Oddest Title for 2008

Bookseller magazine has announced the winner of its competition for oddest book title of the year. Are you ready?

If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs, by Big Boom.

Big Boom claims to be a man, but the advice seems pretty universal.

The Diagram Prize has been awarded since 1978 by the British publication. Runners-up were I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen and Cheese Problems Solved.

These are the comments of Randy Smith, proprietor of Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana.

Wow! Looks Like Fun

You’ll have to wait until October, but…

…and yes, we are taking pre-publication orders. It’s priced at $19.95 right now and we’ll honor that price even if it changes.

You also might want to take a sneak peek at the dramatic change at www.destinationsbooksellers.com.

These are the comments of Randy Smith, proprietor of Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana.

Daniels, Legislature Besiege Booksellers…and Freedom

OK. Now I’m just slightly calmer than I was an hour ago. Patrons, friends – even strangers – need to know that yours local bookseller is now under the impending threat of arrest.

That’s right. If I don’t register my bookstore with the state and outline all the sexually explicit materials I sell (and pay $250 for the privilege), the state will arrest me. Presumably, they will shut me down.

Now, I’m told by my lawyers that the actual statute applies to “new” bookstores, those who aren’t already established. That means it would apply to the satellite store and the other full-service bookstore we plan to open.

Well, you might say, what’s so wrong with that?

Let’s just for a moment take a look at a few of the books that would qualify as “sexually explicit.”

Hoosier Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy would top the list. The Holy Bible certainly contains sexually explicit material. Our Bodies, Ourselves is clearly sexually explicit as are any number of parenting guides that help people teach their children about their bodies.

Take a look at this list from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression as part of this year’s list of banned books, many of which would have to be documented to the state of Indiana, Floyd County, New Albany, and the various zoning boards.

Please read this article from The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

ABFFE Condemns Indiana Bookstore Registration Law

On March 25, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) condemned a new Indiana law that requires mainstream bookstores to register with the government if they sell “sexually explicit materials.”

“Sexually explicit” is defined so broadly that the law could apply to bookstores that sell mainstream novels and other artistic works with sexual content as well as educational books about sexuality and sexual health. H.B. 1042 was signed into law last week by Governor Mitch Daniels. “It is un-American to force booksellers to register with the government based on the kinds of books they carry,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said. “It is also unconstitutional, and we intend to do everything we can to challenge this violation of the First Amendment rights of Indiana booksellers and their customers.”

Finan said ABFFE will ask the Media Coalition to file a legal challenge to the Indiana law. Media Coalition defends the rights of businesses that produce and distribute books, magazines, movies, videos, recordings and video games that are protected by the First Amendment. Its members include ABFFE, the Association of American Publishers, and the Freedom to Read Foundation.

These are the comments of Randy Smith, proprietor of Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana.

Book Sense Books of the Year

Newsbreak

Books in red have been read and are recommended by the store staff.

The winners of the 2008 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards as voted by the owners and staff of American Booksellers Association member bookstores are:

Fiction: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead/Penguin)

Nonfiction: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver (HarperCollins)

Children’s Literature: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press)

Children’s Illustrated: Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Children)

The awards, which recognize the titles independent booksellers most enjoyed handselling during 2007, will be presented at ABA’s annual Celebration of Bookselling on Thursday, May 29, at Hotel ABA (the Renaissance Hollywood).

“We hope the entire industry will join us at Hotel ABA to honor this year’s Book Sense Book of the Year Award winners,” said ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. “Each is an indie favorite that has been handsold to customers at ABA member stores during 2007. We look forward to applauding these winning authors and illustrators for their unique contributions to the diversity of titles sold at independent bookstores nationwide.”

Fiction Honor Books
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (Knopf/Random House)
Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom (Random House)
Run: A Novel by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins)

Nonfiction Honor Books
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s)
Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin (Scribner/S&S)
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam (Hyperion)
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs (Simon & Schuster)

Children’s Literature Honor Books
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown Young Readers)
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Young Readers)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)

Children’s Illustrated Honor Books
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy by Jane O’Connor, Robin Preiss-Glasser (Illus.) (HarperCollins)
Pirates Don’t Change Diapers by Melinda Long, David Shannon (Illus.) (Harcourt Children’s Books)
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis (Frances Foster Books/FSG)
Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney (Viking Juvenile/Penguin Young Readers Group)

The Book Sense Book of the Year winners and honor books were selected by ABA members from titles most often nominated for the Book Sense Picks lists in 2007. Booksellers were also able to write in titles on the ballot. Only books published in 2007 were eligible. This year’s winners will receive prizes provided by Book Sense partner Levenger, Inc., a catalog and Internet seller of high-quality tools for reading and writing.

