Book Stall Named Bookstore of The Year; Kingman & Kindness Top Reps

The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, located in Winnetka, Ill., has been selected as the PW Bookstore of the Year. Roberta Rubin has owned the store for 30 years.

The PW Rep of the Year will be shared jointly for the first time in the 20-year history of the awards by Random House district sales managers Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness. Rubin and Kingman and Kindness will receive their awards at a presentation at BEA.

BEA Expands To Consumers This Year

Reed Business Exhibitions is opening BookExpo America to consumers a year earlier than originally planned and will invite the public this year. The show will offer a maximum of 1,000 tickets to publishers and 20 local bookstores to offer to tastemakers and passionate readers who want to attend the final day of the show, Thursday, June 7.

Pottermore Shop Opens

All seven Harry Potter novels are now available in electronic form via the Pottermore shop, the exclusive retailer for Harry Potter digital books and audio. A component of the long-delayed Pottermore site, the shop is initially selling U.S. and U.K. English editions, with French, Italian, German, and Spanish editions in the coming weeks, and additional languages later.

Vook Launches E-book Creation Platform

The Vook e-book creation and publishing platform launched last week, allowing authors and publishers to turn any document into a professionally styled e-book. The platform allows users to embed images, videos, and other multimedia to create enhanced e-books. Pricing is structured for large and small publishers. Annual account fees range from $79/ month (or $849 for a year) at the basic level to $299 per month ($3,199 for a year); Vook also offers customized accounts.

Medallion Developing New E-book Platform

Medallion Media Group, an independent book publisher and multimedia entertainment firm, has acquired Triple Threat Mobile

Development, a digital consulting firm specializing in creating games and custom applications for mobile devices; Medallion says it plans to launch a new digital publishing platform. The company has also hired Triple Threat Mobile’s CEO/founder Brian Buck as its executive director of technology.

F+W Starts E-book Subscription Sites

F+W Media is opening a series of e-book subscription sites aimed at enthusiasts in particular niches beginning with the Artist’s Network eBooks Book Club. The art community subscription site features more than 100 full-color art instruction titles available for a $199 yearly subscription. F+W expects to have about six subscription sites running by the end of the second quarter.

Correction

In the March 26, “Godine to Publish Restored Werfel Classic” story it was incorrectly stated that Carroll & Graf didn’t publish The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. In fact, it republished the Dunlop translation in 1983, which stayed in print until 2003.