Industry News

Below is an outline of the most recent changes to the data in the ABA Book Buyer's Handbook online.

Not only was it a record-breaking weekend for independent bookstore sales -- fueled by the official publication of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- but records off the sales floor fell as well, as 441 bookstore locations reported their weeks' sales to the Book Sense Bestseller List. This was the largest number of selling locations to have reported sales, and their totals outstripped by far previous tallies.

Following the weekend of staggering sales, retailers nationwide were clamoring for more copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. On Wednesday, June 25, Scholastic announced that it was going back to press for a third printing of 800,000 copies of Harry V.

Booksellers all knew it would be big, but no one really knew just how big…. By sunset on June 21, the longest day of the calendar year, over five million copies of the longest book most people will ever read were sold around the country. Kids who previously needed naps after 10 pages of The Red Badge of Courage, stayed up through the night to finish the 870-page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Nine years ago, Karen Gaston, then co-owner of Butterfly Books in De Pere, Wisconsin, asked her friend Barbara Wilson to help out at her children's bookstore for a few hours during the holiday season. Wilson enjoyed it so much she stayed on as a part-time staff member, and, last January, she bought the place. "This is the job I've always wanted," said Wilson. "I've always been interested in children's literature."

At Maria's Bookshop in Durango, Colorado, owners Peter Schertz and Andrea Avantaggio are speaking out about keeping secrets. The secrets are the purchases made by customers, and the books and Web sites used by library patrons. They do not believe any of that information should be released to government agents without explanation. However, under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of 9/11, federal investigators can demand that information of booksellers and library personnel, who are then forbidden to inform patrons of the disclosure.

On Monday, June 23, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) joined Arkansas' That Bookstore in Blytheville and others in challenging the constitutionality of new amendments to an Arkansas statute. The law, due to go into effect on June 26, would require retailers -- at the risk of jail or fines -- to segregate any work that is "harmful to minors" in an "adults only" section of the store. The groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.

The terms of 14 members of the ABA Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC) recently ended at this year's BookExpo America, May 28 - June 1, and the terms of new volunteer booksellers began. The BAC is designed to provide the ABA Board of Directors with a broad cross-section of views from within the community of independent booksellers. The council is composed of 25 members, each of whom serve an average two-year term.

In late October, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories conducted a two-week observational study on the buying behavior of patrons at a large independent bookstore, Kepler's Books & Magazines in Menlo Park, California. The results of the study were informative, and, in some cases, surprising, noted Kepler's Clark Kepler. "It was interesting to see the store through a third party's eyes," he said.

The number of national and local newspapers, magazines, industry publications, and Web sites featuring Book Sense Bestseller lists (national, regional, or category) continues to grow each month.

Four newspapers recently joined the list: Bellingham, Washington's Bellingham Weekly (Pacific Northwest list); Burlington, Vermont's Burlington Free Press (Northeast list); Park City, Utah's Park City Record (National list); and Seattle's Queen Anne/Magnolia News (Pacific Northwest list).

Often booksellers are called to do more than sell books. They sometimes have to protect them, as well as the rights of readers. One independent bookseller that has historically been a stalwart protector of freedom of expression is San Francisco's inimitable City Lights Bookstore, which is celebrating its golden anniversary this month.

On Monday, June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6 - 3 to uphold the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires public libraries seeking government subsidies to install filtering software to block materials considered obscene, child pornography, or "harmful to minors." The American Library Association (ALA) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had challenged the law, contending that it violated the First Amendment. "We are disappointed with [the decision]," said Jenner & Block attorney Theresa Chmara, counsel for ALA.

On the Eve of Massive Bookselling Weekend Booksellers Encouraged to Report to Book Sense Bestseller List

As consumer expectation continues to build amid a growing barrage of media coverage, independent booksellers nationwide finalized last-minute details for special Harry Potter events in anticipation of 12:01 a.m. June 21 -- when copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Scholastic) officially go on sale.

On June 18, Oprah Winfrey announced the first selection for her revived Oprah's Book Club. The book, which had previously been identified by only an ordering ISBN, is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. In the Oprah audience were 10 staff members of Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois. They were able to hear Winfrey declare Anderson's "the best independent bookstore in the country" and to see her air a video clip taped in the store.

New York's Coliseum Books is back. On Tuesday, June 17, the city's largest independent bookstore reopened, across from the New York Public Library and Bryant Park.