Industry News

Strains of "At the Copa" may be heard as children's booksellers make their way to BookExpo America 2005 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center during the first week in June. Educational programming for children's booksellers is scheduled for Thursday, June 2, and the day concludes with a dinner and auction at Manhattan's legendary Copacabana to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC).

Scholastic Releases Harry Potter Art

Every week dozens of booksellers seek and share advice and information about bookselling and the book industry on BookWeb's Idea Exchange Forums. Here, BTW presents a look at some of this week's topics -- with the hope that more booksellers will join in.

In the Bookseller-to-Bookseller Forum this week, new threads were started about a "bookstore shake out" occurring in Illinois; e-mail list management software; promotion of a first-novel; children's classics series, and more.

In Madison, Wisconsin, a proposed ordinance that amends a 2001 city law that requires lobbyists to register and report expenses related to their activities could have a chilling effect on public dialogue, according to Sandra Torkildson, owner of A Room of One's Own Bookstore.

For the eight-week period ending March 6, 2005, and based on reporting from hundreds of independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available at www.bookweb.org/read/5677.

Attention Media: Please contact Meg Smith at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

In February, legislation that would provide small businesses with access to greater health insurance options and lower premiums by allowing for the creation of Association Health Plans was introduced in both the House and Senate.

On Wednesday, March 9, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is expected to hold a press conference in Washington, D.C., to announce that he is reintroducing the Freedom to Read Protection Act, legislation to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act to protect the privacy of bookstore and library patrons. Representing independent booksellers at the press conference will be Linda Ramsdell of The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, and ABA COO Oren Teicher.

Comedian and author Bill Maher will perform for an audience of booksellers and other book industry professionals at this year's BookExpo America Book Industry Foundation Benefit. The exclusive, "closed" appearance on Saturday, June 4, at New York City's The Town Hall will benefit the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the Association of American Publishers Get Caught Reading Campaign.

At this year's BookExpo America, to be held from June 2 - 5 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, author and bookstore consultant Kate Whouley is hoping to help booksellers put a finger on what has always been an elusive, yet crucial, retail element: ambience -- that certain something that keeps customers coming back to the store.

Denver's Tattered Cover, which in mid-November opened a new store in the Highlands Ranch Town Center, is involved in a project that may lead to the opening of another location in a new retail center on the main east-west corridor in Denver, at Colfax Avenue and Elizabeth Street. The new store would be the fourth for Tattered Cover, which includes the original Cherry Creek location and a store in Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo). The Denver Film Society and Twist & Shout record store would also be part of the proposed center.

In what looks to be a growing, if not rather ironic, trend in many small towns around the country, a chain store has spurred the formation of yet another independent business alliance (IBA). It was a proposed development to be anchored by a Borders Books & Music that was a catalyst for the creation of the Austin, Texas, IBA; another Borders opening that inspired the creation of an IBA in Corvalis, Oregon; and, most recently, in St.

Under the American Booksellers Association's bylaws, in addition to Board of Directors candidates put forth by ABA's Nominating Committee and approved by the Board (this year, Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana; Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis; and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco), any bookstore member may submit a petition for a director candidate. Upon receipt of a valid petition, the Nominating Committee will add the petitioned candidate's name to the director ballot to be mailed to bookstores in early April.

Pocket Books to Launch New Oversized, Premium Editions in July

On February 28, Pocket Books announced a new program of oversized Premium Editions that would feature the imprint's bestselling authors in larger, high quality, easy-to-read volumes "designed to bridge the gap between traditional mass and trade paperback formats."

ABA member booksellers can still take advantage of the special free subscription offer to VNU's The Book Standard (www.thebookstandard.com), the new online, book-industry trade publication, which launched at the end of January. This special membership offer is for a free one-year subscription and is open to all ABA member bookstore owners and their employees.

As a helpful reminder, here is a "Three-Month Bookseller Action List," highlighting important dates and deadlines related to ABA and Book Sense activities and events, for the period March - May 2005. The list, which is included in the March Red Box mailing to stores with Book Sense, may also be downloaded in pdf format.