In its inimitable way, yesterday Amazon finally commented publicly on its dispute with Hachette Group. A post from "the Amazon Books team" on its Kindle forum acknowledged that the company is "buying less (print) inventory and 'safety stock' on titles" from Hachette and not offering orders in advance on forthcoming titles. Amazon said customers will be able to order titles on or after pub date, at which point the e-tailer will place orders with Hachette if it has no stock on hand. "Once the inventory arrives, we ship it to the customer promptly." Although Amazon didn't mention it explicitly, it appears that shipping delays on published titles have been shortened significantly. The post continued: "If you do need one of the affected titles quickly, we regret the inconvenience and encourage you to purchase a new or used version from one of our third-party sellers or from one of our competitors."

The post said that "despite much work from both sides, we have been unable to reach mutually-acceptable agreement on terms. Hachette has operated in good faith and we admire the company and its executives." Amazon warned that "though we remain hopeful and are working hard to come to a resolution as soon as possible, we are not optimistic that this will be resolved soon."

Amazon called negotiations with suppliers for "equitable terms and making stocking and assortment decisions based on those terms... one of a bookseller's, or any retailer's, most important jobs. Suppliers get to decide the terms under which they are willing to sell to a retailer. It's reciprocally the right of a retailer to determine whether the terms on offer are acceptable and to stock items accordingly. A retailer can feature a supplier's items in its advertising and promotional circulars, 'stack it high' in the front of the store, keep small quantities on hand in the back aisle, or not carry the item at all, and bookstores and other retailers do these every day."

The post then goes on to give the usual rationale for whatever Amazon does: "When we negotiate with suppliers, we are doing so on behalf of customers. Negotiating for acceptable terms is an essential business practice that is critical to keeping service and value high for customers in the medium and long term."

The post made no mention of what terms Amazon wants, but did offer an unusual gesture for authors: "We've offered to Hachette to fund 50% of an author pool--to be allocated by Hachette--to mitigate the impact of this dispute on author royalties, if Hachette funds the other 50%." It asserted that this was done in 2010 when Amazon deleted buy buttons on Macmillan titles.

The post ended by saying that the dispute is attracting attention "presumably in part because the negotiation is with a book publisher instead of a supplier of a different type of product" and said some of the coverage "has expressed a relatively narrow point of view." It ended with a link to a "post that offers a wider perspective."

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The link at the end of Amazon's post goes to "Who's Afraid of Amazon.com?," which appears on the blog of Marty Shepard, co-founder of the Permanent Press, and is a response to the New York Times's May 24 article "As Publishers Fight Amazon, Books Vanish." Calling the story "a one sided exposé that only exposes poor journalism," Shepard criticized the Times for speaking with just a handful of publishers and authors, all of them critical of Amazon. "In their alarmist zeal reporters David Streitfeld and Melissa Eddy conjure the dreadful threat that Amazon has inflicted upon the 'literary world,' causing a kerfuffle of rage and fear as exemplified by a dispute between the electronic superstore and one of the most robust publishers in the Western World."

Shepard also criticized large publishers, chain bookstores and wholesalers for their policies toward small presses, which he contrasted to Amazon, "the very best thing any small independent press could ask for." He gave four reasons for liking Amazon: 1) Amazon's returns are at most 1%-2% compared to 20%-80% for all other accounts; 2) Amazon posts reviews of Permanent Press books and lists other titles that might be of interest; 3) earnings from Kindle e-book sales are "excellent"; and 4) Amazon usually pays within 30 days via wire transfer, much faster than any other account.

The key problem leading to the Hachette dispute, according to Shepard, is that Hachette and other publishers "want more of the electronic pie, and if they can't get it howl and rage about it."

