"Perhaps bookstores will have to be defined as a place that sells things not otherwise available.... Can you surround the books with related activities, things that can't be translated into electronic exchange?"--Jason Rovito, owner of the soon-to-open Toronto bookstore Of Swallows, Their Deeds, & the Winter Below. He was profiled in the Globe & Mail.

The Australian government is setting up the Book Industry Strategy Group in an effort to ensure that the country's $1.5 billion book industry survives and adapts to digital changes, the Age reported.

Innovation Minister Kim Carr told a symposium in Melbourne, "'You can't build a future on nostalgia . . . Whether we like it or not, the technology is changing. If we want the Australian book industry to survive, we have to change with it.''

The Group will produce research, analysis and strategic thinking. Senator Carr added, ''I want to see book printers, publishers, distributors and retailers together in one room collaborating with each other and taking responsibility for transforming their industry that ensures its future sustainability."

For more coverage on the symposium, see the Australian.

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The future of the U.K.'s only gay bookshop, Gay's the Word, Bloomsbury, is in doubt after a recent 25% rent increase, the Advocate reported, noting that the "shop was saved from closure three years ago after a similar rent increase led celebrity fans such as author Sarah Walters and actor Sir Ian McKellen to sponsor bookshelves."

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Mentioned in our coverage of the Winter Institute panel on the Espresso Book Machine, the blank book The Wit and Wisdom of Sarah Palin, a bestseller at Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, Vt., is a Bookshop Santa Cruz title that the store is "happy to wholesale to other bookstores," as Bookshop Santa Cruz owner Casey Coonerty Protti wrote. "It's printed by Northshire so it benefits two indies!" For more information, contact her at casey@bookshopsantacruz.com.

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Book trailer of the day: Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov, translated by Andrew Bromfield (Tor), the first book in the Chronicles of Siala trilogy.

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This coming Thursday, February 18, the Women's National Book Association is sponsoring a discussion on Digital Publishing and the Author: Surviving and Thriving in Emerging Media.

Panelists are Ginger Clark, an agent at Curtis Brown; Christina Baker Kline, a novelist whose most recent book is Bird in Hand, writer-in-residence at Fordham University and an editor of SheWrites who is at work adapting her blog, A Writing Life, into a book; John Oakes, co-founder of OR Books and co-founder of Four Walls Eight Windows; and Debbie Stier, senior v-p and associate publisher of HarperStudio and director of digital marketing at HarperCollins. Moderator Louise Quayle is a trade book publishing consultant in foreign, domestic and digital rights licensing.

The event will be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Park Avenue United Methodist Church at 106 E. 86th St. in New York City. A reception follows the panel. More information on WNBA's website. To RSVP, e-mail programs@wnba-nyc.org.

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"Read to win the war": Boing Boing featured a World War I-era poster from the American Library Association's Library War Service that advised: "You will find popular books for fighting men in the recreational buildings and at other points in this Camp. Free. No red tape."

December bookstore sales fell 0.6%, to $2.03 billion, compared to December 2008, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. For the year, total bookstore sales fell 0.8%, to $16.6 billion.

Total retail sales in December rose 5.4%, to $409 billion, compared to the same period a year ago. For the year, total retail sales were down 6.2%, to $4,140 million.

Although bookstore sales were down at the end of the year, bookstore sales for the year were stronger than most retailers.

Note: under Census Bureau definitions, bookstore sales are of new books and do not include "electronic home shopping, mail-order, or direct sale" or used book sales.

Dick Francis, author of more than 40 novels set primarily in the world of thoroughbred racing, died Sunday. He was 89. His New York Times obituary noted that Francis "made it a point of honor to satisfy fans with one book a year for most of his career.... A modest and reserved man, Mr. Francis took quiet pleasure in his success as an author."

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Lucille Clifton, National Book Award winner and former poet laureate of Maryland, died Saturday. She was 73. In the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Wallace R. Peppers observed that Clifton "writes of her family because she is greatly interested in making sense of their lives and relationships; she writes of adversity and success in the ghetto community; and she writes of her role as a poet," the Baltimore Sun reported.

Fans of Sandi Ault and her Wild series celebrate the release of the latest title, Wild Penance (Berkley), earlier this month at the Estes Park Library, Estes Park, Colo.

This morning on Good Morning America: Alexandra Penney, author of The Bag Lady Papers: The Priceless Experience of Losing It All (Voice, $23.99, 9781401341183/1401341187). She will also appear this morning on NPR's Morning Edition.

