Industry News

The first Southern California Independent Bestseller List, published in a cooperative effort between Book Sense and the Southern California Booksellers Association, debuted last week. The SCBA list includes bestsellers in the categories of Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction, Trade Paperback Fiction and Nonfiction, Mass Market, and Children's (Fiction and Illustrated) books.

Building on the success of last May's Shop Talk, the first held in central New York State, Colgate Bookstore and the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) have announced that they will be holding a Shop Talk at Colgate Bookstore in Hamilton, New York, on August 10, from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. "At the end of the last Shop Talk, we asked [the attendees] if they would like more Shop Talks, and an overwhelming number of people said yes," said Rob Stahl, general book manager at Colgate Bookstore.

Less than a week after publication, the early success of The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Norton) can be best described as surprising -- sending its publisher back to the presses, booksellers scrambling to fulfill orders, and garnering good reviews in the media.

In an effort to take advantage of Denver's burgeoning suburban market, Tattered Cover Book Store will be opening a third location, in Highlands Ranch, a southwestern Denver suburb. "We're expanding into a really growing market there," said Cathy Langer, buyer for Tattered Cover and an ABA Board member. "We've been looking long and hard for just the right location, and we're really excited this has worked out."

By R. David Unowsky

Although Vermont Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I) Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill was recently voted down, support for the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157) continues to grow, with six new sponsors signing on in the wake of the amendment's defeat. Democrats Robert Brady (PA), Chaka Fattah (PA), Gene Green (TX), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ), Robert C. Scott (VA), and Gene Taylor (MS) are the newest sponsors of H.R. 1157, which now has a total of 151 co-sponsors, including 15 Republicans.

Competition against chains is tough and independents need niches to stay afloat.

By TJ Buck

It ain't easy keeping an independent bookstore open.

With the state of the economy and the corporation big boys hovering on the landscape, just surviving is an accomplishment.

Finding a niche, a specialty, is the key for independent bookstores, according to several store owners in Tucson.

Anchorage, Alaska's Cook Inlet Book Company recently partnered with Kraft Foods to donate $50,000 worth of books to public and private school libraries throughout Anchorage. Schools that participated in the "Shop for Literacy" program by gathering Kraft proof-of-purchase labels won a percentage of the $50,000 book credit redeemable at Cook Inlet.

Artemis Records, a New York-based independent record label and home to artists such as Steve Earle and the late Warren Zevon, is expanding its selection of spoken word CDs to include authors Allen Ginsberg and Al Franken, among others. The literary CDs are, of course, a natural fit for independent booksellers, but so is music from Artemis, a Book Sense Publisher Partner.

Finalists for Great Lakes Book Awards Announced

On July 20, the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) announced the finalists for the 2004 Great Lakes Book Awards. The awards will be presented Friday, October 8, at a luncheon during the GLBA Fall Trade Show in Dearborn, Michigan. The winners will be announced in late August.

The finalists in the Fiction category are:

Peter Bobeck, retail real estate developer and owner of Mitchell Books, which opened on July 19 at the Covington Plaza mall in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is serious about making his 22,300-square-foot store an experience like no other.