Since this is the time of year when struggling stores tend to close and several well-known stores are shutting their doors, it's easy to have the impression that indies are collapsing. Bookselling This Week provides some nice perspective on the issue. During 2006, according to ABA figures, some 94 stores opened, up from the 90 new stores that appeared in 2005. (The story includes a list of the 94.)

In other good news, BTW surveyed independent booksellers about the holiday season and found that the latter part of 2006 "shone brightly" for most of them.

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Deborah Sloan, formerly director of marketing, promotion, advertising and publicity for Candlewick Press, Abbeville Press and Trafalgar Square, has created Deborah Sloan and Company, a marketing and promotion firm for books and their creators that aims to increase clients' visibility and increase book sales. It will work with authors, illustrators, publishers and booksellers.

Sloan will offer the services of "creative professionals in publishing, marketing, copywriting and design."

For more information, go to www.deborahsloanandcompany.com.
 

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The AMS bankruptcy continues to cause a great amount of angst among Publishers Group West client publishers, many of whom are supportive of PGW but loathe AMS, the distributor's owner since 2002. For these publishers, whose sales are primariy through the distributor, the effects are more painful than for suppliers of wholesaler AMS, who are taking major hits but aren't losing most of four months of total income and aren't unsure about the legal status of most of their own books.

PGW has had some positive news for its publishers. Yesterday the distributor indicated that key accounts, including Amazon, Ingram, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Bookazine, Books-A-Million, Borders, Costco and "myriad indies," have expressed their support and will "treat their ordering and return patterns as business as usual."

In addition, PGW president Rich Freese wrote to publishers saying that the AMS bankruptcy court had approved payments to publishers for books that shipped or will ship on or after December 29. Checks for gross sales for the first week after December 29 should go out next Monday. PGW will send checks on a weekly basis for the time being.

One PGW publisher who spoke at length with Shelf Awareness noted that his company is paid monthly for net sales four months earlier so that he would have expected a check this week for September sales. That money as well as income for the rest of 2006 could be tied up in bankruptcy court for some time--and may disappear altogether.

Today a group of PGW publishers is consulting with a lawyer to explore forming a special class of creditors to represent their interests.

Ironically PGW had an excellent 2006. Unit sales rose 3% to 11.2 million. Gross sales grew 2.2% to $187.3 million. Net sales were up 5.5% to $138.6 million. Returns dropped 6.1% to slightly under 26%.

With a tone of disbelief, the publisher with whom we spoke noted that "last Thursday, PGW was having its best year ever. Now it's teetering on the edge. To their credit, the people at PGW are doing everything they can to get money to us. They understand how desperate we are and are horrified by what's been done." He added that "many publishers say they've never been happier with PGW. Since Rich Freese has been here [he joined the company in 2003], it's been incredible."

The publisher said that he and many others believe PGW was blindsided by the bankruptcy filing, and they don't understand why the financial problems at AMS have continued for more than three years. "AMS repeatedly has blamed accountants, blamed lawyers and blamed everyone but itself for the problems," he said, adding that he sensed the bankruptcy filing was recommended by "lawyers who might know AMS's business but did not know PGW's."

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Interweave Press, the Loveland, Colo., publisher owned by Aspire Media that specializes in craft books, magazines, interactive media, broadcast programming and events, has expanded the franchise, both in terms of media and content--moving both into TV and quilting and paper crafts. The company has bought the PBS program Needle Arts Studio from Shay Pendray and bought Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines from Quilting Arts. The company now has 13 magazines and plans to create a book program around the two new magazines. Needle Arts Studio is aired on PBS in 157 markets, usually on Saturday, and began in 1996.

Linda Stark, Interweave's v-p and publisher, books, told Shelf Awareness that the deals will help the company "build a community step by step, taking the traditional media of books and magazines and the Internet and TV" to create a model like America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated.

And if that wasn't enough, yesterday Interweave launched a new home page.

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This morning on the Early Show, Arthur Agatston, M.D., offers advice from The South Beach Heart Program: The 4-Step Plan that Can Save Your Life (Rodale, $25.95, 9781594864193).

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This morning on the Today Show: Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, and Pleasure (Knopf, $24.95, 9780307265234).

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Today on Good Morning America: Kristin Armstrong, ex-wife of cyclist Lance and author of Happily Ever After: Walking with Peace and Courage through a Year of Divorce (FaithWords, $16.99, 9780446579896).

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Today on the Oprah Winfrey Show: Cesar Millan, author of Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems (Harmony, $14.95, 9780307337337).  

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Today on the Martha Stewart Show, Kathy Freston offers advice from The One: Finding Soul Mate Love and Making It Last (Miramax, $23.95, 9781401352431).

Also on the Martha Stewart Show: Lucinda Scala Quinn, author of Lucinda's Authentic Jamaican Kitchen (Wiley, $17.95, 9780471749356).

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Tonight ABC's 20/20 interviews Jack Halpern, famous for his new book, Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Favorite Addiction (Houghton Mifflin, $23, 9780618453696). He will also be interviewed on FOX & Friends tomorrow morning.

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Tonight on the Charlie Rose Show: Calvin Trillin, author of About Alice (Random House, $14.95, 9781400066155), which is now out in paperback.

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Saturday on the Early Show: Sally Schneider, author of The Improvisational Cook (Morrow Cookbooks, $34.95, 9780060731649).

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