"[The bookstore experience is about] discovery and a social space. You come out of it feeling good... You need to create lovely spaces. Bookstores have to be friendly. They have to be open. And if you have them beautifully presented, they're never going away... What really matters is we have physical stores, which are each a little bit different, have a real personality, and they're fun to be in."

John and Bryanna Robertson are the new owners of Park Street Books & Toys, Medfield, Mass. In a Facebook post, previous owner Jim James wrote, "The Robertsons have the energy and know-how to bring PSB to another level. Park Street has been a labor of love for me and my family, and I am so happy to continue on at the shop in my semi-retirement. Thank you to everyone for supporting local businesses and helping to keep our community vibrant. So happy!!!"

Last year, James had announced plans to retire and close the business during the summer, but he received more than 20 inquiries from people interested in buying the store, WCVB reported at the time. 

"I think it was last September or October Jim said on Facebook that he was going to retire and Park Street would close in June," Bryanna Robertson told Boston 25 News. "And within minutes of reading that post I ran upstairs with my laptop to my husband and I said oh my gosh, we have to buy Park Street Books, and he was like, yes this is a no-brainer...

"When we think of Park Street books we think of this place where children can explore, use their imagination, touch things, feel things. Things aren't made of glass here. They're not going to break. It's this idea that part of childhood is being able to explore and read and play, and unplug from this ever-connected universe we're all part of." 

A Thousand Stories in Herndon, Va., is closing permanently, FFXNow reported. The bookstore's last day of business will be Saturday, December 21.

Co-owners Michelle Ratto and Beth Luke, who opened the bookstore at 750 Center St. in November 2022, have decided to close the store after being unable to find a new home for it. The bookstore's building had been slated to be demolished in advance of a major redevelopment project, and although that project fell through earlier this month, Luke and Ratto will still close the store.

"This was always meant to be a temporary location for us, but after two years of looking we've been unable to find a larger location," Ratto told FFXNow. "After weighing all our options, we've decided that the best decision is to close our doors. We've loved being in Herndon for the past two years and hope that the town is able to attract some quality businesses in the future."

A Thousand Stories sells titles for all ages with a particular emphasis on children's and young adult titles. Through Saturday, the bookstore will be offering discounts of 20%-40% on all items in-store, and Ratto and Luke are encouraging customers to come in for one last visit.

In an Instagram post announcing the closure, they wrote: "The past two years have been full of new friends, lessons learned, and so many great books. We're very grateful for this wild ride we've had."

Lerner Publishing Group has acquired Soaring Kite Books, a publisher of children's titles, effective January 1. Founded by Ceece Kelley, Soaring Kite Books "has gained a strong reputation for its innovative and diverse storytelling, with a particular focus on nurturing emerging voices and exploring a wide range of cultural experiences," Lerner noted, adding that the acquisition "strengthens Lerner's commitment to expanding its diverse portfolio of educational and trade publishing."

Soaring Kite Books will continue to operate under its current name, using Lerner's distribution, marketing, and production resources.
 
"Lerner has had the privilege of distributing Soaring Kite Books since their inaugural publishing season in 2021, and over the past few years, we've seen firsthand the tremendous impact their titles have had on young readers and educators alike," said Adam Lerner, CEO and publisher of Lerner Publishing Group. "This successful partnership has paved the way for Soaring Kite to become a Lerner imprint. We are excited to continue supporting Ceece's mission of publishing diverse and inclusive voices while expanding its reach and resources within the Lerner family."
 
Kelley, who will remain involved with the imprint as a consultant, commented: "After years of rapid growth, I am excited to pass the torch to Lerner Publishing Group, a company that shares my passion for empowering young readers with stories that matter. I am confident that Soaring Kite Books will thrive under Lerner's leadership and continue to build on the foundation we've worked so hard to create. This partnership will open new doors for the authors and stories that Soaring Kite Books represents."

Abrams has made changes in the sales department "to align the organizational structure with key focus areas--revenue growth, operational excellence, and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation."

Senior v-p of sales Christine Edwards commented: "We are expanding our footprint in the marketplace through a mix of strategic initiatives and content development across our publishing groups. As we examine our business and identify opportunities for growth, it has provided us with the chance to align our team structure to support our goals in the marketplace." Resulting changes in the sales department include:

Monica Shah, formerly v-p of sales, has been appointed v-p of sales and sales operations. In addition to overseeing national accounts and special markets, Shah now also leads sales operations related to inventory management, sales budgeting and forecasting, seasonal readiness, and serving as the sales liaison with the Hachette Book Group client publisher operations group.

Liz Frew, formerly director, national accounts, is now director, mass merchandise retail and children's sales strategy. She oversees the entire mass merchandise channel, adding Costco, BJ's, and Sam's Clubs, and will work with publishing and operations on children's sales strategy.

Kathleen Spinelli has been promoted to senior director of sales, international and distribution client publishers.

Shelby Ozer has been promoted to associate director, online and digital sales, distribution client publishers, a newly created position.

Jay Salton has been promoted to manager, special markets, and will oversee the management of gift commission sales groups, including specialty reps.

Waterstones is one of many companies that have been affected by a ransomware attack last month on Blue Yonder, a supply-chain software company with clients in the U.K. and U.S., the Bookseller reported.  

"Progress is being made with recovery at Blue Yonder and thankfully our own systems have not been affected," a Waterstones spokesperson told the Bookseller. "Our workarounds have been effective and we have continued to receive deliveries and send daily deliveries to our shops.... Our bookshops are not affected by any availability issues.... We thank our publishing partners for their patience and support."

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Industry Insights: Bookshops & Accessibility, the latest report from RISE Bookselling, a project led by the European & International Booksellers Federation, analyzes the topic of book accessibility, providing an overview of current legislation and upcoming requirements for the book industry, with a particular focus on bookshops. EIBF noted that "in efforts to reduce the so-called 'book famine,' exclusion of people living with moderate-to-severe visual impairment or disability from accessing books, new legislative framework has been adopted."

The European Accessibility Act introduced a list of requirements that must be met by businesses that produce, sell, and distribute e-books and e-readers, effective June 2025, with the goal of making e-books and e-readers fully accessible to those with disabilities. EIBF said the rules "will mostly affect the work of publishers, but they will have an impact on bookshops as well." 

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Robbie Egan

Robbie Egan, CEO of BookPeople (the Australian booksellers association), offered some bookselling holiday cheer to members in the final e-newsletter of the year, noting: "I write to wish you all the best for the last twelve days of trade before Christmas day. You're doing the vital work of finding an audience for writers and illustrators locally and around the world. Ordering online will continue of course, but the arrival of packages is no longer a guarantee. We're at the coalface and there's no going back now, it's head down and take no prisoners. The best kind of shopping experience is in person for both discoverability and for direct advice. Get those books into hands, wrap them up with care and send them out into the world. There's no better feeling.

"Go well friends and colleagues, look after yourselves and those close to you. Smash the Christmas trade and we'll be back in the new year for another go around the sun." --Robert Gray

WORD Bookstores unveiled an interactive window display at its Jersey City, N.J., location. Designed by Natasha Dzurny as part of a Silverman Building small business holiday market, the display allows users to press a button and get gift recommendations based on which side the arrow lands: naughty or nice. Go behind the scenes here.

At the Tommy Nelson imprint of Thomas Nelson at HarperCollins Christian Publishing:

Ashley Reed

Ashley Reed has been named senior marketing director. She was previously marketing director for Thomas Nelson's W Publishing Group for more than six years and earlier supported the Max Lucado Brand Team at Thomas Nelson, leading marketing initiatives and partnerships for the author. Before joining HCCP, she led marketing efforts at Surgery Partners, Paramore Digital, and Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee.

Andrea Jacobs has been promoted to senior marketing manager. She joined Tommy Nelson in 2021 and has led marketing campaigns for a variety of Tommy Nelson titles and developed and maintains Tommy Nelson's internal influencer and growing book reviewer program. She earlier led marketing efforts for brands including Bargain Hunt, Back Yard Burgers, and O'Charley's.

Living Well with OCD: Practical Strategies for Improving Your Daily Life (Guilford Living Well Series) by Jonathan S. Abramowitz (Guilford Press).

Tomorrow:
Tonight Show: Nicole Avant, author of Think You'll Be Happy: Moving Through Grief with Grit, Grace, and Gratitude (HarperOne, $28.99, 9780063304413).