In addition to being honored at the Celebration of Bookselling, the Book of the Year winners and honor book recipients are being invited to ABA’s Book Sense Author Luncheon on Friday, May 30, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The luncheon, open exclusively to stores with Book Sense, is a festive gathering of booksellers and dozens of authors whose books they have made past or present Book Sense Picks.

These are the comments of Randy Smith, proprietor of Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana.

Borders on the Block?

Although the press releases (and they were long and thorough) tried to spin it otherwise, the news today that Borders was exploring “all” possibilities to save itself was disturbing.

I was asked Thursday night if I had heard the news. Yup. You betcha! In fact, I received an industry alert early this morning, only to discover later that Barnes & Noble had told the press that they were not opposed to buying their major national competitor.

I told my staff that I didn’t know whether to smile or throw up, and that was true. Borders was once one of the great independent bookstores, starting with its store in the Michigan college town of Ann Arbor, and then growing to become a major player in the books business. Many local people have ties to that original store and company, and even today many of your friends and neighbors say they are going to Hawley-Cooke when they mean Borders in Louisville.

One of the pieces of advice we received from the owners of Hawley-Cooke before we opened our own store was this: DO NOT OPEN A SECOND LOCATION.

That Louisville institution was strong enough to scare off other national players, like Borders, until their expansion became unmanageable. When the national chain decided they were going to join competitor Barnes & Noble in the Louisville market, they offered the owners of the two surviving local stores a buyout. The way we hear it, the owners of Hawley-Cooke understood that they could not maintain their size and scale if faced with two national chain competitors, so they sold the remaining stores.

For our colleagues at Carmichael’s Bookstore, that was a small blessing. After almost 25 years as the “little brother” of the larger local store, they inherited an awful lot of loyal customers and a newly prominent position in the community.

The news from Wall Street today is merely recognition that a business model that relies on predatory pricing (or debilitating discounts) will not work. The scale and efficiencies of a national chain ought to allow them to build the best of bookstores. Instead, both the national chains decided to concentrate their investments in selling more copies of fewer books, and in my view, despite comfy chairs and gourmet coffee bars, they simply did not and do not cut it with true book lovers.

I sell books for a living, but before that I bought books for my own edification and pleasure. And I have to tell you that when I visited either of the national chains, I was always amazed that I couldn’t find the books I was looking for. I very often had to settle for something less than I desired. And in all my years as a book consumer, I never once thought about asking a national chain store to order a book for me. Whether it was me or them, I never felt as if they were interested in selling me something they hadn’t already decided to carry in case quantities.

Since we’ve opened in New Albany, I’ve discovered that the situation is worse. Instead of offering personal service, the chains treated their customers as pigeons, and they treated their employees even worse.

There’s no schadenfreude here. It’s a sad day for a proud chain, and it was not necessary.

The good news is that the number of independent bookstores continues to grow, if only slightly. Indies are gaining market share for the first time, and if you’re reading this books blog, you know why.

We’re growing slowly and we hope we’re becoming an important asset to the community. We knew from the beginning that the first five years would be rough and we anticipated the recession we’re all sharing in, even if we would have wished for a brighter 2008 economy.

Borders is unlikely to survive as a unique entity. But then, they weren’t unique anymore. For a few years, consolidation will allow a single national chain to survive. Like their online competition, the remaining national chain will probably try to become all things to all people, while being run from (and by) Wall Street and concentrating on skimming only the cream from the books business Instead of specializing, they’ll make the mistake of ignoring their core business to seek greater profits elsewhere. And then they’ll grumble about how books are dragging them down. And then they’ll fail.

Their business model is simply not sustainable. We believe ours is. Our customers’ self interest will kick in and we believe they’ll appreciate all the reasons a local independent bookstore is an asset to the community and not just a means for exporting dollars from the local economy.

But we’ll see.

So long Borders. What might have been…

These are the comments of Randy Smith, proprietor of Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana.

Wally Lamb is Back…in November

This just in, courtesy of Publishers Weekly:

Two-time Oprah book club honoree Wally Lamb, who hasn’t released a new title in 10 years, has a new work on the horizon. HarperCollins’ flagship imprint will release The Hour I First Believed in November 2008. The book follows a couple that relocates from Colorado to Connecticut, after the wife is traumatized from surviving the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Once on the East Coast, at the husband’s family farm, she tries to regain her footing while he must confront secrets from his family past.

The publisher is calling the novel, by the bestselling author of She’s Come Undone (Atria) and I Know This Much is True (Harper), “an extraordinary work of prodigious scope and ambition” and Lamb’s editor, Terry Karten, said the author’s gone “well beyond his earlier work to deliver a literary tour de force.”

These are the comments of Randy Smith, proprietor of Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana.

Recommended Book, but…

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, is one of my favorites. HarperCollins has made the entire book available online. Try it with the new BrowseInside widget.

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

These are the comments of Randy Smith, proprietor of Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana.