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Welcome
to the Vol. 8, No. 5 May 2010Index (scroll down for stories)
1. Cemetery Dance publishing Stephen King baseball novella 1. Cemetery Dance publishing Stephen King baseball novella
Cemetery Dance will publish a new Stephen King novella in April as a trade
hardcover. The title is Blockade Billy.
According to a Cemetery Dance news release, "Even diehard baseball fans don't know the true story of William Blakely, but in just a few weeks you'll be holding this dark tale in your own two hands so you can read it for yourself. Every effort was made to erase any evidence that William Blakely played professional baseball, and with good reason. Blockade Billy had a secret darker than any pill or injection that might cause a scandal in sports today. His secret was much, much worse..."
King comments, "I love old-school baseball, and I also love the way people
who've spent a lifetime in the game talk about the game. I tried to combine
those things in a story of suspense. People have asked me for years when I was
going to write a baseball story. Ask no more; this is it." 2. Breaking news from the book barons A Stephenie Meyer novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, will be released by Little, Brown Children's on June 5 with a first printing of 1.5 million copies. The $13.99 hardcover, at 192 pages, is told from the point of view of Bree, a character originally featured in Eclipse. The book will be available online at breetanner.com for free from June 7 to July 5 "as a special thank you to fans." Meyer said, "I'd always considered The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner as something for the fans. They have been so supportive of all things Twilight." Meyer notes, "When I began working on it in 2005, it was simply an exercise to help me examine the other side of Eclipse, which I was editing at the time. I thought it might end up as a short story that I could include on my website. Then, when work started on The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, I thought the Guide would be a good fit for my Bree story. However, the story grew longer than I anticipated, until it was too long to fit into the Guide”… Hilary Duff has signed a world rights deal with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers to publish a young adult fiction series. The first novel in the multiple-book series, entitled Elixir, publishes in hardcover in October 2010. Part of the deal are world rights for a nonfiction title to be published in spring 2012 concerning the challenges faced by children of divorce - an issue familiar to Duff from her own life. Justin Chanda negotiated the book deal for Simon & Schuster, with Rob Weisbach and Fonda Snyder of Rob Weisbach Creative Management representing Hilary Duff. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Executive Editor Emily Meehan will edit the books… Penguin Children's announced a one-million-copy first printing for the May release of John Grisham's children's book Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, along with releasing the cover. 3. Novel about Vietnam war, long in making, has 75,000-copy first run
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
by Karl Marlantes (Atlantic Monthly Press/El Leon Literary Arts, $24.95), made
its debut on USA Today's bestseller list in early April at Number 69,
with 75,000 copies in print as the author began a 24-city book tour.
USA Today took note of the fact that "some independent bookstores, enthusiastic about the novel, are donating a portion of their proceeds from tour events to Disabled American Veterans." The novel, on which the author had been working for 30 years, was to have been published in 2009. But the author’s small West Coast publisher, El Leon Literary Arts, stopped the initial distribution after selling a few copies. Barnes & Noble had selected the book as part of its Discover New Writers program, and El Leon needed time to find a partner to handle a much larger printing. A year and some editing changes later, Matterhorn has finally arrived. The novel takes its title from the site of a fierce battle that comes at the climax of the book. Marlantes, a decorated combat veteran, has spun the fog of war into an engrossing work of fiction. The story's central figure is a small-town Oregon boy and Ivy League grad named Waino Mellas. As a second lieutenant in the Marines, Mellas is serving a 90-day rotation as a rifle platoon commander. A central theme in Matterhorn is the idea of incompetence from above that's met by cynicism and acceptance from below. Jungle rot turns hands and feet into a welter of open sores. Food is scarce or consists of canned goods so tasteless that the troops sprinkle them with Tang or lemonade powder. At one point, the members of Mellas' Bravo Company cough and curse as a plane overhead mistakenly dusts them with Agent Orange. For protagonist Mellas, the Marine Corps offers a career opportunity. As he builds a bond with his men, however, the dynamics change. After he tries and fails to rescue one of his enlisted men, he questions the reason for his heroics. Was it the desire to save a life or the quest for a medal? Marlantes expresses not only the unrelenting fear but also the elation of combat. Warning: Matterhorn is so realistic it may be too graphic for some readers. 4. Slowik buys ‘Publishers Weekly’ from Reed Business Information
Reed Business Information has sold Publishers Weekly, the bible of the
book publishing industry, to a former publisher of the magazine, George Slowik
Jr.
