Industry News

Since the launch of the ABA Book Buyer's Handbook online at handbook.bookweb.org/ in April 2002, publishers, distributors, and wholesalers have been updating their company data on an ongoing basis.

David Bolduc, owner of Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colorado, recently recalled when it was that he first became "very intense" about bookstore security. It was at the end of a year, the time to go through his store's financials and its physical inventory. "I would say to myself, 'What!? I'm working my butt off, yet I'm losing so many books to theft,'" Bolduc said during a recent interview with BTW. "And this would go on year after year.

The Book Industry Study Group's (BISG) recently released study, Book Industry Trends 2005, projects that publishers' net dollar sales (after returns) will increase 5.3 percent to approximately $30 billion in 2005, from approximately $28.5 billion in 2004. Publishers' unit sales are projected to increase by only 2.1 percent, however, to 2.34 billion in 2005, from 2.30 billion in 2004. Meanwhile, domestic consumer expenditures on books are projected to increase by 4.8 percent to $41.1 billion in 2005, from $39.2 billion in 2004.

The American Booksellers Association recently launched a new membership marketing campaign with the goals of reaching as many potential new members as possible and improving the products and services available to current members.

To help in these efforts, the association has hired a new full-time membership marketing associate, Anita Mozayeni, who will be working with Membership Marketing Director Meg Smith, on bookstore outreach to ensure consistent evaluation of products and better delivery of services.

This year's winners of the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award for Excellence in Children's Bookselling, announced by the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) on May 11, are Reading Reptile Books and Toys for Young Mammals in Kansas City, Missouri, in the children's specialty category, and BookPeople in Austin, Texas, in the general bookstore category.

First Amendment activist and bookseller Cammie Mannino, owner of Halfway Down the Stairs Children's Bookshop in downtown Rochester, Michigan, was instrumental in securing the re-election of two incumbent school board candidates. The contentious campaign, which pitted the two incumbents against two newcomers supported by a newly formed conservative political action committee (PAC), ended on May 3 with a record turnout and two-to-one victories over both PAC candidates.

Every week dozens of booksellers seek and share advice and information about bookselling and the book industry on BookWeb's Idea Exchange. Here's a look at some of the topics booksellers are talking about this week. All ABA member booksellers are invited to join in.

Among the topics that booksellers are discussing in the Bookseller-to-Bookseller Forum are:

The American Booksellers Association is seeking member input for its BookExpo America "All-Day Education Program" session "The Bookstore as a Third Place: Making Your Store a Community Center Through Innovative Events." The event, which will be held from 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. and again at 3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m., on Thursday, June 2, will focus on creating events to position the bookstore as a center for community and political action.

The start of BookExpo America (BEA), which will be held from Thursday, June 2, to Sunday, June 5, at New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center, is just two weeks away.

The approximately 1,000 ABA member booksellers staying at the Park Central Times Square Hotel, the "Hotel ABA -- New York City," will enjoy a host of complimentary benefits that have been designed to make their BookExpo America experience easier and more enjoyable.

When Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and a group of Vermont booksellers and librarians first called attention to Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act in March 2003, criticism of the provision, which eliminated the safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records, was hard to come by in the mainstream media.

At this year's BookExpo America (BEA), the National Book Foundation will be raffling a pair of tickets to its 2005 National Book Awards Ceremony to be held on November 16 at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. All BEA attendees are eligible to enter the drawing to win the pair of tickets valued at $1,000 each.

Retail sales at bookstores this past March matched the performance of March 2004. Although not a strong performance, March sales put an end to the decline of recent months. Preliminary March 2005 figures recently released by Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch estimate retail sales at bookstores at $1,036 million, the same as last March.

Overall retail sales remain strong and continue to outperform bookstore sales. Overall retail sales of $346 billion for March 2005 were 7.5 percent ahead of the $322 billion reported in March 2004.

Results of the 2005 ABA Board of Directors elections, which concluded on May 4, were recently certified by the association's election inspector, KPMG. Candidates chosen by ABA bookstore members to serve as directors, with terms ending in 2008, were Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana; Michael Tucker of Books Inc.

If booksellers had a free day away from their stores and the opportunity to be driven around in a bus with a group of like-minded colleagues, how would they most likely spend the day?

Visiting other bookstores, of course.