Shelf Awareness for Wednesday, July 18, 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

News

Nasshan Leaving Borders for Shaw's Supermarkets

There's another executive suite departure from Borders, which follows the announcement two days ago of the resignation of Rick Vanzura.

Effective this Friday, Bill Nasshan, senior v-p of trade books, is leaving the company to become executive v-p of merchandising and marketing at Shaw's Supermarkets, the New England grocery store chain that includes Star Markets. He has been with Borders since early 2003 and was instrumental in Borders's implementation of category management and more recently helped develop the merchandising portion of Borders new strategic plan.

Before joining Borders as a full-time employee, for 18 months Nasshan had been one of the two main trainers during sessions that introduced category management to Borders employees and suppliers.

Until a successor is named, adult trade and bargain book areas report to Rob Gruen, executive v-p, merchandising and marketing, a protege of CEO George Jones who joined Borders early this year. Under Jones, who joined Borders last July, category management has been superseded by other approaches.

 


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Notes: Remembering Roy Overstreet; Haworth Sales Changes

Tomorrow, July 19, at 5 p.m. at the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Wash., friends, family and colleagues are invited to gather informally to remember Roy Overstreet, a former Elliott Bay staff member and Viking Penguin sales rep, who died June 24 at age 42.

While vacationing in Hawaii, Overstreet was carried out to sea by a rip tide after he helped his wife, Cara Jaye, make it back to shore. She is pregnant with their first child.

Overstreet was most recently a project manager at SPIE, a Bellingham, Wash., international society that promotes optical engineering.

The gathering will take place in the room where Overstreet acted as host to the store's author readings--one of his many duties there. After the gathering, people will likely move to any of several of Overstreet's favorite drinking establishments to continue remembrances.

Organizers also ask that attendees and those who can't make it write down remembrances of Overstreet to give to his daughter.

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The Haworth Press, Binghamton, N.Y., has made the following changes in the sales and publicity department:

  • Margaret Tatich has been promoted to director of marketing, sales and publicity. She was formerly sales and publicity manager and has worked for the company for 12 years.
  • Paul M. Deamer has been promoted to manager of marketing communications from assistant sales and publicity manager and has worked for the company for five years.
  • Todd Sherwood has been promoted to conference coordinator from sales and publicity assistant.
  • Nicholas Martinson has joined the department as sales and marketing communications/publicity assistant.

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Tintin in the Congo in America. According to the Associated Press (via Forbes), Borders bookstores in the U.S. will follow the lead of the company's British bookshops and shelve a soon-to-be-reissued edition of Tintin in the Congo in the graphic novels section rather than the children's department.

The title stirred controversy in the U.K. over the weekend when the Committee for Racial Equality called for the book to be removed, after receiving a complaint from David Enright, a London human rights lawyer.

Borders spokesperson Ann Binkley told the AP that "no complaints have been received in this country."

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will publish a U.S. edition of Tintin in the Congo this September. The company's website listing for the title includes a warning: "Note: this particular title, one of three originally unpublished in the U.S., may be considered somewhat controversial, as it reflects the colonial attitudes of the time it was created. Herge depicts African people according to the stereotypes of the time period, but in this edition it will be contextualized for the reader in an explanatory preface."

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Mr. Clarinet by British writer Nick Stone, which won the International Thriller Writers 2007 Thriller Award for Best First Novel, has a U.S. edition (HarperCollins, $24.95, 9780060897291/0060897295) that is now available.

 


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


True Love at RWA's 2007 Conference

The following report was written by Jennifer McCord, a publishing management consultant and head of Jennifer McCord Associates, and Stefanie Hargreaves, who runs Fresh Editorial. Thank you both!

Nearly 2,000 authors, aspiring writers, agents, editors, booksellers, librarians and others converged on Dallas, Tex., last week for the 27th annual Romance Writers of America conference, which had the slogan "Signature of Success." More than 100 panels and workshops ranged from "Beyond Buffy and Bram Stoker: Paranormal Worlds and the Monsters Therein" to the more practical "Nurturing the Writer: How to Keep Going When the Words Don't Flow." The Published Author Network offerings focused on the state of the industry, marketing strategies and more for those further along in their careers while the unpublished crowd enjoyed coverage of such important topics as craft, career planning, research and the writer's life.  

In addition to the business of writing, the conference offered plenty of fun, food and feting, including keynote luncheon speeches by bestselling authors Lisa Kleypas and Lisa Jackson; the Readers for Life Literacy Signing--which raised $56,933 for adult literacy programs--and book signings where fans interacted with their favorite authors. At the Friday night publisher parties, sequined-attired attendees mingled with the likes of Nora Roberts and Judith McNaught and danced the night away.

The highlight of the conference was the annual Rita and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony, which honors published and unpublished authors. Winners included Julia Quinn's On the Way to the Wedding for best long historical novel; Adios to My Old Life by Caridad Ferrer for the top contemporary single title novel; Kresley Cole's A Hunger Like No Other for best paranormal book; Claiming His Family by Barbara Hannay for best traditional romance; From the First by Jessica Bird for best short contemporary; The Mommy Quest by Lori Handeland for best long contemporary; Revealed by Tamera Alexander for best inspirational; 'Tis the Silly Season in A NASCAR Holiday by Roxanne St. Claire for best romantic novella; The Husband Trap by Tracy Anne Warren for best first book; The Book of True Desires by Betina Krahn for best short historical; A Lady Raised High by Jennifer Ashley writing as Laurien Gardner for best novel with strong romantic elements; and Blackout by Annie Solomon for best romantic suspense. The lifetime achievement award went to Linda Lael Miller.

Three other awards of note: bookseller of the year went to Linda Keller of Barnes & Noble in West Chester, Ohio; librarian of the year was won by Valerie Luna of the Spotswood Public Library, Spotswood, N.J.; and the Vivian Stephens Industry Award went to Linda Marrow, v-p, editorial director, of Ballantine Books.

The evening was dedicated to the grande dame of romance writing, Kathleen Woodiwiss, who passed away on July 6.

News of the category's positive sales added to the upbeat mood of the conference. In addition, publishers emphasized (again) the importance of a well-written book overall and talked about the resurgence of the historical and the need for more innovative paranormals. For her part, in an address, RWA founder Vivian Stephens urged the group to write romance novels that, at the core, are uplifting stories that inspire the reader. With that, thousands of bleary eyed writers left Dallas for their homes across the world, inspired to continue writing.



HP7 Daily Update: Plot Spoilers and Profiteers

Harry Potter and the Plot Spoilers. According to the New York Times, "photographs of what appeared to be every single page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows . . . were circulating on the Web yesterday."

A number of file-sharing websites, including "Pirate Bay and MediaFire, showed the book laid out on a green-and-red-flecked beige looped carpet, with fingers holding the pages open. Some of the photos made the text difficult to read, but the fiercely protected ending was definitely legible."

Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic’s trade and book fairs division, told the Times that "the company was asking various Web site hosts to take the photos down. 'We're not confirming if anything is real,' she said. 'But in the spirit of getting to midnight magic without a lot of hoo-ha, can you just take some of this stuff down.'"

According to the Dallas Morning News, "It took all of 30 seconds Tuesday to find what appears to be a complete photographed copy of the hardcover book. . . . copies were spreading rapidly to several file-sharing sites.

"There is a lot of material on the Internet that claims to come from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but anyone can post anything on the Internet and you can't believe everything you see online," said Scholastic spokesperson Kyle Good.

The News reported that "the copies look convincing to many fans. The pages are readable; a male's hand appears to be holding the book open. A soda can and shoe are present in most of the pictures. The book is covered in a plastic dust jacket. (For conspiracy theorists, it appears to end on Page 759 . . ."

How is it so far? Aziza Aba Butain, 21, of Denton, Tex. "said she'd already read the first 100 pages after a friend forwarded her the material Monday. So far, she was 'mildly disappointed.'"

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Is Bloomsbury engaging in "blatant profiteering?" The English supermarket chain Asda reportedly accused HP7's British publisher of doing just that in a press release earlier this week?

That was then, however, and this is now: The Guardian reported that "Asda has apologised to Bloomsbury for accusing it of holding children to ransom over the price of the final Harry Potter book. The embarrassing climbdown came after the U.K. publisher refused to supply Asda's order of 500,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, citing an unpaid bill. This threatened to leave the supermarket chain with hundreds of thousands of disappointed customers. . . . The company has also made a payment to Bloomsbury for an outstanding invoice, a spokeswoman confirmed, and deleted the statement from its web site. Bloomsbury confirmed that it has now lifted its threat to withhold Asda's 500,000 copies of the book."

"We are pleased that this situation has been resolved and look forward to working with Asda in the future," said Minna Fry, marketing director of Bloomsbury.

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A line of Harry Potter fans began forming yesterday morning at the Borders bookstore in Mission Viejo, Cal., as a group of seven teenagers staked their claim to prime spots in anticipation of Saturday's HP7 release.

