Industry News

At the end of May, just around the corner from the literary stone lions affront the massive New York Public Library on West 42nd Street in Manhattan, will stand an incarnation of the late, and much lamented, Coliseum Books. On January 31, 2002, when the 27-year-old Coliseum Books at 57th Street and Broadway closed, New York City lost one of its pre-eminent bookstores. The original Coliseum Books boasted about 100,000 titles in 11,500 square feet of selling space, no comfortable places to sit, and no café.

Children's booksellers have much to look forward to at this year's BookExpo America (BEA), as the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC), and Children's Book Council (CBC) team up once again to offer exciting author discussions, workshops, roundtables, and other events focused on children's literature.

The retailing industry in the U.S. and Canada is in the process of aligning itself with the rest of the world in a standard approach to product identification. The Uniform Code Council (UCC) has established January 1, 2005, as 2005 Sunrise, the date for general retailing in the U.S. and Canada to have the capability to scan, store, and process not only the 12-digit UPC code currently in use, but also the EAN/UCC 13-symbol code used in the rest of the world.

This week, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is sending booksellers a letter urging them to contact their Congressional representatives in regards to the Freedom to Read Protection Act. The bill, H.R. 1157, was introduced into Congress by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records. The bill has already garnered the support of 101 members of Congress. (For a full list of co-sponsors, click here.)

In a decision that the Authors Guild, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), and Association of American Publishers (AAP) hailed as a victory for free expression, Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Esseks dropped an attempt to jail a cooperating witness who shared his story in a recently published book. "We're very happy with [the decision], it's a great result," said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. "This time the law worked the way it ought to."

Beginning June 21, stores participating in Scholastic Book Fair's Retailer Coupon Program can accept customer certificates in exchange for copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The publishing series that took the sting out of being called a "dummy" is offering independent booksellers a special publication to help them "work smarter, not harder." Beginning at BookExpo America, Wiley Publishing is offering booksellers free copies of a special BEA edition of Bookselling For Dummies.

On May 7, Chuck Robinson, owner of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, was presented with this year's Liberty Bell Award by the Whatcom County Bar Association. The award acknowledges outstanding community service to the legal system by a non-attorney, including encouraging a sense of civic responsibility and contributing to good government.

A member of the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, Robinson served on the American Booksellers Association Board and was its president from 1992 - 1994.

Bookstore sales in March turned sharply downward continuing the decline that began in February. March sales of $929 million were 17 percent lower than the $1,126 million realized in March of last year.

Overall retail sales of $306 billion for March 2003 were 3.4 percent ahead of the $296 billion for the previous year.

March is the 14th month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep pace with overall retail.

On Thursday, May 15, thirty-five organizations -- including the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), American Booksellers Association, American Library Association (ALA), Barnes & Noble Booksellers, and Borders Group Inc. -- issued a statement supporting the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157). The bill, which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 6 by Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records.

In an unfortunate illustration of taxing Peter to pay Paul, on May 1, members of the Rhode Island Senate proposed an additional one percent sales tax on all books sold in Rhode Island by any retailer. According to the amendment offered by State Senators Rhoda Perry, Frank Ciccone, and Juan Pichardo, the tax generated would be used by cities and towns exclusively for free public libraries.

May 4, 2003, marked JoAnn McGreevy's 33rd anniversary as director of the New York University Bookstores. As she plans her retirement at the end of this month, she recalled for BTW her extraordinary first day.

Growing Market Opportunity for Independent Booksellers

By Michael F. Hoynes, ABA Marketing Officer

Much has been written about the aging of America. A major part of the story is the approximately 72 million baby boomers who are now moving into their fifties. Every shift in demographic patterns creates a new business opportunity for some business sector, and there is a great deal of evidence that the growing number of older book buyers opens a major marketing opportunity for independent booksellers.