Eighteen years ago, we delivered the first issue of Shelf Awareness. Which means we're old enough to vote and old enough to drive, but we'll have to flee to the Virgin Islands to have a non-virgin drink. To celebrate our birthday and celebrate both independents and our independence, we're revisiting our take on the Harper's Index. We're amazed by the numbers and hope you will be, too.
The Shelf Awareness Year 18 Index
Number of subscribers for our first issue, 18 years ago: 587
Estimated number of readers for this issue of Shelf Awareness Pro: 42,200
Number of subscribers for our consumer publication, Shelf Awareness for Readers: 697,000
Percentage of consumer subscribers who have subscribed through their local independent bookstore: 80%
Number of employees and freelancers in the first year, aside from John and Jenn: 0
Number of employees and freelancers, including book reviewers, today: 75
Total number of e-newsletters Shelf Awareness has sent over 18 years: 750 million. (And now, we need a nap.)
Number of individual ads over the life span of the Shelf: 38,320
Number of times we screwed an ad up: 23
Number of indie bookstore customers who read our latest baby, the Pre-Order E-Blast: 954,999
Estimated number of books pre-ordered through indie bookstores because of it: More than 300,000.
Funnest part of this: Stealing business from Amazon.
Number of mornings we woke to send out the Shelf to no power or no Internet: 7
Number of times the Shelf didn't go out: 0
Average number of folks every year who are fooled by our April Fool's issue: 10
Want to give us the best birthday gift ever? There are so many new people in our industry. When was the last time you enlisted them to sign up to our industry's daily must read? Forward them this link to sign up OR do us a real solid by getting in touch with us for a secure way to upload employees' e-mails by getting in touch with Neil@shelf-awareness.com.
People's Book, which sells titles for all ages, opened last week at 7014-A Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park, Md. An official ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony is planned for July 15.
The store offers a diverse selection of more than 12,000 books, with a special focus on children's literature, local interests, new releases, and independent magazines. The inventory also includes book-themed gifts, locally roasted coffee, kombucha, and other beverages and treats.
"We're so excited to provide readers of all ages opportunities to explore, learn, and connect with their neighbors," said owner Megan Bormet. "Helping kids and adults find books they love is what I like to do best, and I'm thrilled that we can do this at People's Book."
Bormet told DCist that she and her husband, Matthew, had felt the area needed a local bookstore that offered books with more age variety. Noting that as a former educator one of her favorite things about teaching was "finding the right book for the right kid at the right time," she added: "I'm hoping that any kid that comes in, whether they're a reader or non-reader, can connect with something in the store. This idea of connecting kids and adults with books that they love in our community of Takoma Park brings me a lot of joy.... It really is a place that we hope people can gather and connect. We've been all isolated for so long after Covid, so we're trying to create a place of belonging and gathering for people who have missed it."
The bookshop's name "pays homage to both the tongue-in-cheek nickname of the progressive neighborhood--the People's Republic of Takoma Park--and the defunct Washington pharmacy chain Peoples Drug, the Washingtonian noted.
"When we started thinking about the vibe of the store, we were thinking about Peoples Drug and that kind of modern retro vibe, which I hope comes through," Bormet said.
On the shop's website, Bormet notes: "If you notice an unusually large number of Eric Carle books in our store, know we have a special place in our hearts for his beautiful illustrations. His namesake Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts (my hometown), is where my husband, Matthew, and I tied the knot!"
Christine Swedowsky, Head of U.S. Branch, Buys World Editions
Christine Swedowsky
After five years of being part of the Libella Publishing Group, World Editions has been bought by senior staff member Christine Swedowsky, head of its U.S. branch, who is now publisher and principal. The company is closing its London and Amsterdam offices and will operate worldwide as World Editions NY LLC from New York City. Swedowsky had led the U.S. branch since World Editions expanded into the U.S. in 2018. Swedowsky grew up in Germany, holds a Master's degree in publishing and has extensive sales & marketing experience with both U.S. and European publishing houses. Before joining World Editions, she was director of international marketing at Penguin Random House and earlier worked at HarperCollins, Routledge, McGraw-Hill, and Springer.
