Industry News

Limited edition Harry Potter Book Sense gift cards are still available and are ready to ship immediately. All cards can be ordered with or without store imprints. But booksellers interested in offering their customers special, limited edition Harry Potter Book Sense gift cards should order now, as supplies are limited. Orders must be placed through the booksenseorders.givex.com web page.

Alex Scott was a little girl with big problems and big ideas. Her battle with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer, cut her eight-year life short in 2004, but her legacy lives on. Her remarkable initiative, to raise awareness and dollars for pediatric cancer research, was the inspiration behind a complete fundraising guide, Alex's Lemonade Stand Book and Kit, published on May 30, by Running Press/Perseus, in time for this year's Alex's Lemonade Stand Weekend.

The American Bookseller Association is seeking to determine how many bookstore members are interested in ordering a print edition of a 2005 ABA Book Buyer's Handbook. Booksellers are asked to respond by July 1 via an online form or by sending an e-mail with Book Buyer's Handbook in the subject line and including store name, address, phone number, ABA ID number, and number of copies desired to [email protected].

On Wednesday, June 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill by a vote of 238 - 187, sending a clear message to the Bush administration that Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act needs to be amended to protect Americans' right to privacy. The amendment, which was co-sponsored by Reps.

On Friday, June 10, BookSense.com moved its servers to a new location, closer to ABA's office, allowing for easier maintenance and resulting in significant cost savings. BookSense.com sites were brought down at approximately 2:30 Eastern Time on Friday afternoon and were made live again at about midnight on the same day. Total down time was just under 10 hours.

In a press release issued immediately following BookExpo America and its own festive literary awards celebration, the Lambda Literary Foundation Board of Trustees announced dramatic changes regarding the future of the nonprofit organization devoted to the recognition and promotion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing.

On Thursday, June 9, Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore and The King's English, both of Salt Lake City, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Utah were part of a broad-based group of organizations that filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Utah challenging the constitutionality of a Utah law that seeks to restrict children's access to material on the Internet.

Effective Monday, June 27, the American Booksellers Association's new address will be:

200 White Plains Road
Tarrytown, NY 10591

The association's general phone [(800) 637-0037; (914) 591-2665] and fax [(914) 591-2720] numbers will remain unchanged.

The well-attended session "Improving Ambience, Improving Sales" was held on Thursday, June 2, as part of ABA's daylong education program at BookExpo America. Presented by bookstore consultant Kate Whouley of Books in Common on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the session was adapted from an all-day educational workshop Whouley created for the New England Booksellers Association. Early in her presentation, Whouley discussed how the "accumulation of stuff" can snowball into a major headache for booksellers if they are not careful.

The business of children's bookselling, award-winning authors and booksellers, and the best of publishers' children's lists were all part of Thursday's and Friday's program at this year's BookExpo America.

As of last Friday, the news is good for Second Story Book Shop in Chappaqua, New York. Owner Joan Ripley has signed a two-year lease for the 32-year-old bookstore, which was threatened with eviction when a new landlord informed her of his intention to terminate her month-to-month tenancy in favor of a new lease with a law firm.

For those of you who have survived an amazing BookExpo America 2005, we salute you.... And for others, there is a wealth of material for your consideration in this June White Box....

Please remember to contact Dan Cullen at [email protected] with your nominations for upcoming Book Sense Picks Lists, and don't be shy about communicating directly with the publishers about the items they've chosen to share with you here. Among them:

Galleys, ARCs, Finished Copies:

On January 1, 2007, the ISBN agency will begin issuing 13-digit ISBNs; publishers must assign only 13-digit ISBNs to their books; and retailers' POS systems must accept 13-digit ISBNs. To help book industry professionals navigate the switch from the 10-digit to the 13-digit ISBN, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) will be holding online seminars, or "webinars," designed to unravel the complexities of the ISBN transition.

On Tuesday, June 14, BookExpo America (BEA) released its final report on attendance at this year's show, which was held from June 2 - 5 at New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center. Industry professionals registered for the show numbered 34,966, and 27, 421 attendees were verified with scanners at the show entrances, according to the BEA report. Of those in attendance 7,701 were estimated to be book buyers.

After a flat performance in March, April retail sales at bookstores were down five percent from the same period last year. Preliminary April 2005 bookstore sales were $938 million, compared to $987 million in April 2004. For the first quarter of 2005, retail sales at bookstores were 3.7 percent below 2004 figures.

Overall retail sales continue to outperform bookstore sales. Overall retail sales of $343 billion for April 2005 were 7.5 percent ahead of the $319 billion reported in April of 2004.