Industry News

In late June, Penguin Group (USA) announced the launch of a new direct sales division to be aimed primarily at the children's market, with a particular emphasis on preschool and young readers, called "Family Books at Home." Family Books will sell books via a network of "independent consultants," who will utilize a "party plan" method of selling books at gatherings in private homes. Penguin hired former Avon.com president and general manager Len Edwards as the new division's president of direct selling.

The American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors and senior staff met from Thursday, July 8, through Sunday, July 11. The first day of meetings was held in New York City and was preceded by an orientation for the new members of the Board, Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, and Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, on Wednesday, July 7, also in New York City. The remaining meetings were held at ABA's headquarters in Tarrytown, New York.

During the July meeting, the Board:

The results of a major survey on the state of reading in America were released last Thursday by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the organization termed its findings a "bleak assessment" and the news "dire." In his preface to Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, NEA chairman Dana Gioia explained that the report's key findings could be summarized in one sentence: "Literary reading in America is not only declining rapidly among all groups, but the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young.&

Books Inc. Announces Plans for a New Store

Michael Tucker, president and co-owner of Books Inc., has announced plans to open a new store on Park Street in Alameda, California. The new Books Inc., the store's 10th location, will be part of the revitalization of the Park Street business district, which includes over 70 historically significant structures, including the Alameda Theater.

John Evans and Alison Reid, co-owners of DIESEL, A Bookstore, in Oakland, California, recently opened a second DIESEL, in Malibu, which had been without a bookstore for years. Evans and Reid reported that the Malibu community was thrilled to have the store, which has been "doing gangbusters" since its Memorial Day weekend opening.

Consumers spent more on children's books in 2003 than for each of the previous seven years, according to Ipsos BookTrends(SM), which announced results of 2003's key findings about the children's book industry in June. The report, based on continuous reporting from a panel of 16,000 households, found that consumer spending on books purchased for children under 14 years old increased nearly 11 percent in 2003 over 2002.

Sluggish bookstore sales in May, coming in the wake of flat sales in April, were disappointing -- especially when contrasted with the healthy performance of overall retail for the same period. May 2004 bookstore sales of $1,095 million lagged 4.2 percent behind the $1,143 million of May 2003.

By comparison, overall retail sales of $346 billion for May 2004 was 6.8 percent better than the $324 billion for May of 2003.

2003-2004 RETAIL SALES for BOOKSTORES (unadjusted)

A number of booksellers with BookSense.com Web sites have recently reported a new twist to the problem of fraudulent orders. In addition to orders for large numbers of Bibles and medical texts, booksellers are now seeing fraudulent orders for popular trade titles, sometimes with expedited shipping, and with domestic billing and shipping addresses.

To help booksellers respond to last week's historic tie vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill, ABA has prepared template letters that can be adapted by booksellers to send to their representative based on his or her vote on the measure. The sample letters are posted online and can be accessed by clicking here.

On Monday, July 12, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held a press conference at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont, to announce that he would continue his efforts to get Congress to pass an amendment of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act to protect the privacy of bookstore and library patrons' records. Congressmen Sanders, addressing a crowd of approximately 50 reporters, librarians, and booksellers, said, "I have no doubt that we are going to win this fight, and when we do it, we're going to strike a tremendous blow for the U.S.

On Thursday, July 8, the Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill, died in a tie vote -- 210 - 210 -- in the U.S. House of Representatives. The amendment had been introduced by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and would have barred the Justice Department from using any of the money appropriated under the CJS bill to search bookstore and library records under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

From Thursday, July 1, through Wednesday, July 7, independent businesses all over the country celebrated Independents Week, a national promotion to educate the public on the importance of shopping at their local, independent businesses. The event was organized by the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) -- a national outreach networking hub and resource center for independent business alliances (IBAs) and independent businesses.

On Wednesday, July 7, NPR's Michele Norris interviewed three independent booksellers on the All Things Considered segment "Summer Reading Picks for Kids: Booksellers Make Suggestions for Warm Weather Tales." Norris spoke with Sheilah Egan of A Likely Story Children's Bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia; Johann Hauser-Ulrich of Wild Rumpus Bookstore in Minneapolis; and Judy Burlow of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver.

NEA Finds Literary Reading in Dramatic Decline

On Thursday, July 8, the National Endowment for the Arts released the results of a survey that found literary reading among Americans declined 10 percentage points from 1982 to 2002, representing a loss of 20 million potential readers. Fewer than half of American adults are now reading literature, according to the study findings, which were announced by NEA Chairman Dana Gioia during a news conference at the New York Public Library.

The Great American Writing Road Trip Adventure (RTA), sponsored by Writer's Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, is making its way around the country in the Road Trip Touring Van, with bookstore events in over 30 cities. The Road Trip van is also making unscheduled stops at libraries and college campuses along the tour route, dropping off materials of interest to writers or prospective writers.