Industry News

Independent booksellers with Book Sense still have time to send in nominations for several upcoming lists.

The key deadlines are:

Ruminator Update

"We're still here, and I believe Ruminator will be here in the future," Ruminator Books co-owner David Unowsky said of the 33-year-old St. Paul, Minnesota landmark, which has been struggling to stay open in the face of huge debts, stemming largely from its chief creditor, Macalester College.

Author Alice Hoffman chose The Photograph by Penelope Lively (Viking) as the next title to be read by the Today Book Club. The announcement was made on NBC's Today Show on Tuesday, March 23.

In February, organizations representing booksellers, librarians, and writers launched the Campaign for Reader Privacy (www.readerprivacy.org), a nationwide grassroots petition drive that aims to restore the safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

In mid-February, ABA began collecting 2003 financial data from member booksellers for the second year of the new ABACUS study.

The American Booksellers Association is extending an invitation to booksellers in the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) region, as well as to booksellers in Connecticut, for a Booksellers Forum to be held at ABA's offices in Tarrytown, New York, on Wednesday, April 14. The gathering, held in conjunction with NAIBA, will be hosted by ABA Board member John Bennett of Wyckoff, New Jersey's Bennett Books, ABA's CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher, as well as other association staff.

New for 2004, BookExpo America's (BEA) Super Pass provides ABA bookstore members with unlimited access to all ABA and BEA educational programming with the $65 show pre-registration admission, potentially saving booksellers hundreds of dollars in course fees.

The American Booksellers Association continued its 2004 Booksellers Forum tour on Tuesday, March 16, with a program in conjunction with the Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association (MSIBA), at Brystone Children's Books in Fort Worth, Texas. The forum, conducted by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher, gave booksellers the chance to ask questions and to discuss key issues, including the USA Patriot Act, Book Sense Gift Cards, the 2004 ABACUS study, and more.

New Diesel-Powered Bookstore to Open in Malibu

Alison Reid and John Evans, owners of the Oakland, California's Diesel, A Bookstore, are heading to the beach in Malibu. The two have been camping in and visiting the coastal outpost for over a dozen years, but this time they are bringing books. By the end of April, Evans expects to open Diesel, a Bookstore, Malibu, a 1,800-square-foot space in one of the area's oldest shopping centers.

Contrary to the adage about the old dog and new tricks, even seasoned, longtime booksellers can learn something that improves their businesses. Take Eric Wilska, owner of The Bookloft in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and president of the New England Booksellers Asscociation: After purchasing business insurance from a private carrier for the past 30 years, he recently switched to ABA's LIBRIS, because, Wilska explained, "I saved a third of the cost for comparable coverage."

In "Reading Over Your Shoulder," a March 9 article by staff writer David Mehegan, the Boston Globe provided readers with a clear picture of efforts to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act by a broad spectrum of groups that spans the left and the right.

On Monday, March 15, the Colorado Senate State Affairs Committee restored to a "minors' access" bill a measure to ban the display of materials considered harmful to minors -- a move that booksellers hope will ultimately backfire because, they contend, it renders the "harmful to minors" bill blatantly unconstitutional. Colorado's House of Representatives had eliminated the display provision from the bill over a month ago.

This Fourth of July, the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) would like consumers to celebrate America's independence in what might be a revolutionary way for some: by celebrating their local independents.

A Likely Story, the 20-year-old children's bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia, has changed ownership, but otherwise has remained much the same. Although Dinah Paul became the store's new owner on March 1, the founder and former owner, Marilyn Dugan, continues to work there, as does the rest of the staff. Sheilah Egan, store manager and president of New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, also eases the transition from past to present. Paul knows the staff well after working in the store for the past year and a half.