Harry Potter Miscellany

Partners/West and NCIBA Create a Backup Plan

Partners/West Book Distributing is offering members of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association a backup plan to ensure stores have enough copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic) to satisfy demand this weekend. Beginning on Friday, June 15, and on Saturday and Sunday, July 16 - 17, all Bay Area independents with Partners accounts can pick up copies of the book at the NCIBA offices.

According to Hut Landon, NCIBA executive director, credit for the idea goes to Partners/West and its general manager Gloria Genee. "Gloria approached us at [BookExpo America]. She wanted Bay Area independents to be able to get the books immediately if need be. [Reorders] are a two-day delivery from Washington for booksellers. We're going to store the 140 cartons in our offices, available to any member with an account with Partners -- first come, first served while they last."

Landon told BTW that NCIBA will staff the office with a Partners sales rep from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. If any titles remain at the end of what is expected to be a busy weekend, stores can pick them up at NCIBA offices during normal business hours on Monday.

BTW Wants to Know

The final countdown has begun for Scholastic's July 16 release of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. BTW would like to vicariously attend as many Potter-related celebrations as possible: Please keep digital cameras handy during your store's midnight, dawn, or noon events. We would like to run an array of photographs in future issues of BTW. Be sure to include captions with the name of your store and a description of the people and events pictured. Photos (preferably 300 dpi, saved as JPEG or TIFF files) and descriptions should be sent to BTW staff writer Nomi Schwartz at [email protected].

Jumping the Gun?

Any sightings of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on sale prior to Scholastic's official laydown date of Saturday, July 16, at 12:01 A.M., should be reported to David Walker, ABA's director of special projects, at [email protected] or (800) 627-0037, ext. 6612.