As many people in the business know, Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report have become among the most effective broadcast sales boosters for books, on a par with 60 Minutes, Imus in the Morning, Larry King Live and Oprah herself, the New York Times wrote yesterday.

The shows, with ratings of 1.6 million and 1.2 million respectively, have a diverse demographic. Martha K. Levin of the Free Press called them "the television equivalent of NPR. You have a very savvy, interested audience who are book buyers, people who do go into bookstores, people who are actually interested in books."

Stewart especially has become one of the best interviewers of serious authors and books, and an appearance on his show often propels a book into Amazon's top 300 from a 300,000 rank, the paper said.

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It's always wonderful to run the kind of news Nancy Olson, owner of Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, N.C., forwarded to us--from Quail Ridge's newsletter:

"It's time for the end of year State of the Store. The report is good. Our 2006 sales were up substantially over 2005--a surprise, considering they had been flat since 2001, and particularly interesting in light of the national decline in book sales of 2.9% in 2006. Our guesses as to why: institutional/school sales were up, our online sales (www.quailridgebooks.com) were up, our events were exceptionally well attended, and most importantly, we have a solid core of absolutely loyal customers who would cut off their hands (ha) before they'd order from amazon.com. Whatever the reasons for our success, a big THANK YOU for supporting us, which also supports our community. I just signed a new lease that keeps us in our space for another nine years, so I'm happy.
 
"P.S. The landlord offered us $30,000 or whatever we need to refurbish the store!"

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Most recent bills introduced in state legislatures concerning textbooks have not been signed into law and many are still awaiting committee action, according to a Campus Marketplace report.

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Congratulations to Little Bookworms, Bradenton, Fla., which is or are ever so slightly more grownup--the children's bookstore celebrated its second birthday this past weekend with various activities, refreshments and prizes, the Bradenton Herald reported.

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Turning Pages Books & More, Natchez, Miss., is moving to a part of town that owner Mary Emrick described as "the place to be," according to the Natchez Democrat.

The store will have a fireplace and area rugs on hardwood floors as well as a courtyard, where people can read or children's parties be held.

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The Johns Hopkins News-Letter profiles Clayton Fine Books & Cyber Café, Baltimore, Md., a store with a "throwback atmosphere." In a reversal of the usual progression of such things, owners Cameron and Donna Northhouse had been selling rare and out-of-print books for 30 years, by mail order, catalogue and lately via the Internet, then in 2004, opened the storefront.

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Bookbridge, an off-campus college bookstore in Binghamton, N.Y., owned by the Nebraska Book Co., has closed, the Binghamton University Pipe Dream, a student newspaper, reported. A Nebraska Book Co. executive said the store was unprofitable in large part because of its location across the street from the campus of the State University of New York at Binghamton. "We always had trouble getting people over that six-lane highway," he commented.

More on the scrotum controversy, which we hope will soon shrivel up and go away.

Elisabeth Grant-Gibson points out that the Book Report, the syndicated AM radio show that Windows a Bookshop, Monroe, La., puts out weekly, had an interview earlier this month with Newbery winner Susan Patron, whose use of the word scrotum in The Higher Power of Lucky is causing such a fuss. The interview took place before the controversy started, but, Grant-Gibson stated, "I actually did talk to her about censorship in general.  She spoke eloquently about it, and one of the things she said was that at the Los Angeles Public Library they have never removed a challenged book."

Click here for a link to the show. The Patron interview is about 25 minutes into the show, which also has an interview with Michael Hoeye, author of the Hermux Tantamoq series.

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Liz Frame, librarian at the San Antonio Christian Elementary School, San Antonio, Tex., wrote to us and gave the perspective of a librarian who declined to buy the book:

"A library is in many ways like a bookstore, in that there is limited shelf space, funds and focus. A store would not be considered censoring this same book if it did not include it on its shelves, and unlike a library, a store has ways of cutting its losses if it chooses to stock a book that doesn't move well. While Newbery award-winning books usually do generate many checkouts, this particular one seems to have estranged itself from its main audience, the 9-to-12-year-old group of 4th-6th graders. The artwork is too childish and the main character is 10 years old, all of which limits it to a younger audience, one which probably does not know/understand/have an interest in Twelve Step programs, for example. And I personally think that the word that the man in the story really would have said would have been a slang term (when was the last time anyone, other than a doctor/vet/sexpert, EVER said scrotum?). The characterization did not ring true to me.

