Because of the holiday, we will take Monday off and see you all again on Tuesday. Enjoy the long weekend!

 

BookSense.com has launched a program that allows its stores to sell e-books to customers' computers or handheld devices. Ingram Digital Ventures will fulfill e-book orders in three formats: Palm OS, Adobe and Microsoft Reader.

In a Bookselling This Week story, BookSense.com director Len Vlahos commented, "This is an important first step for us, but by no means the last. We look forward to continuing to build out the BookSense.com suite of tools to take full advantage of new technologies."

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Jeff Napier, a former bookstore owner, has come up with an answer to the closing of all public libraries in Jackson County, Oregon, in April: he's created the Ashland Media Exchange, an informal library that has 6,000 books as well as DVDs and CDs, the Mail Tribune reported. Patrons don't check out books, movies or music; they simply take what they'd like and bring them back if they like.

One volunteer called the venture "revolutionary, and I believe it's going to change the world, seriously. It brings the community together in a way that barter hasn't done."

To pay the $1,500 a month rent, Napier sells more valuable donations online. He told the paper that if the libraries stay closed, he hopes someday to hire librarians.

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Effective June 15, Barnes & Noble College will manage the bookstores of the three San Jacinto College campuses in and around Houston, Tex., according to the Houston Business Journal. B&N cafes will open on each campus, too, the paper said. 

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It's time for the annual, if unofficial, beach read bookstore hunt. Like other newspapers nationwide, the Charlotte Observer reminded its readers, "Whether you're visiting the mountains or the beach, bookstores are open for business." The enviably titled "Reading Life Editor" polled fellow staffers for bookstore recommendations in the Carolinas.

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Where can you find a topographic map of Rozer Point Southwest, a "watery expanse in the middle of the Great Salt Lake?" At the Natural Resources Map and Bookstore, of course. The Salt Lake Tribune profiled the bookstore and its "impressive assortment of books aimed at . . . seemingly any subject related to studying and enjoying the 13th-biggest, second-driest and, perhaps, rockiest state in the country."

Store manager Pat Stokes said that customers tend to buy the Rozer Point Southwest map "as a joke. It doesn't have one thing on it. Not one thing." On the other hand, the store itself is described as "a feast for outdoor fans," most of whom, according to Stokes, are male. "It's just the sort of inventory that appeals to men. They say, 'Oh, I shouldn't come in.' It's like a woman in a shoe store."

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Marketing to British minorities.

The Guardian reported that seven bookstore groups will launch a "pilot marketing campaign to black and ethnic minority readerships. Starting on Saturday, 70 of their stores will give prominent displays to books by more than 200 authors in these categories."

Participating companies include Borders, Books Etc, WH Smith, WH Smith Travel, Waterstone's as well as independent bookstores Foyles in London and BondsBooks of Birmingham. The initiative was created in response to "research indicating that because of lack of marketing confidence and knowhow, only 18% of bookshops have special sections for such readerships, though the market is thought to be worth millions of pounds."

 

Sales at Barnes & Noble in the quarter ended May 5 rose 3% to $1.1 billion and the net loss was $1.75 million. Excluding charges connected with B&N's closing of its Internet distribution center and expenses for the investigation of its stock option grant practices, net earnings would have been $6.8 million. The company's gross margin declined because of higher discounts introduced in October for members of the company's loyalty program, whose numbers grew.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 1.7%. B&N.com sales rose 8% to $93.8 million.

Bestselling titles during the quarter, the company said, included Rhonda Byrne's The Secret, Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind, Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Giada de Laurentiis's Everyday Pasta and Mary Higgins Clark's I Heard That Song Before.

CEO Steve Riggio noted that the quarter "had one of the better hardcover new release schedules in some time, which brought our comps into positive territory and helped Internet sales grow."

On a down day on Wall Street, B&N rose 1.9% to $42.82 a share in double the usual trading volume. 

Ian Jackman, former editorial director and managing director of Modern Library hardcovers, is the author of some popular culture titles, including Eat This!: 1,001 Things to Eat Before You Diet (Harper Paperbacks, $14.95, 9780060885908/0060885904), which goes on sale July 3. Here he offers tips on dining fully al fresco during BEA.

Some of New York City's best summer food is street food. I don't mean the tepid hot dogs and stale pretzels from a street cart out by Central Park. Elsewhere, there's a cornucopia of edible delights to buy out, or buy in and eat out. If you want a ready-to-go sausage, for instance, visit the altogether quirky Hallo Berlin wurstmobile on 54th Street just off Fifth Avenue and pick up a brat, wiener or bauernwurst. I took my fine pork-and-beef bauernwurst in a hard roll with sautéed onion, red cabbage and sauerkraut. On the menu, each sausage has been paired with a German car, from top-of-the-line Maybachs (an Andouille brat) and Porsches (a currywurst) down to boiled bockwurst, which gets the old East German jalopy, the Trabant, for a partner.

In good weather, knowing New Yorkers head for Madison Square Park for the Shake Shack's magnificent Shack Burger (a medium-sized cheeseburger with the works and special sauce) or a lovingly recreated Chicago Dog. (Note that more knowing New Yorkers go in the rain when the lines are shorter.) You can buy slices from a to-go window at Domenic De Marco's legendary Di Fara Pizzeria in Brooklyn. As pilgrimages go, Di Fara's location--Avenue J in Midwood--is not so far from Manhattan. My current favorite take-out sandwich is a chicken Shawafel from Chickpea (two East Village locations). I dare you to resist the charm of a Shawafel--grilled chicken, crunchy falafel balls and salad in a pita pocket. Drizzle the tahini that comes on the side over the top. Messy and just fantastic.

Summer means ice cream, or, right now in New York, its lower-calorie cousin, gelato. Open in May and solidly embraced by the Upper West Side is Grom at 76th and Broadway, the first American outpost of a young Turin-based operation named for one of its founders. The flavors may change monthly, but I hope the pistachio is a keeper, along with Crema di Grom with its rich eggy flavor textured with biscuits and chocolate, and also the decadent Gianduja. If you ever sneaked Nutella out of the jar with a spoon, this is the one for you. Grom's prices may leave you light-headed, but, hey, this is New York.

Also new to New York is L.A. sensation Pinkberry and its ultra-low-cal frozen yogurt. I enjoyed the green tea version topped with blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Pinkberry has three stores in New. Down on Orchard Street on the Lower East Side is il Laboratorio del Gelato, gifted experimenters and riffers on the theme of cold dessert. If you can't get down to the LES, as it is known, do as I did recently and dive into a Whole Foods for a container of the amazing roasted sesame gelato from ILDG and take a spoon from the eat-in section. This stuff--nutty and slightly savory--is like nothing you ever tasted, in the best way possible.  

BookExpo America is in New York City! From now until BEA Frommer's and Shelf Awareness are offering tips on how to make the most of the long weekend in the Big Apple. Today Pauline Frommer of Pauline Frommer's Travel Guides describes the art mecca of New York, Chelsea, which is close to the Javits Center.

In the past decade, more than 250 galleries have moved onto the blocks spanning 20th to 29th streets between Tenth and Eleventh avenues in Chelsea, effectively making the Big Apple the planet's premiere marketplace for contemporary art. Gallery after gallery has taken over the former warehouse and industrial spaces of this dusty old 'hood, creating an eminently walkable new arts district. Here are just a few that have made their reputations with consistently thought-provoking shows.

Gagosian (555 W. 24th St., 212-741-1111). A massive, important family of galleries (one uptown, one in Los Angeles, another in London), it presents blockbuster shows of works from such major 20th- and 21st-century figures as Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman and Cy Twombly.

Barbara Gladstone Gallery (515 W. 24th St.; 212-206-9300). Come here to see the artists who have emerged as big honchos in the last five years or so, such as Matthew Barney, Ilya Kabakov and Richard Prince. Gladstone tends to feature conceptual, often highly political art--most prominently photography and videos, but also sculpture and paintings.

Yossi Milo (525 W. 25th St.; 212-404-0370). One of my personal favorites, Milo works almost exclusively with photographers and has a terrific eye for the next big thing. He also runs a very friendly gallery, and he and his staff are always happy to talk with interested patrons.

Andrea Rosen (525 W. 24th St.; 212-627-6000). The Rosen gallery is a terrific place to see emerging artists, especially those who are "installation happy" and like to create entire environments for their viewers. It seems that each time I come here I'm stepping into some new type of utopia (or dystopia); the experience can be chilling and exciting.

Sonnabend Gallery (536 W. 22nd St.; 212-627-1018). I find that the Sonnabend has something that's missing from so many galleries: a sense of humor. Most of the work I've seen here has been purposefully funny--odd Star Wars sculptures, videos of Germans singing along to Madonna songs--and after all of the "serious art" at the other places, coming into this playful atmosphere is a delight.

For more New York City travel tips, check out the official BEA travel guide, Pauline Frommer's New York City (Wiley), celebrating 50 years of world travel. Listen to Pauline and other Frommer's writers share their travel stories and tips online.

As we get closer to BEA, Shelf Awareness is running a series of announcements, tips, party mentions, interesting panels and more that have struck us as particularly useful and fun.

