Industry News

Contrary to the adage about the old dog and new tricks, even seasoned, longtime booksellers can learn something that improves their businesses. Take Eric Wilska, owner of The Bookloft in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and president of the New England Booksellers Asscociation: After purchasing business insurance from a private carrier for the past 30 years, he recently switched to ABA's LIBRIS, because, Wilska explained, "I saved a third of the cost for comparable coverage."

In "Reading Over Your Shoulder," a March 9 article by staff writer David Mehegan, the Boston Globe provided readers with a clear picture of efforts to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act by a broad spectrum of groups that spans the left and the right.

On Monday, March 15, the Colorado Senate State Affairs Committee restored to a "minors' access" bill a measure to ban the display of materials considered harmful to minors -- a move that booksellers hope will ultimately backfire because, they contend, it renders the "harmful to minors" bill blatantly unconstitutional. Colorado's House of Representatives had eliminated the display provision from the bill over a month ago.

This Fourth of July, the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) would like consumers to celebrate America's independence in what might be a revolutionary way for some: by celebrating their local independents.

A Likely Story, the 20-year-old children's bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia, has changed ownership, but otherwise has remained much the same. Although Dinah Paul became the store's new owner on March 1, the founder and former owner, Marilyn Dugan, continues to work there, as does the rest of the staff. Sheilah Egan, store manager and president of New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, also eases the transition from past to present. Paul knows the staff well after working in the store for the past year and a half.

This profile of A. David Schwartz, owner of the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, originally appeared in the February 22 edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Bookseller at War With Tolstoy and Cancer

By Jim Higgins

The Lambda Literary Foundation will announce the winners of the 16th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, or "Lammies," honoring a diverse range of distinguished voices in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) publishing, at what promises to be a festive and lively ceremony at the Chicago Mart Plaza on Thursday, June 3, 2004, in conjunction with BookExpo America.

On Wednesday, March 10, in a speech before the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C., Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY) called on NCSL members to support the Streamlined Sales & Use Tax Act (SSUTA, S. 1736). Enzi and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced the bill, which would ensure that the tax system is fair to Main Street businesses, in the Senate in October 2003.

January 2004 bookstore sales were down a bit from January 2003, thus interrupting the generally upward trend of the previous seven months. January bookstore sales of $2,069 million declined 1.2 percent from the $2,094 million for January 2003.

Bookstore sales for January also failed to keep pace with overall retail, which improved over January 2003. Overall retail sales of $296 billion for January 2004 was 6.1 percent better than the $279 billion for the previous year.

ABA hopes to see booksellers at open forums held in conjunction with the Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association (MSIBA), the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA), and the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) next week. Additional ABA programming at each includes demonstrations of the Book Sense Gift Card Program and one-to-one ABACUS tutorials with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz.

On Wednesday, March 10, approximately 40 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) at the Massachusetts' Brookline Booksmith. ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher conducted the forum, and among the key topics were the Book Sense Gift Card program, changes to the Book Sense 76, store security, and efforts to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

Gift cards have come of age, according to "Holiday Retail Strategies 2004: How Christmas Shopping Trends Will Shape the 2004 Season," a study recently released by Packaged Facts, a publishing division of MarketResearch.com. According to the report, gift cards continue to increase in popularity: They accounted for 10 percent of the $226 billion in holiday sales for 2003, double the 2002 figure.

Booksellers constantly pass judgments on books, critically evaluating the subject matter, the treatment, the cover art, and the author's past work. Some booksellers are even driven to see if they can produce something worthy of a place on their own shelves. Bookseller and author Peter Glassman of Books of Wonder in New York posed the problem to BTW, "Can I write a book without all the mistakes that lead me to reject a lot of other books? That's my challenge."

The March Book Sense White Box roars in like a lion … filled with information and materials you need to see …

First, from ABA and Book Sense:

Booksellers have a chance to get lucky with the display contest for the latest Hardcover History featured title.