Authors & Education Hit the Right Notes at SCBA

The Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA) held its 2004 Fall Seminars on Friday, November 5, at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach and its Authors Feast on Saturday, November 6, at the Aquarium of the Pacific, also in Long Beach. "It went well," said outgoing SCBA president Lise Friedman of Dutton's Brentwood in Los Angeles. "It was the first time the feast was held at the aquarium, and it was a fabulous venue." Both the exhibits and feast were very well attended, she noted.

Friedman was among those who attended ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz's presentation of "The 2% Solution" on Friday, and, she told BTW, she planned to pass along information gleaned from the seminar to appropriate staff members and to enact several of Domnitz's recommendations for moving towards greater profitability. "He gave a lot of specific details to evaluate and compare our store," she said.

For Mysterious Galaxy's Terry Gilman, who is SCBA's incoming president, "The 2% Solution" was must-see educational programming for her and some of her staff. "It's actually the second time I attended, and I think it's so good that I insisted that the manager come to the workshop. I think it's one of the best things you can do for your business." Gilman said that the seminar offered "a lifetime of improvements you can make to your store, some obvious some not."

Pointing to some of the specific points Domnitz addressed, Gilman said she wanted her manager to hear "Avin's famous line that [the way to reach greater profitability] was in the payroll." She also immediately acted on Domnitz's advice to "automate, automate, automate." Gilman said, "We called UPS and ordered their software package so we no longer manually write labels. We got their program, which is free, called 'Worldship.' It has everything you need. We no longer have to enter the customer's information into the logbook, and we can automatically track packages."

"One of my tasks as president, will be, I hope, to show how much education can help in business," she said. "One problem bookstores have is they're not taking the time to implement strategies to make the store more profitable."

Also on Friday, SCBA held the Authors Luncheon with guest authors Molly Hewitt (Men Are Dogs: In the Best Possible Sense!, Sourcebooks Hysteria) and Randall Wallace (Love and Honor, S&S). Friedman listed the luncheon as one of the highlights, reporting that author Hewitt, who spoke at the luncheon, "was funny and charming about [transitioning] from bookseller to author."

On Saturday SCBA held the Authors Feast & Book Awards. Friedman said the feast, which featured about 50 authors, was a sold-out success and that attendees enjoyed dining "under an enormous whale." Visiting authors included M. Allen Cunningham (The Green Age of Asher Witherow, Unbridled Books); Dean Koontz (Life is Good: Lessons in Joyful Living, Yorkville); Marcia Wallace (Don't Look Back, We're Not Going That Way, Off the Wall Publications); and Ron McLarty (Memory of Running, Viking).

For further information about the SCBA Seminars and Authors Feast and a list of the winners for the 2004 SCBA Book Awards, go to www.scbabooks.org/home.html. -- Karen Schechner