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Mira, mira! At BEA, Mira Books will be giving out ARCs of The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose that will contain postcards inviting booksellers to send e-mail comments and indicate how late they stayed up reading the thriller. Respondents will then be entered into a contest--the three winning stores will receive free coffee and donuts or bagels for all employees as a reward for staying up late.

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For those of us who want to know more about how--and how many--books get from printer and publisher to reader, the Book Industry Study Group is sponsoring two sessions and moderating a third at BEA:

• Supply Chain 101: Toward a More Profitable Bottom Line, on Thursday, May 31, 2:30-3:30, in Room 1E02, which will discuss standards and best practices that increase profitability and productivity, including ISBN-13, data quality, EDI, RFID and shipping labels. Speakers are: Joe Gonnella, v-p of inventory management and vendor relations, Barnes & Noble; Jean Srnecz, v-p of merchandising, Baker & Taylor; Lynn Dilger, v-p, director of technology, Sourcebooks; and Craig Bauer, v-p of global sourcing, Houghton Mifflin.
• Climate Change: The Environment and Book Publishing on Friday, June 1, 10 a.m.-Noon, Room 1E02. The session, which will look at how the industry can be more environmentally friendly, will be moderated by BISG executive director Michael Healy. Speakers are Andrew Van Der Laan, director of production planning, Random House; Shona Burns, v-p, production, Chronicle Books; Tyson Miller, director, Green Press Initiative; and Dave Weich, director of marketing, Powell's Books.
• BISG Presents Book Industry Trends 2007 on Friday, June 1, 1-2:15 p.m., room 1E03. This session is a preview of the newest edition of Book Industry Trends 2007, which contains detailed information about the book market and growth projections through 2011. Moderator is Michael Healy, executive director of BISG; speakers are Albert Greco, Fordham University and the Institute for Publishing Research; Robert Wharton, Fordham University and the Institute for Publishing Research; and Jeff Hayes, InfoTrends.

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Collins is inviting booksellers to a sneak preview of more than 80 objects from private collections of political campaign material and more; the exhibit will be on tour during the presidential primaries early next year. Barry H. Landau, author of the forthcoming President's Table: 200 Years of Dining and Diplomacy, and Jordan M. Wright, author of the forthcoming Campaigning for President, will be on hand to answer any questions--and perhaps campaign for their titles. Caucus in the Legends Ballroom of the Hotel ABA on Thursday, May 31, 9 p.m.-midnight. 

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Congratulations! The Small Press Center is renaming itself the New York Center for Independent Publishing and is making and celebrating the change with a cocktail party on May 31 at its landmark building at 20 W. 44th St. Guest of honor is Barney Rossett, founder of Grove Press.

The Center is also sponsoring a series of programs at the BEA. For a full list, including the speed networking sessions, go to nycip.org. The following are highlights:

On Friday, June 1, at noon, in the Galleria at the Javits Center, Nora Rawlinson, v-p, library services, of Hachette Book Group USA, leads a conversation with Walter Mosley with an emphasis on his career and writing process. His new book, This Year You Write Your Novel, outlines his advice for writing a book in 12 months.

The Future of Indie Publishing, Friday, June 1, at 2 p.m., in the Galleria. This panel features Johnny Temple, publisher of Akashic Books; Jennifer Joseph, publisher of Manic D Press; Valerie Merians, co-publisher of Melville House; and Richard Nash, publisher of Soft Skull Press. Moderator is Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly.
 

Today the Early Show ratchets up the suspense with Kate White, whose latest crime caper is Lethally Blond (Grand Central, $24.99, 9780446577953/0446577952).

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Today the Rachael Ray Show receives tips from no-nonsense nanny Jo Frost, author of Ask Supernanny: What Every Parent Wants to Know (Hyperion, $14.95, 9781401308643/1401308643).

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Today on the View: Padma Lakshmi, author of Easy Exotic: Low-Fat Recipes from Around the World (Miramax Books, $16.95, 9780786886128/0786886129).

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Tonight on Bill Moyers Journal: Maxine Hong Kingston, editor of Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace (Koa Books, $20, 9780977333837/0977333833).

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Tomorrow on Larry King Live, Don Rickles logs more air time for his memoir, Rickles' Book (S&S, $24, 9780743293051/0743293053).

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Monday on the Early Show: Walter Scheib serves up White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen (Wiley, $24.95, 9780471798422/0471798428).

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Monday on NPR's Morning Edition: Rob Gifford, author of China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power (Random House, $26.95, 9781400064670/1400064678).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kuo-Yu Liang, v-p, sales and marketing, of Diamond Book Distributors, sports a handsome icon (closeup on right) in front of a famous icon.