Industry News

04 Apr

Bookstore Cafés, #2: What Start-Up Strategy Suits You?

Books and coffee have a long history of association. Long before Barnes & Noble linked up with Starbucks, the coffeehouses of 18th-century London served as England’s "penny universities" where Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, and John Dryden socialized, sipped coffee, and sold their works. Two hundred years later, many booksellers feel they need to add a jolt of java to enliven their store’s atmosphere and boost sales.

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02 Apr

Be on the Lookout for BEA's Hot Deals

New to the show this year, BookExpo America exhibiting publishers will be offering HOT DEALS -- including percentage discounts, free shipping, giveaways, and other cost-savings options -- to booksellers attending the convention.

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28 Mar

Obituary – Dan Jaffe, California Bookseller Noted for His Ties to Community

Dan Jaffe, co-owner of Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma, California, and general manager of the entire group of eight Copperfield’s stores, died this month at the age of 50. The cause was apparently a heart attack, said colleague Tom Montan, who noted that Jaffe died at home sometime after March 16.

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28 Mar

Laura Bush Gets Caught Reading

The first lady, Laura Bush, will appear on a Get Caught Reading (GCR) poster to be released around the time of her second annual National Book Festival, scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., on September 21, 2002.

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27 Mar

Virginia Festival of the Book Rooted in a Community of Rich Culture

For two centuries, Charlottesville, Virginia, has drawn men and women of letters to live in its cultured environs: from Thomas Jefferson (whose Monticello is three miles east of the city) to current residents John Grisham, Rita Mae Brown, and National Book Award-winner John Casey.

And for the past several years, Charlottesville's annual Virginia Festival of the Book has attracted thousands of visitors to a five-day menu of some 150 literary panels, talks, and readings staged in venues all around town.

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27 Mar

Book Passage Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary

On March 9, Book Passage, www.bookpassage.com, in Corte Madera, California turned 25. This general-interest bookstore, noted for its author events, classes, conferences, and extensive travel books section, hosted a day of free, festive activities. The theme was "A Day of Storytelling" and top Bay Area writers participated in the celebration.

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27 Mar

Bookstore Cafés, #1 -- Six Degrees of Percolation: The Pros and Cons of Bookstore Cafés

These days, the screech and hiss of an espresso machine is as common a sound in a bookstore as the beep of a cash register or the introduction to an author reading. An increasing number of bookstore owners are now required to know almost as much about paninis and half-caf-two-percent cappuccinos as they do about Michael Chabon and Margaret Atwood.

So, if your bookstore doesn't have a café, should it? And if it already does, how do you go about improving it?

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25 Mar

'Indie Lit Revealed' at New York's Public Library

Today’s literary publishers are keepers of the written word, Dan Simon, publisher of Seven Stories Press (Noam Chomsky’s 9-11), told a crowd of more than 45 potential and present-day literary publishers and writers at the New York Public Library’s Berger Forum on Wednesday, March 20. And, he added, it’s unfortunate that today’s publishing environment dictates that something so normal as publishing quality books and stories is considered "radical."

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22 Mar

ABA Chicago Forum a High-Level Discussion on Strategic Plan

On March 20, at Transitions Learning Center -- the event space for Transitions Bookplace -- in Chicago, 37 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum from noon – 2:00 p.m. and, later, 27 attended a financial seminar presented by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, from 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Regarding the forum, ABA’s Domnitz said that booksellers attending were "deeply engaged … It was one of the best discussions of strategic planning we have had at any of the forums."

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21 Mar

Perseus Books and Running Press to Merge

On March 14, Perseus Books Group (PBG) and Running Press announced an agreement to merge the two houses. The result will be one of the largest independent trade book publishing companies in North America. "This merger will bring together two entrepreneurial success stories in the world of publishing," Jack McKeown, CEO of PBG, said in a press release.

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21 Mar

The New Yorker Leads the Pack in Nominations for Magazine Awards

The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) has announced the nominees for the 37th Annual National Magazine Awards, which will be awarded in a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria on May 1. The New Yorker again took away the most nominations -- with nine nominations in eight categories -- and 19 print magazines were nominated for more than one award, including The Atlantic Monthly and Time, with five nominations in five categories. The awards were established to honor "editorial excellence and encourage editorial vitality."

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20 Mar

'Underground California' Sheds Light on California's Literary Talent

On April 1, Small Press Distribution (SPD) and Poets & Writers, Inc. (P&W) will be launching the second annual "Underground California." Funded by the California Arts Council (CAC), the week-long event has two goals: to strengthen the bond between independent California bookstores, California writers, and California independent publishers; and "to get the message out there that California has its own literary identity," said Brent Cunningham, sales and Web manager for SPD.

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20 Mar

ABA Booksellers Forums Scheduled for Upcoming Weeks

There will be a number of ABA Booksellers Forums in the upcoming weeks. The forums are open meetings where ABA members can meet and talk with representatives of the ABA Board and association senior staff to discuss pertinent ABA- or industry-related issues.

At press time, forums were scheduled for:

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19 Mar

Harvard Book Store Is PW's Bookseller of the Year

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard Book Store has won the prestigious 2002 Bookseller of the Year Award from Publisher’s Weekly. "We are overjoyed," said Frank Kramer, owner of the Harvard Book Store. "We work very hard. To get this recognition is very gratifying."

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18 Mar

Finalists Announced for the Seventh Annual Audie Awards

On March 6, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) released the names of the 69 finalists for the Seventh Annual Audie Awards. This year, the Audie Awards, which honor excellence in audio publishing, will be presented in 23 categories.

The finalists were selected by a panel of over 100 judges who were responsible for reviewing 522 audiobooks, which were released between November 1, 2000, and October 31, 2001.

In the Abridged Fiction category, the finalists are:

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About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.

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