The second cluster of regional bookseller association gatherings took place over the October 2—5 weekend, as members of the Mountains and Plains Booksellers association (MPBA), Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) and Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) networked, attended educational programs and connected with publishers at their respective trade shows. (Due to space limitations, NCIBA will be spotlighted next week.)
MPBA: Out of Adversity, Good Things Come
"Bookstores have had a rough year and we're not out of the woods yet," outgoing MPBA president Cathy Langer told booksellers at their general meeting at the Denver Tech Center. "But with the belt-tightenings and judicious cuts, our losses over the last three years have been less than we've projected." The full auditorium of booksellers applauded MPBA's cut-cutting efforts, which lowered this year's losses to $11,800 (down from $37,000 three years ago, with next year's loss projected to be $7,000). Treasurer Bob Sommer said, "We're continuing to fight the good fight on a very limited budget." Although the economy has left the MPBA financially challenged, the organization has a substantial monetary reservoir from years of excellent investing.
Two years ago, the organization dropped its money-losing annual awards banquet (since the Denver Tech Center couldn't accommodate the open-to-the-public event, it had to be off-site) in favor of a more intimate cocktail reception. The MPBA's spring gathering and regional book awards, which are usually presented in Santa Fe, will move back to Denver on March 18—20. "We have a much larger base of stores in Colorado than in any other state in our vast region," explained executive director Lisa Knudsen. "We can serve more of our stores by having our meeting and awards here." After two fruitless years of trying to launch a spring catalogue, the organization has decided concentrate its efforts on its annual money-making holiday catalogue.
This year's Saturday night cocktail reception featured a mass autographing session with 23 authors and the presentation of the organization's Gordon Saull Awards for bookseller and sales rep of the year, which went to, respectively, outgoing MPBA president and Tattered Cover manager Cathy Langer and John Zeck, HarperCollins's Denver-based rep.
Fourteen stores joined MPBA this year and, amazingly, three of them opened in Louisville, Colo. Gregg and Jennivieve Harper's spiritual bookstore, Sun-Rose, opened in July with business "better than I expected it would be," according to Gregg. A block away is Barbara Butterworth's used, new and rare bookstore, The Book Cellar, which opened in March. Butterworth had planned to sell rare books online, but when a friend alerted her to an available space below his bakery, she decided, "Fate seemed to be pushing away every obstacle I had." Her store's murder mystery nights have become popular with the community because she turns them into walking tours of area stores, including Sun-Rose and the third new bookstore, Twice Upon a Time, an antiquarian and used store. Amazingly, there are two other bookstores in Louisville—the About Books (used titles) and the children's bookstore Great Horned Owl. While Louisville's population is small, the five bookstores are located almost exactly between Boulder and Denver.
Of the other bookstores joining MPBA this year, seven are in Colorado: Hard Covers Ink in Denver; The Book Haven in Salida; Museum of Colorado Prisons in Canyon City; Curious Cat Books in Greenwood Village; Sundance Books in Golden; Colorado Collections in Broomfield; and Misty Hills Books in Arvada. The remaining three stores opened in Wyoming: Jackson Hole Book Trader in Jackson; Western Wyoming College Bookstore in Rock Springs; and The Downtowner in Casper. Three Colorado MPBA member stores went out of business in 2003: Jade Creek Books in Fort Collins; Kat's Books and CDs in Brighton; and Bookworks in Telluride.
Education
As it has for the last few years, the MPBA's regional meeting began with two full days of educational programming for booksellers beginning Thursday, October 2. The first session, "How to Work with Your Sales Rep," was informative, lively and fun, thanks to panelist Kathy Westover, owner of Bookworm of Edwards in Edwards, Colo. Westover, who is the incoming MPBA president, was a dynamo, and her big ideas from a small store ("I'm a little store but I get a lot of bang for my buck," she said) were crowd pleasers. Westover returned with Catherine Weller of Sam Weller's Books in Salt Lake City, and Andrea Avantagio of Maria's Books in Durango, Colo., at a later seminar for the many new store owners. Aimed at small- and medium-sized stores, the 3.5-hour seminar (described by Westover as "kind of like drinking from a fire hydrant") covered such bookstore basics as Open to Buy, inventory control, special orders, returns and book clubs (Westover's 800-sq.-ft. store serves 80 book clubs, while Avantagio's 1,850-sq.-ft. store is home to 50 book clubs).