"With a total yearly budget of $4,000 for books, magazines, reference material, supplies, circulation software, hardware upgrades, incentives, bookmarks, listening centers, DVDs, etc., I have selected to skip this year's winner, in favor of Clementine, Flotsam, Edward Tulane, John, Paul, George, and Ben, and many other new and friendly faces of 2006. Am I censoring? I think not. This is, in fact, my working definition of collection selection."

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The Los Angeles Times has a long informative story about Patron, a public librarian in Los Angeles who is in charge of assembling children's material for the system and who has roots in the city.

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And in what we hope is the last word on the matter, one of our friends (who appears to want to cling to anonymity) wrote: "This scrotum controversy is nuts!" 

 

In the three days ended yesterday, the soldout second annual ComicCon New York drew tens of thousands of fans. It was difficult moving through the aisles, particularly with so many costumed characters on the march. One observer noted that usual social rules don't apply at ComicCon: it's O.K. to stare. In fact, the Darth Vaders and Spidermen want to be looked at.

Although logistics are formidable, the show's loving embrace of the public contrasts with most major book industry events. One attendee thought the book world could learn a thing or two from a genre that many look down upon about involving its readership.

Shelf Awareness heroically wandered the floor and then listened to the Editors Buzz Forum, superbly moderated by our longtime friend Calvin Reid, senior news editor at PW and editor of PW Comics Week. At the forum, editors talked about favorite in-house projects and trends as well as a few issues in the business.

Many of the projects show the increased versatility of the comics' subjects. For example, Tokyopop is working with well-known YA authors published by its distributor HarperCollins. Those writers, including Meg Cabot, author of chick-lit classic The Princess Diaries, are providing new material for manga adaptations of their work.

(Amusingly Tokyopop's Rob Tokar noted, "When we say manga, we mean comics--any kind of panel-to-panel sequential art for storytelling. We don't do just comics with characters with big eyes.")

Chris Schluep of Random House and an editor of the comics program at Villard discussed two unusual projects coming out in the near future: one centers on Heather Roberson, the peace activist who went to Macedonia to find out why an "inevitable war" didn't happen. A collaboration of Harvey Pekar and Ed Piskor, Macedonia "raises interesting questions about war and hopefully answers many of them," Schluep said.

American Widow is a graphic novel by A.R. Torres, whose husband was an illegal immigrant who worked his way up the ladder and took his dream job at Cantor Fitzgerald on September 10, 2001--and died in the terror attacks the next day.

At Marvel Entertainment, Axel Alonso spoke eagerly of the post-Civil War era at the company that will involve "interesting characters' lives going in new directions." He also touted "the reemergence of the MAX line," the six-year-old line for mature readers. "If nothing else, we can take dormant characters without mojo and give them new lives," he commented. In addition, Marvel's Black Panther is an example of the company's desire for comic books to appeal to "new readers and groups."

For its part, DC Comics is putting a major effort into "shoring up the kids' line," Dan Didio said. In the past, such offerings were built on animated shows on Cartoon Network and other channels. Now, the company is creating original material. "We are going younger than teenaged girls," Didio said. "We're being aggressive."

Urian Brown of VIZ talked about Phoenix, "a long story about karmic retribution"; Vagabond, "a really good samurai story with the best art in the business"; Monster, "the best story"; and Hunter x Hunter.

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Concerning distribution, Rob Tokar of Tokyopop said that the company is "just seeing the positive effects" of its new distribution deal with HarperCollins and noted that the company is happy to be distributed to "mainstream stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders." But he complained of being stuck in the manga section, which, to add insult to injury, is usually categorized alphabetically. Tokyopop's audience is 60% female, but he said he fears manga sections don't reach all of the potential readership. The company is also trying to enhance college distribution because "we do great with the college crowd."

Axel Alonso said that distribution has improved. One measure of the change: "If you had asked me this question four years ago, I would have gone on a tirade," he said. He added that "as we get more shelf space in bookstores, that becomes a larger part of the business."

Dan DiDio agreed, saying that "the direct market is not in decline but the bookstore market is achieving huge growth."

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One retailer in the audience complained about late major publications, and the editors who commented all agreed it is "an ongoing issue" that they are trying to solve. But in the comics world, especially with major series and major collaborations, publications are sometimes postponed. As Axel Alonso put it, "We have the best of intentions, but life happens. We understand your pain and are trying to avoid it."

Concerning the digital world, Tokyopop is either forward-looking or courting disaster, depending on one's point of view: "We're putting most of our comics online," Rob Tokar said. "A larger part of our target audience is turning to the Internet for everything they need."

Lest anyone think this is a Japanese strategy, Tokar noted that Tokyopop is not a Japanese company. "We're owned by Stuart Levy," he said. "He's not Japanese."--John Mutter

This morning on the Today Show, Simcha Jacobovici, co-author of The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence that Could Change History (HarperSanFrancisco, $27.95, 9780061192029/0061192023).

Also on Today, "Queen of Kids' Cuisine" Barbara Beery, founder of the Batter Up Kids Culinary Center in Austin, Tex., and author of the Pink Princess Cookbook (Gibbs-Smith, $14.95, 9781423601739/1423601734) and the Batter Up series.

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Today the Martha Stewart Show makes a meal with chef Scott Conant, whose shares his culinary know-how in Scott Conant's New Italian Cooking (Broadway, $35, 9780767916820/0767916824).

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Today the Diane Rehm Show checks in with Dr. Sharon Moalem, author of Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease (Morrow, $25.95, 9780060889654/0060889659).

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Tonight the Colbert Report connects with Zev Chafets, author of A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists, and One Man's Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance (HarperCollins, $24.95, 9780060890582/0060890584).

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The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hears from movie critic Richard Roeper, whose most recent book is Sox and the City: A Fan's Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of '67 to the Wizards of Oz (Chicago Review Press, $19.95, 9781556526503/1556526504).

 

From last week's Book Sense bestseller lists, available at BookSense.com, here are the recommended titles, which are also Book Sense Picks:

Hardcover

House of Testosterone: One Mom's Survival in a Household of Males by Sharon O'Donnell (Jefferson, $19.95, 9780977808601/0977808602). "You don't have to be a mother of boys to enjoy these hilarious and poignant stories about O'Donnell's life in a house full of males. She is a wonderful writer, and this book is a delight."--Pam Duncan, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, N.C.

The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95, 9780312339210/0312339216). "A strangely tattooed body is recovered from a peat bog in England's Lake District, an unusual occurrence in an area as bucolic as a Wordsworth poem. At the same time, a young graduate student researching the poet becomes embroiled in a multiple-murder mystery. McDermid, ever the master of the complex plot, twists and turns three story lines in this mesmerizing thriller."--Kathy Ashton, The King's English, Salt Lake City, Utah

Paperback

Twilight of the Superheroes: Stories by Deborah Eisenberg (Picador, $14, 9780312425937/0312425937). "Eisenberg's stories deal with 21st-century angst in New York, for the most part, but each tale has such devastating sentences and such complicated emotions that it really doesn't matter where they're set. An eminently satisfying book."--Sohaila Abdulali, McNally Robinson Booksellers, New York, N.Y.

For Teen Readers

Dead Connection by Charlie Price (Roaring Brook, $16.95, 1596431148). "In this mystery, two friends search for a missing cheerleader with the help of voices from the cemetery. This is a great read that emphasizes young adults overcoming hurdles in a tough world. Hard to put down!"--Kimberly Polanco, Desert Blossom Books & Supplies, Silver City, N.M.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]