IndieBound

The first Children's Indie Next List is now available for preview. The new list showcases not only a wide range of exemplary titles for young readers, as chosen by indie booksellers, but also a new, redesigned format.

Independent business owner Kimber Lanning knew Phoenix was in need of a local business alliance, so she stepped up and created one. "That's just my personality," she said. "I'm always the person who stands up and says, 'Yes, I'll do that.'" Local First Arizona (LFA), a statewide organization, now has 1,380 members.

1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean (illus.) (HarperCollins, $17.99, 9780060530921 / 0060530928)

Here's a preview of the September Indie Next List now on its way to ABA member stores in the IndieBound movement.

IndieBound signs visible inside and outside the front windows.

For the eight-week period ending August 5, 2008, and based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide. 1. Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer, Anchor, $14.95, 9780385494786 2.

The August Indie Next List Notables flier, in PDF format, features jacket images, bibliographic information, and bookseller quotes for a great selection of titles to augment the month's Indie Next List selections. Bookseller quotes are also currently available in an electronic file of Notables shelf-talkers.

After Mary Beth Nebel of I Know You Like A Book in Peoria Heights, Illinois, read a column in the Peoria Journal Star that called for support of local independent restaurants, she wrote a letter to the editor to say that the column should have stressed support for all locally owned businesses. She got what she asked for. The next week, using IndieBound information supplied by Nebel, the business editor cataloged the many benefits of shopping local.

When Bridget Rothenberger opened Nomad Bookhouse in historic downtown Jackson, Michigan, in December 2005, the bookstore was the only retail outlet on the street. But things are changing, Rothenberger said. The downtown area is starting to grow, and the once manufacturing town is taking a decidedly artistic turn.

As part of the American Booksellers Association's summer series of IndieBound information sessions, ABA COO Oren Teicher recently participated in a gathering of independent businesses organized by Larchmont, New York's The Voracious Reader.