BTW News Briefs

PW Launches National Bookstore Day

Publishers Weekly is launching its first annual National Bookstore Day, a day dedicated to bookselling and bookstores, on Saturday, November 7. PW is inviting bookstores to participate.

PW will promote National Bookstore Day to generate media coverage in advance of November 7, and hopes to drive new and regular customers into bookstores. Throughout September and October, PW will place announcements in their print magazine, e-mail newsletters, and on their website. They have created a logo, and formatted it onto bookmarks, window signs, and posters that booksellers can download or insert into customer print and e-newsletters. In addition, PW will be contacting publishers to ask them to promote special bookseller discounts on selected titles in recognition of National Bookstore Day (stay tuned for a list of titles).

If you do plan to participate, e-mail PW at PWEvents@reedbusiness. More information on PublishersWeekly.com.

National Reading Group Month Announces the 2009 Great Group Reads

On September 24, the National Reading Group Month Selection Committee announced nine books, eight novels, and one memoir, as this year's Great Group Reads.

The books are:

• Appassionata by Eva Hoffman (Other Press)
• The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (Other Press)
• The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bront by Syrie James (Avon A)
• The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey (Harper Perennial)
• Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz (Voice)
• While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty (Hyperion)
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Picador)
• Cost by Roxana Robinson (Picador)
• Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie (Picador)

These titles were selected on the basis of their appeal to reading groups. They are bound to open up lively conversations about a host of timely and provocative topics, from the intimate dynamics of family and personal relationships to major cultural and world issues. The Committee also made a conscious decision to focus its attention on under-represented gems from small presses and lesser-known mid-list releases from larger houses.

National Reading Group Month is an initiative of the Women's National Book Association (WNBA). Founded in 1917, WNBA promotes literacy, a love of reading, and women's roles in the community of the book. For a National Reading Group Month Marketing Toolkit, visit www. nationalreadinggroupmonth.org/involved.html. More information is available at: NationalReadingGroupMonth.org and WNBA, wnba-books.org.

SBA Extends Gulf Opportunity Pilot Loan Program Through September 2010

The U.S. Small Business Administration is extending its Gulf Opportunity Pilot Loan Program (GO Loans) through Sept. 30, 2010, Administrator Karen Mills announced today. SBA launched the GO Loan Pilot in November 2005 to provide expedited financial assistance to small businesses severely impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Under the program, SBA provides 85 percent guarantees (90 percent under Recovery Act provisions) and streamlined, centralized processing to all eligible lenders that make expedited 7(a) loans to small businesses located in, moving to or relocating within parishes and counties included in disaster declarations related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The demand for GO loans has increased significantly in FY 2009 in response to the continued need to rebuild the Gulf Coast areas. In 2008, SBA approved 301 GO loans for $25.2 million. Through April 2009, SBA had already approved 518 GO loans for $32.7 million. For more information on the GO Loan Pilot Program, visit the SBA website. A list of all eligible parishes/counties is available online.

NRF: Tax "Carryback" Legislation Would Help Struggling Retailers

On September 30, the National Retail Federation told a House committee that some retailers could be forced to lay off workers or close stores unless Congress moves quickly to pass "net operating loss carryback" tax legislation that would give them the cash they need to buy inventory for this year's holiday season.

NRF Vice President and Tax Counsel Rachelle Bernstein testified before the House Small Business Committee during a hearing on tax provisions set to expire at the end of the year. Bernstein said Congress needs to pass the Net Operating Loss Carryback Act (H.R. 2452), sponsored by Representative Richard Neal (D-MA), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Select Revenue Subcommittee. Under the legislation, businesses suffering losses during 2008 or 2009 would be able to "carry back" those losses to offset profits from up to five years ago. The companies would then receive tax refund checks that would provide an infusion of cash to help keep doors open and workers on the payroll. Losses can already be carried back for up to two years, but in the current economic climate some companies have seen low profitability for several years.

The five-year carryback period was included in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama in February, but was limited to companies with up to $15 million in annual gross receipts and applied only to losses suffered during 2008. Obama's budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010 would allow the five-year period to apply to companies of any size and to losses from either 2008 or 2009, as provided under the Neal legislation. Bernstein said the expansion is needed because larger businesses are seeing losses as well as small companies, and that losses in 2009 have been even larger than 2008.

S&S Announces Creation of New Imprint to Join Existing Pocket Books

On September 30, Simon & Schuster announced the creation of Gallery Books, a new imprint that will join together as one brand Pocket Books hardcover and trade paperback lines with Simon Spotlight Entertainment.  Louise Burke, who since 2001 lead the Pocket Books group of imprints, will be the Executive Vice President and Publisher of Gallery.  Anthony Ziccardi will serve as Vice President and Deputy Publisher, and Jen Bergstrom will take on the role of Vice President and Editor-in-Chief.

Gallery will focus on women's fiction, pop culture, and entertainment. As with the publishers other imprints, Gallery will also operate with a mandate to acquire top authors and hot prospects in a broad range of publishing categories, both fiction and nonfiction. With the creation of Gallery, Pocket Books will once again be devoted solely to mass market publishing.   

Linda Gregg Receives the Lenore Marshall Prize

On October 1, the Academy of American Poets announced today that Linda Gregg's All of It Singing (Graywolf Press) was chosen by poets Dorianne Laux, J.D. McClatchy, and James Richardson to receive the 2009 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, which awards $25,000 to the most outstanding book of poetry published in the previous year.

About Gregg's winning book, judge James Richardson remarked: "Linda Gregg's work blends passion and solitude, force and quiet. For thirty years she has written poems with the archaic and exhilarating simplicity of the first poem." Gregg was born in Suffern, New York, and grew up in Marin County, California. Her first book of poems, Too Bright to See, was published in 1981. She has published a number of other poetry collections, including In the Middle Distance (Graywolf Press, 2006), Things and Flesh (1999), Chosen by the Lion (1994), The Sacraments of Desire (1991), Alma (1985), and Eight Poems (1982).

The Before Columbus Foundation Announces American Book Awards Winners

The 2009 American Book Award winners will be formally recognized on Sunday, October 11th at the Nuyorican Poets Caf in New York City. Authors attending will read selections from their works and a reception will take place following the ceremony. This event is open to the public.

The 2009 American Book Award Winners include:

• Houston A. Baker, Jr. (Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Right Era, Columbia University Press)
• Danit Brown (Ask for a Convertible, Pantheon)
• Stella Pope Duarte (If I Die in Juarez, The University of Arizona Press)
• Linda Gregg (All of It Singing: New and Selected Poems, Graywolf Press)

Here is information and the full list of winners.