Ruth Liebmann, director of independent bookselling at Random House and beloved by many booksellers across the country, has been promoted to vice-president and director of retail field marketing and merchandising, a new position. She continues to report to Paul E. Kozlowski, v-p and director of independent retail field sales.

Liebmann began her career at Random in 1995 as a New York City sales rep and earlier was a bookseller at Shakespeare & Co. in Manhattan. As director of independent bookselling, she has represented Random House to independent booksellers, the ABA, Book Sense and the regional booksellers associations. She has also managed the house's New York metro district managers and NAMR (national account marketing representative), acting as divisional director. In her new position, she will additionally be in charge of the events department, and the retail field sales staff and the new position of NAMR/backlist manager will report to her. Kozlowski said that Liebmann's "oversight in these areas will help strengthen our relationship with all accounts across every retail channel, as well as enhance focus on backlist, timely marketing, and collaboration between national accounts and the field."

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In other Random House news, James Kimball, sales director of the Knopf Publishing Group, has been named a vice-president. He has been with Knopf since joining the sales group in 1998. Formerly marketing director for Pantheon, Everyman's Library and Random House Audio & Diversified, he was promoted to his current position in March 2005. He reports to Jaci Updike, v-p and director, Random House adult sales.

Jim Baen's stroke was "a massive bilateral stroke in the thalamus," according to Baen Books's Web site, and since it occurred a week ago Monday, he has not regained consciousness. "His condition has become severe," the report added. "He is resting comfortably now, and appears to be in no pain; however, the doctors' prognosis is grave."

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Indigo Books & Music, Canada's largest bookseller, will launch a new Web site in November and is introducing Indigo EOutlet, a part of the Web site that will sell bargain books and "overflow product" at a discount, Indigo president and CEO Heather Reisman said at the company's annual meeting, as reported by the Toronto Star.

The new Web site will include enhanced book reviews and ratings, more staff picks and "an expansion of the company's 'decision support' to help customers discover books they might enjoy."

At its bricks-and-mortar stores, Indigo plans, according to the paper, to make a "major investment" in "sexier, user-friendly" hardware and software at their kiosks, which are used by more than half of shoppers.

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Effective July 3, Ingram Publisher Services will distribute, sell and market titles by Sports Publishing, the Champaign, Ill., publisher of sports biographies, autobiographies, encyclopedias and histories. The company has published more than 800 titles, many of them instant books. Sports Publishing was founded in 1977 as Sagamore Publishing and Sports Publishing.

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In three weeks, the Mission Bay district in San Francisco is getting a new library, the first in the city public library system in 40 years. The San Francisco Chronicle described it as "a library branch filled with sunlight, brand new books, CDs and DVDs, and plenty of space to sit and read."

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The Charleston Daily Mail profiles Trans Allegheny Books, a new and used bookstore that Joe Sakach has operated in a former Carnegie Public Library in Parkersburg, W.V., since 1983. Nicely Sakach owns the building, too.

The bookstore specializes in history; its only new books are about West Virginia, Appalachia or written by Appalachian authors. The one exception to this rule is The Da Vinci Code. The store also stocks vintage trading cards, books on tape, compact discs and videos.

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Christian bookstores have been closing with regularity the past several years, but several have opened lately, a testament to their owners' faith in spreading their message.

The Belleville News-Democrat, Belleville, Ill., tells the store of three new Christian bookstores in the area:

• A Leap of Faith, which opened in December in Swansea, founded by Shell Douglas and her husband.
• Treasures of the Kingdom Christian Bookstore and Café at the Plaza St. Clair Shopping Center in Fairview Heights, founded by Rev. G. Vincent Dudley, pastor of New Life in Christ Interdenominational Church.
• Words of Wisdom Christian bookstore in Swansea, founded in April by Michael and Nancy Ford. (He also owns Munie Leisure and Spa in Swansea.)

For its part, the Harrisonburg Daily News Record offers Blessings, a 1,300-sq.-ft. Christian bookstore that opened last November in Harrisonburg, Va., and is owned by Greg and Sharon Culbertson and managed by Liz Emswiler.

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Today's New York Times gives front-page play to American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia, 16 years in the making and published two months ago by ISI Books ($55, 1932236430). Editors are Jeffrey O. Nelson, publishers of ISI; Bruce P. Frohnen, who teaches at the Ave Maria School of Law; and Jeremy Beer of ISI.

Much of the article compares people and ideas that made the cut--or didn't.

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Barnes & Noble proudly states that "for the fifth year in a row, the company is the nation's top retail brand for overall quality, according to the 2006 EquiTrend Brand Study conducted by Harris Interactive." B&N was also ranked the top bookseller in brand familiarity, and B&N.com had the highest rating for overall quality among online booksellers for the fourth year in a row. Some 26,000 consumers in the U.S. were interviewed for the survey.

Fred Ramey of Unbridled Books reports on the first Book Group Expo, co-sponsored by some local booksellers, held this past weekend in San Jose, Calif. He is now in Boston for a booksellers reception tonight, Wednesday, for the press's New England authors--Marc Estrin, Lise Haines, and Deborah Noyes--at the Blue Room at One Kendall Square from 6 to 8 p.m. Booksellers are invited; Unbridled promises to be buying.


More than 150 book groups were represented at Book Group Expo, and 700 readers were in the hall on Saturday. Most of them, it seems, were from northern California. But I talked to the inspired Kathy Patrick and to one other reader wearing a tiara--so I know that not everyone is from around here. There are plans to make this thing bigger each year, plans to put the show on the road: Seattle, Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago, the World. And I'm pleased that we were part of the first one.
 
Most impressive to me was how together the BGE was. From the clever library bookslip badges to the strolling hors d'oeuvre trays, it was smart and efficient, energetic and, I think, really effective. The laughter was real, as much in the air as the interest in good books. Who else but book-group veterans would act on the knowledge that the best way to enliven a Gathering of Readers is through the near constant availability of small glasses of wine? I mean glass glasses; no plastic stemware here. These are book-group people. In this case (as it were) we were offered periodic wine tastings across the hours on both days: Vina Rosa from Hacienda de Santa Maria, chardonnay from Rainbow Ridge ("made by gays for gays"), and the Empress and Lotus wines of Ming Dynasty, all courtesy the generous hand of Joe Barrios from Morgan Hill, Calif.
 
And then there were the "Salon" sessions. I'd guess there were 50 to 75 folks in each one that I ducked into, more than 100 I'm told in the "Dying to Meet You Session"--and the salons were scheduled three at a time. They covered subjects from "The West Is History"--with, ahem, two Unbridled authors, Susann Cokal and M. Allen Cunningham--to the hilarious "The Book Club from Hell Discusses Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club (And We Learn about the Art of Discussion)." That salon drew about 200 attendees, at 1 o'clock Sunday afternoon--Father's Day, no less. That's a number most trade shows would envy.
 
Most refreshing to me was that the panels were peopled with fine, smart, talented, lesser-known authors--the kind of authors that the organizers really seem enthusiastic about. A show like this is roadstead to a publisher like me.
 
Oh, and somebody just has to report that gremlins got to the poster announcing the last session in Salon C on Sunday, cross-pollinating two session titles so that Cathy Kamen Goldmark's Salon appeared as, "Climb Every Single Women of a Certain Age." Hard to resist.
 
Judging from how often our authors were signing books at the Unbridled booth, we moved a lot of copies through the Books, Inc., booth on the floor and the Cody's stall in the lobby. And it was downright refreshing each time the salons ended and the floor of "The Marketplace" flooded again with people who really do love books, who read and define themselves that way, people who approached our table head on, read the back-cover copy and the flap copy, readers who perked even higher when they realized there were authors in the booth, folks who weren't there trolling for free stuff.
 
One fellow walked up to our table on Saturday afternoon and asked me straight on whether I belonged to the last generation of book publishers. (Depends on what the definition of "book" is, I figure.) But there were plenty of those bubbly, readerly folks standing around when the conversation turned that way, enough enthusiastic novel-lovers, even here in Silicon Valley, for an old editor to understand one more time that story, good story, arises from the hardwires of the human brain.

The Book Report, the new weekly AM radio book-related show organized by Windows a bookshop, Monroe, La., will feature an author interview on today's show, whose theme is memoir and diaries:

Margaret Sartor, a photographer who teaches in the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University whose new book, Miss American Pie: A Diary of Love, Secrets, and Growing Up in the 70s, will be released by Bloomsbury on June 27. The book consists of her diaries from ages 12-18 when she was growing up in a small city in northeast Louisiana. Miss American Pie is a Book Sense Notable Book for August, and was named by Oprah's O Magazine as one of 10 books to read this summer. 
 
