BTW News Briefs

Edelweiss Adds Indie Next List Icons

Edelweiss has begun adding an icon to indicate Indie Next List titles in publishers’ online catalogs. A click on the icon brings up the Indie Next List recommendations page on IndieBound.org. ABA will be working with Edelweiss to add icons to Next List titles going back to 1999. A sampling of titles with the new icon can be seen here.

In other Edelweiss news, PubEasy®, Bowker’s global inquiry and ordering service for the book industry, will now integrate Above the Treeline’s Edelweiss online catalog system, enabling retailers and publishers to coordinate transactions and marketing in one place.

23rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced in New York

On Thursday May 26, the Lambda Literary Foundation presented the 23rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards and honored three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee and Gold Dagger Award-winning crime fiction writer Val McDermid. The Lambda ceremony brought together more than 400 attendees, sponsors, and celebrities to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature.

Awards were presented in 24 categories. Among the winners were Eileen Myles’s Inferno (A Poet’s Novel),which took the top honor in Lesbian Fiction, and Adam Haslett’s Union Atlantic in Gay Fiction. For the full list of winners, visit the Lambda Literary website.

MPIBA Names Reading the West Winners

The Mountain and Plains Independent Booksellers Association announced the winners for its Reading the West Book Awards. The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) won in the Adult category and Starfish by James Crowley (Disney Book Group) won in the children’s category.

Random House Children’s Books Launches Paperback Imprints

Random House Children’s Books is reorganizing its paperback publishing program and launching two new paperback imprints, Ember and Bluefire.

Ember will be the new paperback home to bestsellers and award winners, while Bluefire will be the new paperback home for fantasy novels. The imprints’ debut, slated for this summer, will be supported by a national marketing campaign, which includes the website launches of BluefireFantasy.com and Ember.com, blogger outreach, and print advertising.

SBA Introduces Mobile App for Small Business Owners

The U.S. Small Business Administration has created a new SBA mobile app. The app will help users connect with SBA district office staff and SBA-affiliated counselors and mentors who can provide free, personalized small business assistance. The app will help answer questions such as: How do I start a business? Where can I go in my area to get free help with writing a business plan? And where do I begin finding funding for my business?

The SBA mobile app also features a built-in startup cost calculator to help estimate the costs associated with getting a business off the ground, plus an SBA partner locator to help users find SBA offices, Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers and SCORE. The app will first be available for the Apple iPhone®, with future versions for other smart phone platforms. The free mobile app can be downloaded from the SBA’s website at sba.gov/content/sba-mobile-app.