"Publishers and booksellers do something that the public wants--provide them with information and entertainment. At its best, the book industry competes with mass media in popularity. But the publishing business is still way behind where it needs to be in this hypercompetitive world. And that is much more than just a pity."--Peter Osnos in his column, "Harry Potter and the Rest of the Book Business," at the Century Foundation's website.

"With an average size of 25,000 square feet and a cafe in each of its four stores, it might be hard to categorize Schuler Books & Music as a 'mom-and-pop' operation," noted the Lansing, Mich., State Journal in its profile of owners Bill and Cecile Fehsenfeld. "After 25 years, the company remains in family hands, making it a Michigan-owned, operated and successful bookseller in an age of big-box superstore competitors."

Schuler's "secret" to success, the Fehsenfelds said, "is to provide the convenience of a chain bookstore with the customer service of an independent."

"Very often, we have been faced with new challenges," said Bill. "We always end up going back to really basic things--good inventory, good customer service and a comfortable store."

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The Community Book Center, "the only African-American-centered bookstore to reopen in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina," will soon be "a center to serve owners of small businesses," according to the Times-Picayune. 

"The 'business/training center' is being created in partnership with the NewCorp Business Assistance Center, a local nonprofit corporation," the paper explained. "Scheduled to open by September, the training center will offer business owners access to computers, software, copying and fax machines, and training in accounting and other business development practices. Charges for the training and other services will be on a sliding scale, based on a person's ability to pay."

"Our success is not measured in dollars and cents," said owner Vera Warren-Williams. "It's measured by lives that we've touched."

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Owning a bookstore may seem like a dream job to many, but "running an independent bookstore isn't always so dreamy," according to the Arizona Republic, which interviewed the owners of two local bookshops, many of whose customers are older.

"The vast majority" of the customers at Books-N-More, Peoria, are "middle-age to retired," according to co-owner Bob Copley.

When Kay McNeely was searching for a location for her used-book store, Keep on Bookin', "she chose the busy Crossroads Towne Center in Surprise because of its proximity to retirement communities and the avid readers and book traders who live there."

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Many black science fiction writers tackle "sensitive issues of race and culture" in speculative fiction, "leading sci-fi/fantasy fans of color [to begin to create] their own communities," the Boston Globe writes. "These spaces are necessary in a world where they stand out as geeks among blacks, and as 'the other' in the speculative-fiction world."

For more straight-forward reporting on speculative fiction, click here.

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David (Skip) Prichard is joining Ingram Book Group as chief operating officer, a new position. He was formerly president and CEO of ProQuest Information and Learning and earlier was v-p of corporate and federal markets at LexisNexis. He has served as a trainer for some companies and is a motivational speaker.

Prichard will be responsible for finance, information technology and operations and be heavily involved in the development of new strategic directions. In a statement, president and CEO Jim Chandler said that Prichard will add "significant expertise in the digital content markets, great knowledge of the needs of our institutional customers and significant business skills."

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Effective August 14, Brian Belfiglio is joining Scribner as v-p, director of publicity. He has worked in publicity at Hilsinger-Mendelson East, Workman and Crown. He replaces Elizabeth Hayes, who, as S&S's Adam Rothberg put it, has "gone Hollywood." She will work as a producer with director Jonathan Demme on his next film.

 

Trafalgar Square Publishing, owned by Independent Publishers Group, is now distributing titles in the U.S. from three more U.K. publishers:

• Michael O'Mara Books, London, which publishes biographies, humor, puzzle books and, through its Buster Books imprint, children's books. Established in 1985, the house remains privately owned. Forthcoming titles include Graffiti Planet (December) by street artist Alan Ket, which features more than 100 photos of work from walls, subway cars and streets around the world, and The Ginger Survival Guide by Tim Collins (January 2008), which "explores the burden the modern redhead has to bear as a carrot-topped hero."
• Netribution, which was founded in 1999 to support independent creative artists through a variety of resources and networks. Its first book, The Film Finance Handbook by Adam P. Davies and Nic Wistreich (January 2008), is a reference guide for producers, filmmakers, financiers and advisers on raising funds. The Cannes Film Market is an official partner.
• Korero Books, a book packager that now has two imprints never before distributed in the U.S. Through Rebellion Books and Korero, Korero Books publishes visual counter-culture titles, including Street Art and the War on Terror by Xavier Tàpies (October 2007), which presents images of the international protest movement by graffiti artists against the Iraq War, and Kustom Graphics by Julian Balme (spring 2008), a graphic design resource for "fast cars, the rock 'n roll lifestyle and saucy female forms."

This morning on the Today Show: presidential candidate and Senator Joe Biden, author of Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics (Random House, $25.95, 9781400065363/1400065364). He will also appear tonight on the Late Show With David Letterman.

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: former Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, author of Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way (Grand Central, $24.99, 9780446577151/0446577154). She appears tonight on the Colbert Report, too.

Also on Diane Rehm, Alastair Campbell, press secretary for former British prime minister Tony Blair, will discuss his new book, The Blair Years: The Alastair Campbell Diaries (Knopf, $35, 9780307268310/0307268314).

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Today on NPR's News and Notes: R. Donahue Peebles, author of The Peebles Principles: Tales and Tactics from an Entrepreneur's Life of Winning Deals, Succeeding in Business, and Creating a Fortune from Scratch (Wiley, $24.95, 9780470099308/0470099305).

Costco book buyer Pennie Clark Ianniciello has chosen The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty (Hyperion, $14, 9780786888450/0786888458), originally published in 2003, as her August book pick. She has highlighted the title in the current issue of Costco Connection, which goes to many of the warehouse club's members.

Ianniciello called the book "a fantastic read. Moriarty creates scenes that are so vivid I'm hard-pressed to separate them from my own memories. It also pleases me to say that not only is Moriarty a great writer, but she's also a gem of a person: down-to-earth and compassionate."

Selected new hardcover titles appearing next Tuesday, August 7:

Fourth Comings: A Novel by Megan McCafferty (Crown, $21, 9780307346506/0307346501) follows recent college graduate Jessica Darling as she lives and works in New York City.

Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan (Ballantine, $23.95, 9780345494993/0345494997) is a fictitious account of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, best known as the woman who ruined Frank Lloyd Wright's first marriage.

Malice by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Atria, $26.95, 9780743271196/074327119X) is the 19th thriller starring Manhattan district attorney Butch Karp and his wife, Marlene Ciampi.

Last Breath: A Sherry Moore Novel by George D. Shuman (S&S, $24, 9781416534907/1416534903) is the second suspense novel with blind Philadelphia psychic Sherry Moore.

The Scandal of the Season: A Novel by Sophie Gee (Scribner, $25, 9781416540564/1416540563) follows Alexander Pope's antics in 18th-century London.

Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (Tor, $27.95, 9780765312938/076531293X) is the conclusion to the original Dune cycle, featuring a cast and settings spread throughout the cosmos.

Waking with Enemies by Eric Jerome Dickey (Dutton, $24.95, 9780525950387/0525950389) follows an assassin's attempts to evade a fellow killer and discover who is out to get him.

Critical by Robin Cook (Putnam, $25.95, 9780399154232/039915423X) begins with an outbreak of fatal infections at several New York City hospitals. Medical examiner Laurie Montgomery investigates and discovers a world of shady criminal investors.

Spook Country by William Gibson (Putnam, $25.95, 9780399154300/0399154302) is set in a high tech future where globalization and terrorism play central roles. A journalist assigned to investigate virtual reality art uncovers a web of CIA and criminal activities.

Devil May Cry (A Dark-Hunter Novel, Book 11) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (St. Martin's, $19.95, 9780312369507/0312369506) is the latest in a series where classical mythology meets the modern world.

The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $21.95, 9780375423017/037542301X) chronicles the various familial and academic troubles of Edinburgh philosopher Isabel Dalhousie.
 
