Notes: No E-fairness in Conn.; What Will Oprah Read?
E-fairness was one of the victims of Connecticut's recent budget battles. Bookselling This Week reported that the "$37.6 billion budget, which went into effect the week of September 7, does not include the e-fairness provision, which would have clarified state laws to require non-Connecticut merchants with an affiliate network in the state to collect sales tax on purchases shipped into Connecticut."
"We are, quite frankly, surprised that the Connecticut legislature cut the e-fairness provision from the budget," said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. "Every year, Connecticut is losing tens of millions of dollars in sales tax revenue to online retailers, many of which have nexus in the states due to affiliate relationships. To allow large, out-of-state retailers to continue to skirt tax laws at the expense of Connecticut's own businesses is simply mind-boggling."
Teicher said that in spite of the discouraging news, "it is important to remember that there was strong support for e-fairness among many in the Connecticut legislature. We expect that it will again become a legislative issue, so it is important to let the governor and your state lawmakers know where you stand."
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Today Oprah Winfrey reveals her first book club choice since last September's nod to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, but the Washington Post reported that the "book turns out to be Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them,
according to information unintentionally leaked Thursday from a book
distribution company."
Yesterday the Post had noted that "Akpan's book is currently #165,769 on Amazon.com's
sales rankings. We'll see how long that lasts." Not long, as it turned
out. With the rumor mill churning, by 10 p.m. last night it had risen to #2,151; and at press time
this morning it was #997. Stay tuned.
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Amazon on the chopping block? The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon.com "is quietly expanding its private-label business in a bid to diversify away from its online bookstore roots and become more like a general retailer. . . . The latest sign: The Seattle-based e-commerce giant--known for high-tech innovations like one-click checkout and the Kindle e-reader--last month received a U.S. design patent for a wooden chopping block. The $24.99 Pinzon bamboo cutting board is being sold as part of a line of Amazon's own kitchen products on its website."
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Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass., will be one of the independent booksellers taking advantage of a recent agreement reached between Google Book Search and On Demand Books, the makers of the Espresso Book Machine, to offer access to the more than two million public domain books in Google's digital files.
The Harvard Square bookshop will unveil its own Espresso Book Machine September 29 at an event featuring owner Jeffrey Mayersohn, On Demand Books founders Jason Epstein and Dane Neller, and author E.L. Doctorow.
To help introduce this new technology to the Cambridge community, Harvard Book Store is holding a Name Our Book Machine! Contest.
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Spellbound Children's Bookshop, Asheville, N.C., "is busy planning a month-long celebration to mark the bookstore's fifth anniversary and enjoying the healthy stream of local customers and tourists" a year after moving to a prime downtown location, Bookselling This Week reported.
"I have no doubt the move saved my business," said owner Leslie Hawkins, who noted that two members of her book club suggested she contact Alisha Silver, whose photography studio now shares the space where "each have a storefront display window on either side of a shared front entry."
Silver's "sales counter is near her window, mine is near mine," said Hawkins, "and we try to leave it as open and integrated as possible. She does have a studio space in the back separated by a partition wall displaying her photos."
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Happy 30th anniversary to Square Books, Oxford, Miss., which features a delightful video chronicling its storied history on the bookshop's website.
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Cool idea of the day: Three Lives & Co., New York City, celebrated the sale of its first copy of The Lost Symbol by
Dan Brown on Wednesday afternoon by giving it to the person who
intended to buy it. Owner Toby Cox said, "He was delighted." He added,
"We had our Dan Brown on September 1, and her name is Lorrie Moore."
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Book trailer of the day: for The Art of Aging by Alice and Richard Matzkin.
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Hands at Work: Portraits & Profiles of People Who Work with Their Hands, which was written and published by Iris Graville, won the annual BuzzBooks competition at the 2009 PNBA trade show last week. Approximately 130 booksellers and librarians visited the booths of seven competing titles, listened to impassioned pitches by the authors or sales reps, and then voted for the most BuzzWorthy title.
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On Slate, Brian Palmer answered the question: "Can You Really Be a Professor of Symbology?"
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Jesse Kalfel plans to host a literal launch party for his book, So You're Cremated . . . Now What?, aboard the Yankee Clipper on September 26, when the "So I've Got These Ashes and Need to Do Something With Them" cruise sets sail from Newburyport, Mass.