Industry News

The New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) is expecting robust attendance at its 31st Annual Meeting & Trade Show, which will be held at the World Trade Center in Boston from Friday, October 8, through Sunday, October 10. The trade show floor will be open from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, and from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Below is an outline of recent changes to the data in the ABA Book Buyer's Handbook online at handbook.bookweb.org.

Bookstore sales remained soft with July revenue off for the fourth month in a row. July 2004 bookstore sales of $1,153 million were 1.9 percent lower than the $1,175 million seen in July 2003.

Bookstore sales continued to disappoint, especially when contrasted with the strong performance of overall retail for the same period.

Overall retail of $347 billion for July 2004 was 7.4 percent better than the $323 billion in July

This week, the American Booksellers Association published the results of the 2004 ABACUS study on BookWeb.org. Accessible to ABA bookstore members only, this year's study, which achieved a participation rate of 11 percent with 181 bookstores submitting financial data, focused on providing participating businesses, and the independent bookselling community at large, with year-to-year trends, based on the results of bookstores participating in both the 2003 and 2004 studies.

Hurricane Frances slammed into the east coast of Florida early on the Sunday before Labor Day with 105 mph winds, causing massive flooding and property damage in the billions of dollars, and leaving millions of residents without power. According to wire service reports, Frances was notable for its broad reach and the leisurely pace it took, lingering offshore for hours, then battering the coast for much of Sunday morning before heading northwest. The eye of the hurricane, where the worst weather occurred, extended across 80 miles, from Vero Beach to Boynton, Florida.

Chris Van Allsburg's Caldecott Medal-winning The Polar Express (Houghton Mifflin) will come to the big screen this November 10 in an animated adaptation from Warner Bros., starring Tom Hanks.

This coming weekend is a busy one for booksellers as the Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association (MSIBA), Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA), and Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) all hold their fall trade shows. In addition to exhibiting at the shows, ABA is sponsoring a series of educational programs, which are free and open to all ABA member booksellers.

2004 Hugo Winners Announced

The 2004 Hugo Awards, honoring excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, were presented at the Worldcon Convention on Saturday, September 4. Among this year's winners were:

The downloadable PDF flier of October "We Also Recommend" titles, which includes bibliographic information, jacket images, and booksellers' quotations, is now available on BookWeb.org. (To download, click here).

The September Marketing Action Kit includes:

With Banned Books Week, the national celebration of First Amendment rights, just over two weeks away, booksellers are being encouraged to take advantage of the event to educate the public about the importance of protecting bookstore and library privacy, particularly since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in October 2001.

The final days of the Campaign for Reader Privacy petition drive are drawing near. Participating booksellers should remember that in order for the signatures they have collected to be counted all signed petitions must be sent by September 20 to ABA, Restore Reader Privacy, Attn.: Oren Teicher, 828 S. Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591. Of course, until that time, ABA is urging booksellers to keep collecting signatures!

It's been a tough three weeks weather-wise for businesses and residents in the southeast -- with a devastating hurricane hitting Florida, a tropical storm battering Virginia -- and now there's no rest for the storm weary as another massive hurricane is on the way.

The Upper Midwest Booksellers Association (UMBA) will hold its fall trade show from Friday, October 1, to Sunday, October 3, at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minnesota. Exhibit hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Education programming, all free this year, will be held on Friday, with one program, ABA's "Book Sense Gift Card Users Group," on Saturday.