Romance

Swag packs with buttons, window clings, and more will be sent to all bookstores that register by August 1; T-shirts should be ordered by July 18.

Binc’s Bank on Booksellers returns; Bookselling Without Borders scholarship winners named; Ripped Bodice publishes fourth State of Racial Diversity in Romance report; WNDB launches internship grants; Bologna Book Fair canceled, NBCC award ceremony postponed; Emma Watson picks Sex and World Peace; HBG pulls Woody Allen memoir; RHCB launches Underlined imprint; Workman launches audio imprint; Two Rivers to distribute Welbeck; Bucknell University Press teams with Rutgers; Ingram Academic Services to distribute Edinburgh University Press; LAMBDA finalists, Stella and LBF shortlists, Walter Scott longlist announced.

London Book Fair canceled; WNDB grant applications open; Ingram Spark to remove certain content; S&S potentially for sale, to distribute Indigo River; FSG launches Dare to Imagine; Stanford University Press partners with De Gruyter; Stephen Rubin joins S&S; The Booksellers film, Bookable podcast debut; Audie Award, PEN America Award, Romantic Novel Award, Story Prize, Kay Sexton Award, RBC Taylor Prize winners announced; Nebula Award finalists out; Longlists announced for International Booker Prize, Women’s Prize for Fiction.

BookExpo announces children’s breakfast speakers; RWA to hold special election; California Consumer Privacy Act sees update; Panorama Project announces new initiatives; James Patterson named Bookstore Champion; Harlequin’s Love Inspired to launch paperback program; Personnel changes at Holt, S&S; Winners named for LA Times Book Prize, Ripped Bodice awards, Southern Book Prize; Shortlist out for Aspen Words Literary Prize; Nominees and longlists announced for WNBA Pannell Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, Reading the West Book Award, AAP Prose Awards

Each quarter, two or more books in different romance subgenres will be selected; discussions will take place in August, November, February, and May.

The American Booksellers Association’s specialty bestseller lists provide a current snapshot of what’s selling in indie bookstores nationwide.

The inaugural class of 12 honorees will be announced on Valentine’s Day 2020; monetary prizes will be furnished by such sponsors as Sony Pictures Television.

Here are some of the tips the speakers shared on how indie booksellers can better welcome and promote romance books in their stores.