In conclusion, he wrote: "I always have a lingering suspicion that when one of the large publishing cartels complains they are being treated unfairly by Amazon, it's probably good for most all of the smaller, independent presses. When the Times allows a poorly researched, inaccurate anti-Amazon screed to appear, it makes me want to stand up for Jeff Bezos and Amazon, and present a very different point of view which I hope will balance out what I consider blatant propaganda. And I would encourage other publishers who feel similarly to e-mail me and speak out as well."

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A quick response to Shepard came from Robert Rosenwald, publisher and president of Poisoned Pen Press, who wrote in part, "Do I think that Amazon has done much to improve book selling and distribution? Certainly. Do I think that Amazon has dramatically improved efficiency in our industry? Beyond any doubt. But your diatribe only speaks to how much better Permanent Press has done in certain areas of sales due to these increased efficiencies--not to the real and present threat of Amazon.com's actions against the reading public. How can you honestly not feel endangered by a company that is responsible for approximately a third of all book sales in the U.S. and heading towards half? Can you honestly ignore censorship under any guise?...

"Do you not see that once Hachette is subdued then the other big four are picked off next, one-at-a-time? And after that Sourcebooks, Poisoned Pen Press, Permanent Press, and every other independent publisher. Screw Hachette. I am not a fan of Hachette or of big publishing in any way. James Patterson is not an author Poisoned Pen Press would publish even if given the rights gratis, but I firmly believe that his books should be available for purchase everywhere books can be bought. And to hold his readers hostage as a byproduct of a disagreement between billionaire corporations is despicable....

"Ultimately I believe the only answer will be, like AT&T, to break up Amazon.com. I would argue that democracy is founded upon capitalism, and that capitalism cannot survive monopoly. In my opinion Amazon.com has become a de facto monopoly--at least with respect to bookselling--even if it is not in actuality. But if most small publishers are, as you postulate, unafraid of Amazon.com, then I fear I've lost my senses. And I fear for my business." He added that most small publishers don't want to speak publicly about Amazon because they fear retribution from the company.

For the fifth year in a row, core membership in the American Booksellers Association has increased, rising 2%, to 1,664 from 1,632, and is up by more than 200 since 2009, the AP (via the Minneapolis Star Tribune) reported. In addition, because more store members are opening branches, the number of stores owned by ABA members rose above 2,000 for the first time since 2005. The ABA will announce details at its annual meeting tomorrow at BookExpo America.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher told the AP: "To be sure, owning and operating an indie bookstore remains full of challenges, and things in the book business continue to change incredibly quickly. But while it may very well once have been true that in retail bigger was always better, I think our recent history proves otherwise."

Teicher cited several factors for the gain in membership, including, the AP said, "the demise of Borders and slowing of Barnes & Noble to the leveling off of e-book sales and the popularity of the 'Buy Local' movement." Speaking with Shelf Awareness last night, Teicher pointed out, too, that the gain of 32 is a net gain: some stores closed but more opened overall. He noted also that many established stores whose owners are retiring are now able to find buyers while a decade ago they might have closed and people opening bookstores nowadays are very well prepared.

Last Saturday Dan Bailey, new owner of the Happy Owl Bookshop, Manistee, Mich., hosted a grand opening to celebrate the store's relocation to 358 River St. ("For those of you who don't already know, we have moved back to the sunny side of the street. Just a bit closer to the highway."). On Facebook, the shop posted photos and "a great big Thank You to everyone who joined us in celebrating our Grand Opening. It was wonderful to see everyone enjoying the book and magazine selections, the face painting, harmonica lessons, the live music, and the balloons from the balloon man. So many activities, so many smiling faces--it was grand!!"

British poet Gerard Benson, a "member of the anarchic Barrow Poets who also wrote prize-winning children's verse," died April 28, the Guardian reported. He was 83. Michael Rosen wrote: "There aren't many books for children that range from the words of John Wesley to Bob Cobbing via Beowulf, Tennyson and Kurt Schwitters. Gerard knew his stuff and wanted to share it."

