Read More
What do you give a bookseller who has everything?
Give them a front-row seat in the fight for free speech by making them a member of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE)--the bookseller's voice in the fight against censorship. ABFFE is now offering introductory memberships for $15--a 70 percent discount on the cost of an individual membership.
 There was cause for celebration in Arkansas this September as That Bookstore in Blytheville at once reached a milestone and gained a colleague: That Bookstore has become those bookstores. The day owner Mary Gay Shipley held a party to mark That Bookstore in Blytheville's 25th anniversary, her protégé MaryAlice Hurst, new owner of That Bookstore at Mountebanq Place, opened for business in Conway, Arkansas.
Consumer Reports magazine, perhaps the country's most influential buyers' guide, notes in its January 2002 issue that 88 percent of the readers responding to a survey said they were either completely satisfied or very satisfied with their shopping experiences at independent bookstores. The magazine noted that such high approval for independents "puts those stores on a par with the highest-rated stores from any Consumer Reports survey in recent years."
On Wednesday, December 5, the Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments in the Tattered Cover Book Store's appeal to protect the privacy rights of bookstore customers. Law enforcement authorities have tried to obtain the Denver bookstore's records, asserting that they would assist in a case involving the manufacture of methamphetamines.
Two venerable bookstores, unrelated, but with a great deal in common, celebrated
major anniversaries this fall. The Booksmith in San Francisco and the Brookline
Booksmith in the Boston area are both still owned by the people who founded
them 25 and 40 years ago, respectively, and they both are just about the oldest
businesses in their neighborhoods.
On December 5 at 8:30 a.m., the Colorado Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Tattered Cover Book Store's appeal to protect the privacy rights of bookstore customers.
Considering the events of September 11, bookstore sales in September must be considered quite respectable, as they managed to exceed sales for the previous September by 6.7 percent. Preliminary sales of $1,621 million for September 2001 compared favorably with the $1,519 million performance of September 2000.
Support continues in Washington, D.C., for a proposed sales tax holiday, according to proponents. However, if passed, the initiative is likely to launch in mid-February, to help lift retail sales around the Presidents' Day holidays.
On Wednesday, November 28, the question of free expression and First Amendment rights in cyberspace returned to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the justices heard oral arguments in Ashcroft v. ACLU, a case involving the government's second attempt to regulate access to material with sexual content on the Internet.
Booksellers around the country are reporting disparate results from the first shopping week of the Christmas season. The effects of the economic recession and the traumatic events beginning on September 11 are not consistently hurting, or helping, the nation's bookselling community. Weather conditions, ranging from snowy to summery, had a great impact on post-Thanksgiving shopping, as did a store's location. Resort areas were packed for the long weekend, while some cities were fairly quiet.
I'm hearing from publishers that the NEBA and SEBA Book Sense bestseller lists are being noticed, commented on, and relayed to authors. They're becoming a big deal!
Besides the local media possibilities, these regional lists can help put your association at the forefront of publishers' agendas … and budgets. But we need more reporting stores in order to produce lists for all the regional associations.
PUBLISHER ATTENTION
+
AUTHOR AWARENESS
=
MORE $$$$$$$ TO YOU
Pages
About ABA
The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.
Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.
|
R.J. Julia Booksellers, an independent bookstore in Madison, Connecticut, is branching out--or at least trying out a new offshoot. Owner Roxanne Coady told BTW that the store opened a "big, beautiful, mahogany book kiosk" in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 3.