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Today on NPR's All Things Considered: Roger Rosenblatt, author of Making Toast (Ecco, $21.99, 9780061825934/006182593X).

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Today on the Sean Hannity Show: David Kupelian, author of How Evil Works: Understanding and Overcoming the Destructive Forces That Are Transforming America (Threshold Editions, $26, 9781439168196/1439168199).

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Today on the Tyra Show: Lauren Conrad, author of Sweet Little Lies: An L.A. Candy Novel (HarperCollins, $17.99, 9780061767609/0061767603).

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Today on Fox's Glenn Beck Show: Arthur B. Laffer, author of Return to Prosperity: How America Can Regain Its Economic Superpower Status (Threshold Editions, $27, 9781439159927/1439159920).

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Today on the Book Studio: Steve Berry, author of The Paris Vendetta (Ballantine, $26, 9780345505477/0345505476).

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Today on E!'s Chelsea Lately: Jackie Collins, author of Poor Little Bitch Girl (St. Martin's, $26.99, 9780312567453/0312567456).

The Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction has been awarded to Edward Rutherfurd for his New York: The Novel (Doubleday). The judges wrote: "This massive, well-written novel traces the history of New York City, and, through that perspective, American history generally, from the 17th century to the present. The history unfolds through the lives and experiences of various families, free, slave, high class, low class, but primarily through the Masters, early a mercantile and later a banking family. Although sometimes the transitions between generations are jerky and the time shifts very rapid, when either the historical importance or the drama of the characters increase, the pace slows down appropriately. The frequent dramatic vignettes of family crises are fascinating. Even though little lectures of history are sometimes inserted into dialogue, in the main it reads smoothly and quickly. Readers should not be daunted by its size. Rutherfurd's book completely fulfills the purpose of the prize in making the rich history of America accessible to the educated general public."

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:
 
Hardcover
 
Then Came the Evening: A Novel by Brian Hart (Bloomsbury, $25, 9781608190140/1608190145). "Brian Hart's dark, brooding debut novel portrays an American West that few writers capture, and certainly not as well as he does. Tense dialogue captures the lives entwined in this bleak, raw landscape. Then Came the Evening is a psychological stunner."--Andy Nettell, Back of Beyond Books, Moab, Utah
 
Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D. (Norton, $24.95, 9780393064582/0393064581). "Epstein moves through history, grabbing the interesting bits of information given to pregnant ladies of the past, and those of today, delivering a robust history of childbirth."--Jeanne Regentin, Between the Covers, Harbor Springs, Mich.
 
Paperback
 
I Don't Care About Your Band by Julie Klausner (Gotham, $15, 9781592405619/1592405614). "Klausner's memoir airs the sordid laundry of her past loves and lusts with unabashed honesty, tragicomic detail and inventive vulgarities. This book is that throw your head back and laugh maniacally kind of funny, and it will leave you full of perspective, compassion and charmed disgust."--Laura 'Wally' Johnston, Rediscovered Bookshop, Boise, Idaho
 
For Ages 4 to 8
 
The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly, $16.95, 9781897299951/1897299958). "We would all like to be someone who can do no wrong, but I'm afraid we'll have to leave that to people like Tove Jansson, the beloved creator of the Moomins. This marvelously fun cut-out book is appearing for the first time in English. As Moomintroll heads home, he has a series of adventures, in which children are asked to guess what happens next. Just delightful!"--Kenny Brechner, Devaney, Doak & Garrett Booksellers, Farmington, Maine
 
[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

The following were the bestselling titles at member bookstores of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association during January:
 
Hardcovers
 
1. The First Rule by Robert Crais (Putnam)
2. The Red Door by Charles Todd (Morrow)
3. Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker (Putnam)
4. The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (St. Martin's)
5. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Viking)
6. Gutshot Straight by Lou Berney (Morrow)
7. Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Knopf)
8. I, Sniper by Stephen Hunter (Simon & Schuster)
9. U Is for Undertow by Sue Grafton (Putnam)
9. Treasure Hunt by John Lescroart (Dutton)
 
Softcovers
 
1. Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy (Berkley)
2. How to Wash a Cat by Rebecca Hale (Berkley)
3. Death of a Witch by M.C. Beaton (Grand Central)
4. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Bantam)
4. The Wings of the Sphinx by Andreas Camilleri (Penguin)
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Vintage)
7. Stirring Up Trouble by Jennifer Stanley (St. Martin's)
8. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell (Back Bay)
9. Dead Air by Mary Kennedy (Berkley)
10. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Back Bay)