More than 600 people showed up at Books & Greetings in Northvale, N.J., last week to see Lea Michele on her tour promoting Brunette Ambition (Crown Archetype). Here Halle Sarfin and her father, Kenny, owner of Books & Greetings, flank the Glee star.

Buzzfeed highlighted "17 spectacular bookshops in Australia to see before you die."

Between September 2014 and June 2015, 77 organizations across the U.S. will once again bring their communities together to read a great work of literature as part of the National Endowment for the Arts' the Big Read program.

The organizations, which choose a particular book from 36 selections, will develop their own programming designed to interest many different members of their communities while also helping readers to delve deeper into a selected book or poet, its author, and its themes. Readers guides, teachers guides and audio programming are developed by the NEA for each of the Big Read titles/poets and are all available digitally on the Big Read website for the public to use.

Effective June 16, Chris Grimm is joining Kensington Publishing as director of sales. He has been at Globe Pequot since 2006, most recently as v-p of sales. He joined the company as director of field sales and then was promoted to director of national accounts. Before that, he was director of national accounts at Simon & Schuster and worked in sales at Bantam Doubleday Dell. He began his book career as a bookseller at the Open Book in Greenville, S.C. Last year, he won the B&N Rep of the Year Award for mid-sized publishers.

Kensington president and CEO Steven Zacharius commented: "We welcome Chris as we celebrate Kensington's 40th anniversary. Given Chris's vast and varied sales industry experience, he'll be able to provide insight into sales and market trends, and will work to enhance and strengthen the existing Kensington sales team."

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Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C., has named a new point-of-contact for author events. Susan Coll, who has served as director of programs and events at P&P for nearly three years, is assuming this additional role. She can be reached at scoll@politics-prose.com.

The Girl Who Never Was by Skylar Dorset (Sourcebooks Fire), the story of a Boston teen who, when she turns 17, discovers that she is a half-fae princess destined to overthrow the corrupt Faerie Court and its queen, her mother.

New York City is famous (and infamous) for its pricey lifestyle. This is the home, after all, to a $250 truffle burger at Beer & Buns Burger Bar, $4,600 alligator Manolo Blahniks at Barney's, and the $45,000 Ty Warner Penthouse at Four Seasons New York (hey--at least it comes with a personal butler). But, travel doesn't have to be expensive--whether you're planning a dream trip to Europe or just your BEA weekend. Inspired by Rough Guides' bestselling "On A Budget" travel guidebook series, today we're tracking down the best ways to do NYC on the cheap.

What to See and Do: Free Days at Museums & Galleries
Take advantage of the free day (or night) at many of the city's museums. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA; 11 W. 53rd St., near 54th St.) offers free Fridays (4–8 p.m.), when they also host live music in the sculpture garden. Currently showing (through Sept. 7) is "Robert Heinecken: Object Matter, a superb retrospective on the conceptual photographer. Early risers can enjoy a quiet Saturday in the sculpture garden free of charge from 9–10:15 a.m.

High fashion isn't free, but the exhibits at New York City's leading fashion museum are. The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology;Seventh Ave. at 27th, 212-217-4558) features free creative exhibits, including artwork by faculty and graduating students. Also, opening on June 3 is the titillating "Exposed: A History of Lingerie." If fashion's not your thing, you'llfind other museums host free events and lectures throughout the summer, including El Museo del Barrio (1230 Fifth Ave., between 104th and 105th Sts.).

If you plan to visit a variety of major sights during your stay, you'll find a number of discount passes, such as CityPASS , offering combined admission discounting.

New York Street Food
When it comes to eating and drinking, "cheap New York" is not an oxymoron. Follow your nose (and follow Twitter: @NYFoodTruck has updated info) to New York City's growing number of food trucks, like Korilla BBQ, where you can chow on Korean BBQ--including a juicy pork wrap with red kimchi--for under $8. Korilla trucks rotate around NYC, from Midtown to the Flatiron. Food trucks also often park on the streets around the Javits Center; keep an eye out.

