Bookselling This Week continues its Bookselling in Tough Times series with a focus on remainders. The attraction of remainders, in a nutshell: "They cost less and offer a higher markup." Who can argue with that?
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During August and September, 14 ABA members stores opened, including one branch store, a non-storefront location and a store in Panama. See Bookselling This Week for contact and website information.
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Lil Stone, owner of Catalina Island's Sugarloaf Bookstore, Avalon, Calif., has decided to put her 20-year-old bookshop up for sale, the Log.com reported.
"I practically bolted the last stud in place. It's my baby. I was there at the beginning," said Stone. "And I've loved every minute of it. . . . We get all the boaters, tourists and locals here year-round."
Although Stone decided to sell the bookstore about a year ago, the Log.com added that she "only recently started advertising it. When it's sold, new owners will receive the entire inventory--complete with hardbound and paperback books, magazines and videos. The bookstore also carries a large pottery selection for visitors seeking souvenirs and mementos. Her asking price for the business is $375,000."
Stone has offered to assist the new owner with the transition. "I'll be around to help," she said. "I want to leave feeling that Sugarloaf is in safe hands."
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The Country Bookshop, Plainfield, Vt., was profiled in the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, which noted that the used bookshop's owner, Ben Koenig, "said in the last couple of years, he has noticed a growing interest among the general populace in supporting local businesses. He said he has gotten calls from people who wanted to see whether he had a particular item before looking on the Internet."
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Test your Halloween IQ with the Guardian's "Literary witches quiz."
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The Cleveland Plain-Dealer finds politics in the pages of graphic novels, including endorsements, subtle endorsements and biobooks.
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If book buyers in the U.K. were U.S. voters, Barack Obama would win next week's presidential election, the Guardian reported, noting that "Obama's two autobiographies, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream and Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, have sold over 130,000 copies between them, according to the U.K.'s book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan. McCain, by contrast, barely tops 2,000 with his Hard Call: Heroes Who Made Tough Decisions and Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir."
The article also noted that "online book retailer the Book Depository estimates that of the 350 U.S. election books it has sold lately, 96% have been Obama titles. 'According to the Book Depository's global book-buyers: Democrats read, Republicans don't; Palin isn't popular, Biden is invisible. If the Book Depository's customers were voting it would be an Obama landslide,' said Mark Thwaite, managing editor of the site."
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On the 15th anniversary of its top-150 bestseller list, USA Today offered a "decade and a half" list (not surprisingly, an author named Rowling holds seven of the top nine spots) as well as a look back at some "awards for stamina," including:
- What to Expect When You're Expecting (1984) by Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg and Sandee Hathaway, for most weeks in the top 150--739. A new version by Murkoff and Sharon Mazel released last spring has been on for an additional 29 weeks.
- John Grisham, with 14 titles in the top 150, more than anyone else, and the most weeks at No. 1: 100, topping Rowling at 70.
- Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) is the most popular classic at No. 22.
- Oprah Winfrey, whose book club has made 62 selections since 1996, influenced but did not dominate the list. Five of her picks are in the top 150, including Eckhart Tolle's self-help guide, A New Earth, at No. 31.