Extra folding chairs had to be brought into the Tech Center's amphitheater to accommodate the crowd that came to hear ABFFE's Chris Finan and Tattered Cover owner Joyce Meskis discuss customer privacy and the Patriot Act. The talk culminated with the showing of "Reading Your Rights," the 26-minute video documenting Meskis's two-year battle against a search warrant seeking customer information. "The ALA was recently demonized by the right," said Finan. "Things have worsened dramatically by the passage of the Patriot Act. It looks like the genie will never go back in the bottle." ABFFE plans to make the video available for bookstores to purchase, along with a kit on how to organize a local discussion on the topic.
Booksellers were definitely upbeat and hoping for a good holiday season. Although the economy hasn't been very encouraging, many booksellers have new ways to stay in the game. Duane Gudgel, co-owner of the 12-year-old Plains Trading Co. in Valentine, Neb., recommends cultivating relationships with local schools. "We picked up a huge school district this year that will increase our sales by 25%," he told PW. "The rest of our sales are flat. But with this economy, flat is pretty good."
"We started an emerging writer's display and listing of about 200 books showcasing first and second novels and small press titles that haven't gotten a big push," said Mark Sutz, who has managed Changing Hands in Tempe, Ariz., for the last five years. "People like to find books they haven't heard about and come in often to see how the display has changed." Sutz called Nell Freudenberger's Lucky Girl: Stories (Ecco) "the best book of short stories I've read in five years. Really amazing." Favorite hand-sells in the store include Audrey Niffenegger's newly released The Time Traveler's Wife (MacAdam/Cage) and Thisbe Nissen's Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night (Anchor), which has sold 150 copies in the past 18 months.
Owner Andi Lester calls Lisa Tucker's The Song Reader (Downtown Press) "the best book I've read since I opened the bookstore." Six months ago, the former chef bought the 20-year-old Valley Books & Coffee in Montrose, Colo. She said, "Our town supports six bookstores—three of them within a one-block radius. Since joining Mountains & Plains in the spring, I've developed excellent relationships with lots of helpful booksellers. And I've seen an increase in the number of customers coming into the store."
One small publisher that made a big impression was Big Guy Books (www.bigguybooks.com) out of Carlsbad, Calif., which publishes five eye-catching children's books (including X-Men Ultimate Picture Book, Spider-Man Ultimate Picture Book and Time Soldiers #3 Patch) featuring digitally enhanced photographs so sharp many browsers thought they were stills from a motion picture. Booksellers were also excited about the illustrated gift book I & Dog by the Monks of New Skete (Yorkville Press); Maurice Sendak and Tony Kushner's picturebook collaboration, Brundibar (Hyperion); Robert Harris's Pompeii (Random), set on the eve of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius; Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country? (Warner); and David Guterson's Our Lady of the Forest (Knopf), which Cathy Langer found "quite enthralling. In fact, this is really a rich season without one or two huge books but with a wider spread of good books, which always makes booksellers happy." —Kevin Howell
Fun and Games Enliven GLBA Regional
Speaking before members of the Great Lakes Booksellers Association last month, GLBA president Becky Anderson, co-owner of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Ill., expressed a wish for a fashion accessory for booksellers, librarians and other booklovers. There's already an action figure modeled on librarian Nancy Pearl, originator of the "one city reads one book" program (and author of the upcoming Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason). Holding up the figure at this year's GLBA trade show, October 3—5 in Dearborn, Mich., Anderson suggested a bracelet that would prompt the wearer to ask, WWNR: "What Would Nancy Read?"
GLBA's trade show was held in Dearborn for the second year in a row, and attendance was up 5% from last year's show—a total of 783 attendees, encompassing 284 exhibitors from 79 companies, 419 booksellers from 170 stores, and 80 authors.
Friday afternoon's team spelling bee set the tone of fun for the rest of the weekend. Thirty-one booksellers from 11 stores vied for prizes. The Mac's Backs Paperbacks team from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, took top honors, a victory that store general manager and team leader Suzanne DeGaetano attributed to "luck" and "getting the right word at the right time."
