"It starts with your first novel. Before that, stores were a haven as a young person. I was that kid who just sat in bookstores, browsing and maybe buying every several weeks--that's what only children do, they just hang out in bookstores. If not for the kindness of booksellers, where would I be? That's why I end[ed] up writing the storyline of A.J. Fikry, but also in terms of my career. Independent booksellers really read books, and that makes a big difference. I wasn't with a big publisher until this book, not in the adult space. I really feel grateful for booksellers that have ever taken their time to read a book of mine, even when some of my early novels didn't necessarily do well, but I think because independent booksellers are so much not about data. They're actually about the books and about reading the book, and I'm so grateful to them for that. It makes a huge difference. You're not just how many sales you've made in the past. It's about people, it's about relationships. I definitely wouldn't have the career I have without the support of independent booksellers. Period."

Innisfree in Meredith, N.H.

Innisfree Bookshop, Meredith, N.H., plans to open a second location, in September, on Main St. in Laconia, the store announced on Facebook.

Owner Casey Gerken told the Laconia Daily Sun that she has had the idea for opening a second location "for some time. I have always driven down Main Street and thought, 'Boy, that would be the perfect place.' Now was the right time because, I thought, 'If I don't do it now, someone else might.' "

She added that having a storefront and a large window on the street was a deal-maker, the newspaper wrote. "She envisions people strolling Main Street or enjoying coffee on tables outdoors being able to look in the window and casually venture inside."

Karmen Gifford, president of the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, told the Daily Sun that there is "a need" for a bookstore downtown. "People still love books, and that is still an important part of our retail."

The Laconia store will be smaller than the 5,000-square-feet bookstore in the Mill Falls Marketplace in Meredith. The Meredith store has a more seasonal clientele while the Laconia store will have a year-round base, Gerken said. "It's a different community, with a different pace." The Laconia store will feature more local authors as well as smaller and independent presses and will have fewer "tourism-oriented" titles.

Innisfree will be the first bookstore in Laconia, the seat of Belknap County, since Annie's Book Stop closed in 2020 and it will be the first bookstore in downtown Laconia since the closing of the Sundial Shop in 2010.

Gerken bought Innisfree in 2017 after working at the store as a bookseller from 2009 to 2013. Innisfree celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

In a letter to booksellers in Bookselling This Week, the American Booksellers Association board officers reported in part about the board's May meeting and areas it plans to focus on in the future. Among them is the future itself, particularly in the context of "a world still ruled by a pandemic and its ever-changing circumstances."

Some of those dynamics have affected the board. "This year we've had Board members leave before the end of their terms due to unforeseen changes in their personal and professional lives," officers wrote. "These sudden pivots are consistently challenging and we continue to learn from each experience, but they also present the need for us to adapt and simplify our way of doing things. This means we, as a Board and as an organization, need to adjust how we conduct everything--from Board recruitment and time commitments to what Board service looks like in the face of this new way of life. In short, ABA, like many of you, is fast discovering what the new business-as-usual is to create built-in flexibility everywhere."

In one resulting change, the Nominating Committee will accept nominations year-round "to ensure that viable Board candidates are in the pipeline at all times." The board also plans to propose bylaws changes "to accommodate for the much-needed flexibility of these current times."

At its May meeting, the board met with representatives from Bookshop.org and Above the Treeline/Edelweiss. And a full day was spent on "futurecasting," considering in particular "the Future of Bookselling and the Board's Role in Preparing for the Future." These included "challenges and opportunities for the bookselling industry and the ABA Board's role in positioning ABA to meet these challenges and opportunities."

The board noted that the ABA is "on track" with the budget for the current year. Among other activities, the board is conducting "a rolling review" of four vendors that the board hires and that report to the board: auditor, general counsel, investment manager, and compliance & ethics hotline vendor. In addition, the board is creating new board subcommittees, including a Board Finance Committee that will "help the Board review ABA's endowment investment policy with the future in mind."

The board meeting began with a new regular addition to the agenda--a reminder that the ABA's Ends Policies prioritize a "commitment to antiracism, equity, access, and representation." Later board discussion at one point centered on "how improvements can be made that support the Board's commitment to equity and inclusion. There was specific discussion about how white Board members can better support BIPOC Board members and how others could be better allies--i.e., speaking up when we hear racist language, etc."

The board encouraged members to attend the ABA's annual meeting and town hall on Thursday, July 14, starting at 2 p.m. Eastern. Booksellers can submit questions or comments ahead of time at townhall@bookweb.org, or to speak or submit questions during the meeting.

