In its upbeat report on Black Friday sales performances by local retailers, the Fort Morgan, Colo., Times noted that Bonnie Newton, owner of the Book Nook had "a steady stream of customers into the early afternoon Friday."
"I think sales are going to continue on through the season," she said. "They started before Thanksgiving.
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And in Gloucester, Mass., a Gloucester Times story about business on Main Street, quoted several relatively cheery booksellers. Bob Ritchie, owner of Dogtown Book Shop, said sales during the three days following Thanksgiving were "better than expected."
Janice Severance of the Bookstore called sales on Friday and Saturday "great" but called Sunday "pretty much a washout."
[For much more on bookstore sales over the weekend, see Robert Gray's column below.]
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One well-timed change at the IndieBound.org
website is a wish list feature that allows users to build a list of
books and e-mail it to friends or family along with a list of favorite
bookstores--a not so subtle but graceful way of indicating what and
where people can buy gifts for the sender.
Matt Supko, ABA's web
content coordinator, extolled the "viral potential" of the lists,
saying, "they empower 'true believers' to share IndieBound with friends
and family at a time when those audiences will be most receptive to it."
ABA's
chief marketing officer Meg Smith emphasized the importance of the wish
list's recommended bookstores. "It's not just the gift you buy that
counts," she said. "It's where you buy it."
In a related
changed, IndieBound.org has a new book search feature that returns two
sets of results: books that match the search term as well as other
information from the IndieBound Community and a link for purchasing the
book from an indie.
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Beginning Friday and lasting through next Wednesday, the Barnes & Noble at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Tex., will offer students a drive-thru textbook buyback option, according to the Daily Toreador.
B&N manager John Creed wrote to the paper: "Students will be able to drive into a parking lot, get greeted by a Barnes & Noble employee at their car window, sell their book while sitting in their drivers' seat, get their cash and leave without ever getting out of their car during the winter cold."
The program was created to deal with what students said was the "biggest pain in the butt" about buyback: finding parking.
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GalleyCat showcased Random House sales Rep Ann Kingman's "11 Reasons for Booksellers to Blog."
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The Christian Science Monitor
noted that "Penguin Group asked the authors they publish what books
they’d be either buying or hoping to receive this year" in a section
called What to Give & What to Get.
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"Stunning science books" for holiday gift giving were recommended by USA Today.
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"Bailout,"
perhaps inevitably, became Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2008 by
receiving "the highest intensity of lookups on Merriam-Webster Online
over the shortest period of time," according to Merriam-Webster.com. The 2008 Top 10 list in full:
- bailout
- vet
- socialism
- maverick
- bipartisan
- trepidation
- precipice
- rogue
- misogyny
- turmoil
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Tuttle Publishing is now the exclusive distributor in the Western Hemisphere for New Holland Publishers Australia. New Holland publishes titles in a range of nonfiction categories, including travel, biography, sports, true crime, self-help, gardening, food and natural history.
Among new titles this fall from New Holland: Who's the Dummy Now? by Terry Fator, winner of NBC's America's Got Talent. Earlier New Holland titles include Wildlife Warrior: Steve Irwin, 1962-2006, a Man Who Changed the World and Where's Bin Laden?, a picture book reminiscent of Where's Waldo?