift Omnibus by Hugh Howey
9. Let Me Be the One by Bella Andre
10. Surrender by Melody Anne

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]

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