After two-and-a-half years in business, Osondu Booksellers, Waynesville, N.C., perhaps best known for its campaign to bring Oprah to town to learn the value of independent bookstores (Shelf Awareness, July 24, 2006), has just gone through a spring cleaning extraordinaire.

During two weeks that the store was closed beginning January 21, staff, friends, volunteers and a contractor removed an ancient, huge "pharmacist's counter," built a bar for a café, replaced some fixtures and repainted the entire space. "I love seeing people's faces when they come in the store and see everything," owner Margaret Osondu said.

The removal of the pharmacy counter added 600 square feet of retail space. (The space had been used for storage, overstock and an office and was a "mess," Osondu said.) The new bar is the center of a café that sells baked goods and a range of organic tea. In a few weeks, Osondu estimated, the store will receive a liquor license and begin selling a range of wines that she described as "not intimidating--and appealing." With the renovation, the store moved the children's area and added a social justice section. Most of the store, which used to be green and yellow, is now painted cream with purple headers, and the café is a deep red.

The store reopened on Monday and had a small celebratory party on Sunday. Osondu plans a "bigger party" soon--perhaps timed to coincide with a visit by Oprah?--John Mutter

The future of PGW has become more complicated now that National Book Network has made a bid "to acquire PGW by assuming its publisher contracts," as a letter from NBN to PGW publishers put it. The distributor is offering 85% of the money owed the publishers from brankrupt AMS, will require publishers to extend contracts by three years, will keep a PGW office in California and aims to "find a role for as many PGW reps as possible" as well as for its marketing staff.

NBN president Jed Lyons told Shelf Awareness that in the day since he had sent the letter, "we've been inundated with publishers. We're furiously taking calls and making calls." He called the offer "pretty straightforward" and thought it would be more attractive to most publishers than the offer made by Perseus. "We're offering 15 cents per dollar more and a three-year rather than a four-year commitment," he stressed. He added that because the offer is made as an unsecured general claim, it would save the AMS "estate" money. By contrast, Perseus's administrative claim would get priority and "come right off the top of the estate before anyone gets a dime."

Several smaller PGW publishers have expressed interest in the NBN offer. One publisher told Shelf Awareness that he had already wanted to sign up with NBN and is "delighted." RadioFreePGW has also expressed, shall we say, a preference for NBN over Perseus and wrote last night that PGW was making a plea for Perseus (despite the tone of an earlier letter quoted below).

Perseus, which is buying Avalon, PGW's largest publisher, and has the support of Grove/Atlantic, told the Wall Street Journal that it has already "signed contracts or reached oral agreement with publishers representing at least 60% of the total claims of PGW clients." And last night Perseus CEO David Steinberger issued the following statement:

"We continue to be focused on finalizing the path forward for PGW's independent publishers, which includes making a significant payment to them quickly and ensuring no disruption in service. We also remain concerned about the PGW employees and the need to give them some clarity and certainty about the future. As far as we can see, the other offer being introduced this late in the process isn't real yet and may never be. We deeply appreciate the support we continue to receive from PGW publishers and PGW staff, so many of whom are working along side us to get our plan approved so that we can all get past the uncertainty and turmoil of the past six weeks and get back to focusing on the books."

Lyons's letter indicated the Maryland distributor has the financial support of Drawbridge Long Dated Value Advisors of New York. Worldwide the company had net sales in 2006 of $100 million. At the moment, NBN has a 20-member sales force and 25 commission reps in North America. Five reps cover non book trade markets. If NBN's bidding is successful, the company will "combine the two sales organizations into one."

It is unclear about how much choice publishers have, particularly those who have already signed with Perseus. In a letter to PGW publishers introducing the NBN bid, PGW president Rich Freese said that because the AMS bankruptcy court "has not yet approved any deal, you are free to enter into an agreement with NBN, even if you have done so with the other potential purchaser [i.e., Perseus]. The intent of the process is that the bankruptcy court will approve a transaction and the agreements with the 'winning' purchaser will be valid and enforceable."

An NBN alumnus, Freese continued, "I know that NBN appreciates PGW's close relationship with our customers and will undoubtedly maintain the high level of service and reliability that you have come to expect from PGW."

