Notes: Glass Less than Half Full; Oprah's Picador Pick
Bookstore sales in March were $998 million, down 4.1%
from sales of $1.041 billion in March 2006, according to preliminary estimates from the
U.S. Census Bureau. For the year to date, bookstore sales were $4.2
billion, down 4% from $4.4 billion.
By comparison, total retail sales rose 3.4% to $342,022 billion and 4%
for the year to date. In addition, preliminary general sales results
for April some of the worst declines ever recorded.
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.
---
Oprah's next pick, #58, is a Picador fiction title. The paperback retails for $15. ISBNs are 9780312427733 and 0312427735.
---
In an exclusive publishing tale with a twist, S&S's Atria Books
made a reservation with Ritz-Carlton to do a collection of short
stories by some of its authors to be called Turndown Tales--the
hotel chain would give the paperback free to customers for a month as
part of its evening turndown service. But, according to today's New York Times,
the first draft of the pillow-drop project was initially turned down by
Ritz-Carlton because of "language issues" and "some racy content," as a
hotel executive put it. Publisher Judith Curr told the Times
she wouldn't tell the authors, who include Jodi Picoult, Susan Isaacs
and John Connolly, to change storylines, but Atria and Ritz-Carlton did
go through the collection story by story and came to an accord. "One of
the things we're going to do is tone down some of the swearing--that
made a huge difference for them." Previously scheduled for June, Turndown Tales will now appear on luxury hotel beds in late summer or early fall.
---
On the occasion of the Best of the Blues awards, Seattle Times
editorial columnist Lance Dickie gave an appreciation of two area locations
that regularly host blues concerts, one of which is Third Place Books.
"On blues nights at Third Place, the eateries are humming, little kids
are twirling and grownups are cruising for dance partners," he wrote.
"A professional sound board and operator keep the music sweet.
Family-friendly introduces whole new generations to the blues."
Wendy Manning, events manager, told him that musicians love the space,
and for the audience, "we are what they are doing on Friday and
Saturday nights."
---
"What is important is to establish a strong base, to develop the readers' trust in this space as a cultural gathering point," said Karam Youssef, the owner and director of Al Kotob Khan bookshop in Cairo, Egypt. Al-Ahram Weekly profiled Youseff to celebrate the first birthday of her bookshop.
Youssef's thoughts on the challenges and pleasures of indie bookselling resonate worldwide. "When people ask me how I evaluate the experience one year later," she said, "I proudly tell them that Kotobkhan is now like a child of mine. Money-wise, there is not much I have gained, but the love I got from readers who love my bookshop is invaluable."
---
The "world's largest floating bookshop" docked over the weekend at Hakata port in the city of Fukuoka. According to the Japan Times, the "6,818-ton Doulos, the world's oldest ocean-going passenger vessel still in service . . . will be open to the public for 10 days."---
Courant events:
A compelling, amazing Mother's Day story in Sunday's Hartford Courant highlighted the reunion of three women who had been born "in the same area of what had been Austria-Hungary," but were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp as teens. After being liberated by the Red Army, they lost contact with one another. Through an extraordinary series of coincidences, they were reunited last month--for the first time in more than half a century--by their three daughters, one of whom is Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn.
Imus update. The Hartford Courant's account of a Dierdre Imus (Green This!) booksigning in Madison last week read like a spy novel. We learned about a mysterious "stretch limo that had earlier delivered him, his wife and their entourage to the back door of RJ Julia Booksellers, which sponsored the program, although they then used an employee-only staircase to slip into bookstore owner Roxanne Coady's second-floor office without being seen."
---
Le Bouquiniste, an open air used-book bazaar, has made its debut in Lafayette, La., and will add literary spice to ArtWalk, which the Daily Advertiser described as a "monthly walking tour of galleries, restaurants and clubs in downtown Lafayette."
Aryn Kyle's debut novel, The God of Animals (Scribner, $25,
9781416533245/1416533249), is set on a horse ranch in Desert Valley,
Colo., and is the story of a young girl struggling to figure out who
she is and what she wants to be as well as her feelings about her
family and friends. Here Kyle answers questions we occasionally put to
people in the industry: