Industry News

In the crush of the holiday season, stores with Book Sense may have set aside materials sent in the December Red Box for a later look. But included in that mailing were materials for a special promotion tying into the premiere of The History Channel's documentary Lincoln on Monday, January 16 (8:00 p.m./7:00 C.). The program explores a little-known side of the 16th president, who suffered suicidal urges and called himself "the loneliest man in the world."

Effective January 2, FedEx and UPS have raised their rates. According to ABA affinity partner PartnerShip, the new base rates reflect an average increase of 3.9 percent for standard ground shipping. However, PartnerShip notes that through the ABA affinity program booksellers will continue to receive deep discounts off Fed Ex's base rates.

Setting the stage for what is sure to be a month of intense and heated debate this January, the political gamesmanship of the past several weeks over the Patriot Act conference report finally concluded yesterday, but not without one final twist. In a near-empty chamber, the Senate by unanimous consent approved the U.S. House of Representative's last-minute changes to the Patriot Act reauthorization bill -- reducing the Patriot Act extension from six months to five weeks. The lone senator present was John W.

In a major victory for proponents of readers' privacy rights, late Wednesday night, the efforts of a bipartisan group of U.S. senators postponed a final reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act. In a voice vote, the Senate approved a six-month extension of the Patriot Act, a step designed to give Congress time to craft a bill that includes stronger provisions to ensure the privacy of America's readers.

There will be no issue of Bookselling This Week between Christmas and New Year's Day. However, the Book Sense Bestseller List will be created and will be e-mailed to booksellers and posted to BookWeb on Wednesday, December 28.

Book Sense wants to remind booksellers that it is crucial to keep reporting to the lists at this busiest time of year as next week's list will reflect, what is for most, the last big surge of holiday sales.

The American Booksellers Association has released preliminary registration figures for its inaugural Winter Institute to be held in Long Beach, California, on Thursday, January 26, and on Friday, January 27.

Enzi Introduces Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act

On Tuesday, December 20, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) introduced in the Senate the Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act (S. 2152), legislation that seeks to "level the playing field for all in-store, catalog, and online retailers so each has the same sales tax responsibilities [and to] help states collect more revenue from the sales."

This week, Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado, in partnership with BurstMarketing, launched a free, weekly podcast show, Authors on Tour -- Live, on the web at www.authorsontourlive.com. The podcasts feature recently published authors reading from and discussing their books at events at one of Tattered Cover's three locations. Each show is approximately 30 to 45 minutes.

Due to the Christmas and New Year holidays, bestseller reporting hours will be extended for 24 hours for the next two Book Sense Bestseller Lists. To accommodate the extended reporting hours, the Book Sense Bestseller List will be e-mailed to booksellers and posted to BookWeb on Wednesday.

Last week on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Susan Stamberg and several independent booksellers gave NPR listeners a gift -- a roster of favorite titles unlike those on any bestseller list. The three booksellers interviewed for "Independent Booksellers Make Their Holiday Picks" were Rona Brinlee of The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach, Florida; Lucia Silva of Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City, California; and Chuck Robinson of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington.

Booksellers who are eager to get into the swing with Curious George, whose eponymous film opens on February 10, still have an opportunity to grab a yellow hat and other special promotional materials from Book Sense. However, quantities are extremely limited.

The 2005 Book Sense Bestsellers, a special listing of the year's bestselling titles at independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide, was created to provide stores with a versatile marketing tool to help drive sales during the all-important holiday season and into the new year.

In a stirring victory for advocates of free speech and readers' privacy rights, just after noon today Sen. Bill Frist's (R-TN) attempt to end debate over the USA Patriot Act reauthorization conference report by passing a motion for cloture was defeated. Forty-seven senators voted against the motion, while 52 senators voted in favor. Supporters of the reauthorization conference report needed 60 votes to pass a motion for cloture and to prevent a filibuster that had been threatened by a bipartisan coalition of senators.

Campaign for Reader Privacy Calls Supporters to Action

This week, Book Sense is debuting the Book Sense 2005 Bestsellers, a special listing of the year's bestsellers in six categories, based on sales at independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide.