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Quotation of the Day'A More Efficient Way?'"Everybody realizes that this is a business that is challenged, and
people are willing to try things. That's been a very pleasant surprise.
Also, some things don't make sense, such as physically returning books
all the time. We're packing and shipping books all the time. There has
to be a more efficient way."--George Jones, CEO of Borders Group, asked
about his biggest surprises since being named to his position a year
ago, in a long Q&A with the Wall Street Journal.
NewsOffshore Account: Books & Books & Cayman IslandsLet this be a sunny lesson to other indies. Books & Books, which
has three stores near Miami, Fla., is opening a fourth--in the Cayman
Islands, the U.K. territory south of Cuba that is a Caribbean vacation
destination, a cruise ship stop and a major global financial center.
The islands have a year-round population of 42,000. The 5,000-sq.-ft. store will be on Grand Cayman, the largest of the three Cayman islands, in the new Camana Bay Town Centre, which is part of Camana Bay's lifestyle development that will include retail, entertainment, housing and office space. The Books & Books Grand Cayman grand opening is scheduled for November. The new Books & Books will adjoin Café del Sol, an Internet coffee shop, and stock fine fiction, art and architecture books, poetry and classics, bestsellers, cookbooks, travel guides and books for children and young adults. Besides its book selection, Books & Books aims to duplicate in paradise the qualities that have distinguished it in Florida by offering author readings, book signings, book club discussions, children's storytelling sessions and more. Eventually the store hopes to organize small book festivals, conferences and cultural events. In a statement, owner Mitchell Kaplan, who is a co-founder of the Miami Book Fair International and past president of the American Booksellers Association, said the store will fit in with "Camana Bay's vision of creating a diverse community where people can live, work, study, dine and be entertained, all in close proximity." Jackie Doak, executive v-p for Dart Realty, developers of Camana Bay, said, "I have been visiting Books & Books in Miami for many years, and have always thought it would be a great fit for the Town Centre. We are particularly excited to be included on their literary event circuit, which we hope will bring authors from all around the world to Cayman." (Somewhat dryly, Kaplan commented, "I can't imagine it will be too difficult to persuade visiting authors to schedule a stop at our new store in the Cayman Islands," which are a one-hour flight from Miami.) In a sense, the store's opening in early November will continue the celebration of Books & Books's 25th anniversary, which will be marked October 15-20. Congratulations to Mitch Kaplan and his staff!
Sales: May Bookstore Sales Off 4.3%Bookstore sales in May were $1.1 billion, down 4.3% from $1.150 million
in sales in May 2006, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S.
Census Bureau. For the year to date, bookstore sales were $6.2 billion,
down 4.6% from $6.5 billion in the first five months of 2006. In
addition, the Bureau lowered April sales estimates to $908 million from
$909 million. By comparison, total retail sales in May rose 5.6% to $359 billion and 4% for the year to date. Note: under Census Bureau definitions, bookstore sales are of new books and do not include "electronic home shopping, mail-order, or direct sale" or used book sales. Notes: Elizabeth Haslam Dies; Brandenburgh's New GigElizabeth Haslam, who, with her husband, Charlie "the Bookman" Haslam, was part of the second generation to own Haslam's Book Store, St. Petersburg, Fla., died on Saturday at age 94. She had been in the hospital for more than a month. The Haslam family continues to own the 30,000-sq.-ft. store, which stocks new and used books. --- Borders's advisor KPMG said that an information memorandum will be sent out by the end of July and the sale would probably take three or four months to complete. Pacific Equity already owns A&R Whitcoulls. Borders has 20 stores in Australia and four in New Zealand; three more will open by the end of the year. Greg Brandenburgh has become sales and marketing director of Hampton Roads Publishing. Earlier he worked for Thorson/Element (US), Tuttle Publishing and HarperSanFrancisco. --- The enchanting fragrance of books was explored by the Chicago Tribune: "Just as each book has a certain heft, a certain way it feels in your hands, each book has its own aroma--a kind of incense in the midst of which the thoughts, insights and scenes, depicted by the words, exist." --- Tintin in trouble update. In Thursday's edition of Shelf Awareness, we reported that the Commission for Racial Equality, an official British racism watchdog group, had recommended bookshops across the U.K. ban copies of Tintin in the Congo and that Borders had decided to move the book from its children's section to adult graphic novels section. Since then, the Associated Press (via Business Week) has interviewed David Enright, the London human rights lawyer who encountered the book while shopping with his family at a Borders bookstore. "The material suggests to [children] that Africans are subhuman, that they are imbeciles, that they're half savage," Enright told the AP. "My black wife, who actually comes from Africa originally, is sitting there with my boys and I'm about to hand this book to them. . . . What message am I sending to them? That my wife is a monkey, that they are monkeys?" Over the weekend, copies of the book began "flying off the shelves with sales soaring by almost 4,000%," according to the Scotsman, and the controversial book reached the top 10 list on Amazon.co.uk. Though publicity has drawn attention to the book, a CRE spokesman said, "It is a delicate balance but because we had a complaint from a member of the public, we felt we had no choice." The controversy has drawn worldwide attention, including an editorial in the Calcutta Telegraph that explored "two kinds of post-colonials--the guilty and the giggling" and contended that "Human glee is essentially amoral."
