PW: BEA 2000: Show Daily

Independent Booksellers Work the Web
How are independent booksellers using the Web? With the beta test of booksense.com starting this month, it seems a good time to ask the question.

Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif., put up its Web site (www.bookpassage.com) about five years ago, and just last week became among the first to Webcast author events, with Ellen Goodman and Patricia O™Brien, authors of I Know Just What You Mean (S&S), on May 22, and Mary Higgins Clark, for Before I Say Good-bye (S&S), on May 31.

Explains co-owner Elaine Petrocelli, "Book Passage has been in the mail-order business in a significant way for 20 years, so our site was sales-oriented from the very beginning." In the early years, Book Passage posted for-sale lists of selected books in selected categories, including signed copies, and promoted upcoming author events as well. Two years ago, the store went with BookSite to add a search engine and database. "It™s been terrific," says Bill Petrocelli, "and I highly recommend it." He likes to say that "people can buy six ways from us: they can phone, they can fax, they can e-mail, they can go online, use regular mail or simply come into the store. "

With all this sophistication, is Book Passage ready for booksense.com? "I™m not about to drop what I™ve got," Bill Petrocelli says, "but it d s have interest for me. It™s got the capacity to market a brand name nationally."

In Missoula, Mont., the Web site for Fact & Fiction (www.montana.com/ffbook) features quotes from Western writers, a page of signed copies and links to local institutions like Montana Public Radio, the Missoula Home Page and the Missoula Public Library, as well as access to more than one million books via BookSite. "People seem to use it most for events and signed editions," says owner Barbara Theroux. "I always thought of it as just another vehicle to promote the store. I didn™t expect a tremendous number of orders." As part of the updating planned for this summer, Fact & Fiction will add more author links and get its own URL. Although the store has signed up as a Softlink distributor, it has no real e-book sales yet. Theroux is happy with BookSite but plans to take a good look at booksense.com.

When booksense.com was postponed last fall, Village Books in Bellingham, Wash., moved quickly to add BookSite's database and serach engine to its existing site (www.villagebooks.com), which started out as a marketing vehicle. Robinson describes their Web sales as supplemental to date, and their e-book sales as minimal. Robinson is has been pleased with the BookSite service, but is certainly looking at the ABA's offering.

Mary Gay Shipley of That Bookstore in Blytheville, Blytheville, Ark., started her Web site about four years ago (www.bookweb.org/bookstore/blytheville), mainly as a promotional device. This summer will be the big leap forward. Not only is the bookstore looking forward to participating in booksense.com, but Shipley just hired a computer person to be responsible for the newsletter and the Web site. Upcoming plans include putting the newsletter on line, getting a separate domain for the store and starting a regular e-mail update to customers.

Partners in Crime, a mystery specialty store in New York City, is now into its third iteration of its Web site (www.crimepays.com). One of the five partners, Kizmin Reeves, designed it in 1996, updates it weekly, and is its Webmaster. Reeves wants to make the site easy for browsers to use and the bookstore to maintain.

The Partners site generates 20% to 30% of the store's revenues, estimates Reeves. The store also sells signed first editions via Advanced Book Exchange (www.abebooks.com), the largest antiquarian book search service, and maintains a presence on citysearch.com, so that browsers looking for New York City shopping links will find the store. About booksense.com? Reeves will check it out and see what it has to offer.

Bezos Beams at BEA
For the most part, e-billionaire Jeff Bezos charmed a full crowd in the Grand Ballroom yesterday afternoon, as he outlined in a FAQ format the history and goals of Amazon.com, "Earth's most customer-centric company."

As to the issue of profitability, he said Amazon did earn profits in December 1995 "for a little over an hour," which caused great embarrassment. "When you have something that's working well, the best thing is to invest more in it," he said. Contrary to legend, the company d s not lose money on every sale. "What we've done is not that different from the way many companies have invested for centuries. What's unusual is that we've done it as a public company and done it on a large scale."

The company has continued to add products to its original line of books because customers have requested it. Besides, with "high fixed costs and low variable costs, we had to get big fast," he added. "At the end of the day, we'll be a better bookseller that if we didn't expand." ("You can either be rally big or small on the Net; it's hard in the middle.")

Proud that Amazon.com accounted for some 70% of the sales of Stephen King's Riding the Bullet, he predicted that e-books would become popular only gradually over the next several decades. "They will happen, but not in the next two or three years."

He deflected the only hostile question--about sales takes--by reframing the issue into on of "collecting" rather that "paying" sales taxes--since customers actually pay the tax. He stated that he considers it fair for Amazon.com to collect sales taxes in Washington State, where the company uses services, but not in North Carolina, for example, where the company d sn't use local services.
--John Mutter

NAPRA Fields Full Slate
We used to have to call people," recalls Marilyn McGuire, remembering the days when she had to convince publishers that her breakfast during BEA was the optimal place to showcase authors who write about the body-mind-spirit connection. Now publishers call her, trying to get their authors on the roster. NAPRA cosponsors tomorrow's breakfast at the Sheraton-Chicago Hotel, Chicago Ballroom 9, 7:45-10 a.m.

This year, the spotlight shines on Harold Bloomfield, a psychiatrist who has written 17 books on spiritual wholeness and emotional healing, including his latest, Making Peace with Your Past (HarperCollins); Andrew Harvey, who details how to approach the divine through a synthesis of world religions in The Direct Path (Broadway Books); and Gregg Braden, a self-described optimist who writes in The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy (Crown/Harmony, Apr.) that prayer is a scientific process that can effect physical change on the world. Tickets are $30 and are available at the door.

