BTW News Briefs

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BEA Asks for Input on Future Locations

Steve Rosato, show director for BookExpo America, is asking readers of BEA’s blog, The Bean, for their thoughts on where future shows should be held.

BEA will be held in New York City in 2014 and 2015 and is moving to Chicago for 2016, but the location planning stops there. The BEA poll asks readers to vote for one of four options, ranging from keeping the show in New York City permanently to moving the show to new locations yearly.

Rosato asks readers to consider several factors before voting, including the high ratings that New York City earns from exhibitors and attendees, as well as the city’s venue options, hotel options, accessibility, media draw, and whether a prospective city is a destination place.

HarperCollins Launches Direct-to-Consumer E-Book Platform

In partnership with Accenture, HarperCollins has launched an end-to-end e-commerce and direct to consumer distribution platform for e-books. The project was announced this week with the launch of HarperCollins’ CSLewis.com and Narnia.com.

The new platform allows HarperCollins to digitally store and distribute e-books in its C.S. Lewis catalog directly to the consumer, as well as analyze all online purchase data. Plans call for this e-commerce approach to eventually be extended to other HarperCollins online properties.

New Zealanders Win Scholarships to Winter Institute 2014

Two booksellers from New Zealand will be coming to ABA’s annual Winter Institute in Seattle in January as the first Kobo Booksellers NZ Scholars. The scholarship winners are Jenna Todd, manager of Time Out Bookstore in Auckland, and Jared Raines, manager of Paper Plus in Christchurch. The judging panel included representatives of the Embassy of the United States, Kobo, and Booksellers New Zealand.

 “It’s really an honor for Time Out, as a small indie bookshop, to be able to represent New Zealand bookselling in America,” said Todd, “and I am positive that I will be able to bring back all sorts of new information for our store and for booksellers generally.”

“This is a huge opportunity and I am very grateful,” said Raines.

BISG Survey Looks at E-Book Reading

The Book Industry Study Group and Nielsen Book Research have released report two of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-book Reading, Volume 4, which looks at consumption of and opinions about e-books. According to the report, the e-book trend has slowed but now makes up about 30 percent of books sold. The report also indicates:

  • 48 percent of respondents are willing to pay more for bundled print and digital versions of books.
  • About 50 percent would pay more for an e-book if they could later give it away or resell it.
  • When making buying decisions, respondents do not discriminate between e-books from traditional houses versus independently published e-books.
  • There was a small increase in the number of people who buy print and digital versions interchangeably, and a slight decline in those who only purchase e-books.

The report also looks at the preferred categories for e-book format, pricing factors, how consumers learn about and find books, the use of mobile devices and content, and the most requested device enhancements, among other topics. The report can be purchased in full here.

Changes Afoot at World Book Night U.K.

The Reading Agency (TRA) will take over operations for World Book Night U.K., which till now has been run as an independent charity, and WBN Chief Executive Julia Kingsford will be leaving in January,  The Bookseller reported. WBN had been working with TRA and the BBC, but will now be run solely by TRA. The move was supported by publishers as well as WBN founder Jamie Byng.

Last year, WBN U.K. put 500,000 books into the hands of some of the 35.2 percent of the country's population who do not read for pleasure. However, the Guardian reported that in 2014, the number of free books to given away by official volunteers is being halved, to 250,000 (12,500 batches of 20 titles), but a wider pool of people will be able to join in by giving away any book they choose, either new or from their own bookshelves, with a World Book Night sticker or bookplate.

In addition, the U.K.’s WBN titles will be chosen by a committee of experts instead of a public vote, and the number of free titles allocated to volunteers will be based on their reach.

Lerner Publisher Services to Distribute for Walter Foster Publishing

Lerner Publisher Services, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, will begin U.S. and Canadian distribution for Walter Foster Publishing, a division of the Quayside Publishing Group.

Lerner will distribute 18 spring frontlist titles to schools and public libraries beginning in January 2014. On June 1, 2014, Lerner will begin distribution for Water Foster Publishing’s full backlist.