HP7 Daily Update: Vigils, Rock Bands, Guard Dogs, SnacksChloe and Sydney Bostian are on an 11-day vigil to be among the first Alaskans to buy a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, according to the Seattle Times. Since last Tuesday, they've been living in their family's camper in the parking lot of Gulliver's Books, Fairbanks. --- What do the Hungarian Horntails, Harry & the Potters, Draco & the Malfoys and the Whomping Willows have in common? According to Salon, these are just four of nearly 200 Harry Potter-inspired bands playing "wizard rock" who "use MySpace for publicity, produce and release their own music, and book concerts at libraries. The Horntails are named after characters from The Goblet of Fire, and their songs have titles like 'Kill the Basilisk' and 'Which Witch Is Which?' Their first album is called 'Burn Voldemort's Butt.'" --- A wizard's Cape? The town of Sandwich, Mass., "will be re-imagined as author J.K. Rowling's fantasy world" Friday morning, according to the Cape Cod Times, which added that "town employees are already plotting their costumes" and "town administrator George 'Bud' Dunham agreed to become the Minister of Magic for the opening ceremony at 10 a.m. at town hall." "This was a way to highlight all the wonderful things in Sandwich," said organizer Vicky Uminowicz of Titcomb's Bookshop. "We love getting this book in the hands of kids." --- Other Harry Potter community efforts nationwide were highlighted by the Associated Press (via USA Today), with a special emphasis on the long-term prospects for such gatherings after the final installment of the series arrives. According to the AP, "Enthusiasts in small towns such as Poulsbo, Washington, and larger communities such as Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois--where 10,000 people turned out in 2003--are looking to the wildly popular Harry Potter movies, a theme park to open in Orlando, Florida, in 2009 and increasing fan conventions and conferences to keep the Potter energy flowing." --- The London Telegraph, which has a Harry Potter home page, reported on a "£10 million [about $20.3 million] security operation" to prevent any detail leaks for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The list of precautionary measures reads like an international suspense thriller, replete with plot devices like storage sites protected by security teams and guard dogs, as well as reports that "print factory workers in Britain have been threatened with the sack if they leak any details, while German publishers banned mobile phones and even packed lunches in the printing plant. Some employees reportedly had to work in near-darkness to prevent them reading the book." According to the Telegraph, on Tuesday, when copies begin leaving base camps for retailers, the operation will become even more intense: "The trucks Bloomsbury will use are fitted with satellite tracking systems costing up to £1,000 each, which will reveal whether any of the vehicles deviates from its intended route. The books are on sealed pallets fitted with alarms to prevent tampering." --- The same issue of the Telegraph noted that a "flurry of bets on Harry killing himself has seen bookmaker William Hill cut the odds of that happening from 33-1 to 10-11 on." --- The Detroit Free Press offered a recipe for Harry Potter "Magic Wand Snacks."
Media and MoviesMedia Heat: Al Jazeera's Man in WashingtonThis week on the Early Show: a three-part series featuring David Batstone and his Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It (HarperOne, $14.95, 9780061206719/0061206717). --- Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Josh Rushing, former Marine and current military and current affairs correspondent for Al Jazeera English and author of Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World (Palgrave Macmillan, $24.95, 9781403979056/1403979057). Books & AuthorsImage of the Day: Beach Bound
Awards: International Thriller Writers 2007 Thriller AwardsInternational Thriller Writers announced the winners of its 2007 Thriller Awards at ThrillerFest in New York City over the weekend. And the award goes to: Best Novel: Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder (St. Martin's Press)
Best First Novel: Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone (Michael Joseph Ltd./Penguin)
Best Paperback Original: An Unquiet Grave by P.J. Parrish (Pinnacle)
Best Screenplay: The Good Shepherd by Eric Roth
James Patterson was the recipient of the ThrillerMaster 2007 Award.
Book Sense: May We RecommendFrom last week's Book Sense bestseller lists, available at BookSense.com, here are the recommended titles, which are also Book Sense Picks: Hardcover Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy by Michael Tucker (Atlantic, $24, 9780871139627/0871139626). "When actor/writer Tucker and his wife, actress Jill Eikenberry, bought a cottage in Umbria, they fell in love with the house, the place, the food, the wine, and each other--all over again. This charming memoir will make you want to hop on the next plane to Italy with the love of your life (or find the love of your life)."--Elisabeth Grant-Gibson, Windows a bookshop, Monroe, La. A Much Married Man by Nicholas Coleridge (Thomas Dunne, $24.95, 9780312363833/0312363834). "You can't help but adore Anthony Anscombe, even as he stumbles into yet another ill-fated love affair. Complete with a deliciously complicated brood of ex-wives, children, obstinate parents, in-laws, and nosy locals, Anthony and his home on his English country estate are as charming as they come."--Mariah Whitney, Colby College Bookstore, Waterville, Me. Paperback The King's English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller by Betsy Burton (Gibbs Smith, $15.95, 9781423601241/1423601246). "You'll find joy, heartbreak, and lessons for everyone in an independent bookstore, and that's just from the people who work there. Burton's memoir celebrates a career filled with humor, drama, and self-reflection, and she reveals why a small group of very determined people spend their lives championing literacy."--Vivien L. Jennings, Rainy Day Books, Fairway, Kans. For Young Adults A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd (David Fickling, $16.99, 9780385751087/0385751087). "Written for young adults and inspired by the true story of one 15-year-old girl's determination to sustain life and joy in the midst of events outside her control. This book mixes pure pleasure and relentless hardship in lyrical prose."--Nooy Bunnell, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, Mass. [Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]
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Sunny days: Mary Slezak (r.) won a trip for two to the beach during a recent event at Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, Mich., to promote Life's a Beach (Voice, $23.95, 9781401303242/1401303242), the new novel by Claire Cook (l.)