Shelf Awareness for Thursday, June 11, 2009


William Morrow & Company: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

Del Rey Books: Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Peachtree Teen: Romantic YA Novels Coming Soon From Peachtree Teen!

Watkins Publishing: She Fights Back: Using Self-Defence Psychology to Reclaim Your Power by Joanna Ziobronowicz

Dial Press: Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood

Pantheon Books: The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera

Peachtree Publishers: Leo and the Pink Marker by Mariyka Foster

Wednesday Books: Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber

Letters

Updike Book Inspired Book Sentence?

Concerning yesterday's item about a judge requiring a man to write a book about his experience with the case while on probation, Arsen Kashkashian of Boulder Bookstore, Boulder, Colo., wrote:

Perhaps the judge in the Andrew Bodnar case, who ordered the former Bristol-Myers Squbb executive to write a book as part of his sentence, was a reader of the late John Updike. In Updike's novel A Month of Sundays the Reverend Tom Marshfield is stripped of his parish and sent to Arizona as a rehabilitation for his seducing several woman in the church. Marshfield must write from 9 a.m. to noon every day as part of his routine. Marshfield's hilarious and erudite, although morally despicable, writings form the Updike novel. We can only hope that Bodnar produces a book half as funny and intelligent as Updike's marvelous novel. He already seems to have the morally despicable part down pat.

 


Now Streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME: A Gentleman in Moscow


News

Notes: L.A. Candy's Treat; Another Addition for Northshire

In the U.S., Canada and Australia, HarperCollins is putting a 2D bar code on copies of L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad, which appears next Tuesday, June 16. The bar code allows readers to link on their smartphones with a website that has information about the author and book. Users download a free application to their smartphones and take a picture of the 2D barcode. Then, "whether standing in line at her upcoming signings, or viewing the jacket at a bookstore, fans can access a video of Lauren, a Q&A with her, or share the new site with their friends via SMS," as HarperCollins put it.


In a statement, Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books, said that the mobile marketing platform was ideal for teens, who "use their mobile phones for everything from texting to updating their Facebook pages; this is one more way we can offer them content to share with their friends."

Future titles with the codes are the paperback version of Freakonomics, which goes on sale August 25 and includes material about the book and about Superfreakonomics, a fall title, as well as HarperTeen's the Amanda Project, an interactive series.

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The same week that baby clothing retailer Zutano announced it is opening a "store-within-the-store" in Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, Vt. (Shelf Awareness, June 9, 2009), the store said it is playing host as well to the Manchester and the Mountains Regional Chamber of Commerce.

According to the Manchester Journal, Northshire has installed a Chamber visitor information desk at the front of the store and a brochure rack in the vestibule to hold member brochures. An electronic kiosk and signage saying "visitor information" have been added, too. The desk will be staffed on weekends only until the end of the month; after that, it will be open every day.

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The Gainesville Sun observed that "local book stores are alive and well--and destinations for area book lovers and collectors" in its report on regional used and rare bookshops.

"I still have customers who want to pick up a book and open it before they buy it," said O.J. Brisky, owner of Brisky's Books, Micanopy, Fla. "I also have customers who stop by when they are driving south in the winter and stop by again when they are heading north in the spring."

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"A penny saved is a penny earned," Benjamin Franklin advised, so what would he have made of the recent auction in New York City where a rare copy of his Poor Richard almanac fetched $556,500 from an anonymous bidder. The Associated Press (via USA Today) reported that  "Sotheby's written Americana expert Selby Kiffer says it's one of three known copies of the Franklin classic from 1733."

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In the Morning News, children's book writer and illustrator Elisha Cooper recounts "a terrifically bad idea" that nonetheless makes for good reading: riding by bicycle from Brooklyn to Manhattan and stopping at 10 cafes for macchiatos. His riding companion: Toby Cox, owner of Three Lives & Co., New York City

 

 


GLOW: Greystone Books: brother. do. you. love. me. by Manni Coe, illustrated by Reuben Coe


April Sales: AAP Net Book Sales Up 3.3%; E-Book Excel

In April, net book sales as reported by 85 publishers to the Association of American Publishers rose 3.3% to $494.9 million. Net sales for the year to date are down 4.1% to $2.131 billion.

Among category results during April:

  • Higher education jumped 312.4% to $33.5 million
  • E-books climbed 228.3% to $12.1 million
  • Children's/YA hardcover rose 13.6% to $44.6 million
  • Professional and scholarly inched up 1.1% to $46.3 million
  • Children's/YA paperback was up 0.9% to $39.9 million
  • Adult paperback slipped 0.8% to $114.8 million
  • Adult mass market dropped 4% to $51 million
  • University press hardcover fell 6.3% to $5 million
  • Religious books fell 7.1% to $38.7 million
  • Adult hardcover fell 11% to $95.7 million
  • University press paperback dropped 12.5% to $2.3 million
  • Audiobooks fell 32.9% to $9.5 million

 

 


BINC: Apply Now to The Susan Kamil Scholarship for Emerging Writers!


