Industry News

Keeping Customer Records in the Age of the USA Patriot Act

By Chuck Robinson

In early March, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157), federal legislation that would remove a threat to the privacy of bookstore and library records posed by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. Though the bill has 58 co-sponsors thus far, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), one of the sponsors of the bill, urged booksellers to rally behind H.R. 1157 so that more members of the House would support the bill.

At present, 58 fellow members of Congress have joined Rep. Bernie Sanders in introducing federal legislation that would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records. The bill, H.R. 1157, the Freedom to Read Protection Act, would prevent the FBI from seeking "personally identifiable information concerning a patron of a bookseller or library." However, the government could still attempt to subpoena this information if it can make sufficient legal showing.

Scholastic today announced that it has redefined its policy regarding Scholastic Book Fair's pre-selling of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In a letter to booksellers, Michael Jacobs, Scholastic's senior vice-president, trade, said the new Retailer Coupon Program is intended to drive Scholastic Book Fair customers who pre-order the Order of the Phoenix to participating retailers.

During the past week, the U.S.-led war on Iraq became a reality. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the U.S. decision to oust Saddam Hussein, the Iraq war likely means tough months ahead for small businesses.

Booksellers should not be surprised if they sense a special rapport with their new Perseus Books Group sales reps. After all, four of the six reps in the new Perseus in-house sales force are former independent booksellers. "In these times of chains, online stores, and lost market share, we wanted to make sure that people knew [independent bookstores] are important to us," said John Hughes, vice president, associate publisher and marketing director of Perseus Books Group.

Sex, drugs, and other "problems of the month" persist as subjects of Young Adult books, but, according to booksellers who recently spoke to BTW, the YA field is growing more fantasy titles, getting more fuzzy about labeling, and appealing to more adults.

"It's gotten edgier," said Valerie Lewis, co-owner of 24-year-old Hicklebee's in San Jose, California. "The line between adults and young adults is thinner than ever."

California bookseller Amy Thomas has written an open letter to the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association membership explaining why she believes the new ABACUS project is so important to her business, and to independent booksellers. The deadline for reporting for ABACUS Year One is March 31, 2003.

By Amy Thomas

Dear Fellow Booksellers,

Book Sense is proud to announce that the number of Publisher Partners participating in the program has reached 100.

We offer our sincere thanks for each Partner's support of Book Sense and look forward to working with them in the months to come!

Here's the list.

Mark
[email protected]

In February, BookSense.com began testing a new program that could help participating bookstores fund the entire cost of their BookSense.com Web sites through the use of newsletter co-op.

The book industry and the press are increasingly depending on Nielsen BookScan for figures on book sales from across all retail channels, and Nielsen BookScan estimates that currently its data represents between 70 and 75 percent of the entire bookselling market.

A continuing problem for booksellers, especially those with an online presence, is the receipt of fraudulent orders. A number of booksellers have reported receiving bogus orders from overseas -- via either their retail Web sites or e-mail -- for large numbers of hardcover books, often Bibles or medical texts. These orders usually originate in Nigeria, Ghana, Singapore, or Egypt and are usually in excess of $150. The books being ordered are most often Bibles, other religious titles, medical texts, or other reference books.

On Friday, March 14, Good Morning America's "Read This!" book club made its ninth pick. The ABC morning show's book club's latest choice is What Should I Do with My Life? (Random House), by Po Bronson.

January 2003 retail sales for bookstores showed signs of life after three months of decline. January bookstore sales of $2,253 million improved 3.0 percent over the $2,188 million of January 2002.

Overall retail sales of $280 billion for January 2003 was 5.7 percent better than the $265 billion of the previous year.

January is the 12th month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep pace with overall retail sales.