Sunday's New York Times was attracted to what it called "some surprising secrets behind The Secret," the wildly popular movie directed by Rhonda Byrne that was touted twice by Oprah recently. The DVD (it is not being shown in theaters here) has sold some 1.5 million copies, more than half in the past month, "as word-of-mouth appeal crossed over from New Age circles to the mainstream," the paper said. And the book (Atria/Beyond Words, $23.95, 9781582701707/1582701709), which appeared after the movie, has been moving onto many bestseller lists and took the No. 1 spot on the Times's own hardcover advice, how-to and miscellaneous list this week.

One of the "secrets" is that there are two versions of the movie. The original prominently featured Esther Hicks, who with her husband, Jerry, has written Ask and It Is Given and several other books based on the teachings of Abraham, the name used for a group of spiritual teachers who Esther Hicks channels. But Hicks had thought the movie would be released only in Australia and protested; the new version doesn't include her and copies of the original are hard to find.

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Standard & Poor's has downgraded Borders Group stock to sell from hold, according to BusinessWeek. S&P cited "disappointing holiday sales results" and concern that despite increased sales from the final Harry Potter book, "margin pressure will mount due to a highly promotional environment." 

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Barnes & Noble has signed a lease to open a store in November 2007 in Fort Wayne, Ind. The store will be located in the Glenbrook Square Mall at Coliseum Boulevard and Coldwater Road.

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The Burlington Free Press reports on the impending closing of the Book Rack & Children's Pages, Essex, Vt., after 26 years in business. Owner Elaine Sopchak cited a struggle tending to the store and a newborn child, her third, as well as competition from Amazon and big-box stores. In addition, the store's "tucked-away location in the Essex shopping center failed to attract foot traffic business," the paper said.

Sopchak plans to work as a publicist for Vermont writers Archer Mayor and Howard Frank Mosher and wants to open an Essex chapter of Local First Vermont, the state's local business group. "I can't keep this shop open, but I can help others," she said. "I just don't think people realize how many of their neighbors own local businesses." 

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The East Valley Tribune profiles Those Were the Days! bookstore in Tempe, Ariz., "a museum of sorts with thousands of out-of-print antiquing books shelved among miscellaneous antique signs and items with descriptive tags." Owner Vic Linoff said his passion is antiques; he started selling books after finding a good deal in a catalogue. "We started with three books on antiques, and it just grew," he told the paper. 

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Red Rock Coffee Shop has opened in the St. Norbert College Book Store, De Pere, Wis., according to the Green Bay Press Gazette.

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Newmarket Press won several vicarious Oscars on Sunday.

It had the perfect tie-in to Little Miss Sunshine, which won for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (nabbed by Alan Arkin): Little Miss Sunshine: The Shooting Script ($19.95, 9781557047700), which contains Michael Arndt's winning screenplay.

The house also has tie-ins to Dreamgirls, which won for Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson) and Best Sound Mixing. They are:

• Dreamgirls: Collector's Program ($11.95, 9781557047588)
• Dreamgirls: The Movie Musical (paperback $19.95, 9781557047373; hardcover, $29.95, 9781557047458)
  

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The Frankfurt Book Fair is inviting young publishers from around the world to apply for its Frankfurt Fellowship Programme, under which 18 people spend two weeks in Germany visiting key publishing cities. The program takes place September 29-October 14 and ends with attendance at the fair, October 10-14.

For more information and a downloadable application, click here.

 

This morning on the Today Show, Suze Orman offers tips from her new book, Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny (Spiegel & Grau, $24.95, 9780385519311/0385519311). Orman will appear on Larry King Live tonight.

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This morning the Early Show levels the playing field with Lis Wiehl, author of The 51% Minority: How Women Still Are Not Equal and What You Can Do About It (Ballantine, $24.95, 9780345469212/0345469216). Wiehl will spar with Bill O'Reilly tonight.

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This morning on Good Morning America: Jeff Henderson, author of Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras (Morrow, $24.95, 9780061153907/0061153907).

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Today on the Oprah Winfrey Show: Lee and Bob Woodruff on their memoir In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing (Random House, $25.95, 9781400066674/1400066670). Today the couple will also appear on Good Morning America, and tonight ABC, where Woodruff was co-anchor of World News Tonight until being injured in Iraq, will air a special by Woodruff about his experience and issues involving the recovery of severely wounded soldiers. 

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Today the Martha Stewart Show gets skincare tips from Susan West Kurz, author of Awakening Beauty the Dr. Hauschka Way (Clarkson Potter, $30, 9781400097432/1400097436).

Also in Martha's line-up: Eric Ripert, co-author of A Return to Cooking (Artisan, $50, 9781579651879/1579651879).

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Today the Diane Rehm Show talks with Kerry Max Cook, author of Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself after Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit (Morrow, $25.95, 9780060574642/006057464X).