Susie Steiner, the novelist and former journalist known for the Manon Bradshaw detective series, died July 2. She was 51. Steiner worked in newspapers for 20 years, joining the Guardian in 2001, where she was a staff writer and editor for 11 years. After leaving, she continued to contribute as a freelancer while also working for the Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard.

Her debut novel, Homecoming, was published by Faber & Faber "to critical acclaim in 2013," the Guardian reported. Borough Press published her second book, the literary crime novel Missing, Presumed, which introduced Detective Manon Bradshaw and hit the bestseller lists. The book was shortlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year Award. Its sequel, Persons Unknown, was longlisted for the Theakston's. The third in the Manon trilogy, Remain Silent, was published in 2020.

Philip Pullman described the Manon Bradshaw novels as "police procedural with real imagination and heart and a marvelous lightness of style and wit."

Her agent Sarah Ballard said: "Susie's glorious talent as a writer was rooted in her deep appreciation of the undercurrents of human nature. A small domestic exchange might become something magical, heartbreaking or hilarious, as told by her. Her special insight made her not just a critically acclaimed and bestselling writer, but also a generous and sharply funny friend who will be missed by everyone who knew her.... We are heartbroken at their loss, and for ours, and for the absence of the work she planned to write. At the same time, we are so grateful that she leaves her voice with us in the form of her four exceptional novels."

Borough Press publishing director Suzie Dooré added: "Susie was an extraordinary person and a wonderful writer. Personally, I am proud to have also counted her as a friend, and will always remember and cherish her quick wit and brutal honesty, both attributes she was able to pass on to her series character Manon Bradshaw. A train trip to a festival with Susie was guaranteed to bring hilarity, oversharing, Percy Pigs and mini bottles of wine. She was truly unique, full of warmth and incredibly perceptive."

Last Wednesday, Shelf Awareness sent our monthly pre-order e-blast to more than 900,000 of the country's best book readers. The e-blast went to 912,834 customers of 199 participating independent bookstores.

The mailing features eight upcoming titles selected by Shelf Awareness editors and a sponsored title. Customers can buy these books via "pre-order" buttons that lead directly to the purchase page for the title on each sending store's website. A key feature is that bookstore partners can easily change title selections to best reflect the tastes of their customers and can customize the mailing with links, images and promotional copy of their own.

The pre-order e-blasts are sent the last Wednesday of each month; the next will go out on Wednesday, July 27. Stores interested in learning more can visit our program registration page or contact our partner program team via e-mail.

For a sample of the June pre-order e-blast, see this one from The Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, Vt.

The titles highlighted in the pre-order e-blast were:

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra (Hogarth)
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (Flatiron)
Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew by Michael Twitty (Amistad)
Life on the Mississippi by Rinker Buck (Avid Reader Press)
Haven by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown)
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford (Atria)
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay (Algonquin)
Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus (Delacorte)
Next in Line by Jeffrey Archer (HarperCollins)
Painting Beyond Walls by David Rhodes (Milkweed)
What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill (Basic Books)
Nobody's Princess by Erica Ridley (Forever)

Flint Hills Books

Several independent bookstores shared their thoughts about this year's Fourth of July holiday weekend on social media, including:

Flint Hills Books, Council Grove, Kan.: " 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men* are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' *ALL men + WOMEN. I'm pretty sure John and Abigail Adams would agree. The bookstore is closed for the holiday. Happy 4th of July!"

Loyalty Books, Washington, D.C. & Silver Spring, Md.: "Took a quick walk about the store to pick out some reading on America this 4th of July. As Isabel Wilkerson wrote in her book Caste 7/4/2022 is when America will have been a country without slavery as long as it was a country with it. That does not acknowledge that America still engages in many forms of slavery and oppression, namely our prisons. Here is hoping whether you are working, frolicking, reading, resisting or resting today that it brings all of us closer to actual freedom. For now we're reading books, eating hot dogs, and enjoying the sun. We'll see y'all Tuesday."

At Novel Bay Booksellers

Novel Bay Booksellers, Sturgeon Bay, Wis.: "Busy bookstore day!!! Thank you book lovers, particularly the youngsters who came in skipping, shouting 'I love the bookstore.' July 4, 2022. Enjoy the Independence Day holiday."

Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, N.Y.: "Update to our store hours today! We will be closing at 4pm to give our booksellers some well deserved time to rest. Today we're also thinking about what freedom and liberation mean in a country that denies freedom to so many. We've rounded up a few titles that highlight injustices in our society and that speak to what true liberation might look like. If you have the day off today, we invite you to sit in these questions with us!"