Another NAPRA event worth a peek is a Saturday afternoon seminar led by Paul H. Ray, who with his wife, Sherry Ruth Anderson, coauthored The Cultural Creatives (Harmony). Back on the show floor at the NAPRA Pavilion, NAPRA's bi-monthly magazine ReVIEW will be on display in booth 1331, and staffers will be at booths 1332-1333 with book and music giveaways.
--Theola S. Labbe

Putting the 'Pub' into Publishing
The British are coming--and they're bringing cocktails. British publisher Ellipsis (best known for their award-winning architectural guides and Unpopular Culture series) has opened an office in New York City and is making its first appearance as a BEA exhibitor. And what better way to introduce themselves than by inviting convention-g rs to stop by for a spot of something that's cold, wet and accompanied by an olive or a twist of lemon. It seems that Ellipsis founders Jonathan Moberly and Tom Neville are also co-owners of The Foundry, a pub modestly described as "East London's dingiest legal drinking space, where alcohol and contemporary art are freely mixed." So every afternoon from 4-5 p.m., the Ellipsis booth (2121) will transform itself into a sort of Foundry West, complete with "Gimpo," the pub's legendary bartender and third co-owner. Gimpo will be flying in from London to supervise the shaking of a trio of high-powered cocktails named in honor of Ellipsis titles--the "Super Saatchi" (for Rita Hatton and John A. Walker's supercollector: a critique of charles saatchi), the "Sore Sight" (for Will Self's book of the same name), and the "No Fun" (for Jeremy Cooper's no FuN without U).
--Lucinda Dyer

IDG Booth: For More Than Dummies
Even clueless dummies can detect that big changes have taken place at IDG Books since the last BEA. The evidence is in the design of the booth (1531, 1631, 1738).

"It's a brand-new design," points out Andrea Burnett, IDG's director of public relations. This novel approach is based on a "boutique" concept, in which various products are categorized within such spatial groupings as Lifestyles, Travel, Technology and Education & Reference. "We're an evolving company," continues Burnett. "We've grown by leaps and bounds since last BookExpo. We've added popular brands like Betty Crocker, Frommer and Cliffs Notes--big brands that everybody knows. We want to showcase them in the best way possible." Hence the decision to establish separate boutiques that collectively feature 400- 425 titles throughout the booth. Every boutique has its own reception/information station.

In the Travel area, for instance, visitors are welcomed into a boutique with six first-class aircraft seats set up like inside the interior of an actual fusillage. The newly designed booth houses a Cyber Cafe and a 30-seat theater for author presentations, signings and demonstrations.

Among the scheduled activities: Friday, 10:30-11 a.m., canine capers to promote Sarah Hodgson's Dog Tricks for Dummies (giveaway: dog tags); Saturday, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., a food sampling to celebrate Martin Yan's Chinese Cooking for Dummies (giveaway: chopsticks); and Saturday, 4-5 p.m., an appearance by Dr. Ruth to draw attention to Rekindling Romance for Dummies (giveaway: chocolate).

"We're actually celebrating Dr. Ruth's birthday," relates Burnett. So what year has the perennially youthful doctor attained? "She wouldn't tell anybody," discloses Burnett. "Nor would her publicist. We're not touching that."
--Charles Hix

Heard on the Floor
Elizabeth Taylor, ChicagoTribune Literary Editor: Since today's reporters lay off the liquor and cigarettes, Billy Goat Tavern isn't as jam-packed with journalists as it was in the old days. But Mike Royko is here in spirit, the bartenders are great and you can't beat the burgers. Also, for a town known for its pizza, Pizza Capri is the best. For the best Chicago history lesson, gaze at the stones of Tribune Tower, which depict important sites around the world. And for the best view of the skyline, most Chicagoans swear by the view of the city from the peninsula between the Alder Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium. For out-of-town visitors, the Art Institute is a required stop.

Roberta Rubin, owner of The Book Stall: My favorite "special occasion" place is Cocopazzo. The Tuscan cuisine is served with such panache. It is a Pino Luongo restaurant. The best Mexican restaurant in Chicago, maybe the country, is Topolobampo. Frontera Grill is a bit more casual, but d sn't take reservations. The dining experience at both are wonderful. Take the Architectural Boat Tour on the Chicago River for a fabulous view. And the Shedd Aquarium has the baby Beluga whale that has made news this year.

Lynn Garrett, PW Religion Editor: The food at Russian Tea Time can be as hearty as you might expect, but also surprisingly varied and delicate. The food at Indian Garden, with three locations, is every bit as good as at more expensive Indian restaurants. The best sushi in Chicago is at Sai Cafe. Try to book the Chicago Architectural Foundation's river tour. The sleek double-decker boat wends its way up and down the cleaned-up Chicago. Lincoln Square, the old-fashioned pedestrian shopping district on N. Lincoln Ave. between Lawrence and Montrose, boasts German bakeries, a traditional European apothecary, good German and Greek restaurants, and other mom-and-pop businesses of the kind that are becoming increasingly rare in the city.

J Durepos, Literary Agent: For years I've brought out-of-town guests to the Women and Children First bookstore to stock up on titles they couldn't find anywhere else. The perfect place to unwind for a few hours is Morton Aboretum. It has 25 miles of hiking trails, 3,000 kinds of trees and peaceful restaurant.

Richard R per, Chicago Sun-Times columnist and author of Urban Legends (Career Press): Go to Prime Time Deli inside the NBC tower for terrific sandwiches, plus a front-row view of the crazies and goofs who are here for the Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones shows. Wander over Grant Park and watch hundreds of players participating in a uniquely Chicago game--16-inch softball. This is where Rob Lowe picked up Demi Moore in About Last Night.In a town filled with Irish bars, Celtic Crossing is one of the most authentic.
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