Industry News

Wilska Resigns as NEBA President

In a letter dated July 23, New England Booksellers Association members were informed that Eric Wilska of the Bookloft in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, had submitted his resignation as president of the regional "due to philosophical differences with a majority of the Board over governance issues, primarily dealing with the relationship between the executive director and the Board."

That Bookstore in Blytheville's Mary Gay Shipley had been courting former President Bill Clinton, hoping to convince him to stop by the store, "since he signed the contract" for My Life (Knopf). Her perseverance has paid off: Clinton will be visiting That Bookstore in Blytheville, Arkansas, on Thursday, July 29, at 12:30 p.m.

Book Sense bookstores can help their customers win a crime spree -- well, actually, a crime-writing spree -- when they direct customers to A&E Network's Cold Case Files Sweepstakes.

A&E's Cold Case Files, a series that examines the art of forensics, has partnered with Book Sense and Penguin to create a sweepstakes designed specifically for Book Sense stores and their customers. The grand prize is a 7-Day/6-Night trip for two to the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.

From May 8 to June 3, 2004, the Lonely Planet Independent Bookstore Tour traveled to 26 states, visiting more than 100 independent bookstores. During the trip, which began in New York and ended in Chicago at this year's BookExpo America, the Lonely Planet crew amassed hundreds of great photos of the interiors and exteriors of stores situated up and down the east coast, in the southeast and central U.S. The photos, which were part of Lonely Planet's exhibit at BEA, were a big draw, as independents took in what other booksellers were doing in other regions.

The first Southern California Independent Bestseller List, published in a cooperative effort between Book Sense and the Southern California Booksellers Association, debuted last week. The SCBA list includes bestsellers in the categories of Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction, Trade Paperback Fiction and Nonfiction, Mass Market, and Children's (Fiction and Illustrated) books.

Building on the success of last May's Shop Talk, the first held in central New York State, Colgate Bookstore and the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) have announced that they will be holding a Shop Talk at Colgate Bookstore in Hamilton, New York, on August 10, from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. "At the end of the last Shop Talk, we asked [the attendees] if they would like more Shop Talks, and an overwhelming number of people said yes," said Rob Stahl, general book manager at Colgate Bookstore.

Less than a week after publication, the early success of The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Norton) can be best described as surprising -- sending its publisher back to the presses, booksellers scrambling to fulfill orders, and garnering good reviews in the media.

In an effort to take advantage of Denver's burgeoning suburban market, Tattered Cover Book Store will be opening a third location, in Highlands Ranch, a southwestern Denver suburb. "We're expanding into a really growing market there," said Cathy Langer, buyer for Tattered Cover and an ABA Board member. "We've been looking long and hard for just the right location, and we're really excited this has worked out."