Notes: Potternomics; 18-Year-Old Opening Bookstore

A story in the business section of Saturday's New York Times (sadly unavailable online without a subscription) dissected the financial angle of selling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The title said it all: "Making Money on Potter? That's Magic."

After explicating some "screwball" book industry practices familiar to most readers--heavily discounting the most popular titles and returnability, among others--the article argued that Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble gained despite the deep discounts (and in Amazon's case an estimated loss of $10 per book). For example, Amazon acquired many new customers and their e-mail addresses for future marketing efforts; selling Potter has conditioned more people to buying books online; and Potter purchasers bought other things at the same time. For B&N, Potter drew people into its stores where they bought other items, too; it's added new customers; and the title will be a backlist staple for years.

Still the Times noted a major irony: many independents, who compete more on service and other things than price, are the rare retailing group to reap direct financial benefits from the book--since many of them didn't discount it or did so sparingly. Thus, in the Times example, "Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., which has sold fewer than 2,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will make more money on it than might Amazon."

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Talk about an emerging leader. Andrea Colton, 18, who graduated from high school last month, is opening a bookstore on Wednesday. She told the Lockport Journal, "This is something I've wanted to do since middle school."

The Pathways Christian Bookstore, Lockport, N.Y., will feature Bibles, autobiographies, parenting books, children's books and gifts and have music and entertainment for children and young adults, the paper said.

Besides some financial help from her grandparents, a local family and "several book providers," the project is Colton's alone. "I wanted to do this because of my religion," she said. "If it wasn't a Christian store I probably wouldn't have wanted to open it because I really feel that there's a need for a religion and family oriented store in Lockport."

Her advice for other young entrepreneurs: "Follow your heart and what you believe in."

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The Turner Classic Movies website has a Q&A with Thomas Gladysz, event coordinator at the Booksmith, San Francisco, Calif., a sponsor of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival for the last 10 years. At the Festival, the store has three large tables and hosts signings by a range of writers and film historians.

With some exceptions, Gladysz said, "books on individuals sell better than topical or thematic books. . . . In general, the best selling books are biographies. People like reading well researched, well written biographies of their favorite stars."

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"The key thing is not to compete with Borders or Barnes & Noble on the price of the books they have," James Drayton, owner of the African American Heritage Bookstore, West Palm beach, Fla., told the Palm Beach Post. "The key thing is to have the books Borders and Barnes & Noble don't have."  

The Post interviewed Drayton as well as Akbar Watson, owner of Pyramid Books, Boynton, regarding the challenges and rewards for African American booksellers.

"Basically, it's a labor of love and I try to squeeze some business out of it," said Watson. "It's a constant hustle." According to the Post, Watson "is a certified minority business owner and supplies some books for state businesses." He believes his store is as much a community center as a book store, with "Sunday discussion groups at 1 p.m. that can touch on current events, but there are also history classes on the Moors, Egyptology and religions."

"A bookstore needs to be a growth experience," said Watson "Just by focusing on black history, you will touch on every fiber of this country: ideology, religion, politics."

Drayton added that he is always aware that the book business is, above all, a business. In addition to his regular inventory, Drayton sells church hymnals, choir and judicial robes; and reading material for Alcoholics Anonymous.

"My overhead is $1,500 a month whether I sell a book or not, whether I open for business or not," he said. "I would like to carry everything germane, but everything germane isn't asked for and doesn't necessarily sell. I'm old enough not to be doing anything. In one sense, I'm crazy to be bothered here. It's trouble . . . but it's enjoyable. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to have somebody come in looking for a book they can't find, and I have it. I love it. I will always be in the book business."

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"For a place that bills itself as a feminist bookstore, its products appeal to a variety of people," noted the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a visit to Broad Vocabulary bookstore, Milwaukee, Wis.

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The Kansas City Star featured a compelling profile of Karen Spengler, owner of I Love a Mystery bookstore, Mission, Kan., who has survived breast cancer for more than a decade.

"I feel very lucky," said Spengler, 55. "I learned a long time ago I was capable of facing the fact that I'm probably going to die younger than my peers."

The bookstore's manager, Becci West, who has been a friend of Spengler for more than 30 years, said, "She has always been a strong, intelligent, caring person. She's never wavered. I'm telling you, she should be a poster child for getting through adversity. She never complains."

 

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