New York is also a boon for cheap burgers. Skip the overpriced sandwiches at the Javits and instead head to a nearby Shake Shack outpost (691 Eighth Ave., near 44th St.) for burgers and a namesake shakes (the Black & White is a favorite)--they make a meal for $5 each.

Drinking on a Budget
There was a time when happy hour seemed to have gone the way of the three-martini lunch. But, happy hour is back and happier than ever, since many NYC bars continue to throw in complimentary snacks. After a long day at BEA, ease into the night over beer at the dive bar Rudy's (627 Ninth Ave., near 44th St.), which also serves free hot dogs (until they run out).

Another option for budget suds: sample made-in-Brooklyn brews on a free tour (Sat. and Sun. afternoons) of the handsome Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg (79 N. 11th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-486-7422).

Outdoor Activities
You can thank BEA for picking the best time of year to host the show in New York. Spring not only brings forth blossoms and breezy temps, but also lots (and lots!) of free outdoor activities across the city parks. You know how working a BEA booth can feel like a juggling act? Work off the stress by doing the real thing. Bryant Park (behind the New York Public Library, between 40th and 42nd Sts. and Fifth and Sixth Aves.) offers free juggling lessons throughout the year (most days of week, noon–1 p.m.) at the 42nd St. Plaza. The classes are open to all skill levels, and equipment is provided. Also, kayaking season just kicked off in mid-May on the Hudson River. This may be an urban waterway, but it's ideal for kayaking, with fairly placid waters, steady breezes, and, of course, gorgeous views of the New York City skyline. The Downtown Boathouse offers classes at its three locations along the Hudson River at Pier 40, Pier 96 and 72nd Street.

Culture on the Cheap
New York heats up with free outdoor concerts and performances throughout the spring and summer. Head to the venerated Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM; 30 Lafayette Ave.), the oldest performing arts center in the country, which is hosting an excellent lineup of free spring and summer concerts, from soul to rock. Check out the jazzy Jeremiah Hosea Trio on May 30. For some old-fashioned entertainment, head to Central Park where, for many New Yorkers, summer is synonymous with free Shakespeare in the Park, presented by the Public Theater at the Delacorte Theater in the park. If you're staying around after BEA, mark your calendar for Much Ado About Nothing, which kicks off on June 3. We'll see you there.

Tomorrow on Fox Radio's Alan Colmes Show: Michael Waldman, author of The Second Amendment: A Biography (Simon & Schuster, $25, 9781476747446).

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Tomorrow on NPR's All Things Considered: Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking (Penguin Press, $27.95, 9781594205224).

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Tomorrow on KCRW's Bookworm: Sjón, author of The Whispering Muse (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $12, 9780374534769). As the show put it: "The Icelandic author Sjón started out a Dada poet, but his ensuing work places classic epics side-by-side with the Icelandic sagas of the 13th and 14th centuries. His newest book, The Whispering Muse, one of three recently made available in English, takes place aboard a ship where one of the sailors carries a splinter from the masthead of the Argo. When he holds it up to his ear, Athena speaks to him. We discuss how literature comes from literature: one story giving birth to the next to form a rich and beautiful chain-work of story-telling."

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Tomorrow on a repeat of the View: Diane Keaton, author of Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty (Random House, $26, 9780812994261).

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Tomorrow on Tavis Smiley: Arianna Huffington, author of Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder (Harmony, $26, 9780804140843).

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Tomorrow night on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live: "Science Bob" Pflugfelder, co-author of Nick and Tesla's Secret Agent Gadget Battle (Quirk Books, $12.95, 9781594746765).

A U.S. trailer has been released for The Congress, in which Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) "loosely adapts Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress," the Film Stage reported, adding that "it's bound to be one of the most inventive releases this summer." The project stars Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston, Paul Giamatti, Michael Stahl-David, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jon Hamm.

