Industry News

This week the American Booksellers Association officially launched the Publisher Editing Tools feature of the Book Buyer's Handbook online at http://handbook.bookweb.org/. The editing tools allow publishers, wholesalers, and distributors listed in the Handbook database to view and update their company information online at any time. In addition, a new enhancement provides for the display of a company's special offers and short-term discounts at the end of its standard Handbook listing.

In September, ABA began work to reintroduce the ABACUS industry study, a proven financial research tool for independent booksellers that offers a wide range of bookselling-specific financial breakdowns and analyses. By integrating the ABACUS data into their business planning, independent booksellers can compare their store's financial performance against detailed industry composites.

The BookSense.com free trial may have ended, but many trial participants are continuing with the BookSense.com program. Since September 30, over 20 bookstores that participated in the free trial have officially joined the BookSense.com program, and "we're expecting more than double that number to ultimately convert from the free trial to the official product," Len Vlahos, BookSense.com director, told BTW. These bookstores join an ever-growing BookSense.com family, which currently numbers more than 230 bookstores.

On Monday, October 28, Virginia's Internet "harmful to minors" statute was back in court. Before a three-judge panel in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, the state of Virginia asked that a U.S. District Court's judgment that permanently enjoined a statute criminalizing Internet communications deemed harmful to minors be overturned and the statute reinstated.

The launch of the ABA Book Buyer's Handbook online at http://handbook.bookweb.org/ has enabled the association to update the existing data on a continual basis, as well as add new publisher listings. Below is a list of companies whose data has been changed since October 7.

The 2002 Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA) Annual Authors Feast and Fall Seminars took place on Saturday, October 26, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Pasadena, California. The day included a full agenda of educational workshops and seminars and was capped by the 10th Annual Authors Feast -- an event that earned rave reviews from attendees. "We had a stellar, stellar list of authors [for the Feast]," said Jennifer Bigelow, executive director for SCBA.

Willard Williams

When 19-year-old Willard Williams opened the Toadstool Bookshop in 1972 in his hometown, Peterborough, New Hampshire (population 5,000), he knew "absolutely nothing" about bookselling…. He does now.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) has joined three other free expression groups in suing the Department of Justice to learn how many subpoenas have been issued to bookstores, libraries, and newspapers under the USA Patriot Act. The suit was filed on October 24 and comes after a lack of response from the Department of Justice to a Freedom of Information Act (FIOA) request, filed in August, for the information.

Booksellers' Fire on the Mountain campaigns have been so impressive that Book Sense and The History Channel announced on October 18 that they had decided to recognize, not one, but three independent booksellers for their firehouse fundraising efforts.

The bookstores are:

When the ABA Board presented a gift of books for the White House Library to First Lady Laura Bush on October 9, the Board members and senior staff each gave her titles to represent the more than 260 titles in the collection. The 17 titles presented were the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year (BSBY) winners and honor books for fiction and nonfiction, the BSBY winners for Children's Literature and Children's Illustrated titles, and the BSBY winner and honor books in the Rediscovery category.

By Carl Lennertz

November/December 76 Picks just out:

The flyers are still on press, but will be mailing soon, and here is a reminder about the November/December Top Ten picks already out:

Approximately 1,000 booksellers, publishers, and authors gathered at the Philadelphia Marriott on Sunday and Monday, October 13 - 14, for the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) Fall Trade Show. Included in this figure were owners and staff from 123 stores. "We had a number of stores coming for the first time, and some stores coming back after a brief hiatus," explained NAIBA Executive Director Eileen Dengler.

The Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) 2002 Trade Show was held at the Marriott Denver Tech Center in Denver, from September 19 - 22. This year's show incorporated some scheduling and format changes, which were received well by attendees, said Lisa Knudsen, executive director for MPBA. Overall, the show was "excellent," she said. "I was happy with the turnout of booksellers, and exhibitors were pleased with traffic. It was a vigorous trade show."

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors held its fall meeting in Washington, D.C., from October 8-10. In addition to discussing a range of association-related issues, the Board also presented a gift of books for the White House Library to First Lady Laura Bush on October 9. (For full story, click here.) While in Washington, some members of the Board also helped staff the ABA exhibit at the second annual National Book Festival, which was held on October 12.