New England Booksellers Cheer Congressman Sanders and Kearns Goodwin at Trade Show

Although the colors of New England's foliage may have peaked, the enthusiasm of booksellers attending the 30th annual New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) trade show in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 24 - 26 continued to grow throughout the show. The Rhode Island Convention Center was the sole venue for all programming including NEBA's annual meeting, an ABA open forum, and presentation of the 2003 New England Book Awards. Comprehensive educational programming, from "Meaningful Marketing" to "ABACUS: Year One," was offered throughout the three-day show.

Booksellers attending the show were impressed by the variety and caliber of authors participating in various events. Evelyn Wilska, co-owner, with husband, Eric Wilska, of The Bookloft in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, noted, in particular, speakers Doris Kearns Goodwin, Robert D. Putnam, and Tracy Kidder. "I felt so fortunate to be in the presence of such minds," Wilska told BTW. Most of us wanted to go upstairs to our rooms immediately and read their books."

Kearns Goodwin, who was presented the President's Award for lifetime contribution to arts and letters by outgoing NEBA president Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, expressed her appreciation to booksellers at Friday's Industry Luncheon and told them she would be donating the $1,000 award to the Concord Free Public Library, in Concord, Massachusetts. Kearns Goodwin also discussed her upcoming biography of Lincoln, which will be published by S&S.

Robert D. Putnam, co-author (with Lewis M. Feldstein), of the forthcoming Better Together: Restoring the American Community (S&S), was the keynote speaker at the Industry Luncheon, where NEBA presented the Gilman Award for outstanding service as sales representatives to the entire Random House New England sales force, including both the field and the telephone representatives. Accepting the award on their behalf was Random House's Don Brock, who explained that the $1,000 prize would be presented to the New England Literacy Resource Center in Boston.

Booksellers who attended Friday's Children's Books Author/Illustrator Dinner spoke enthusiastically of Walter Dean Myers' (The Beast, Scholastic) moving presentation, as well as of the those of Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 3: Lucinda's Secret, S&S) and Jim LaMarche (The Elves and the Shoemaker, Chronicle).

Saturday's Breakfast With Authors, hosted by Susan Novotny of the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York, featured Tracy Kidder (Mountains Beyond Mountains, Random House), Caroline Alexander (The Bounty, Viking), and Jonathan Lethem (Fortress of Solitude, Doubleday).

Mark Ouillette, manager of The Bookloft, attended the panel sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression featuring Vermont Congressman Bernie Sanders, sponsor of the Freedom to Read Protection Act. Ouillette said of Sanders, "He clarified the issues [regarding repeal of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act] and spoke about the different possible strategies to take depending on what happens next."

The focus of Sanders' presentation to the group of 70, primarily booksellers, in attendance was just how much progress had been made on the issue of restoring the privacy of library and bookstore records, on what a difference collective action by booksellers and librarians had made. Sanders said that he couldn't "over express the importance of what booksellers and librarians have done in turning this around," but he added, "We have a long way to go. We desperately need your help and we need it now, we have the momentum with us."

On Saturday night was NEBA's Dinner With Authors. Among the fifteen featured authors moving from table to table were Khassan Baiev (Oath: The Remarkable Story of a Surgeon's Life Under Fire in Chechnya, Walker & Co.), Cathleen Schine (She Is Me, Little, Brown), Edward P. Jones (The Known World, HarperCollins), and Jane Yolen (The Radiation Sonnets, Algonquin).

Three other outstanding authors were presented with the New England Book Awards at the Sunday Breakfast With Authors. Given annually to New England authors and publishers who have produced a body of work that stands as a significant contribution to New England culture, the awards were bestowed upon Lois Lowry for Children's, Jodi Picoult for Fiction, and Simon Winchester for Nonfiction.