The acquisition includes the publication's Web site and Publishers Weekly
Show Daily, a publication put out during the annual Book Expo America trade
show. 5. Turner Publishing buys Ancestry.com's books division Nashville-based Turner Publishing has purchased the publishing arm of popular genealogy site Ancestry.com. Turner, which has produced more than 800 genealogy titles since 1984, adds more than 100 titles to its roster, including bestsellers The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, Ancestry’s Red Book and 1-2-3 Family Tree. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ancestry.com grew out of Ancestry Publishing, which was founded in 1983. “As we looked to finding a vendor to take over the publishing business, we wanted to find a partner who could continue the legacy of Ancestry Publishing,” said Ancestry.com editorial director Jennifer Utley. “As a leader in the genealogy publishing space with broad distribution channels, Turner will do just that.” Turner president and publisher Todd Bottorff called the deal a win-win. "It complements our existing catalog of titles well," he said. (Source: Nashville Business Journal) 6. Harper folding Harper Studio after Miller leaves Announced on April 2, following the departure of founding executive Bob Miller, Harper's Michael Morrison announced that "we have decided that in the interest of what's best for our Harper Studio authors and employees, our last batch of titles to be published under the Harper Studio imprint will be on the Summer 2010 list." Harper Studio was founded to experiment with new publishing models, such as offering lower prices to bookstores who agreed not to return unsold copies, and offering authors higher royalties in return for smaller advances. All titles scheduled for beyond that season will be absorbed by one of Harper's other imprints.
Morrison said Harper "will be contacting agents and authors to discuss the best
editors and imprints for each of these titles."
7. News about bookstores, publishing, marketing and promotion
Bradley's Books of Pittsburgh, Pa., an area bookseller that specializes in
bargain books and remainders, is expanding. The company is acquiring
three mall stores formerly occupied by
8. Never-before-published Chicago kid-lit author wins Cheerios contest
Lori Degman has been writing children's books on and off for 20 years but never
got one published - until now. She’s won a contest held by the General Mills
Cheerios cereal brand.
As a result, the press run on he The illustrated book is designed to teach children aged 4-8 how to count. The copies are being distributed free in Cheerios boxes as part of the General Mills "Spoonfuls of Stories" campaign designed to put high-quality books into the hands of young children. Degman, a teacher of deaf and hard-of-hearing students for the Special Education District of Lake County, won the Cheerios New Authors Contest in 2008. The prize was $5,000 in cash, a publishing contract with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and the mass distribution of her books in cereal boxes. "It came as a complete surprise," the Vernon Hills mother of two grown boys said in a recent phone interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. "I didn't want to cook after that. I wanted to sit and smile. At least I had the whole family to brag to, and I was very thankful." Before getting published, Degman wrote songbooks in college, rhymes for family members and, eventually, funny poems for co-workers when they retired. Verse continued to appeal to her. She especially liked the books by Dr. Seuss and Jack Prelutsky, whom she calls "my two big rhyming guys." Degman wrote for three years, submitting manuscripts and collecting rejections, but when she returned to teaching, she stopped writing. Then three years ago, when her younger son went to college, she pulled out her writing, including the first story she had ever attempted, which became 1 Zany Zoo. She joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and began attending conferences and critique groups. Someone suggested that she give the original story an added educational fillip - make it an alphabet book, or a counting book, for example. "The funny thing is, the week before I won the contest, I had sent the story in to the SCBWI for a critique. The person who looked at it didn't like it at all," she said. "If nothing else, that shows you how subjective this whole business is." Illustrator Colin Jack created the artwork for the book. "(The publishers) sent me sample drawings and asked me what I thought," Degman said. "I told them the drawings weren't what I had in my head, but they said, 'That's what we're going with.' "But I love Colin's illustrations for 1 Zany Zoo. It's not a sweet story; it's got a bit of an edge. I like the mischief of the drawings. I am so happy with the end result." For now, 1 Zany Zoo comes in a paperback edition with both English and Spanish text - and it's flat enough to fit easily inside a cereal box. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will publish 1 Zany Zoo in hardcover this summer. (Source: Delia O'Hara, Chicago Sun-Times, March 21, 2010)
9. Books to Movies Department Oliver Stone "is coming aboard to develop and possibly direct" a new Travis McGee movie based on John D. MacDonald's The Deep Blue Goodbye, the first of 21 novels featuring the legendary fictional detective. Variety reported that Leonardo DiCaprio had already been cast as McGee.
10. Book to movie 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' opened March 19 His book became a publishing phenomenon and a continuing series targeted at middle-schoolers. Kinney's protagonist, Greg Heffley, is a squiggle. He cares about his roly-poly best friend Rowley. Kinney presents Greg as a welter of youthful contradictions. The author's grasp of a boy's semi-formed heart and brain has won fans spanning several age groups. Sixth and seventh graders read Greg's journals as a reality check. Grade-schoolers take them as an early-warning handbook. Parents read them for nostalgia.
In the course of the movie, Greg evolves from "a likable jerk" into someone a
bit less jerky. "We preserved the character, kept his integrity, but also let
him grow in a way that is pleasing to an audience," says Kinney. He concedes
that introducing a girl reporter named Angie was part of an attempt "to appeal
to as broad an audience as possible." Angie puts Greg down "whenever he gets a
little full of himself. She serves as the voice of the audience and a
counterpoint to Greg." Author Kinney was born at Andrews Air Force Base (his dad served in the Navy, then took a job at the Pentagon). He attended seventh and eighth grade at Eugene Burroughs in Accokeek, Md., and went on to Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, then an all-boys academy. He next enrolled in Villanova on an ROTC air force scholarship. He dropped the scholarship and set his mind on cartooning.