It sounds like a Joni Mitchell situation. The University of Alabama plans to raze the building housing the Alabama Book Store, a 42-year-old family business with a staff of 32, and put up a parking garage, the Tuscaloosa News reported. The University is also planning to buy other buildings housing the College Store, another off-campus bookstore.

Alabama Book Store father-and-son owners David Jones and David Jones, Jr., are understandly not happy. David Jones told the paper: "They want to take out my business who competes with the Supply Store."

In a move that reminds us of the importance of a Web site in keeping the Brown Bookstore, Providence, R.I., institutionally owned, David Jones, Jr., has turned to the Web for support, creating SaveTheStrip.com, which seeks to encourage debate about the University's plans to change the area, called the Strip.

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The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney has won the £25,000 (about $49,000) Costa Book of the Year Award. Formerly known as the Whitbread Awards, the Costas honor "the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the U.K. and Ireland."

For more information and winners in five categories, click here.

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Shawn Everson has been promoted to v-p of Ingram International. He was formerly v-p of global transportation for Ingram Book Group and has also been v-p of operations for Ingram Book Group and director of operations for Publisher Resources. Before joining Ingram in 2000, he was distribution center manager for OshKosh B'Gosh and an industrial engineer at UPS.

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National Book Network has begun distributing the following publishers:

The Hippocratic Press, Concord, Mass., which publishes medical children's stories that entertain and educate both parent and child about common childhood illnesses.
Axios Press, which publishes books on ethics, human values and philosophy.
Himalayan Institute Press, Honesdale, Pa., which specializes in books on yoga, meditation, spirituality, holistic health, Ayurveda, nutrition and Eastern philosophy.
Pari Publishing, near Siena, Italy, which publishes books in the arts, science, community and psychology.
Timewell Press, London, which publishes literary and historical books.

 

Net book sales in 2006 fell 0.2% to $10,027.9 billion from $10,044.2 billion, as reported by 82 publishers to the Association of American Publishers. Net sales for December dropped 0.6% to $1,396.4 million.

The big gainers for the year were: e-books (with admittedly small numbers compared to other categories), up 24.1%; adult paperbacks, up 8.5%; university press paperbacks, up 4.7%; and adult mass markets, up 4.6%.

The big losers were: children's/YA hardcovers (read the lack of Harry Potter), down 29%; audiobooks, down 11.7%; and religious books, down 10.2%.

This morning the Today Show hears from Michael Eric Dyson about Debating Race (Basic Civitas Books, $26, 9780465002061/0465002064). Dyson also appears on the O'Reilly Factor this evening.

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This morning on the Early Show: Tommie Smith, the runner best known for raising his fist on the medals stand at the 1968 Summer Olympics, talks about his autobiography, Silent Gesture (Temple University Press, $27.50, 9781592136391/1592136397).

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Today Oprah unveils The Secret, the movie, book and audio by Rhonda Byrne (Atria/Beyond Words, $23.95, 1582701709; audiobook: $29.95, 074356619X). Byrne and teachers Jack Canfield, Rev. Michael Beckwith, Lisa Nichols and James Ray will appear. The Secret has been a steady seller first in DVD form and now as a book, too, at many New Age bookstores.

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Today on KCRW's Bookworm: Brian Evenson, author of The Open Curtain (Coffee House, $14.95, 9781566891882/1566891884). As the show described it: "The mystery at the heart of The Open Curtain derives from a violent, concealed episode in Mormon history. In this conversation, the author explores the Mormon imagery in his work and the personal and artistic crises that culminated in his departure from the church."

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Tonight on the Colbert Report: Chris Hedges sheds light on American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (Free Press, $25, 9780743284431/0743284437).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's Web site.

Saturday, February 10

6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. In a segment that first aired in 2001, Louisiana State University history professor William Cooper talked about his biography, Jefferson Davis, American (Vintage, $18.95, 9780375725425/0375725423), and stated that the Confederate president believed the Confederacy's goals were consistent with those of the U.S.

7 p.m. History. Richard Sonnenfeldt, chief interpreter for the U.S. prosecution of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials, discusses his book Witness to Nuremberg: The Chief American Interpreter at the War Crimes Trials (Arcade, $25, 9781559708166/1559708166). The author's full story is just as striking as his experience at Nuremburg (where he questioned Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess, among others): Sonnenfeldt's family fled Germany in 1938 for England, was deported to Australia, then immigrated to the U.S. After his time in the Army, Sonnenfeldt was an engineer, helped develop color TV and was an executive v-p of NBC.