 


Media and Movies

Movies: Arctic Tale

Arctic Tale opens in select theaters next Wednesday, July 25, with a wide release on August 17. From the producers of March of the Penguins, this artic survival story tracks a polar bear cub and a walrus calf as they struggle against the odds to reach adulthood. Arctic Tale: Official Companion to the Major Motion Picture by Donnali Fifield (National Geographic, $30, 9781426200656/142620065X) will be available July 24.

 


Media Heat: Water for Elephants

This morning's Book Report, the weekly AM radio book-related show organized by Windows a bookshop, Monroe, La., has the theme "Mid-Summer Memoirs" and features an interview with Carolyn Jourdan, author of Heart in the Right Place (Algonquin, $23.95, 9781565124875/1565124871).

The show airs at 8 a.m. Central Time and can be heard live at thebookreport.net; the archived edition will be posted this afternoon.

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show, the Readers' Review hauls Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin, $13.95, 9781565125605/1565125606).

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Today on the View: Taylor Hicks, author of Heart Full of Soul: An Inspirational Memoir About Finding Your Voice and Finding Your Way (Crown, $24.95, 9780307382436/0307382435).

 


Deeper Understanding

Robert Gray: Booksellers on Spanish Language Books

Miraida Morales, IPG's Spanish language sales representative, shared her thoughts about the growing U.S. market for Spanish books in my last column. For the next two weeks, we'll hear from booksellers, and we welcome you to join the conversation.

"A few years ago, we decided to actively solicit a Spanish-speaking customer base," said Catherine Weller, retail operations manager for Sam Weller's Bookstore, Salt Lake City, Utah. "In order to do so, we created the Rincon de Libros. The concept was a store within our store that would serve the various needs of Utah's large and diverse Spanish-speaking population. We have had mixed results. The most important element in our success, or lack thereof, has been the employment of a Spanish-speaking manager with roots and connections to one or more of the groups that make up the Hispanic population here. The keyword for success, as far as I can tell, is 'community.' The managers we've had that reach out to the community with specific proposals or ideas have sold far more books than the more passive manager we employed."

To forge community bonds, the bookstore has worked with non-profit organizations and libraries. "We are just beginning to connect with the Spanish language coordinator for the Utah State Library System," said Weller. "This is very exciting for us because it could help us reach the populations of the entire state."

A volunteer group meets weekly in the Rincon de Libros and teaches English-language skills to Spanish speakers. "I can't say the classes have resulted in a huge number of sales," Weller said. "But sales have been made and it gets our name out in the Spanish-speaking community. The icing on the cake is that we're providing space for a much needed service."

A different sort of outreach is offered by Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington, D.C. Head buyer Mark LaFramboise said the store created a "Books in Spanish" section about three years ago. "It's mostly the usual suspects: Garcia Marquez, Fuentes, Vargas Llosa and a few books on topics which seem relevant to the Latino community, like books by Jorge Ramos and Clemente by David Maraniss. The section does so-so. We've brought in books from foreign publishers like Alfaguara, but mostly the section is comprised of books from Vintage Espanol, Rayo and Atria."

During that same period, Politics and Prose separated books in Spanish from the rest of its inventory and started a Spanish book reading club. "This month they're reading Carlos Fuentes's Todas las Familias Felices," said LaFramboise. "That group has been going strong for a few years now. It's also a helpful resource concerning books to stock for the section. All in all, the group is great, but sales on Spanish books generally have room for improvement."

Dave Weich, director of marketing and development for Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., also felt there was untapped potential for Spanish book sales: "Honestly, we could better serve the market. Several targeted marketing initiatives have been discussed, but we have yet to implement them. As is typically the case, our challenge boils down to resources. In lieu of a hero on staff who's determined to lead the effort, responsibilities generally fall to others (myself included), for whom the priority is secondary to more urgent projects. That said, your query was useful if for no other reason than it made us look at the big picture and recognize the lack of progress we've made since the push in '05."

In 2005, Weich said Powell's significantly expanded its Spanish language inventory. "The experiment was successful: sales increased more than enough to justify a continued presence for more titles. Our bestselling sections within the category are Spanish grammar, audio, and literature. The fact that grammar is our top seller suggests that a significant number of those consumers are not native Spanish speakers."

Catherine Weller said she would like to address certain inconsistencies as well. "I guess that would include our stint with the passive manager. We always had someone in the store who spoke Spanish for those customers who wanted or needed to converse in Spanish. The service was there, but we weren't out selling ourselves. Our stocking is more reactive than I'd like, but our aggressive, active efforts at selecting stock were not as successful. We attempted to create a full store within our store, and so stocked books from art to sex and self-help. Now we stock much more selectively and let our community partners, special orders, and sales be our guides."

Next week, more from booksellers.--Robert Gray (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)

 



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