Industry News

By Augie Aleksy of Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore

On Wednesday, July 13, the Campaign for Reader Privacy -- which is comprised of the American Booksellers Association, PEN American Center, the American Library Association, and the Association of American Publishers -- criticized the House Judiciary Committee regarding its failure to adopt Rep. Jerrold Nadler's (D-NY) amendment to a bill reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act. The organizations said that Nadler's amendment would have restored crucial safeguards for the privacy of library and bookstore records that were eliminated by Section 215 of the Act.

The Faribault Daily News of Faribault, Minnesota, recently joined hundreds of magazines, newspapers, and websites across the country featuring the Book Sense Bestseller List. The Bestseller List's inclusion in the newspaper was the result of the efforts of Faribault's Central Avenue Bookstore.

This year, Emporia, Kansas -- the home of about 30,000 people, as well as the Town Crier Bookstore -- was the recipient of a Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust Main Street Center.

Partners/West and NCIBA Create a Backup Plan

Partners/West Book Distributing is offering members of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association a backup plan to ensure stores have enough copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic) to satisfy demand this weekend. Beginning on Friday, June 15, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 16 - 17, all Bay Area independents with Partners accounts can pick up copies of the book at the NCIBA offices.

Local retailers and independent business alliances across the country marked Independence Day 2005 with weeklong celebrations highlighting how independent businesses help make each community unique and vibrant.

Authors interested in thanking literacy advocates, whether they're booksellers, librarians, or English teachers, typically do so on a book's acknowledgementspage. However, to show his appreciation, bestselling author James Patterson is upping the ante.

Bookseller Asks Others to Help Distributor Begin New Chapter

On Monday, July 11, in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, Koen Book Distributors filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The news comes a week after the distributor announced that, due to cash flow problems, it would not be filling orders for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

To supplement the panel discussion at the ABA education session "The Bookstore as a Third Place: Making Your Store a Community Center Through Innovative Events" at this year's BookExpo America, ABA asked booksellers to submit descriptions of innovative events that have helped to make their stores into community centers.

In the wake of recent events, "building support for First Amendment rights is particularly urgent right now," said American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) President Chris Finan, who in a recent letter to booksellers encouraged their participation in Banned Books Week, which will run this year from Saturday, September 24, through Saturday, October 1.

As a result of last week's admittance of 17 states as either full or associate members to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement's (SSUTA) governing board, the new tax system will be effective in fully compliant states as of October 1, as reported by the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA). The process for registering to collect and remit remote sales tax will be made available as of that date, according to Neal Osten, federal affairs counsel for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Just after the July 4 holiday weekend, Susan Stamberg, a National Public Radio special correspondent, spoke on air to three independent booksellers for her traditional roundup of summer reading picks.

Stamberg has commented previously to BTW that she finds the suggestions of independent booksellers "marvelous," both for her own summer reading list, and those of her many listeners. Stamberg said, "I know I can always count on them for great suggestions and great summer reading."

On July 5, Moorestown, New Jersey's Koen Book Distributors announced that, due to financial difficulties, it would not be distributing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic) to its customers. In a press release, Robert Koen, the company's president, said, "Arrangements were made with Scholastic and [its distributor] HarperCollins to make sure our customers [get] the new Harry Potter book." Orders for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince originally placed with Koen will be filled by Baker & Taylor.

"Don't call them sidelines, junk, or stuff. Call non-book items 'gifts,'" said Mary McCarthy of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee during the panel presentation "Buying, Selling, and Managing Gifts, Sidelines, and Other Non-Book Products 201" at last month's BookExpo America in New York City. The session, moderated by ABA Marketing Director Jill Perlstein, also featured Lance Fensterman of Bound to Be Read in St.