In his bimonthly letter, ABA President Steve Bercu discusses recent industry happenings, invites booksellers to take advantage of the association’s programming on the Affordable Care Act at the regional shows, and more.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher has written an open letter to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos that highlights the discrepancy between the company’s professed support for e-fairness and its ongoing business practices.

Last weekend, the Opinion Pages of the New York Times’ Sunday Review featured “Tumult in the Book World,” a dialogue in letters, including one from ABA President Steve Bercu, that were solicited by the paper to answer the question “Can traditional bookstores survive the digital marketplace?”

A consequence of Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations is that a real battle is brewing to restore the privacy rights taken away by Section 215 of the Patriot Act, writes ABFFE President Chris Finan.

This week, ABA CEO Oren Teicher offers both perspective on recent events and resources to help member bookstores share with customers facts about Amazon that tell a story they might not know.

Author Boris Kachka talks about Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America’s Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, which holds the top spot on this month’s Indie Next List.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher pays tribute to former Board member Karl Pohrt, the founder and owner of Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, till its closure after 29 years, in June 2009. Pohrt died on Wednesday, July 10, of cancer at age 65.

Newly elected ABA President Steve Bercu asks members to share their thoughts about any of the myriad issues affecting their businesses, encourages participation in the ABACUS-12 survey, and gives a shout-out to Stephen King and Hard Case Crime.

As part of last week’s Independent Booksellers Week celebrations in the United Kingdom, bookseller Nic Bottomley, co-owner of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, offered “a personal, undoubtedly incomplete manifesto for 21st century independent bookselling.” 

Philipp Meyer has earned the number one spot on June’s Indie Next List with his bold and compelling novel The Son. Meyer recently spoke to BTW about his research process and the experiences he lived in order to write what Scott Kinberger of Books Inc. called “the best kind of historical fiction.”