SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
 
In one of those delicious ironies that makes life wonderful, that old staple of mass media, the used book, has become a hot item on the information age’s signature tool, the World Wide Web. Used book sales online have boomed, and were responsible for generating $530 million last year.
 
Top sites Amazon.com, Alibris and Abebooks and thousands of secondhand book stores cater to collectors looking for a rare first edition or a casual reader looking for a copy of an out of print favorite. A first edition of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” for example, recently went for $35,000. On the other hand, a decent copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” can be found for a dime. Alibris has had a 50% growth rate each year since it began in 1998. The used book market itself has grown more than 20% since 1992.
Sources: Newsweek, Aug. 11, 2003, p. 57 and USA Weekend.com.
 
ONLINE RETAILER A1 BOOKS OPENS FIRST PHYSICAL STORE
 
WebNotions, the parent company of online retailer A1Books.com, has opened its first physical store, A1 Value Books, in Morris Plains, NJ. The company will compete with frontline retailers from a strip mall location a stone’s throw from a Barnes and Noble. The store will mainly deal in discounted and remaindered titles, although new frontline books, magazines, cards and DVDs will be available. Bargain books will be discounted 50% and new books discounted 20%.
Source: Publishers Weekly
 
BARNES AND NOBLE CUTS 100 COMMUNITY RELATIONS MANAGERS
 
Barnes and Noble cut roughly 100 positions by eliminating community relations managers in a quarter of its stores. Most of the cuts were made in stores with smaller sales volume. Store managers will now coordinate public events and work with community groups, schools, and libraries
 
Some CRMs will be offered other positions within the company. None of the remaining 300 CRM positions will be eliminated.
 
Barnes and Noble also plans an aggressive marketing strategy this fall by offering high quality house published books placed in the front of its stores and sold on the cheap. The company plans to release a “Law and Order” illustrated gift book by the TV show’s creator, Dick Wolf, an illustrated hardcover version of “A Christmas Carol” and a reprint of the acclaimed 1972 Dow Mossman book, “Stones of Summer.”
Source: Publishers Weekly
 
BOOKPEOPLE FILES CHAPTER 11
 
Bookpeople, one of the last independent wholesalers on the West Coast, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move came after St. Cloud Capital decided against investing in the company after discovering it would require two times its planned $2 million investment to turn the company around.
 
The company’s sales had fallen and publishers were reluctant to sell the financially troubled company new product. Bookpeople will stay in business for four more months and executives are in current negotiations with two wholesalers about acquiring the company’s assets, which are $4 million. Its debts are $6 million.
Source: Publishers Weekly
 
JULIA O’CONNOR NAMED AS SELLING POWER’S TRADE SHOW EXPERT
 
Selling Power, the popular magazine for sales management executives, has hired Trade Show Training, Inc. President Julia O’Connor as a trade show expert for its audio subscription series, “Selling Power Live.”
 
“Most people think you can just walk onto a trade show floor and do the same thing you do in the office,” O’Connor said. “Not true. Trade shows require any person involved in sales to do a 180 in terms of attitude.”
 
Trade shows are the second largest expenditure of corporate marketing dollars. O’Connor is the author of “Trade Show Reader: It Takes More than a Display and a Handshake to Sell at a Trade Show.” – (O’Connor is a feature columnist for Bargain Book News)
Source: Trade Show Training
 
WARNER FAITH COMPLETES SECOND YEAR
 
Warner Faith completed its second year of publishing inspirational books with outstanding sales and growth over the past year. The 12-month period ended with six Warner Faith titles exceeding net sales of 100,000 units. The Christian division of the AOL Time Warner Book Group has sold more than 2 million units since its inception.
 
VIRTUAL DELIVERY SEEN AS DEATH TO DISCS
 
A Forrester Research study predicts that CD and DVD sales will drop as revenue shifts to streaming and online downloading. Part of the drop can be traced to illegal downloading, currently being prosecuted by Hollywood, which is responsible for $700 million in lost sales since 1999.
 
The association that represents disc makers isn’t as bleak as the Forrester study proclaims and is predicting that disc replication in North America will increase from 1.4 billion to 2.6 billion by 2008. Analysts caution that the shift to virtual delivery will be gradual.
Source: Yahoo.com. 
 
TERRY TROUPE LEAVING BOOKS A MILLION
 
Books A Million buyer Terry Troupe is leaving the company to start his own business. Troupe has been with BAM for seven years. He will be opening a small retail outlet in Hueytown, Ala., just outside of Birmingham. The new venture will be called The Candle Lite Tea Room and will feature flavored teas, quality coffees, candles and gifts. Troupe will add a Smoothie Bar and serve light lunch as well. Books are not yet on the menu, but he’s not ruled out the possibility as a future project. The store will be located at 1293 Hueytown Road, Hueytown, Ala., 35223. His phone number is (205) 491-2120.
 
‘BORROWING’ BOOKS REASON FOR HIGH BOOK COSTS
 
Retail customers have been complaining recently about the increasing cost of books. The reason for the costs are that bookstores continue a practice begun during the Depression where they “borrow” books on consignment until they are sold, with the option of returning any unsold books. An article on the subject can be found at Salon.com and discusses costs involved, including printing, publisher overhead, distribution expenses and bookseller cuts.
Source: www.salon.com and www.booksurge.com
 
KURALT LAWSUIT AGAINST BOOK CHAINS HEADED TO COURT
 
A lawsuit against bookstore chain giants Barnes and Noble and Borders filed five years ago by Wallace Kuralt, brother of the late CBS news reporter Charles Kuralt, is headed to court this fall. Kuralt is seeking $38 million from the two companies because his suit claims that the chains caused the demise of his independent regional chain, Intimate Bookshop. Kuralt has accused the chains of bullying publishers into providing deep discounts not available to smaller stores. The chains will answer the antitrust charges in the Southern District of New York Nov. 10 before Judge William Pauley.
Source: Yahoo.com
 
STUDY: BOOK PRICES DETERMINE BUYING
 
A recent study by two Ivy League economists has found that price is indeed a determining factor in online book purchasing. The study found that a one percent price increase at BN.com lowered sales by four percent and 0.2 percent at Amazon.com. The results suggest that Amazon has developed loyal customers, while Barnes and Noble’s online sales must rely on offering the lowest price on books.
 
BN.com ENDS E-BOOKS SALES
 
Barnes and Noble.com has stopped selling e-books on its Web site. The move leaves Amazon.com and Powells.com as the two major online retailers who offer e-books. The change comes on the heels of the company’s announcement that it would buy Bertelmann’s stake in the Web site and strengthen its publishing program.
Source: www.PWDaily.com
 
HAROLD MILLER: AMERICANS SHOULD OWN PUBLISHING FIRMS
 
Former Houghton Mifflin chairman Harold Miller in a new book expresses his concern over the declining number of independent American publishers. In “Publishing: A Leap from Mind to Mind,” Miller says that he worries that foreign based conglomerates will not show a commitment to quality publishing that domestic owners traditionally have.
 
“The history of publishing in the U.S. is one of close relationship between authors, their editors, and the culture of America—something that from our beginning was often uniquely American,” he writes.
 
His main concern is about the influence of foreign ownership on school textbook publishing, and he calls for special scrutiny when a textbook publisher is sold. Miller wrote the book before his former company was sold back to domestic owners.
Source: www.PWDaily.com

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