Industry News

In a decision that the Authors Guild, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), and Association of American Publishers (AAP) hailed as a victory for free expression, Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Esseks dropped an attempt to jail a cooperating witness who shared his story in a recently published book. "We're very happy with [the decision], it's a great result," said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. "This time the law worked the way it ought to."

Beginning June 21, stores participating in Scholastic Book Fair's Retailer Coupon Program can accept customer certificates in exchange for copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The publishing series that took the sting out of being called a "dummy" is offering independent booksellers a special publication to help them "work smarter, not harder." Beginning at BookExpo America, Wiley Publishing is offering booksellers free copies of a special BEA edition of Bookselling For Dummies.

On May 7, Chuck Robinson, owner of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, was presented with this year's Liberty Bell Award by the Whatcom County Bar Association. The award acknowledges outstanding community service to the legal system by a non-attorney, including encouraging a sense of civic responsibility and contributing to good government.

A member of the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, Robinson served on the American Booksellers Association Board and was its president from 1992 - 1994.

Bookstore sales in March turned sharply downward continuing the decline that began in February. March sales of $929 million were 17 percent lower than the $1,126 million realized in March of last year.

Overall retail sales of $306 billion for March 2003 were 3.4 percent ahead of the $296 billion for the previous year.

March is the 14th month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep pace with overall retail.

On Thursday, May 15, thirty-five organizations -- including the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), American Booksellers Association, American Library Association (ALA), Barnes & Noble Booksellers, and Borders Group Inc. -- issued a statement supporting the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157). The bill, which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 6 by Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records.

In an unfortunate illustration of taxing Peter to pay Paul, on May 1, members of the Rhode Island Senate proposed an additional one percent sales tax on all books sold in Rhode Island by any retailer. According to the amendment offered by State Senators Rhoda Perry, Frank Ciccone, and Juan Pichardo, the tax generated would be used by cities and towns exclusively for free public libraries.

May 4, 2003, marked JoAnn McGreevy's 33rd anniversary as director of the New York University Bookstores. As she plans her retirement at the end of this month, she recalled for BTW her extraordinary first day.

Growing Market Opportunity for Independent Booksellers

By Michael F. Hoynes, ABA Marketing Officer

Much has been written about the aging of America. A major part of the story is the approximately 72 million baby boomers who are now moving into their fifties. Every shift in demographic patterns creates a new business opportunity for some business sector, and there is a great deal of evidence that the growing number of older book buyers opens a major marketing opportunity for independent booksellers.

Nearly three months after it temporarily closed its doors, Santa Monica independent bookstore Midnight Special announced that it had found a new location at 1450 2nd Street. The new store is less than a half-mile from its previous location on the Third Street Promenade.

The 2003 ABA Booksellers Forum series came to a close on May 1 at the UConn Co-op, in Storrs, Connecticut. The forum, organized in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA), followed a meeting of the New England Children's Booksellers Association. The ABA/NEBA forum was the twelfth forum of 2003. Since the launch of the forum program in January 1998, ABA has hosted over 70 meetings with member booksellers across the country.

To kick off the Book Sense - History Channel Hardcover History in-store promotion campaign, The History Channel will present an advance screening of a documentary based on the first book spotlighted in the promotion, Blood From a Stone: The Quest for the Life Diamonds by Yaron Svoray and Richard Hammer (Forge), for ABA bookstore members only at this year's BookExpo America.

On Friday, May 2, Pocket Books announced that it was recalling the mass market edition of Deception Point, by Dan Brown (ISBN 0671027387), because the prologue was inadvertently left out of the book. The publisher conducted a "rush reprint" to replace the recalled books, which were scheduled to be available by May 5.

How can a regional public radio station that covers parts of seven northeastern states, including New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Hampshire, offer local coverage for listeners in very different communities?