Mad Dash: A Novel by Patricia Gaffney (Shaye Areheart, $23, 9780307382115/0307382117) follows a 20-year-old marriage on the verge of collapse.

Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy--From the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey (Berkley, $21.95, 9780425215555/0425215555) is the sequel to the Christian bestseller 90 Minutes in Heaven.

Guinness World Records 2008 (Guinness, $28.95, 9781904994190/1904994199) has updates and new records as well as glow-in-the-dark features, perhaps yet another world record.


Following are selected titles appearing in paperback next Tuesday, August 7:

On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance and Sunny (Berkley, $7.99, 9780425216590/0425216594)

Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide by Leonard Maltin (Signet, $9.99, 9780451221865/ 0451221869)

Touch of Darkness (Darkness Chosen, Book 2) by Christina Dodd (Signet, $7.99, 9780451221841/0451221842)

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, $16, 9780743272513/074327251X)

Crisis by Robin Cook (Berkley, $9.99, 9780425216576/0425216578)

Under Orders by Dick Francis (Berkley, $9.99, 9780425217566/0425217566)

The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth (Signet, $9.99, 9780451221834/0451221834)

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central, $13.99, 9780446698320/0446698326)

Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember by John McCain and Mark Salter (Random House, $15.95, 9780812974454/081297445X)

Mary Stewart's books are magic; they should be required reading for writers attempting to master sense of place. As early as the first page, with the heroine's arrival at a Paris airport on a soft, gray March day just as the light was fading, I remembered why I loved Mary Stewart. I was there, with wet tarmac glistening underfoot, the sky rinsed to a pale, clear blue. She transports the reader into a setting as few others can, and her plots are classic.

Linda Martin is returning to France after a decade spent in an English orphanage and then working at a boys' school. She's been hired by Héloïse de Valmy as governess for the woman's nephew, nine-year-old Philippe, an orphan and heir to the vast Valmy estates. Since Madame de Valmy was insistent on hiring an English girl, Linda hides the fact that she is fluent in French. They journey to the family château high in the Savoy Alps, where she meets Madame Valmy's husband, Léon, crippled, charming and menacing. Léon's son, Raoul, manages another Valmy estate, Bellevigne. He's tall, dark and handsome, a walking cliché who causes Linda to dislike him immediately: "A man whose looks and charm were practically guaranteed to get him home without his even trying." Throw in Philippe's intense dislike of his uncle, mysterious happenings at the village pharmacy, hostility toward Linda, several attempts on Philippe's life, et voilà! Shadows, twists, perils, romance. There's even a ball, for which the governess sews an enchanting dress.

Stewart perfectly sets a romantic mood with a hint of shadow: "It was almost five o'clock, one of those dark, rain-laden April days with a warm gusty wind billowing. There had been showers earlier, but now a belated gleam from the west glissaded over the wet housetops and etched the budding chestnuts of the square in pale gold against a slaty sky. Many of the shop windows were bright already, harshly lighted grocery stores and boucheries mirrored to soft orange and copper in the damp pavements . . . The street lamps glowed like ripe oranges among the bare boughs. Below in the wet street their globes glimmered down and down, to drown in their own reflections. As Raoul and Linda leave the village at dusk, "The leaves of an ilex cut the half-light like knives. A willow streamed in the wind like a woman's hair. The road lifted itself ahead, mackerel silver under its bending poplars. The blue hour, the lovely hour." She can also perfectly sketch a more terse image: "He was driving like a careful insult." As for romance, current overwrought prose could do with a touch of her evocative reticence: "He turned suddenly toward me and pulled me to him, not gently. What we said then is only for ourselves to remember."

There is a new generation of Mary Stewart fans just waiting to discover her, and an opportunity for previous fans to rediscover this most pleasurable writer. Nine Coaches Waiting is a perfect novel for summer, or any season--a book that you sink into, coming up for air only when you've read the last page.--Marilyn Dahl