Bunch of Grapes Reopens on Saturday

Good news from Martha's Vineyard: Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, which was gutted by fire last July 4, is holding a soft opening this Saturday, June 13, and will have a grand opening celebration on July 4. The Independence Day fest will include several author signings, food and drink, T-shirts for the first 50 people attending, face painting, balloons and children's story time.

In a statement, new owner Dawn Braasch said that what's changed is cosmetic. "It is still hopefully a place you want to stay and linger." The building, paneled walls and strained-glass wagon wheel window are "familiar," but there is new carpeting and track lighting, taller bookcases and more display space. There are also rattan and leather chairs with reading lamps sprinkled around the store. The children's section has been expanded, and horror and science fiction take the former space of the magazine section, which has been moved. The store also has a new logo that consists of a bunch of grapes and vine over an open book. The original core staff remains.

According to the Martha's Vineyard Times, the store continues to have the breadth of selection that it had but is buying fewer copies of titles. "I certainly would be foolish, in a down economy, to try to put as many books in here as were here before the fire," Braasch told the paper. "We're just in different times."

Braasch, who had worked for Jon Nelson as event coordinator before the fire and has operated a small version of Bunch of Grapes nearby during reconstruction, added that she wants the new Bunch of Grapes to be "a testament to the former owners." (Longtime owner Ann Nelson is Braasch's landlord and has acted as a consultant to the store.) She also thanked customers, publishers, authors and other booksellers, even her island competition, for their support.

 


Image of the Day: Collective Effort for Collected Works

Last month, to help Collected Works, Santa Fe, N.M., move, a group of local authors and customers formed a book brigade that was meant "as a symbolic celebration of the store's move and the importance of books in a town that boasts the most writers per capita of any city in the U.S.," wrote James McGrath Morris, who organized the event. The store is owned by Dorothy Massey and her daughter Mary Wolf.

 


BEA Panel: Stupid Things Booksellers and Publishers Do

The participants in the panel Stupid Things Booksellers and Publishers Do pulled no punches. Carole Horne, general manager of the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass., and Praveen Madan, co-owner of the Booksmith in San Francisco, Calif. (who acted as moderator), squared off against publishers Bob Miller of HarperStudio and Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks. Each side offered candid opinions on what the other could be doing differently or better.

Miller outlined three points, the first of which was that booksellers should publish books when appropriate. The second was the need to better use digital mediums to promote their stores, such as video and text blogs, and having staff members with expertise in certain areas share their opinions online. "People want to buy from someone they think is knowledgeable," he said. His final point was that bookstores should buy nonreturnable to receive the greatest discount. "You should be rewarded for having low returns," he said.

Raccah also offered three ideas. The first was that booksellers should do more category analysis to expand their customer base. She cited the facts that one in every four books sold is a romance and that Amazon doesn't discount books under $10. Booksellers "could be harnessing this," she said. Raccah's second point was that, in a retail environment where there are two segments--booksellers and retailers who also sell books--indie stores should be working with their chain counterparts to make sure the emphasis stays on bookstores, she maintained.

Lastly, Raccah suggested that booksellers work more closely with independent publishers. The six major publishing houses have 54% of BookScan sales, she noted, and yet booksellers spend more than 54% of their time on them. "Bookstores should represent a wide range of titles and companies," she said.

Then it was time for the rebuttals.

"It seems like you're trying to get us into publishing," Madan said in response to Miller's idea that booksellers should sometimes act as small presses. "Publishing seems to be a terrible business." Miller countered that sometimes booksellers "can do it better" and used as an example bringing back into print a book by a local author. "You would not have returns and can control inventory," he said. He was supported by a bookseller from Massachusetts in the audience, who said that her store has published three books by an area author and gets requests for them from across the country.

Carol Horne agreed with Miller's suggestion that booksellers use digital marketing initiatives to promote their stores, but cited limited time, resources and expertise as obstacles to doing so. When Madan asked booksellers in the audience if they thought they were doing a good job with online marketing, only one hand was raised.

As for nonreturnable terms, Horne commented that she knows a lot of booksellers who have been going to publishers for years and asking for just that and have been told it isn't allowed in their distribution channel. Regarding HarperStudio in particular, she pointed out that its generous discount is for the initial buy only, not subsequent purchases. Miller responded that the initial buy would allow booksellers to see how a book sold in their stores and they could then manage future inventory accordingly.

Madan addressed Raccah's point about reaching out to romance readers and capitalizing on under-$10 books by saying that independent booksellers traditionally do not have audiences for mass market titles. "Maybe you need to look at it as an opportunity," Raccah rejoinded.

"Bricks and mortar stores of all kinds need to work together," said Horne is response to Raccah's suggestion that indies and chain stores find common ground, and noted that they all should share the concern that Amazon is not collecting sales tax. She added that right now "online retailers are a bigger threat in the way that we used to think chains were."

Madan was not optimistic about Raccah's suggestion. "We don't even do things with other independents in San Francisco," he said, and added that perhaps the focus instead should be on the competition between books and other forms of entertainment.

"As a relative newcomer to the industry," he did agree, however, that booksellers should focus their efforts on more than the six major publishers but cautioned that independent houses need to "make it easier" to work with them. Of paramount importance is signing on with a large distribution company so that stores can get books quickly. Co-op is another area to keep in mind, he said. "Books might get carried, but they won't get promoted if there is no co-op."

Booksellers critique publishers

The tables were turned during the second part of the panel, when Madan and Horne offered their opinions to publishers. Horne advocated that publishers need to think more strategically about the distribution of their books and how they're going to support all of them; that they need to stop publishing so many "mediocre copycat" titles in response to "whatever the last big book was." She urged them not to "waste money and resources" sending out promotional items. Having supplemental materials available online is more effective.

Madan mentioned "quick hits" that publishers could "go back and change in a day." One was to streamline the co-op process and make it easier to navigate by having a standard, industry-wide program. Another was for publishers to band together and produce a "good, clean" electronic catalogue that is free and can be used on booksellers' websites. His final recommendation was that publishers stop helping support the American Booksellers Association and the regional booksellers associations financially, suggesting that as a result the organizations are answering to publishers and not to booksellers. Publishers "have to learn to work with 2,000 independent bookstores," he said, "not work through the association and treat it as a national marketing program."

With time running short for the publishers' rebuttals, Raccah suggested that the Book Industry Study Group look into the creation of an industry-wide electronic catalogue. Miller commented that "better nonreturnable terms would eliminate the need for co-op." Raccah chimed in that very small presses would have a more difficult time selling nonreturnable because booksellers might be less inclined to take risks on their books. It's something that might work better for backlist books, she said, since booksellers already know what to expect. Horne noted that publishers want to reduce returns on frontlist titles, not the backlist. As for Madan's point about the booksellers associations, one audience member said that publishers shouldn't be blamed for any issues booksellers might have with the organizations.

Concerning Horne's comment about distribution channels receiving different discounts, Miller responded that there is a "deeper problem, which is that large trade publishing is in a death spiral because of unearned advances." He paraphrased Warren Buffett's statement that when the tide goes out you see who has been swimming without a bathing suit. "When you overpay," he added, "you have to overhype."

Audience member Carla Cohen of Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C., wrapped things up, saying that publishers could cut down on returns by producing fewer hardcovers and publishing "attractive paperbacks the first time around."--Shannon McKenna Schmidt


Media and Movies

Movie: Food, Inc.

Food, Inc., which opens this Friday, June 12, is an unappetizing look at America's food industry that includes commentary by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma (Penguin, $16, 9780143038580/0143038583), and Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation (Harper, $14.95, 9780060838584/0060838582). The movie tie-in is Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It edited by Karl Weber (PublicAffairs, $14.95, 9781586486945/1586486942).

 

 


Media Heat: More Food Inc.

Today on Fresh Air: Ahmed Rashid, author of Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (Viking, $27.95, 9780670019700/0670019704).

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Tomorrow morning on NPR's Morning Edition: Karl Weber, editor of Food Inc. (PublicAffairs, $14.95, 9781586486945/1586486942).

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Tomorrow night on 20/20: Glenn Beck, author of Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government (Threshold Editions, $11.99, 9781439168578/1439168571).

 


This Weekend on Book TV: Bad Mother

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, June 13

8 a.m. Deanne Stillman, author of Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West (Mariner, $14.95, 9780547237916/054723791X), offers a comprehensive look at the history of the American mustang. (Re-airs Saturday at 9 p.m. and Monday at 4 a.m.)

2 p.m. For an event hosted by Book Passage Bookstore, Corte Madera, Calif., Edith Gelles, author of Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage (Morrow, $26.99, 9780061353871/0061353876), discusses the intriguing and revealing correspondence between the Adamses. (Re-airs Saturday at 11 p.m. and Sunday at 8 a.m.)