World Editions was founded in 2013 and specializes in translated fiction from around the world, including works by Maryse Condé, Amin Maalouf, Pilar Quintana, Jaap Robben, and Zhang Yueran. It has published two National Book Award finalists, two National Book Award longlisted authors, one International Booker long-listee, and, most recently, the 2023 International Booker finalist The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Condé.
Swedowsky commented: "When I was a little girl, I used to read for hours, regarding my books with reverence. Books were miracles to me then, and I wanted to solve the mystery of where books come from. After 25 years of working in publishing, and learning all the nitty-gritty details of the business, books still seem to have secret lives of their own. I would never have dreamed of owning a publishing house one day, and am deeply grateful to the two women who made this possible: Vera Michalski, director of Libella, for entrusting World Editions to me, and Judith Uyterlinde, former publishing director of World Editions, who has taught me most of what I know. I believe in World Editions' mission with a passion, and can only hope to champion our authors and translators the way Judith Uyterlinde did."
Uyterlinde said, "I couldn't have wished for a better way to guarantee World Editions' future than to leave it in the hands of a highly committed and professional employee. I am grateful for all the years that Vera Michalski, director of Libella, has supported our mission of building bridges between cultures by publishing great literature in translation. Running World Editions has been a truly wonderful job, and I am proud of the list of high quality books we have been able to build over the last six years. I want to thank everyone I worked with, with so much joy, and am happy World Editions will be able to continue as an independent company."
Staff at B&N's Park Slope Store in Brooklyn Vote to Unionize
Staff at Barnes & Noble's store in Park Slope, Brooklyn, N.Y., have voted by a margin of 88% to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the union reported. The outcome follows last month's vote by workers at B&N's New York City Union Square flagship store to join RWDSU.
Sydul Akhanji, a bookseller at the B&N Park Slope location, said, "I am happy and relieved about the outcome today. Excited to see how things go moving forward. I hope B&N is listening to us today and will work with us as we begin negotiations. And I hope other retail workers who are interested in unionization find this moment to be inspiring and get active."
The vote to unionize workers at B&N Park Slope was conducted June 29 by secret ballot at the store, overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The RWDSU will represent more than 30 workers at the store in contract negotiations, which will begin this year. The workers in the proposed bargaining units include booksellers, baristas, cashiers, and non-supervisory employees.
The union said that in negotiations, it intends to address worker concerns about continued safety issues amid the post-pandemic rebound; workplace harassment; pay below that of independent booksellers; unstable scheduling practices; a lack of structure concerning job duties and tasks; and favoritism.
As part of Pride Month festivities in Sausalito, Calif., Sausalito Books by the Bay hosted a launch event with local author Bill W. Jones, who at the age of 94 published his memoir, Bachelor Father--The First Single Man to Legally Adopt a Child in America. Pictured: Sausalito City Councilwoman Janelle Kellman, Sausalito Books by the Bay owner Cheryl Popp, author Bill W. Jones, Marin magazine publisher Mimi Towle, Sausalito Pride Ambassador Scott Thornberg.
VONA in Miami 2023 began last week and continues this week, hosted by Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA) and featuring in-person and virtual workshops for emerging writers of color, creating a space for them to hone their craft and find community. This year's workshops are being held both in person (for the first time since the start of the pandemic) and virtually.
Fabienne Josaphat delivering her keynote
In an era of book bans and silencing, author Fabienne Josaphat delivered an impassioned, inspired keynote, saying, "We must write our own stories--or someone else will."
The in-person workshops, held last week, featured author and fiction writer Deesha Philyaw and poets Tim Seibles and Oliver de La Paz as well as multi-genre workshops on "writing the political as the particular" and contemporary humor writing led by writer Nicole Shawan Junior and writer, critic, humorist, and VerySmartBrothas co-founder Damon Young, respectively.
Faculty for the virtual workshop series, which runs this week, includes memoirist Christine Hyung-Oak Lee; writer and filmmaker Nijla Mu'min; and novelists and fiction writers Gina Apostol, Jamie Figueroa, Natalia Sylvester, and long-time VONA faculty and former VONA board president M. Evelina Galang, known as VONA's "literary mama."
"You can't do cool cat without a book," Subterranean Books, St. Louis, Mo., cautioned in sharing a photo of the shop's latest sidewalk chalkboard message. "Our cool cat has decided to shed the threads and chill in the pool--with a book, of course! Looking to beat the heat this weekend? May we suggest a browse at the shop to find your next summer read? PS--It's queer all year here, however, our special displays for Pride Month will be up through the weekend!"
