Industry News

On Thursday, July 31, NBC News' Today Show announced that the latest selection of its monthly "Today Book Club" is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Doubleday). The title was a July/August 2003 Book Sense 76 pick. Dave Barry, who appeared on the popular morning show with Haddon, chose the book.

On Wednesday, July 30, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed on behalf of six advocacy and community groups a legal challenge to Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act in federal court in Detroit. Members and clients of the six groups contend that they are currently the targets of investigation because of their ethnicity, religion, and political association, according to an ACLU press release. The lawsuit names Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller as the defendants.

Here are independent booksellers' picks for the top ten small press titles for the fall. Pads will be in the August white box mailing and a downloadable PDF file will be available at http://www.bookweb.org/read/1474. This Web page also includes links to all past Book Sense 76s.

Very many thanks to all the independent booksellers who shared their enthusiastic nominations for this top ten list.

Friday, August 1, is the deadline for two upcoming Book Sense 76 lists:

"I tried not to go to too many hills," said Julie Todd of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco. On Saturday, July 12, which was a sunny, beautiful day in the Bay Area, Todd led an all-day literary bicycle tour of independent bookstores in San Francisco. The 16 cyclists met in the morning at A Clean Well-Lighted Place and cycled to 10 independents over the course of the day, pausing at each store to browse and buy books. At every stop, a bookseller would discuss a current favorite book and/or giving a brief history of their store.

Jeff Milchen and Jennifer Rockne want to change community culture on a national level, one town at a time. Milchen and Rockne aspire to help local businesses band together and to educate communities on the value of supporting local, independent businesses. That's why, in August of 2001, they founded the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA).

Reminder: The deadline to submit photos of children's bookstores with Book Sense for the next Book Sense New Yorker insert is rapidly approaching! Photos for The New Yorker's consideration must be sumbitted by Thursday, August 7.

Children's titles will be the feature of the next Book Sense insert, which will appear in the October 6 issue, on sale September 29. To complement the story, the magazine is seeking photographs, especially good exterior shots, of children's bookstores with Book Sense.

In a new grassroots effort to support independent booksellers, Larry Portzline, a part-time teacher, has developed the concept of "Bookstore Tourism," a term he coined (and trademarked). The goal of Bookstore Tourism, according to Portzline's Web site (www.bookstoretourism.com), is "to encourage book-lovers across the United States to organize day-trips to cities and towns with interesting, fun, and unique bookstores that folks in their own communities may not be able to visit regularly."

By Robin Whitten

The audiobook listener is in the driver's seat when it comes to choosing the CD or cassette format. Significant changes are underway in the availability of media formats as audio publishers pay closer attention to customer audio book purchase patterns and format preferences in an effort to increase sales.

Here, Laura Hansen, owner/manager of Bookin' It in Little Falls, Minnesota, muses on her bookstore's Good Living Cookbook Club, which started five years ago. As Hansen goes on to describe, the club is more than a book club -- it's a mix of good cook books, good friends, great food, with a dash of wine and rhubarb muffins thrown in for good taste.

As Bookselling This Week went to press, it was expected that Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI) would introduce the Library, Bookstore, and Personal Records Privacy Act into the Senate early next week. Feingold's bill would narrow the universe of people whose bookstore or library records could be searched under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

As booksellers begin to consider the Book Sense Gift Card program, the question of costs and profits arise. Various retail studies have shown, however, that money invested in a gift card program is money well spent, and booksellers who already have gift card programs in place attest to their ease of use, an increase in sales, and high consumer satisfaction.

Renowned Canadian Author Carol Shields Dies at 68

On July 16, author Carol Shields died of complications from breast cancer in Victoria. She was 68. Shields' eldest daughter, Anne Giardini told Anne Collins, Carol's Canadian publisher, "This is a difficult time for us. It is going to take all of our courage, resolve, and grace to even try to go on without her. My parents had 46 years of marriage, but there were many happy, busy years ahead of them. She had many books left to write. We are bereft."

Banned Books Week, the national celebration of First Amendment rights, will be held this year from September 20 - 27. With the theme "Open Your Mind to a Banned Book," the event marks its 22nd year.

On Tuesday, July 21, civil liberty advocates received a mix of some good news and some bad news from the House of Representatives.

Books and all things literary -- including bookstores -- were celebrated at book fairs on the East and West coasts on Saturday, July 19. The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) hosted its eighth annual Books By the Bay Festival, held in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens. And QBR: The Black Book Review sponsored the Fifth Annual Harlem Book Fair. The Harlem Book Fair was held on 135th Street, which was closed to cars for the well-attended fair.