The show airs at 8 a.m. CST and can be heard live at thebookreport.net; the archived edition will be posted this afternoon.

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This morning on Good Morning America: Anderson Cooper, the CNN star whose memoir is Dispatches From the Edge (HarperCollins, $24.95, 0061132381). Anderson also will report about his book on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight.

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Today on the Today Show: Barbara Kavovit, author of Invest In Your Nest: The Insider's Guide to Adding Style, Comfort, and Value to Your Home (Rodale, $19.95, 159486151X).

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On this morning's Writer's Roundtable on World Talk Radio, Antoinette Kuritz talks with Suzanne Beecher of DearReader.com and Robert B. Parker, whose new book is Blue Screen (Putnam, $24.95, 0399153519).

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Today on The View, Devin Alexander shares recipes from her new book, Fast Food Fix: 75 Amazing Recipe Makeovers of Your Fast Food Restaurant Favorites (Rodale, $14.95, 1594863105).

Also on The View: Mitchell Fink, author of The Last Days of Dead Celebrities (Miramax, $24.95, 1401351980).

Picked by independent booksellers across the South, the winners of the 2006 SIBA Book Awards, sponsored by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and "celebrating the best of Southern literature," are:

• Fiction: Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson (Warner). "Gods in Alabama is an intriguing, multi-layered mystery wrapped up in a Southern package. Don't miss this one!"--Tammy R. Lynn, The Book Basket, Wetumpka, Ala.
• Poetry: What Travels with Us by Darnell Arnoult (LSU Press). "Darnell Arnoult gathers the nourishment for the soul in her poetry. She echoes the past into our future so we know 'the place' that we are part of. Immerse yourself in this poetry and wash away all that belongs not to you."--Emoke B'Racz, Malaprop's Bookstore & Café, Asheville, N.C.
• Cookbook: Being Dead Is No Excuse by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays (Miramax).--"Oh. My. God. If a funeral isn't the time for some good solid Southern humor, I don't know what is. These two women have written a funny and smart book about how we act down South when we know the neighbors are watching. Plus recipes!  It's to die for!"--Elisabeth Grant-Gibson, Windows a bookshop, Monroe, La.
• Nonfiction: Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow). "An incredible tale of canine connection. Grogan will make you laugh, make you cry, and help you to understand that 'man's best friend,' like all good friends, needs to be appreciated--warts and all. Even though you know how the book must end, you are in for an incredible journey."--Janet Bollum, The Muse Bookshop, Deland, Fla.
• Children's: Rosa by Nikki Giovanni (Holt). "The wonderful Nikki Giovanni brings to life the story of Rosa Parks, an ordinary woman who made a decision that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and accelerated the struggle for Civil Rights in America. Bryan Collier's realistic yet luminous art lends a dream quality to this beautiful book."--Elisabeth Grant-Gibson, Windows a bookshop, Monroe La.

Winners will receive a $500 prize at the SIBA Book Award Luncheon at the SIBA Trade Show in Orlando, Fla., September 8. The winning books are also placed in the SIBA Holiday Catalog, and SIBA offers $50 in co-op to any core member store that provides evidence that it promoted the SIBA book awards in its store. Shelf talkers will be provided to bookstores who place orders with Baker & Taylor by calling 800-775-1800. Posters and shelf talkers will also be available on the SIBA Web site for download soon.

Appearing in paperback on Tuesday, June 27:

Dangerous Tides by Christine Feehan (Jove, $7.99, 0515141542)

Memory in Death by J. D. Robb (Berkley, $7.99, 0425210731)

Looking For Peyton Place by Barbara Delinsky (Pocket, $9.99, 0743469860)

Pirate: A Thriller by Ted Bell (Pocket Star, $9.99, 1416510796)

Bad Attitude by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Pocket, $6.99, 1416520295)

Straight Into Darkness by Faye Kellerman (Warner Vision, $7.99, 0446611506)

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Warner, $7.99, 0446616451)

Winning The Future: A 21st Century Contract With America by Newt Gingrich (Regnery, $16.95, 1596980079)

1776 by David McCullough (S&S, $18.00, 0743226720)