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Today on NPR's Fresh Air, Caille Milner politely presents The Golden Road: Notes on My Gentrification (Penguin Press, $22.95, 9781594201097/1594201099).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: John Amaechi, the former NBA athelete whose new memoir is Man in the Middle (ESPN Books, $24.95, 9781933060194/1933060190).

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Tonight the Late Show with David Letterman cashes in with an appearance by Jeff MacGregor, author of Sunday Money: Speed! Lust! Madness! Death! A Hot Lap around America with NASCAR (Harper Perennial, $14.95, 9780060094720/0060094729).

Philip Roth has won the PEN/Faulkner award for fiction for his novel Everyman, his third PEN/Faulkner award. According to wire services, judge Debra Magpie Earling commented: "It's such a slim volume, and the book haunts me, its simplicity and brutishness, the unflinching look at life. Roth never looks away, never trivializes, never shrugs. He manages to wrestle with grief, the immensity of losing self."

Runners up were The Dead Fish Museum by Charles D'Ambrosio, Twilight of the Superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg, The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel and All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones.

Roth receives a $15,000 prize. His other PEN/Faulkner winners were Operation Shylock in 1994 and The Human Stain in 2001.

Selected titles with a pub date of next Tuesday, March 6:

A Far Country by Daniel Mason (Knopf, $24, 9780375414664/0375414665). The sophomore effort from the author of The Piano Tuner follows a young girl on her journey through a vast, unnamed country in search of her brother.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (Atria, $26.95, 9780743496728/0743496728). A small New Hampshire town is devastated by a shocking act of violence.

Shadowplay by Tad Williams (DAW, $26.95, 9780756403584/0756403588). The second volume in the Shadowmarch trilogy.

Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas (St. Martin's, $19.95, 9780312351625/0312351623). A small-town girl in Texas overcomes tragedy and finds love.

Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy (Knopf, $25.95, 9780307265784/0307265781). The residents of an Irish village are torn between the traditions of the past and the promises of the future when the construction of a new highway threatens a beloved shrine.

When the Light Goes by Larry McMurtry (S&S, $24, 9781416534266/1416534261). It's a new chapter in the life of McMurtry's beloved character Duane Moore, last seen in Duane's Depressed.

Entering the Castle: An Inner Path to God and Your Soul by Caroline Myss (Free Press, $26, 9780743255325/0743255321). Theologian Myss maps a modern spiritual journey using Teresa of Ávila's The Interior Castle as a guide.

Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance by Marcus Buckingham (Free Press, $30, 9780743261678/0743261674). A six-step, six-week plan for achieving maximum success at work from the author of First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths.

Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War by Andrew Carroll (Doubleday, $16.95, 9780385519748/0385519745). An inspiring and spiritual collection of letters and e-mails by U.S. troops and their families from the American Revolution through the War on Terrorism.

The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (Harmony $24, 9780307346254/0307346250). A world-renowned Buddhist teacher unlocks the secrets behind the practice of meditation.

Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders by James D. Scurlock (Scribner, $24, 9781416532514/141653251X). An examination of America's dependence on credit and how it's perpetuated.

Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality edited by Raymond Arroyo (Doubleday, $16.95, 9780385519854/0385519850). A devotional treasury from the founder of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Alabama.
 
Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity by Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King (Viking, $24.95, 9780670038459/0670038458). Two leading experts on the Gnostic Gospels reflect on the recently discovered Gospel of Judas.

Testimony: France in the Twenty-first Century by Nicolas Sarkozy (Pantheon, $24.95, 9780375425059/0375425055). A French politician offers an unsparing critique of contemporary French society and its leaders.

Too Far from Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space by Chris Jones (Doubleday, $24.95, 9780385514651/0385514654). A true-life adventure story that illustrates the perilous realities of space travel.

Kate Whouley writes:

First, let's acknowledge my two hats. For 19 years, I've worked as a consultant to independent bookstores. And I write books.

As a general rule, I wear only one hat at a time, but there are occasions when--despite my best wardrobing efforts--I discover both hats battling over the space on top of my head. That's exactly what happened while reading the New England Independent Booksellers Association listserve responses to Elizabeth Bluemle's question to members, "Do you get promo e-mails listing Amazon?"  

The co-owner of the Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, Vt., recounted her recent experience with just such an e-mail she received from an author. She included in her posting a copy of the e-mail she sent back, suggesting that "at the very least" the author provide "an alternative link to BookSense.com." Her note was brief, friendly, but unsubtle in its implication. She wrote: "I'm sure this was an oversight, but it is one that will be noticed (and not favorably) by other book buyers (and sellers) in the field."

Wearing my consultant hat, I was pleased to see Elizabeth defending her turf, but I wasn't sure her tactics would have much effect. While most authors possess at least some theoretical awareness of the importance of supporting independent bookstores, they aren't always clear on how to offer such support. That's why I was glad that Elizabeth suggested that the ABA and NEIBA remind those who rent association mailing lists to include a BookSense.com link and to use the phrase, "available at independent bookstores" in promotions and on Web sites.  

Becky Dayton of the Vermont Book Shop, Middlebury, Vt., echoed Elizabeth's frustration, mentioning, in her posting, a recent round of e-mails with author Bill McKibben. She reported that he made some changes on his homepage to include a BookSense.com link as a result of their exchange, but, as she noted, "when you go to his 'books' page, the purchase option is strictly through Amazon." Becky wondered how much publishers dictate what is on their authors' Web sites, and whether Amazon's power over publishers influences what they tell authors to do.  

I can't speak for Bill McKibben, but--switching hats now--I can say the only suggestion Random House made to me was that I get my author Web site up and running before the paperback launch of Cottage for Sale. My site was created and financed without any support--or interference--on the part of the publisher. It's true some big-league authors have publisher-based sites, but many more authors create and manage their own headquarters on the Web. And so far as I know, Amazon isn't twisting any arms to get authors to link to the giant e-tailer. Why do authors do it?

From an author's point of view, Amazon is the ultimate supplier. More often than not--especially for newer titles--it has your book in stock and will ship it, pronto. While we all hope that our books will be "available at independent bookstores," the very independence we support means that some stores will choose to stock the book and some will not.

Michael Herrmann of Gibson's Bookstore, Concord, N.H., responded to Becky Dayton's posting, saying that after his own e-mail exchange with poets.org, he realized, in his words, "The economics were unmistakable . . . Poets.org was making more in a month from Amazon than they made in three years from a previous BookSense link." He suggested that authors were faced with similar economic choices.  

Though I can envision a day, when--as it has for recording artists--this might change, I don't think the majority of visitors to author Web sites are there to make a purchase. In my experience, they learn about the Web site from the book they already own or have on loan from the library. They visit to learn more or to connect with an author whose book they have enjoyed.

The economic advantages to any single author may be minimal, but Michael's right that public radio stations, non-profit groups and any number of organizations who might otherwise affiliate with a community bookstore, choose to link with Amazon for financial reasons. His comments prompted a posting from Chris Haraden, co-owner of Westwinds Bookshop, Duxbury, Mass. A bookseller with a BookSense.com Web site, he wondered whether independents might "consider an alliance with one of these larger, better-branded sites."

The next posting, from Kenny Brechner, of DDG Booksellers in Farmington, Me., opened with this caveat: "Judging from literary precedents, I'm not sure that bargains struck with agents of the netherworld have turned out to the advantage of the weaker party."

Would the working partnership Chris Haraden suggests be the proverbial pact with the devil?

This sort of online alliance was envisioned at the outset of BookSense.com. At one of the earliest "demos" of BookSense.com, I remember the ABA was suggesting that Web site orders could be filled by a national wholesaler and drop-shipped directly to the bookstore's customer. This was early in the race to the Web, at a point when many independents were unconvinced there was any reason for them to go online at all; perhaps timing explains why most of the booksellers in the conference room were appalled. "Why not ship books from our own stores? Or deliver them? Why let a wholesaler ship books that I have in stock?" The booksellers in attendance were also upset when it was suggested they could sell books online at a discount. "Why would we ever discount?" they asked.

"To compete with Amazon and other online discounters," was the answer.  Further--and this point is important: "Because you can."

If you have a deal with a national wholesaler--or, humor me for a moment, a national e-tailer like Amazon--you can afford to discount the books sold (and shipped) through a Web site, because you don't have to purchase or stock or deliver those books yourself. It all happens in a magical backroom that is not yours. You are simply the agent, the connection for your local customer, who feels better about doing her "one-click ordering" in a way that keeps her local independent bookstore alive. All you do is cash the commission check. Sure, your slice is a small percentage of the retail price, but a glance at recent ABACUS results--wearing the consultant hat now--tells me that a little bit of unfettered income could go a long way toward improving the miniscule bottom line of most independent bookstores.  

There's something else Amazon has going for it: the company makes it easy to click and buy. That's why even the most loyal independent bookstore customers occasionally purchase from the online competition. In investigating the BookSense.com option for my own site, I found it required a series of extra steps for the customer to find a local bookseller who may or may not stock the book. I decided to forgo both e-commerce options. But if BookSense.com were electronically connected to an Amazon-like warehouse, customers would be able to buy with ease and with the conviction they were doing the right thing.

Deal with the devil? Or pact for profits?

I don't pretend to know for sure. But I do believe Chris Haraden's suggestion is worthy of diligent investigation. The ABA was ahead of its time those many years ago. Scaling back the BookSense.com concept earned them more bookseller customers with less overhead. It made sense at the time. But making sense--and money--in today's online world, may require looking back and looking forward, in order to arrive at a model that creates profit for independent bookstores in the present and ensures their electronic sustainability for the future.

Kate Whouley heads Books in Common and is the author of Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved.