By Siobhan O’Leary

The decision by a band of independent German publishers to launch their own book “Hotlist” as an alternative to the German Book Awards (see our coverage here) has been met with quite a bit of criticism in the trades. For starters, the Boersenblatt reports that the Kurt Wolff Stiftung (KWS) — a prominent foundation that supports the activities of small, independent publishers in Germany — was not included in the selection process.

A press release by the KWS expressed support for the twenty independent publishers who participated in the project, but added that the Hotlist is not representative of the overall work of independent publishers and was only limited to those recommendations of the publishers who initiated the prize. The KWS stated that it would work to change the procedure next year to include a jury and to be more inclusive of all its members, as well as independent publishers in Austria and Switzerland.

Book2look — the reading tool that allows readers to look inside a book, recommend it, rate it, purchase it and much more — continues to sign on more and more publishing partners, says BuchMarkt. Creators Rainer Rossipaul and Ralph Möllers are on a campaign to expand Book2look’s reach even further and are planning a roadshow in September and will personally present the technology to publishers in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin. For more information about Book2look and the roadshow, contact Ralph Möllers.