| Bookselling | |||||||
Regionals Draw To a Close Staff -- 10/23/00 This year's final two regional booksellers associations hold quiet, relaxed and happy gatherings
NCIBA Trade Show Fat and HappyFor the trade show that founded Book Sense and has a reputation for being both avant-garde and on the money, outdoing itself each year has become harder and harder. This year, it chose comfort over fireworks. There was no bookstore thief talking on the level as there was in '97, no Book Sense launch as there was in '98, no gearing up for the Internet Tax Fairness Bill as there was in '99. There was, however, $3,500 raised for ABFFE by asking attendees to pay $1 per autographed book. A great way, according to NCIBA executive director Hut Landon, "to raise money for a good cause." Still, here was also some good showmanship and funny lines by authors speaking at meals, like Rita Ciresi (Sometimes I Dream in Italian, Dell), Mark Salzman (Lying Awake, Knopf) and comic strip maven Lynda Barry (The Greatest of Marlys, Sasquatch). There were healthy lines at the book signing area for the good mix of veterans like Anne Perry (Slaves of Obsession, Ballantine), Jane Hamilton (Disobedience, Doubleday), Jack Prelutsky (It's Raining Pigs and Noodles, Greenwillow) and Paule Marshall (The Fisher King, Scribner) and newcomers like Real World cast member and cartoonist Judd Winick (Pedro and Me, Holt) and impossibly fresh-faced Christopher Rice, who looked too young to read, let alone write, his debut page-turner, A Destiny of Souls (Talk Mirimax).
And there was a lot of quibbling, followed by some concrete suggestions from specialty booksellers at a luncheon scheduled especially for them, in relation to Book Sense and how it might better address their needs. Most found the Book Sense Web site template inadequate for representing specialty stores that have a more focused inventory. The lunch was organized by Christina Creveling of University Press Books and George Kiskaddon of Builders Booksource, both in Berkeley, Calif. At least two follow-up discussions for specialty stores are planned to take place before next year's BEA. The specialty store quandary was also a topic at Friday's roundtable discussion of "One Good Thing I Did in My Store with Book Sense." Led by Reader's Books in Sonoma, the great majority of area stores reported increased sales through promoting the recommendations on the Book Sense 76 list. Several stores said they had combined recommendations from the 76 list with in-house staff picks. The personal recommendation was seen as key to the program's success. Also on Friday there was a crowded and practical discussion at "BookSense.com: Clicks and Mortars," led by Len Vlahos. But there was less buzz about the daylong Zing Train management workshop, which has been popular at other regional shows but was met with skepticism by some of the Bay Area's iconoclastic crowd. Likewise, "Marketing 2000: Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks," in which three business-book gurus offered the audience their newest insights, seemed to several bookstore veterans like new dogs teaching old tricks. After all, this was an audience of survivors, and that was also the tone on the trade-show floor--it felt like old home week for those who had made it and were now enjoying the fruits of a booming economy. It seemed only appropriate that one of this year's new amenities was a lounge area in the center of the floor with comfy couches, hot coffee and cookies.
On the Book Sense front, the board noted it had created and was sending shelf talkers for the top 10 books on the 76 list to participating stores. It also announced that it had hired office help to collate the bestseller lists and that would soon be hiring a Book Sense rep for the region. Landon noted that while the state's governor had vet d the organization's Internet sales tax bill, the group already had plans to meet with the governor and reintroduce the bill next year. Speaking of dealing with state politics, Landon joked, "You think you don't want to see how sausage gets made--this is messier." Exhibitors were pleased with the numbers of orders taken, which was up from previous years, and Kevin Ryan of Green Apple Books in San Francisco was delighted to be the winner of the annual order raffle. According to Hut Landon, "The independents are back on the map, thanks to Book Sense, and it spills over into a show like this." There were 750 booksellers and 250 other associated members and visitors attending, also higher numbers than previous years. "According to an ABA survey, sales have increased at independents 8%-10% nationally, thanks to Book Sense," reported Landon. "Publishers are excited and supporting us more. And that makes booksellers fell empowered." --Roxanne Farmanfarmaian, Barbara R ther and Kevin Howell A Capital Show: NAIBA Grows UpTalk about ghosts of ABAs past--a few attendees with long memories half expected to bump into Faith Brunson, Igor Kropotkin and Roysce Smith in the garage-exhibition center of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., at last weekend's New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association annual meeting and trade show. Far removed from the boardwalk in Atlantic City--and after two healthy years in Philadelphia--the show has come of age. The added twist of being in the spot where the ABA show was held for many years was only fitting. And, of course, there was another ABA-NAIBA connection: the association's capable new executive director is Eileen Dengler, for many years head of the ABA show, who commented that this show was "the first time no one complained about anything." Concern that holding the show in the southern limits of NAIBA's territory might not draw members from New Jersey and New York was unfounded--although some "northern" stores sent smaller delegations. But others made up for the shortfall, and total attendance of 1,325 was about the same as last year. Exhibitors expressed pleasure in the crowds and activity. Book Sense and BookSense.com panels were well-attended. In urging booksellers to take full advantage of Book Sense, Carl Lennertz said that "this fall is key." The book and author breakfast featured a range of audience-pleasing speakers, all of whom thanked independents for helping them sell their books. Malachy McCourt, whose next installment of his memoirs, Singing My Him Song (HarperCollins), is out now, received thunderous applause when he announced his next book tour would take place only at independents. Despite toning his energy down in deference to the morning crowd, Pat Croce, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and a peppy motivational speaker, eagerly challenged booksellers to consider whether "resistance comes from a locked door or a locked mind." Debra Dickerson, author of An American Story (Pantheon), talked about her rise from poverty and said she found "the class struggle so much more difficult than the racial struggle." The NAIBA Book Awards went to Chang-rae Lee for A Gesture Life (Riverhead), Jonathan Kozol for Ordinary Resurrections (Crown), Laurie Halse Anderson for Speak (FSG) and Pam Muñoz Ryan for Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride (Scholastic). Lou Cohen of St. Martin's/Holtzbrinck won the William Hellmuth Award for Outstanding Sales Rep--and was especially touched when he received a baseball autographed by Sandy Koufax from Mark Levine. During the annual meeting, when the board celebrated its healthiest balance sheet in memory, Carla Cohen, co-owner of Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C., took the reins as president from Fern Jaffe of Paperbacks Plus, Bronx, N.Y. New board members include Sheilah Egan, A Likely Story Children's Bookstore, Alexandria, Va., and Frank Hodge of Hodge Podge Books, Albany, N.Y. Booksellers thanked Jaffe as well as outgoing board members Kathy Simoneaux, Chester County Book Co., West Chester, Pa., and John Bennett, Bennett Books, Wyckoff, N.J. No word on when NAIBA might sell the show to Reed Elsevier. --John Mutter | |||||||
Regionals Draw To a Close
Oct 23, 2000
A version of this article appeared in the 10/23/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:
