Shelf Awareness for Tuesday, March 6, 2007


Quarry Books: Yes, Boys Can!: Inspiring Stories of Men Who Changed the World - He Can H.E.A.L. by Richard V Reeves and Jonathan Juravich, illustrated by Chris King

Simon & Schuster: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: Nightweaver by RM Gray

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers: The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

Overlook Press: Hotel Lucky Seven (Assassins) by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Brian Bergstrom

Quotation of the Day

Librarians on a Mission

"In the 21st century . . .  libraries aren't just passive repositories . . . and librarians aren't just those little old ladies who say 'shhhh!' We're people on a mission."--Mary Baykan, director of the Washington County Free Library, Hagerstown, Md., and Library Journal's Librarian of the Year in a Baltimore Sun profile.


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News

Notes: Baghdad Bombing; Reviews Review; New Book Festival

Sadly a suicide bomber struck the book market on Mutanabi Street in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 20, wounding more than 65, destroying many bookstores and stationery shops and wrecking the Shahbandar café, "where elderly writers puffed away the afternoon on water pipes," as the New York Times put it.

"There are no Americans or Iraqi politicians here--there are only Iraqi intellectuals who represent themselves and their homeland, plus stationery and book dealers," Abdul Baqi Faidhullah, a poet, told the paper.

Wissam Arif, an engineer and book lover, said, "Those terrorists do not represent Islam. They are fighting science. . . . . Yesterday they killed the prophets and today they are killing the books. But hopefully the just, the science and the light will win. We'll be patient until we achieve victory."

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Today's Wall Street Journal surveys the shaky state of stand-alone newspaper book reviews, adding that the rumored move by the Los Angeles Times to fold its Sunday book review into a new section with other material "is expected" to be announced this spring.

The reason for the problem, according to the paper: "Book publishers in recent years have moved away from buying ads in stand-alone book-review sections in favor of paying to stack mounds of books in the front of chain bookstores," which can cost $1 a copy.

The New York Times Book Review's state is healthy compared to its competitors. Some publishers say newspaper book review ads work in connection with other marketing and promotion efforts.

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Also today's Wall Street Journal reports that a Microsoft lawyer who will address the AAP's annual meeting today will criticize Google for a "cavalier approach to copyright" and say that Microsoft's book-scanning projects will respect publishers' copyright. 

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RadioFreePGW.com reports that in bankruptcy court yesterday "just about everyone and their sister [filed] an objection to the sale of AMS to Baker & Taylor--not that anything will stop it. And now it looks like B&T may want the entire Indy DC and the unsecured creditors' committee wants a guarantee that PGW will have more than 20 days to get its stock out."

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In a commentary yesterday on NPR's Marketplace, Moira Manion, an original employee of Borders's Block E store in Minneapolis, Minn., whose space the company is seeking to sublet (Shelf Awareness, January 20, 2007), offered a scathing account of the four-year-old store's problems. She and others, she said, wanted Borders to hire a security guard and install a security mirror, given the store's gritty downtown location. But they were rebuffed, and as a result, the store "was infested" with drug dealers, prostitutes and others, and "employees and customers felt unsafe." Business is much stronger, she said, at a nearby Barnes & Noble that has always had a security officer and security mirrors.

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Someone has put at least three pornographic books on shelves at the Borders in Dickson City, Pa., leading staff to call for police help, the Scranton Times-Tribune. But as an officer told the paper, "Besides catching this (person) red-handed, there's not much more we can do. It could be a prank by kids. Who knows?"

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Books-A-Million plans to open several stores in the near future. One new BAM store will be in the Prattville Town Center at 2391 Cobbs Ford Road in Prattville, Ala. BAM has operated a Bookland in Prattville since 1997. This is the company's 26th store in Alabama.

The retailer is also opening a store at the Shops at Shelby Crossing at 1716 US Highway 27 North in Sebring, Fla. BAM has opened a Bookland in Sebring since 1991 and has 35 other locations in Florida.

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John W. Todd Jr., longtime owner of Shorey's Bookstore in Seattle, Wash., died on Sunday at 92, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. The store, which closed in 2000, was founded in 1890 and claimed for a time to be "the world's largest antiquarian bookstore."

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The Keystone Book Festival, the first state literary event in Pennsylvania, will take place October 10-12, 2008, in the capital, Harrisburg. Larry Portzline, founder of Bookstore Tourism, is the executive director of the event and said Pennsylvania "is long overdue for a state literary event like this."

The festival will include readings, panel discussions, writing workshops, advice from editors, agents and publicists, a poetry series, an illustrator exhibit, a rare book exhibit, children's programs and more. The organization also will stage the Keystone Book Awards, which will highlight "Pennsylvania's best literary achievements."

For updates and information, visit the festival's Web site at keystonebookfestival.org.

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The Association of American Publishers will honor ABC's the View "for its outstanding work promoting American books and authors" at its annual meeting today.

AAP president and CEO Pat Schroeder commented: "Despite the differences in age, background, and experience among the View's hosts, they are all passionate about reading, and this passion comes through every time the discussion turns to books and authors."

The View will donate the $5,000 award to First Book, which aims to provide children from underprivileged families the first books they own.
 

 


GLOW: Berkley Books: The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland


B&N's Bad News Drags Down Stock 11.4%

Barnes & Noble had bad news for investors yesterday, saying that comp-store sales were down for the last quarter and past year and it expects them to be "flat to slightly positive" next year; that it expects lower-than-expected earnings for the coming year; and that margins will be hurt by new lower loyalty member prices, several special charges and deep discounting on the new Harry Potter book.

Nine analysts expected a $2.46-a-share profit for the upcoming year, while B&N said that number would fall between $1.49 and $1.67 a share, according to Bloomberg. Analyst Dan Poole told Bloomberg, "They are stuck with modest growth and low relative returns."

Wall Street reacted negatively. On another down day for the Dow, B&N closed at $35.56, off 11.4%. Nearly 4.3 million shares traded, more than seven times the usual daily volume.

In part because of the selloff, Merrill Lynch yesterday upgraded B&N to "neutral" from "sell," according to Reuters. Writing about both B&N and Borders, the brokerage said, "We expect these two mature retailers to continue to fight for market share in a slow-growth industry."

Sales at Barnes & Noble were $1.5 billion in the quarter ended February 3, and $4.5 million for the full year. (Earnings will be reported around March 22.) Sales at B&N stores rose 2%, but sales at stores open at least a year were down 0.1% in the quarter and 0.3% for the year. The company opened 32 B&N stores and closed 18 during the year.

Sales at B. Dalton were $36 million in the quarter and $102 million for the year. Comp-store sales dropped 7.5% in the quarter and 6.1% for the year. B&N closed 20 Dalton stores during the year.

Sales at B&N.com were $164 million in the quarter and $433 million for the year. Comp-store sales rose 5.1% in the quarter and dropped 1.1% for the year.

Among other news:

  • During the year, B&N will close its Internet distribution center in Memphis, Tenn., after which all Internet orders will be fulfilled by the new warehouse in Monroe, N.J., and the warehouse in Reno, Nev. The closing will result in charges of $2.2 million for the past year and $4.9 million for 2007.
  • The company will take a charge of $4 million-$6 million for legal costs relating to the investigation of how top executives received stock options.
  • B&N plans to open 30-40 stores and close 19 during the year.
  • New lower prices for loyalty program members will hurt gross margin up to 1% because new enrollments and sales under the program are running ahead of forecasts and increased sales haven't yet made up for the extra discounting of 40% on hardcover bestsellers, 20% on all adult hardcovers and 10% on everything else.
  • Margins will "continue to be compressed by the highly competitive bookselling environment, as well as the deep discounting associated with the new Harry Potter book."

 

Commenting on the past year, B&N CEO Steve Riggio said in a statement: "We achieved our earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and the full year despite sales being at the low end of our sales plan. The negative impact of the disappointing sales was offset by an increase in gross margin, attributable to fewer bestseller markdowns, lower inventory shrink and improvements throughout our supply chain."

Riggio also pointed said that over the past several years gross margin had improved and boosted earnings and cash flow because of, among other things, "lower purchases from book wholesalers, improvements in inventory control and supply chain efficiencies." In addition, the company is "virtually debt-free." He defended the higher loyalty program discounts, saying that the company has "decided to reinvest a portion of our cash flow to reward our best customers . . .  . Though in the short term this will have a negative impact both on top line and gross margins, we believe that it is the right move for us at this time and for the long term."


Media and Movies

Media Heat: William Vollmann's Global Look at Poverty

Today the Oprah Winfrey Show re-airs a segment with Joanne Fleisher, author of Living Two Lives: Married to a Man and in Love with a Woman (Alyson Books, $15.95, 9781555839185/1555839185).

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Today the Diane Rehm Show talks with National Book Award-winning novelist William T. Vollmann, whose new book is the nonfiction title Poor People (Ecco, $29.95, 9780060878825/0060878827).

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Reporting for an appearance tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Commander Richard Jadick, author of On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story (NAL Caliber, $24.95, 9780451220530/0451220536).

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Tonight on the Charlie Rose Show: Martha Raddatz, chief White House correspondent for ABC News and author of The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family (Putnam, $24.95, 9780399153822/0399153829).

 

 



Books & Authors

Attainment: New Books Out Next Week

Selected titles with a pub date of next Tuesday, March 13:

At Some Disputed Barricade by Anne Perry (Ballantine, $21.95, 9780345456588/0345456580). The fourth book in Perry's World War I series featuring the Reavley siblings.

Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline (HarperCollins, $25.95, 9780060833145/0060833149). A straight-laced law professor suspected of murder goes on the lam to unravel the secret behind a dying man's last words and clear her name.

The Post-Birthday World
by Lionel Shriver (HarperCollins, $25.95, 9780061187841/0061187844). The Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin uses a parallel-universe structure to follow one woman's future as it unfolds with two very different men.

Sister Mine by Tawni O'Dell (Shaye Areheart, $23, 9780307351265/0307351262). Cab driver Shae-Lynn Penrose's life in a small Pennsylvania coal mining town is shaken up when the younger sister she thought was dead turns up on her doorstep with dangerous baggage in tow.

What the Dead Know
by Laura Lippman (Morrow, $24.95, 9780061128851/0061128856). In this stand-alone thriller from Lippman (author of the Tess Monaghan series), a 30-year-old case is re-opened when a woman claims to be one of two young sisters who disappeared from a shopping mall in 1975.

You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem (Doubleday, $24.95, 9780385512183/038551218X). Set in Los Angeles, this raucous romantic farce from the author of The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn explores the paradoxes of love and art.

Dog Years: A Memoir by Mark Doty (HarperCollins, $23.95, 9780061171000/006117100X). Award-winning poet Doty remembers the two canine companions who saw him through his darkest days.  



On sale March 14:

Set Me Free by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (Warner, $24.99, 9780446533317/0446533319). This second novel from the author of The Effects of Light tells the story of Elliott Barrow, founder of a school for Native American children and critically injured in a fire, through the eyes of those closest to him.

My Father's Secret War: A Memoir by Lucinda Franks (Miramax, $24.95, 9781401352264/140135226X). Pulitzer Prize-winner Franks depicts the life of her father, who kept secret until his last years his role as a spy behind enemy lines during World War II.



On sale in paperback March 13:

Blue Shoes and Happiness
by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor, $12.95, 9781400075713/1400075718).



Book Brahmins: Gayle Lynds

Gayle Lynds has written five international spy novels and is co-creator of International Thriller Writers. Her most recent book, The Last Spymaster (St. Martin's, $6.99, 9780312988777/031298877X), which was named one of the top five thrillers of the year by Library Journal, appears in paperback today. (Congratulations!) Here she answers questions we put to people in the industry occasionally:
  
On nightstand now:

Kiss Her Goodbye by Robert Gregory Browne, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda and Flawed Patriot: The Rise & Fall of CIA Legend Bill Harvey by Bayard Stockton.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Anything about the Bobbsey Twins.

Top five authors:

Steve Berry, Lee Child, Vince Flynn, David Morrell, M.J. Rose

Book you've 'faked' reading:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Book you are an 'evangelist' for:

What the Bleep Do We Know!?!: Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality
by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente and Jack Forem

Book you've bought for the cover:

The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology by Clifford A. Pickover

Book that changed your life:

A Spiritual Warrior's Journey by W.H. McDonald, Jr.

Favorite line from a book:

"When I walk into a bookstore, any bookstore, first thing in the morning, I'm flooded with a sense of hushed excitement."--The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

The Godfather by Mario Puzo
 
Book that you've used as a doorstop:

Whatever I'm reading, since I tend to leave those books anywhere around my house.  That way I can find my current literary love. 'Tis idiot-proof!


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