Notes: Vroman's to Buy Book Soup; Pricier Global Kindle Titles
Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, Calif., has signed an agreement to purchase Book Soup in West Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times's Jacket Copy
blog reported that Book Soup's owner Glenn Goldman "began looking for a
buyer when he fell severely ill, and the fate of the store has been up
in the air since his death early this year."
"Glenn and I had
talked about it and we've been in conversations with the seller since
January," said Allison Hill, Vroman's president and COO. "I don't
believe that just anyone could have come in and taken over Book Soup.
There is an authenticity to what Book Soup is that we intend on
honoring. We would be crazy to do this otherwise."
In a note to Shelf Awareness, Hill said Vroman's intends for the transition to be "invisible to customers. Book Soup will continue. Vroman's will just provide the behind the scenes, operational infrastructure to keep it going."
Hill also called the effort, which has yet to finalized, "a bold strategic move forward for both bookstores. We have been awed by what the Book Soup staff has accomplished these past several months and as their new partners, we are grateful for the opportunity to step in at this juncture and move forward with them. Vroman's brings to the table great business sense, and Book Soup has a great sensibility. It's an ideal partnership."
Tosh Berman, Book Soup's buyer and a long-term employee, said, "I am thrilled with the thought of being part of another great literary tradition in Southern California. It's nice to know that instead of being purchased by a big company, we are becoming a part of another long-term, independent bookstore that has its roots in the literary world for over 100 years. . . . Vroman's has the deep insight and understanding of what makes a great bookstore, and they realize the specialty, the eccentricity, and vision of Glenn Goldman's Book Soup, and will help it continue for many years to come."
Vroman's and Book Soup have some connections already. Hill herself was general manager of Book Soup for six years. Vroman's promotional director Jennifer Ramos was promotional manager of Book Soup. Vroman's controller and CFO Clark Mason was controller at Book Soup. Vroman's webmaster Patrick Brown managed Book Soup's onetime South Coast Plaza location and was a floor manager at the main store.
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International
users of Amazon's Kindle e-book reader "will be paying significantly
more to buy books than their American counterparts," according to the Guardian. "An Amazon.co.uk spokesman revealed that foreign
customers--including those in Britain--would be paying $13.99 (£8.75)
per book instead of the American price of $9.99 (£6.25). That amounts
to a 40% premium for the same title."
"International customers
do pay a higher price for their books than U.S. customers due to higher
operating costs outside of the U.S.," said the spokesman. "Additionally,
VAT rates in the EU are higher on e-books than on print books."
But Matt Bath, technology editor for Which?
magazine, said, "From our point of view, clearly companies can charge
what they want to. However, I find it gobsmacking that the same piece
of digital data is going to cost $4 more for a British customer than it
will be for an American one. It's not like it costs any import taxes.
It will be interesting to hear if this is anything other than a stealth
tax."
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Thomas Nelson Inc. will launch West Bow Press, "an imprint whose books will be designed, published and distributed by Author Solutions Inc., the country's largest self-publisher," according to the Wall Street Journal. Although the company's editors won't be editing manuscripts, "they will monitor sales to identify potential big sellers."
"There's no question we think this will generate revenue," said Michael Hyatt, Thomas Nelson's CEO.
"What this will do is to put the stamp of approval on self-publishing," said Kevin Weiss, CEO of Author Solutions, of the partnership. "There are still folks who say if you aren't picked up by the trade publishers, you aren't real."
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The San Francisco
Chronicle profiled Book Inc.'s new store "on Berkeley's Fourth Street,
a stone's throw from the site of the late, lamented Cody's Books,"
noting that "book-hungry customers forced the store to open hours
before its planned time of 1 p.m. on Monday."
"So many people
were waiting to browse or trying to come in when tradespeople left,
that we had to let them in early," said Calvin Crosby, store manager.
"I'm
a Berkeley boy, so for me it was absolutely anathema that there wasn't
a general-interest bookstore left here," added co-owner and president
Michael Tucker.
"We are definitely booksellers, and that's our
passion, but we try to make it make sense as a business," Crosby said
of his booksellers. "We pay attention to the trends; we really watch
payroll. We don't keep a huge inventory in the back room; everything is
on the floor. Just-in-time buying is part of what we do."
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Citing the recent announcement that Jan
Loveland, owner of Cranesbill Books, Chelsea, Mich., will close by the
end of the year, the Jackson Citizen Patriot observed that independent bookstores in the region have been "hit by hard times, tough competition."
"This
year, more than any other, cutting our costs has not made a
difference,'' said Loveland, adding, "I think that the small . . .
bookstore/gift shop is going to be a rarer and rarer thing to find."
Jerry
Hatton, owner of Best Books, Jackson, agreed that the retail climate
was challenging, but noted that "we still feel that we provide an
important resource. . . . We've got personalized service . . . and that
ability to browse and sit down in a comfortable chair."
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Wellington
Square Bookshop, Exton, Pa., which recently expanded from an 800-square
foot space to one with 3,700 square feet, "may be located in northern
Chester County, but its market is much bigger," according to the Times
Herald.
We sell to the world," said owner Samuel Hankin. "We’ve
sold to all 50 states many times over and to 50 countries. We know
people from all over the world."
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Klindts
Booksellers, The Dalles, Ore., is "like an old time general store,"
staff member Widge Johnson told the Chronicle, which observed that
"Klindts (and its predecessors Weigelts and Nickelsens) have been a
fixture in The Dalles for 140 years, the oldest continually operating
bookstore in the Pacific Northwest, and very likely west of the
Mississippi." Today the bookshop will celebrate its heritage "with the
help of 10 regional authors, local musicians, food and libations."
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Our list on Friday of books available in the U.S. by new Nobel laureate Herta Mueller neglected to mention a title from Serpent's Tail:
The Passport, published in 1989 and translated by Martin Chalmers, is being reprinted with a new cover and will be in stock October 23. The trade paperback retails for $12.95. Incidentally this is Serpent's Tail's second Nobel winner in five years: the house also is publisher of The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek, who won in 2004.
In addition, Umbrage Editions, which, like Serpent's Tail, is distributed by Consortium, has a photography book called Children of Ceausescu with photographs by Kent Klich and an essay by Herta Mueller. Published in 2005, the hardcover retails for $40.
And finally an a propos book trailer of the day: Reindeer with King Gustaf: What to Expect When Your Spouse Wins the Nobel Prize by Anita Laughlin (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing).
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David Unowsky is no longer employed at Magers and Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis, Minn., where he had been events manager for the past five years. Unowsky, founder of the now defunct Hungry Mind Bookstore and Hungry Mind Review, can be reached at david.unowsky@gmail.com or 612-845-5537.
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