4 p.m. Alex Storozynski, author of The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution (Thomas Dunne, $29.95, 9780312388027/0312388020), chronicles the life of the Polish-Lithuanian immigrant to the U.S. who became an engineer in the Continental Army. (Re-airs Sunday at 12 a.m. and 6 p.m.)
    
6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. For a segment first aired in 1989, the late Harrison Salisbury, author of Tiananmen Diary: Thirteen Days in June, talked about witnessing the events leading up to and including the massacre at Tiananmen Square. (Re-airs Saturday, July 11, at 6 p.m.)

8:15 p.m. Ayelet Waldman discusses her book, Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities and Occasional Moments of Grace (Doubleday, $24.95, 9780385527934/0385527934). (Re-airs Sunday at 2 a.m. and 9 a.m.)

Sunday, June 14

11:15 a.m. Gillian Tett, author of Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe (Free Press, $26, 9781416598572/141659857X), shares his inside perspective as a Financial Times reporter. (Re-airs Sunday at 5:15 p.m. and Saturday, June 20, at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.)
    
7 p.m. For an event hosted by McNally Jackson Books, New York City, Jurgen Todenhofer discusses his book, Why Do You Kill?: The Untold Story of the Iraqi Resistance (Disinformation Company, $14.95, 9781934708149/1934708143). (Re-airs Monday at 6 a.m.)

 



Book Review

Children's Review: Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, $17.99 Hardcover, 9780439023498, September 2009)



Do not worry--there are no spoilers in this review. Instead, save your worries for the memorable characters that Collins gave us in The Hunger Games. Anytime you have a Capitol willing to sacrifice two children ("tributes") under the age of 18 from each of the 12 Districts of Panem, there's plenty of panic to go around. As this sequel opens, Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch, their mentor, are preparing to depart their home, District 12, on a Victory Tour to all of the districts. The tour is "strategically placed almost midway between the annual Games . . . the Capitol's way of keeping the horror fresh and immediate." But just before their departure, Katniss gets a surprise visit--in the very first chapter--from President Snow himself, trailing the scent of blood and roses. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Games; every 25 years there's a Quarter Quell--"for extra fun, [the Capitol adds] some miserable twist for the tributes." For the 50th anniversary Quarter Quell, the Capitol called for twice the number of tributes--48 children instead of 24--to compete in the Games. What sacrifice will the Capitol demand this year?
 
Katniss's brilliant move with the poisonous berries at the end of the 74th Hunger Games may have convinced some of the citizens of Panem of her love for Peeta, but not all, suggests President Snow. Sixteen-year-old Katniss must put on the performance of her life or put everyone she loves at risk. But how much is an act and how much is real? Where is Peeta in all this? And Katniss's best friend, Gale Hawthorne? As they travel through the Districts, visiting the families of the tributes they defeated, Katniss and Peeta gain a clearer picture of life across Panem, the history that shaped it and the strength of their fellow citizens. Once again they begin to question the masterminds behind the Games. Can they use the rules of the Games against the architects themselves? You will want to reread The Hunger Games to see how Collins planted seeds that blossom in this book, and then you will also feel compelled to reread Catching Fire for clues to what may come in the final book in the trilogy. Oh how I envy those of you at the starting line: the cornucopia awaits.--Jennifer M. Brown


The Bestsellers

Chicagoland's Top Titles Last Week

The following were the bestselling titles at Chicago area independent bookstores during the week ended Sunday, June 7:

1. The Women by T.C. Boyle
2. English by Wang Gang
3. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
4. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
5. Shakedown by Andie Ryan
 
Hardcover Nonfiction
 
1. My Remarkable Journey by Larry King
2. Blue Collar Blue Scrubs by Michael Collins
3. Grand Illusion by Theresa Amato
4. Clark Weber's Rock and Roll Radio by Clark Weber
5. Causing a Scene by Charlie Todd
 
Paperback Fiction
 
1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
2. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
4. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
 
Paperback Nonfiction
 
1. Suze Orman's 09 Action Plan by Suze Orman
2. Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough
3. Hot Lights Cold Steel by Michael Collins
4. Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander
5. Don't Miss Your Life by Charlene Baumbich
 
Children's
 
1. Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully by Julianne Moore
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
3. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
4. L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Reporting bookstores: Anderson's, Naperville and Downers Grove; Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock; Book Table, Oak Park; the Book Cellar, Lincoln Square; Lake Forest Books, Lake Forest; the Bookstall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka; and 57th St. Books; Seminary Co-op; Women and Children First, Chicago

[Many thanks to the booksellers and Carl Lennertz!]


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