Sunday, February 11

[Editors' note: the following item ran mistakenly last week. The three-hour live show will be held this Sunday.]

12-3 p.m. In Depth: Dinesh D'Souza, whose new book is The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11 (Doubleday, $26.95, 9780385510127). The author of six other books, D'Souza is the Rishwain Research Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and was earlier the John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and worked in the Reagan White House. Viewers with questions may call during the live show or e-mail booktv@c-span.org. (Re-airs Monday at 12 a.m.)

We all receive anonymous pitch letters every day. Some of us also send them. We would like to communicate personally with every potential customer, but that just isn't possible. Even in the world of books--which still relies substantially upon passion for product and word-of-mouth sales--the indistinctive salutation is a standard business practice.

Dear Bookseller

Generic salutations are a common ingredient in the letters sent with advance readers copies (or tipped in as first pages). It's conceivable that these letters are an effective sales tool somewhere, but they seem to me an invitation not to read further; a sign that whatever follows was written for an indistinguishable audience.

If a salutation is, as most dictionaries would have it, a gesture or phrase employed to greet, welcome or recognize someone, then how welcome or recognized can we feel when opening letters that begin Dear Booksellers, Dear Book Buyer, Dear Friend(s), Dear Friend of Books, Dear Reader, Dear Colleague, Dear Local Bookseller, Dear Independent Bookseller, Dear Suspense Lover, etc.?

And what can I possibly think of a letter I found just a few days ago in an ARC, with the salutation "Dear Editor/Producer"? Now, that's narrowing your focus to the point of no return (or at least no read) in a galley sent to a bookstore.

The mysterious, perhaps arcane, art of the salutation has attracted my attention lately because it is morphing into an online variation that seems to be a tiresome new version of an already tired old model.

My inbox is loaded daily with form letters from publicists asking whether I would like to have ARCs sent to me. This approach presumably saves on blind galley mailings, but even in this new strategy the anonymity remains.

There is one notable difference online from the traditional "Dear Bookseller," "Dear Reader" or "Dear Blogger" snail mail letters I receive. E-mail marketers tend to opt for cheery and informal salutations, as perhaps befits the medium:

Hey all

Hi all

Sometimes "Dear Bookseller" still shows up online; however, just as often there is no salutation at all. We skip the formalities and move directly to the pitch.

Do we need salutations anymore? Although it may seem I've been arguing against them, I don't think it's quite that simple. In fact, I suspect that a well-conceived and executed personal salutation is still very effective, online as well as off.

Consider the challenge. Let's pretend I'm a frontline bookseller (okay, we don't have to pretend). I have access at any given moment to dozens, even hundreds, of ARCs and they keep arriving daily. I can't stop them. A biblio-cyborg, I've been forever merged into the infinite and universal master database of publishing industry mailing lists.

There is no escape now.

The ARCs arrive with computer-generated form letters featuring generic salutations, synopses, blurbs and hype. The letters tell me how much the people who signed them love all those books and what great reads I have in store for me, if only I'll cooperate.

That's okay. I don't mind a template letter. I understand that a lot of galleys have to go out and individual letters can't be written for each bookseller. A marketing person at a respected publishing house once told me that there were times he almost didn't care where his ARCs went, so long as they left the office and reduced the ever-growing stacks. Most booksellers understand how the game is played. They don't even mind playing. They just don't like to be played.

And ARCs do need good homes. Most end up abandoned.

Dear ARCs

There is, however, a little trick to get them a second look, perhaps even a read.

Here's a confession and a tip: I've always had a weakness for handwritten salutations. It's a relatively small gesture, an added touch that tells me something about the person sending that particular galley. Booksellers have egos, too. When I receive an ARC with that subtle, ink-stained sign of professional and human recognition--Dear Robert--I pause for a moment. Then I take the next step. I open the book.

And that's how books are sold. Someone opens them.   

The art of the salutation is a microcosm of the art of writing anything well. It is all about inviting your reader pay attention and having that reader accept the invitation. "Dear Bookseller" may be a salutation, but it is not an invitation.--Robert Gray (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)