The games resumed Saturday evening and continued late into the night. Before Saturday evening's Booksellers Banquet, show attendees gathered around Lou Harry, author of The Game of Life: How to Succeed in Real Life No Matter Where You Land (Running Press), to play an abbreviated version of the popular board game, while later that evening, 40 participants played a rousing game of Texas Hold 'Em, overseen by Jim McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street (FSG). Jim Tiller, owner of Kazoo Books in Kalamazoo, Mich., emerged as GLBA Late Nite Poker Champ, with Mick Dolinski of Partners Distribution first runner-up, and McManus himself coming in third.
Both the spelling bee and the poker game helped raise $1,000 for Washtenaw Literacy, a volunteer organization providing free instruction for adults in literacy and English as a second language. GLBA also raised $1,700 at this year's show for the Friends of the Detroit Public Library by donating a portion of the revenues from Friday evening's Authors Feast, Saturday's Booksellers Banquet and Sunday's Children's Book & Author Breakfast.
The weekend was more than just fun and games. GLBA board members staffed a Grassroots Café, encouraging attendees to fax their state politicians to oppose the Patriot Act and to support the collection of sales tax on Internet orders. GLBA executive director Jim Dana reported that about 200 faxes were sent to governors, U.S. senators and congresspeople. "The association has always been concerned about censorship issues," Dana told PW. "We take our role as advocates very seriously. We know how easy it is to put things off—but with everyone here, talking about these issues, what better time for us to contact our government leaders?"
Trade show booths were packed all day Saturday, with exhibitors writing orders and booksellers scooping up galleys and finished books. Bill McGarr of McGarr & Associates, a Midwest publishers rep group, enthused, "I'm exceedingly happy with this show. The Dearborn location has proved to be an excellent one for bookseller turnout. I've seen a lot of my accounts and have had great interactions all day. I've been extremely busy, there's been little let-up."
Kristen Dahl of Safe Harbor Books in Cedarville, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, gave the show high marks. "It's both educational and fun this year," she said. "It's just good to get out there, talk to other booksellers and find out about new releases. We don't see many reps—most reps don't believe there's much north of the bridge," she said.
"I'm just a rookie, but I'm making lots of great contacts," said prospective bookseller Susan Takas. "Other booksellers have been so kind and helpful, commiserating with one another, and sharing their ideas with me." Takas plans to open The Bookcellar, a combination bookstore and wine bar, in Chicago next spring.
GLBA booksellers are sanguine about prospects for fall and holiday sales. While many reported weak spring business, most said sales picked up this past summer and remained strong into the fall, although customers are buying more books in paper and fewer in hardcover. Sherry Bingaman, a bookseller at Forever Books in St. Joseph, Mich., told PW that sales at her store have increased 20%—30% each month during the last year; this has allowed the store to add staff and increase store hours.
Toni Cross, co-owner of Foul Play, a mystery bookstore in Westerville, Ohio, ascribed the steady increase in sales at her store over the past six months to a combination of the soft economy, fears of terrorism and the ongoing war in Iraq. "When the economy is shaky, more and more people read mysteries," she said. "They're a morality play. People want certainty in our uncertain post-9/11 world. They want justice and they need closure, and are finding that in our books. There's been a real surge of interest in traditional mysteries, like Agatha Christie."
A perusal of the hot titles at GLBA seemed to confirm Cross's assessment of what readers want. Mysteries, fantasy, true crime and thrillers are all hot. Several booksellers mentioned P.L. Gaus's Ohio Amish mystery series as being a favorite at their stores and were excited about picking up galley copies of Gaus's November release, Cast a Blue Shadow (Ohio Univ. Press). Other buzz books included Confessions of a Jewel Thief by Bill Mason (Villard, Apr.) and Eragon by 19-year-old Christopher Paolini (Knopf), who read at the show. Liz Murphy, owner of The Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio, called Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Shadow of the Wind (Penguin, Apr.) "a page-turner. I can hardly wait to finish it. I might have to have excerpts from this book read at my funeral."
The show ended Sunday morning with a rousing panel entitled "Creating New Readers." Speakers Esme Raji Codell, author of How to Get Your Child to Love Reading (Algonquin) and librarian Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (Sasquatch), offered passionate advice to teachers, booksellers and librarians who are trying to instill a lifelong love for books in young readers in an increasingly digitized, high-tech society. Codill declared, "Reading isn't a skill, it's a lifestyle," while Pearl offered, "Reading is sexy!" —Claire Kirch