The first trailer has been released for Deliverance Creek, "which marks the TV producing debut of bestselling author Nicholas Sparks," Deadline.com reported. The "two-hour movie/backdoor pilot," written by Melissa Carter and directed by Jon Amiel, stars Lauren Ambrose. Carter, Sparks, Theresa Park and Amiel are executive producers. It premieres September 13 on the Lifetime network.

The winners of the 2014 Australian Book Industry Awards:

General Fiction Book of the Year: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Text Publishing)
Literary Fiction Book of the Year: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (Macmillan)
General Nonfiction Book of the Year: The Stalking of Julia Gillard by Kerry-Anne Walsh (Allen & Unwin)
Illustrated Book of the Year: I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson (Macmillan)
Biography of the Year: The Crossroad by Mark Donaldson (Macmillan)
Book of the Year for Younger Children (age range 0 to 8 years): The 39-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (Macmillan)
Book of the Year for Older Children (8 to 14 years): Weirdo by Anh Do (Scholastic Press)
International Book of the Year: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Allen & Unwin)
Book of the Year: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Text Publishing)

Publisher of the Year: Penguin Australia
Small Publisher of the Year: Text Publishing
Independent Book Retailer of the Year (two winners):
Pages & Pages Booksellers, Mosman, New South Wales
Readings, Melbourne
Online Book Retailer of the Year: Booktopia
National Book Retailer of the Year: Dymocks
Innovation Award: Pages & Pages Booksellers

Bryce Courtenay won the 2014 Lloyd O'Neil Award for his significant contribution to the Australian book publishing industry.

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Finalists for this year's Anthony Awards, which are given at the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, have been announced. Shortlisted for best novel are Suspect by Robert Crais (Putnam), A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara J. Henry (Crown), Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (Atria), The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge) and Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur). You can view the complete list of Anthony nominees here. Winners will be announced during Bouchercon XLV, which will be held November 13-16 in Long Beach, Calif.

Earl Swift wrote for newspapers in St. Louis, Mo., Anchorage, Alaska, and--for 22 years--Norfolk, Va. He was nominated five times for a Pulitzer Prize for his long-form stories at The Virginian-Pilot. He is the author of five books of narrative nonfiction, ranging from a forensic expedition into the Laotian jungle to the origins of the U.S. highway system. He spent nine years following the story that became Auto Biography: A Classic Car, an Outlaw Motorhead, and 57 Years of the American Dream (It Books, May 6, 2014), which he wrote while a residential fellow of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia. Swift is the father of a 20-year-old daughter, Saylor, and is engaged to Amy Walton of Virginia Beach.

On your nightstand now:

A pile, as usual: A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash, which I finished this morning; The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto, which I'm reading now; Anthony Burgess's Urgent Copy, which I've been picking through an essay at a time; Charles Bukowski's Post Office; and, on deck, Ministers of Fire by Mark Harril Saunders.

Favorite book when you were a child:

I spent a good chunk of my childhood in England, where I devoured the Biggles adventures by W.E. Johns--something like our Hardy Boys, but with half the adverbs. I was also transfixed by a picture book by Doris Burn called Andrew Henry's Meadow. Actually, I still am.

Your top five authors:

Off the top of my head and valid only at this moment: W. Somerset Maugham, George Saunders, Joseph Mitchell, David Foster Wallace and Mark Twain.

Book you've faked reading:

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. Sixth grade. Didn't get away with it.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The Magus by John Fowles--the original version, rather than his revision. If we're close, I'm eventually going to push it on you. I'm also a fan of Fowles's A Maggot.

Book you've bought for the cover:

John R. Stilgoe's Landscape and Images. Then I read it and saw that the cover, good as it was, didn't do him justice. I've read all of his books since.

Book that changed your life:

W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence. I read it in my early 20s, when I was about to move to Alaska, and at the end of Chapter Seven came upon a passage that put into words what I had only sensed about myself. It concludes: "In my heart was a desire to live more dangerously. I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous shoals if I could only have change--change and the excitement of the unforeseen." Journalism brought that to me.

Favorite line from a book:

Seems to me it's pretty tough to beat the opening paragraph of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. ["We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."] But generally, I enjoy running into a line that the author has included as a gift to just a few readers--he or she knows the vast majority won't get the reference, but lets it sneak stealthily by. In The Little Friend, Donna Tartt slipped such a line into a conversation about a dying cat and Scott's fatal expedition to the South Pole: " 'Say goodbye, then,' she said impatiently. 'The cat's going outside now, and he may be some time.' " I enjoyed the hell out of that. God knows how many of those lines I miss.

Which character you most relate to:

Huck Finn. I wanted to build a raft and float the Mississippi bad after reading that book. Years later, my own first book [Journey on the James] was built around a 435-mile canoe trip down the James River.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. So smart. So diabolical in its construction. Such a rabbit hole: I spent three weeks inside Wallace's brain and enjoyed every minute.

In a gorgeous package--deckle-edge pages, roomy white space and elegant maps--debut author S.E. Grove introduces a plucky 13-year-old heroine named Sophia Tims in the first of a planned trilogy. The book will attract Harry Potter fans and others who enjoy plunging into a world with alternate universes.

It is the summer of 1891 in Boston, and Sophia has been in the care of her uncle, Shadrack Ellis, ever since her explorer parents disappeared 10 years ago. Readers hit the ground running, as Sophia witnesses Shadrack, the world's finest cartologist, making a case to Parliament against closing the borders of their native New Occident. Ever since the Great Disruption, time has settled differently in different parts of the world; some civilizations are less advanced, other more so. Shadrack is one of the few who advocates permeable borders, and he can read maps from many eras. He fails to sway Parliament, and a brawl breaks out. Sophia flees and winds up on the wharf, having lost all track of time ("to her infinite mortification, [she] had no internal clock"), and stumbles into the line for a circus. There she spies a serene feathered boy, "like a beautiful bird, trapped in midair and dragged down to earth."

Big events happen in rapid succession. When Sophia gets home, Shadrack takes her into a map room she'd never known existed, and teaches her to unlock maps of metal, cloth, clay and glass. Each releases the memories of those who helped construct it, and Sophia experiences these memories as if they were her own. Shadrack also tells her of the carta mayor, a memory map of the entire world that some believe exists, and others think is myth. But when Shadrack is kidnapped, all indications point to a captor who believes in the carta mayor--and believes Shadrack knows its whereabouts.

Grove explores haunting questions, posed by Sophia in terms that young readers can contemplate: Is it right to experience someone's memory, to "take it," as Sophia puts it? What is the nature of time, and why does it seem to expand and contract? And why was the boy Theo--the "beautiful bird"--hiding in her uncle's house after his disappearance? Can she trust him? And always lurking is the larger mystery of what happened to Sophia's parents--if the borders shut down, will she ever find them? Wonderful, wild characters populate her journey--kind pirates and metal-teethed villains, blind Grandmother Pearl who perceives far more than the sighted (including Sophia's gifts), the Lachrima who weep ceaselessly, and Blanca, who preaches the restoration of world peace but uses violence to achieve her ends.

The bookmaking behind this first novel is as elegant as the maps within it. This would make an ideal family read-aloud; as an independent read it's best undertaken in one sitting. Riveting. --Jennifer M. Brown

Shelf Talker: This mind-blowing debut from S.E. Grove takes readers deep into a time-shifting world that requires multiple maps and a moral compass.

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

1. After This Night by Lauren Blakely
2. Smart Money Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze
3. The Wedding Contract by H.M. Ward
4. Gansett After Dark by Marie Force
5. Strings of the Heart by Katie Ashley
6. Hardwired (the Hacker Series) by Meredith Wild
7. Devour by Various
8. Alpha by Jasinda Wilder
9. Grayson Brothers Series Boxed Set by Wendy Lindstrom
10. The Probability of Violet and Luke by Jessica Sorensen

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]