Downtown Books, Dothan, Ala., posted a pleasure reading-themed 4th of July message on Instagram: "As our country celebrates its Independence Day we want to add a twist to the celebration. At Downtown Books, we are passionate about fostering a love for reading in children. We believe that reading for pleasure not only brings immense joy but also unlocks countless benefits for young minds. That's why we are declaring Independence from required reading as the only option for children. We believe that reading for school is very important and an important part of the process, however the literary journey shouldn't end there. We are dedicated to providing an enchanting collection of books that will captivate children's imaginations and inspire a lifelong love for stories in addition to the wonderful books required by schools."
Media Heat: Stacey Mei Yan Fong on Good Morning America
Today: CBS Mornings: Emma Rosenblum, author of Bad Summer People: A Novel (Flatiron, $28.99, 9781250887009).
Today Show: Gesine Bullock-Prado, author of My Vermont Table: Recipes for All (Six) Seasons (Countryman Press, $35, 9781682687352).
Good Morning America: Nick DiGiovanni, author of Knife Drop: Creative Recipes Anyone Can Cook (DK, $35, 9780744076776).
The View repeat: Senator Amy Klobuchar, author of The Joy of Politics: Surviving Cancer, a Campaign, a Pandemic, an Insurrection, and Life's Other Unexpected Curveballs (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250285140).
Tomorrow: Good Morning America: Stacey Mei Yan Fong, author of 50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant's Love Letter to the United States Through Pie (Voracious, $35, 9780316394512).
Today Show: Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey, authors of The Best Grilling Cookbook Ever Written by Two Idiots (Page Street, $22.99, 9781645676065).
The Talk repeat: Tabitha Brown, author of Seen, Loved and Heard: A Guided Journal for Feeding the Soul (Morrow, $19.99, 9780063286092).
Wednesday: Jennifer Hudson Show repeat: Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, author of Good Night, Sister (Penguin Workshop, $18.99, 9780593385814).
Jay Lender has been hired to write a film adaptation of David Michael Slater's novel The Vanishing, Deadline reported. The book was optioned by Chris Columbus's production company 26th Street Pictures.
Columbus is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker (Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire, as well as multiple Harry Potter films). Lender, two-time Emmy nominee best known for his work as a writer, director and storyboard artist on Nickelodeon's animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, previously adapted Slater's books Fun & Games and Sparks for the screen. He also served as the illustrator for Slater's recent picture book, Poopy McPooFace.
The Book of Grief and Hamburgers by Stuart Ross won the C$20,000 (about US$15,105) English-language fiction Trillium Book Award, which is given to "recognize excellence, support marketing and foster increased public awareness of the quality and diversity of Ontario writers and writing." Sanna Wani took the C$10,000 (US$7,550) prize in the poetry category for My Grief, the Sun.
The winner of the C$20,000 French-language Trillium Book Award was Circé des hirondelles by Gilles Lacombe, and the C$10,000 French-language poetry prize went to Le secret de Paloma by Michèle Laframboise.
Ontario Creates chair Aaron Campbell said, "As we mark the impressive 36th year of Ontario's premiere literary celebration, I am inspired by the remarkable storytelling power of these authors, and proud to support Ontario's publishers to bring books to readers around the world."
Review: Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben
Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben by Josh Trujillo, illus. by Levi Hastings
(Surely/Abrams ComicArts, $24.99 hardcover, 192p., 9781419743726, August 15, 2023)
American independence gains a dazzling reexamination with Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben, an inquisitive graphic novel written by Josh Trujillo and illustrated by Levi Hastings (Be Gay, Do Comics). The Steuben name is stamped on several regions around the U.S. to commemorate the valor of a Prussian general whose contributions to the American military helped win the Revolutionary War. But much like the Marquis de Lafayette, another foreign-born officer who was integral to the revolution, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben is remembered by few these days.
Born in 1730, von Steuben began his military career as young as 14, by lying about his age. Embellishing his résumé became a common tactic for him to advance in ranks, but by the time he would publish his "Blue Book" of military standards in 1779, with the assistance of one of his most devoted soldiers and lovers, the proof of his expertise was validated by the book's continued use in the States for decades to come.