The Little Bookshop, Midlothian, Va.: "Some dive into pools on the 4th, some dive into books! Happy July 4th, everyone!"

Sea Howl Bookshop, Orleans, Mass.: "This is a particularly hard time for 'independence,' rights and justice in America. Here are a few books that provide some perspective, and some space to hold the contradictions inherent in this country from its founding. Space to hold anger along with the flag-waving and strawberry shortcake, deep despair along with the feeling of possibility and the desire not give up on those ideals that do still hold us together. Just a heads up we are CLOSED today (as it's usually a slow day for us) and we may be enjoying some strawberry shortcake."

Hickory Stick Bookshop, Washington, Conn.: "Red, White and Blue... Books! We have your holiday reading covered."

Neighborhood Books, Presque Isle, Maine

Print: A Bookstore, Portland, Maine, has a new way of highlighting staff recommendations--with Thumbs Up bookmarks. Put in the pages of a book, the bookmarks, featuring a prominent thumbs up, stick out and are easy to spot on the shelves. Bookmarks are color coordinated by bookseller (for example, Josh Christie's bookmarks are blue and Emily Russo's are black), so customers can bring the bookmarks to the booksellers and chat about their picks.

The idea for the Thumbs Up bookmarks came from the Calvert Library, Prince Frederick, Md. Print's event coordinator & social media manager Rachael Conrad (pink bookmarks) recounted that Print was tagged by a follower in a TikTok video that the library posted recently and "we loved the idea so much that we ran with it."

The bookmarks were printed with the help of Factory 3 Makerspace in Portland, a 5,000-square-feet makerspace that includes facilities for working with wood, metal, fiber, 3D printing, bicycle repair, electronics and graphic design and also offers private studios and classes in art and fabrication.

Independent Publishing Group has taken on worldwide distribution for Histria Books. It was formerly distributed by the Casemate Group.

Histria Books, with offices in Las Vegas, Nev., and Palm Beach, Fla., publishes some 50 titles a year, including trade fiction and non-fiction, books for children and young adults, and academic titles focused on the humanities. It has a strong international focus. Histria Books's six imprints are Gaudium Publishing, Addison & Highsmith Publishers, Prende Publishing, Histria Kids, Vita Histria, and the Center for Romanian Studies.

Remember Us with Smiles by Gary Jansen, illustrated by Barbara Bongini (Loyola Press).

Today:
Good Morning America: Henry Kissinger, author of Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy (Penguin Press, $36, 9780593489444).

Also on GMA: Shirlene Obuobi, author of On Rotation: A Novel (Avon, $27.99, 9780063209145).

Today Show: Dr. John Torres, author of Dr. Disaster's Guide to Surviving Everything: Essential Advice for Any Situation Life Throws Your Way (Harvest, $16.99, 9780358721628).

Live with Kelly and Ryan: Jean Chatzky, co-author of How to Money: Your Ultimate Visual Guide to the Basics of Finance (Roaring Brook Press, $19.99, 9781250791696).

Rachael Ray Show: Jenny Mollen, author of City of Likes: A Novel (NacelleBooks, $27.45, 9781737380115).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert repeat: David Sedaris, author of Happy-Go-Lucky (Little, Brown, $29, 9780316392457).

Tonight Show repeat: Mary Lynn Rajskub, author of FAME-ISH: My Life at the Edge of Stardom (Abrams, $26, 9781419754791).

Tomorrow:
Drew Barrymore Show repeat: Priya Krishna, co-author of Cooking at Home: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (And Love My Microwave) (Clarkson Potter, $35, 9781524759247).

Sony Pictures Classics acquired worldwide rights to the documentary Turn Every Page--The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, which premiered at Tribeca Festival as part of its spotlight documentary programming, Variety reported. Gottlieb's daughter Lizzie Gottlieb (Today's Man, Romeo Romeo) directed, while Joanne Nerenberg and Jen Small produced with Topic Studios. The documentary was made in association with Left/Right.

Turn Every Page explores legendary editor Gottlieb's creative collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Caro. Sony noted: "They have worked and fought together for 50 years, forging one of publishing's most iconic and productive partnerships. Now 86, Caro is working to complete the final volume of his masterwork, The Years of Lyndon Johnson; Gottlieb, 91, waits to edit it. The task of finishing their life's work looms before them."