Sony is developing an ongoing TV series based on Jennifer L. Armentrout's Blood and Ash books, including From Blood and Ash, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, The Crown of Gilded Bones, The War of Two Queens, and A Soul of Ash and Blood, according to Deadline.

While the project will initially focus on five titles, "it could expand similarly to Outlander," with Armentrout set to release a sixth book, The Primal of Blood and Bone, next year, Deadline noted. A prequel series, The Flesh and Fire, already exists and has four works: A Shadow in the Ember, A Light in the Flame, A Fire in the Flesh, and Born of Blood and Ash.

The longlist has been selected for the 2025 Gordon Burn Prize, recognizing "exceptional writing which has an unconventional perspective, style or subject matter and often defies easy categorization. It celebrates literary outliers and daring and experimental work that often speaks to broader societal issues." 

The winning author receives  £10,000 (about $12,690) and the chance to undertake a writing retreat at Gordon Burn’s cottage in Berwickshire in England. The shortlist will be announced in January and a winner named March 6. The longlisted titles are:

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel 
Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other by Danielle Dutton 
The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them by Ekow Eshun 
Ootlin by Jenni Fagan 
Mrs. Jekyll by Emma Glass 
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning by Keiran Goddard 
White Terror: A True Story of Murder, Bombings and Germany's Far Right by Jacob Kushner 
Poor Artists by Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad
Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands 
The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell by Lucia Osborne-Crowley 
England Is Mine by Nicolas Padamsee 
The Horse by Willy Vlautin 

Callan Wink's Beartooth is a meditative and startling literary heist tale about two struggling brothers. Their father has recently died, leaving them with medical bills they can't pay, and other expenses are piling up at the family cabin. Older brother Thad is desperate to keep things together; his younger brother, Hazen, didn't have any of Thad's practical sense but more than his fair share of restlessness.

Enter the Scot: mysterious, up to no good, and refusing to take no for an answer, the Scot is looking to enlist the strapped brothers for a dangerous--not to mention illegal--job in the protected lands of Yellowstone. While Thad is reluctant, he's even more unwilling to let the house go, or to allow headstrong Hazen take on the job alone. But agreeing to the Scot's proposition sets a course into motion that Thad can't keep under control. And soon Hazen's increasingly impulsive, wild ways will find an outlet that can't be bound, even by his brother's love.

Wink (August) is very much at home in rugged but beautiful settings, and he takes his time to look around at both the grandeur and the rot, the rippling muscles of this landscape and its bones. Rather than painting a static portrait, Wink makes this place the timeless one of the American West. In one particularly compelling passage, he describes how "warm Chinook winds came up from the southeast and filled the valley with the smell of rotting snow. The river shed its layers of shelf ice and seemed to come awake, readying itself for the great annual runoff.... Down in the valley it wasn't spring; it was mud season." Sometimes counterintuitive, sometimes nostalgic, yet always surprising, these descriptions vacillate between the soft and the raw, the dead and the living.

While Beartooth's plot packs a punch, its natural rhythm builds gradually. Even at the start, when Thad is focused on the minutiae of just trying to get by, it's clear that the tension cannot hold. His realization while balancing bank statements that "adding and then subtracting, subtracting, subtracting. That's how it always seemed to go" serves as an early clue that the other shoe is bound to drop. It would be too easy, though, to say that shoe is Hazen. Despite Hazen's loaded personality, readers feel the same pull Thad does: to understand how deep Hazen runs, to embrace his perhaps more doomed but also more hopeful way of being in the world, a way of being that might be freer but is also more elusive. --Alice Martin, freelance writer and editor

Shelf Talker: Callan Wink's Beartooth evokes the breathtaking beauty of Yellowstone in its tense exploration of the complicated love and survival of two brothers.

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

1. Hooked by Emily McIntire
2. Think You'll Be Happy by Nicole Avant
3. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
4. The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden
5. How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn
6. Satan's Affair by H.D. Carlton
7. Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
8. My December Darling by Lauren Asher
9. I'll Be Home... by Tate James and Heather Long
10. Ready to Win: How Great Leaders Succeed through Preparation by Matthew Mitchell

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]