Legacy and glory are hallmarks of the von Steuben story, but the authors do well to skirt the borders of hagiography. In this brief but nuanced portrait of a trusted ally to George Washington, Trujillo and Hastings make space to remember the Indigenous peoples bulldozed by the colonial endeavor. They excoriate the machinations of enslavement. What they salvage from the wreckage of war and subjugation, however, is a sympathetic biography of a man who loved men and strove for greatness and renown.
Reclaiming queer history is delicate work, because modern words used to define gender and sexuality don't always map neatly onto the recorded experiences of figures from the past. And because the record itself often elides or abuses any divergence from conventional living. Trujillo and Hastings venture into these liminal spaces with sensitivity. They illustrate, for instance, the varied ways to speculate about sodomy charges leveled at another officer, Lieutenant Frederick Gotthold Enslin: "Was it a more innocent advance from a queer soldier, or was it a forceful sexual assault? Or was someone trying to make a serious example out of him?" In any case, Enslin was court-martialed and dropped out of the public record.
Hastings's art is stately and expressive, with exactly the delicate, detailed touch the story of this flamboyant figure demands. Moreover, the black-and-white lines splashed with blue and gray coloring bring to mind another queer graphic novel about complicated characters: Fun Home. Resolving with a coda about other queer figures from Baron von Steuben's time, Washington's Gay General is a poignant reminder of how easily the historical record can overlook the important contributions of those whose personal lives are at odds with social expectations. --Dave Wheeler, associate editor, Shelf Awareness
Shelf Talker: This gorgeously appointed graphic novel examines the biography of Baron von Steuben, a key military leader in the American Revolution, and his male lovers.
Eighteen years ago, we delivered the first issue of Shelf Awareness. Which means we're old enough to vote and old enough to drive, but we'll have to flee to the Virgin Islands to have a non-virgin drink. To celebrate our birthday and celebrate both independents and our independence, we're revisiting our take on the Harper's Index. We're amazed by the numbers and hope you will be, too.BINC.1118.T2.2024YEARENDCAMPAIGN.jpg)
People's Book, which sells titles for all ages, opened last week at 7014-A Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park, Md. An official ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony is planned for July 15.
Staff at Barnes & Noble's store in Park Slope, Brooklyn, N.Y., have voted by a margin of 88% to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the union reported. The outcome follows last month's vote by workers at B&N's New York City Union Square flagship store to join RWDSU.
As part of Pride Month festivities in Sausalito, Calif., Sausalito Books by the Bay hosted a launch event with local author Bill W. Jones, who at the age of 94 published his memoir, Bachelor Father--The First Single Man to Legally Adopt a Child in America. Pictured: Sausalito City Councilwoman Janelle Kellman, Sausalito Books by the Bay owner Cheryl Popp, author Bill W. Jones, Marin magazine publisher Mimi Towle, Sausalito Pride Ambassador Scott Thornberg.
"You can't do cool cat without a book," Subterranean Books, St. Louis, Mo., cautioned in sharing a photo of the shop's latest sidewalk chalkboard message. "Our cool cat has decided to shed the threads and chill in the pool--with a book, of course! Looking to beat the heat this weekend? May we suggest a browse at the shop to find your next summer read? PS--It's queer all year here, however, our special displays for Pride Month will be up through the weekend!"
Downtown Books, Dothan, Ala., posted a pleasure reading-themed 4th of July message on Instagram: "As our country celebrates its Independence Day we want to add a twist to the celebration. At Downtown Books, we are passionate about fostering a love for reading in children. We believe that reading for pleasure not only brings immense joy but also unlocks countless benefits for young minds. That's why we are declaring Independence from required reading as the only option for children. We believe that reading for school is very important and an important part of the process, however the literary journey shouldn't end there. We are dedicated to providing an enchanting collection of books that will captivate children's imaginations and inspire a lifelong love for stories in addition to the wonderful books required by schools."
American independence gains a dazzling reexamination with Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben, an inquisitive graphic novel written by Josh Trujillo and illustrated by Levi Hastings (Be Gay, Do Comics). The Steuben name is stamped on several regions around the U.S. to commemorate the valor of a Prussian general whose contributions to the American military helped win the Revolutionary War. But much like the Marquis de Lafayette, another foreign-born officer who was integral to the revolution, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben is remembered by few these days.