Judy Crosby, owner of Island Books in Middletown, Rhode Island, spoke highly of the education seminars at this year's show, including "Meaningful Marketing" with Doug Hall. "It was interesting and enlightening," she told BTW. "Hall talked about things that we think are marketing truths but really aren't." Crosby said that she was looking for marketing ideas to help keep sales up in her newly expanded store. "We just expanded the store from 1,000 to 1,600 square feet in an addition built by the landlord. And Barnes & Noble opened in our area on October 1. So far we haven't noticed much change -- we're still six percent over last October and September was fabulous," she explained.

Educational programming on Saturday featured "Succession Planning II: Business Valuation," sponsored by ABA; "Book Scan: The Next Chapter in the Industry"; and "Connecting With Teachers & Librarians: How to Bring Schools into Your Stores." The latter, organized by the New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Council (NECBA) was followed by the NECBA Annual Meeting. According to Carol Chittenden, owner of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the scheduling of the NEBA show late in October this year gave members additional time to review leading fall releases of middle-grade and young-adult fiction resulting in an unusually large selection being presented at the NECBA meeting.

From left to right: Dan Chartrand, Dale Szczeblowski, Linda Ramsdell, and Suzanne Staubach with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz at the ABA Open Forum.

Chittenden also mentioned the "ABACUS: Year One" session presented by Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA CEO, as particularly valuable. "That information [from ABACUS] is necessary for any bookseller who wants to stay in business. The numbers are always helpful, and each time [the store participates] we get a little better fix on our position. I brought up many of the issues discussed at the session at our latest staff meeting. I said, 'We're doing above average in this but we're going to have to tighten up in this area.'"

Domnitz also provided booksellers with an update on ABA's activities at an ABA Open Forum. He was assisted by ABA Board member Suzanne Staubach of UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut, and ABA Bookseller Advisory Council members Dan Chartrand of Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, New Hampshire; Dale Szczeblowski of The Concord Bookshop in Concord, Massachusetts; and Ramsdell.

Topics discussed included the Book Sense program, the White Box, ABA dues, the BookSense.com co-op reimbursement program, how ABA might develop new ways to help younger people enter the bookselling business, and the new electronic gift card. Booksellers asked a number of questions regarding the card's pricing and technology. Domnitz shared relevant statistics about usage of gift certificates and gift cards and said that "the entire retailing world is converting to the electronic gift card." He noted, too, that there were no immediate plans to end the paper Book Sense gift certificates.

Paul Abruzzi, manager of the Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport, Massachusetts, told BTW that he and storeowner Sue Little were able to find a solution to their store-specific gift card problem at the ABA booth. "We thought because our work station was so far from the register, we'd have difficulty using the gift card equipment," said Abruzzi. "But the staff person told us there was [an optional transaction terminal that] we could either rent or buy. Problem solved. I think these cards are the way of the future…. We can put them on spinners all around the store, they can't be faked, and we can merchandise them better."

On the busy show floor, ABA staff offered continuous online demonstrations of the new electronic gift card at the ABA/Book Sense booth. Booksellers who participated in the demonstrations or who brought a photo of a recent Book Sense display had the chance to win a free gift card training session and a color inkjet printer. Barrington Books of Barrington, Rhode Island, was the Grand Prize winner of a free gift card training session and the printer; Eight Cousins won a free gift card training session.

Incoming NEBA president Eric Wilska was energized by the show. Referring to himself and new members of the NEBA Board, Wilska said, "We've been at this a long time, we know a lot, and it's a good time to give something back. We, as booksellers, are willing to share knowledge and can pass information on to newer storeowners. I'm very interested in the professionalization of bookselling -- improving organizational skills, getting better staff and management training, learning how to do effective personnel reviews. I think with our 'book doctor' program, we can send experienced people to stores to teach a lot of these skills. I also talked to a number of senior booksellers who would be willing to go on the road with me, to a few bookstores and talk about their needs, discuss membership in NEBA, and offer to give them a critical review of their store. New booksellers are often better-funded and sharper business people than previous generations. Those of us who have survived and are left standing after all these years are left standing for a reason. We're good." --Nomi Schwartz