BTW News Briefs

March 24 Declared National Cash Mob Day

On March 6, Business Week reported on the cash mob phenomenon and noted that March 24 has been declared National Cash Mob Day. On that day, organizers expect 175 mobs, composed of 50 to 100 people each, to shop at independent retailers across the globe.

Chris Smith, who organized a cash mob last August in Buffalo, New York, told Business Week that a cash mob is “a reminder that instead of always throwing money over the fence to big corporations, we should invest in small businesses that have invested in our communities.” (Read a recent BTW about bookstores that were cash mobbed.)

GLIBA and MIBA Launch Heartland Fall Forum Website

The Great Lakes and Midwest independent booksellers associations have launched a new website, HeartlandFallForum.org, to support their combined trade show in Minneapolis in October. The site will serve as the location for all news and registration information for the show, including the call for authors, exhibitor and attendee registration forms, meal tickets, hotel and shipping information, and more.

Consortium Adds Eight Publishers

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution has signed eight new publishers for the fall 2012 season: Central Recovery Press, February Books, Global Book Sales, Independent Thinking Press, Torrey House Press, Tyrant Books, Uncivilized Books, and Zuccotti Park Press.

Books from these publishers, except for Central Recovery Press, will be available from Consortium beginning June 1; Central Recovery Press titles will be available July 1.

In addition, since March 1, Totem Books, distributed by Consortium, is doing business as Icon Books in the U.S.

 Andrea Hairston Wins James Tiptree Jr. Award

The James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council has named Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (Aqueduct Press, 2011) the winner of the 2011 Tiptree Award.  The award is presented annually to a work of science fiction or fantasy that explores and expands gender roles. 

Hairston will be honored during Memorial Day weekend at WisCon in Madison, Wisconsin.

This year’s jury also chose a Tiptree Award Honor List, as well as a list of other titles worthy of attention.

Multiple Sclerosis Society Names Books for a Better Life

On March, 12, the Southern New York Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society honored the winners of the 16th Annual Books for a Better Life Awards during a ceremony in Manhattan. Winners were chosen from five nominees in each of the 10 self-improvement categories.  The Society also honored David “Skip” Prichard, president and CEO of the Ingram Content Group, with induction into its Hall of Fame.

Among this year’s book award winners were:

• Childcare/Parenting: Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran (Scribner)
• Green: The Neighborhood Project by David Sloan Wilson (Little, Brown) 
• Inspirational Memoir: Enjoy Every Sandwich by Lee Lipsenthal, M.D. (Crown)
• Motivational: Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?  by Touré (Free Press)

The full list of winners is available here.