Most booksellers surveyed by Bookselling This Week reported healthy sales on Black Friday and last weekend.
Perhaps because we've read (and edited) so much Robert Gray on the
subject, one item stood out in the report: John Evans, owner of Lemuria
Bookstore in Jackson, Miss., told BTW that November online
sales were the highest ever for the store, topping a record-setting
October. Why the jump in sales this fall at Lemuriabooks.com? Apparently the store has added staff so that it's become more efficient and timely in servicing online orders.
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BTW
also reported on the 15th birthday party last Saturday for Readers'
Books, Sonoma, Calif., owned by Lilla and Andy Weinberger. The
2,000-sq.-ft. store intends to create more space for larger events by
turning its "untended backyard into a usable outdoor room."
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The only authorized edition of the Iraq
Study Group Report, issued by the panel headed by James A. Baker III
and Lee H. Hamilton, will be published by Vintage Books in paperback next Wednesday,
December 6. The book's pub date is the same day the
report will be released to President Bush and members of Congress.
The book is officially called The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward--A New Approach
($10.95, 0307386562). Elements of the group's recommendations are
being disseminated in the press, and the president appears to be rejecting some of the advice already.
"I think interest in the Iraq report depends on what's in it," Barbara Meade, co-owner of Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C., told the AP. "I think it will sell better if there's some dividing up of the blame for how we got into this in the first place, instead of just having scenarios for improving the situation."
It will be a busy few days at Vintage. The publisher is receiving the report today, editing and printing it this weekend and shipping it early next week, according to the AP. The committee apparently talked with several publishers about printing the report; Vintage will donate some of the proceeds to a charity that benefits people in the military and their families.
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Slate outlined a great suggestion for what to do with all the copies of If I Did It.
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More
of the same: November general retail sales were mixed. On the one hand,
overall sales in November rose a modest 2.1%, according to the
International Council of Shopping Centers, but on the other hand,
Wal-Mart's drop in sales of 0.1% at stores open at least a year is
taken out of the equation, sales rose 4%, the New York Times reported.
On the one hand (again), sales at department stores open at least a
year rose 4.6%, but on the other hand, mergers and closings have
resulted in fewer department stores in which to shop.
On the one hand (yet again), unseasonably warm weather in parts of the
country held the usual sales of winter clothing down. On the other
hand, sales comparisons were hurt since ales rose significantly in
November 2005 because of strong post-Hurricane Katrina spending.
Definitive news about sales in the fourth quarter will take a while to relate. As analyst Jennifer Black told the Times, "The real sales battle is taking place the last 10 days before Christmas."
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Cool
idea of the day: As part of Dickens in Dundee, an annual event
celebrating both Christmas and Charles Dickens held in East and West
Dundee, Ill., people portraying Dickens, characters from his work and
others will sit in downtown store windows tonight, the Chicago Tribune
reported. Among the portrayers is June Wolk, who will be with her dog
in the window of Steeplejack Bookstore. Little Ollie is getting into
the spirit by wearing round-rimmed glasses and a wizard's cape, aiming to be a kind of canine Harry Potter.
The Dickens portrayer will be in the window of Emmett's Tavern and Brewing Co.--writing and perhaps tippling, too.
Other Dickens in Dundee events include a Spirit of Christmas parade
tomorrow and a holiday tent with activities for children.
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In October next year, Barnes & Noble plans to open a store in Clarence, N.Y., near Buffalo, in the Shops at Main/Transit shopping area at the intersection of Main St. and Transit Rd. The day before the store opens, the B&N at 7370 Transit Rd. in Williamsville, N.Y., will close.