Lizzie Gottlieb said: "I was incredibly fortunate to discover the true meaning of collaboration while making this film, through witnessing the extraordinary partnership of Robert Caro and my father Robert Gottlieb, who have, individually and together, brought the world literary works of remarkable influence and endurance. My understanding of the power of collaboration deepened as I worked closely with the film's exceptional producers, including Joanne, Jen and the team at Topic Studios, who so vigorously championed my vision for the film and were a constant source of support. And with Sony Pictures Classics on board, we have a brilliant new team of collaborators whose unmatched expertise and boundless dedication will help bring the film to the widest possible audience. I couldn't be more thrilled."

The winner of the 2022 William Mills Prize for Non-Fiction Polar Books, awarded every other year by the Polar Libraries Colloquy for "the best Arctic or Antarctic non-fiction books published throughout the world," is The Nansen Photographs by Geir Kløver (The Fram Museum).

Organizers praised the winning title for using "documents and recovered photographs to tell the story of Norwegian Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen and his ground-breaking efforts to reach the North Pole in the specially-designed polar ship the Fram."

The two honorable mentions were:
What I Remember, What I Know: The Life of a High Arctic Exile by Larry Audlaluk (Inhabit Media), which tells the story of the struggle of Audlaluk's family to survive after its relocation by the Canadian Government to the high Arctic.
Antarctic Atlas: New Maps and Graphics that Tell the Story of a Continent by Peter Fretwell (Particular Books/PRH), which presents a collection of new maps and charts to tell the story of Antarctica's history, climate, resources, oceans, atmosphere, wildlife and more.

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Finalists for the $10,000 2021 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, celebrating the best of long-format horse race writing, have been announced. The three titles include two works of fiction, "both lively tales featuring strong female protagonists," and a nonfiction title about "a one-eyed champion's trek to the apex of his sport." The winner will be announced November 3.

The finalists:
Death by Equine by Annette Dashofy
Racetrack Rogues: One Woman's Story of Family, Love, and Loss in the Horse Racing World by Dawn LeFevre
Run With a Mighty Heart by Jennifer Morrison

In American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper, Daniel Stashower notes that in 1961, a journalist wrote, "Before a new generation of Americans becomes indoctrinated with the 'untouchable' version of the life and works of the late Eliot Ness, somebody ought to sit down at his typewriter and describe the man as Cleveland knew him." It may have taken half a century, and he probably didn't write on a typewriter, but Stashower is that "somebody," and his squinty-eyed but fair-minded look at Ness adds depth and breadth to a spine-tingling true crime story.

Let the record show: Eliot Ness wasn't the glowering Prohibition agent presented in The Untouchables, his posthumously published 1957 memoir, which begat the hard-boiled television show of that name and, a few decades later, the bang-bang Brian De Palma film. Even after Ness became the face of notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone's 1931 undoing, he maintained an aw-shucks public persona that befit his years--he was in his late 20s at the time. Ness's demeanor didn't change when, in 1935, he became Cleveland's youngest-ever director of public safety, a job in which he hoped to turn, as Stashower writes, "the lessons of Capone into lasting reform."

American Demon suggests that when it came to being Ness's professional nemesis, Capone had a rival: Ness's work in Cleveland overlapped with the reign of terror of the man who came to be known as the "torso killer" for his slow but steady campaign of murder and dismemberment, beginning in 1934 and ultimately producing, piece by piece, a dozen or so corpses. Of course, it would have been a truer-to-the-myth story if Ness had been exclusively charged with finding the killer, but much of his safety director job entailed decidedly unsexy duties like solving traffic problems and managing bridge repair.

Edgar Award-winner Stashower (The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War) approaches this material with a pit bull's tenacity, and he writes with the steeliness of an old-school journalist, suiting the book's place and time. So, did Eliot Ness get his man in Cleveland? Equally curiosity-arousing: How much did Ness depart from the media-promulgated image of him as, in Stashower's words, a "smooth amalgam of Dirty Harry and Atticus Finch"? American Demon is a thrillingly bedeviling true crime story interlaced with a nuanced character study--not of the criminal but of his flawed pursuer. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Shelf Talker: This thrillingly bedeviling true crime story suggests that when it came to being Eliot Ness's professional nemesis, Al Capone had a rival: Cleveland's "torso killer."

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

1. Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
2. Until May (Until Him/Her Book 11) by Aurora Rose Reynolds
3. Dirty Daddies Pride 2022 by Various
4. Gratitude Through Hard Times by Chris Schembra
5. My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey
6. Shift into a Higher Gear by Delatorro McNeal
7. Game On: Leaders Who Last by Various
8. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
9. Hot Courage: Hostile Operations Team--Strike Team 2 by Lynn Raye Harris
10. Hidden Waters (Tattered & Torn Book 3) by Catherine Cowles

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]