"I ended up going to the University of Maryland, which was much closer to home,
and it turned out to be the best possible move for me," says Kinney. The
university felt "huge and intimidating" to Kinney, but he landed one of three
comic strip slots in "The Diamondback," the college newspaper. "I learned the
discipline of cartooning and I got addicted to writing for a large audience. I
felt certain coming out of that school that I had found my path." Kinney says he couldn't break into the newspaper comic-strip business "for good reason. My drawings weren't professional grade. I didn't have that consistency, that style that's required for the comics page. And that's why I ended up cartooning as a seventh grader. That's where I maxed out on my abilities."
11. How bad is it – and what is the book business doing to cope?
Things are looking up at Borders Group. The company’s stock rose 48 percent on
March 31 to $2.54 a share when the chain reported that its net income had risen
in the fourth quarter, that it had paid off a $42.5-million loan from Pershing
Square Capital Management and that it had secured new long-term financing.
Borders has a new $700 million senior secured credit facility that matures in
March 2014, which replaces its current revolving credit agreement, which would
have matured in July 2011. Borders also closed on a $90-million term loan credit
facility, most of which matures in March 2014. Sales at Borders Group in the
company’s fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 30, dropped 13.3 percent to $937.3
million, and sales for the year dropped 13.9 percent to $2.8 billion. Net income
in the fourth quarter was $59.9 million, compared to $29.6 million in the same
period a year ago. The net loss for the year was $109.4 million, compared to a
net loss of $186.7 million for the previous year… In January, books sales
reported by 85 publishers to the Association of American Publishers fell 0.7%,
to $814.9 million, compared to the same period last year… January bookstore
sales rose two percent, to $2.3 billion, compared to January 2009, according
to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. Total retail sales in January
rose 3.1 percent, to $277.4 billion, compared to the same period a year ago…
Hastings Entertainment reported revenues in the first three months ended Jan. 31
rose 5.5 percent to $176.1 million, and net earnings more than doubled to $9.1
million. However, in stores open at least a year, book revenues during the
quarter were down 1.9 percent. The company attributed this mainly to "decreased
sales of new trade paperbacks and hardbacks and lower sales of calendars and
books on CD, partially offset by an increase in sales of used trade paperbacks
and hardbacks and fewer promotions offered during the quarter as compared to the
prior year." Indigo Custom Publishing, a book publisher in Macon, Ga., for nearly a decade, is out of business. Lawsuits and liens totaling nearly $1 million were filed against the company in 2009. Several authors say they’re owed royalties from books that Indigo published, and the company has been evicted from its downtown offices after failing to pay rent. Henry Beers, Indigo’s owner, said in late 2009 that while the company was no longer operating under the Indigo name, its affiliated imprint, Blue Marble Books LLC, was not shutting down. But in early April 2010, Beers said that Blue Marble and Henchard LLC, another imprint he set up, are “closed up, done and out of business.” Beers blames his troubles on the economy that took a toll on many businesses. “The economy has been killing the publishing and printing industry nationwide, and the last few years have been difficult,” he said. Despite the lawsuits and liens filed against his company, Beers thought things would get better. Beers, 50, founded Indigo Custom Publishing in late 2001. It originally published pictorial books for cities, communities and companies. It produced books on Savannah, Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood and Macon, and books on cities in other states. By 2003, the company, which then operated out of Beers’ home, had regional managers in Alabama, Minnesota, Ohio and New Jersey. Blue Marble Books LLC, created in 2005 by Beers, was set up as an on-demand publishing business, and books were produced based on the number of orders it received. Beers said in November 2009 that Indigo was going “dormant” and the company was investing “in what other people want.” The shift to Blue Marble would make the company stronger in the long run, Beers said. While lawsuits were filed against Indigo in a 2003 discrimination case in New Jersey and in 2007 in Bibb County for nonpayment of debt - with final judgments issued for $12,500 and $10,230 plus interest, respectively - the first big lawsuit against the company came in early 2009. An equipment leasing firm, Wisconsin-based M2 Lease Funds LLC, filed suit in February 2009 for $279,476, contending that Indigo failed to make lease payments on a printing press. The lawsuit named Indigo, Beers, Rick Nolte and Robert Aldrich, all of whom signed “guaranteys of the obligation,” according to the lawsuit. Nolte was associate publisher at Indigo, and Aldrich was its executive vice president. Another large lawsuit against Indigo was filed in September 2009 by Thomas Flanagan in Indiana for breach of an employment contract. Flanagan worked for Indigo as national director of territorial sales and was tasked with hiring a national sales force, he said. Flanagan’s employment was terminated June 3, 2009, by Beers when Beers told him that Indigo was closing, according to court documents. But Flanagan learned that Indigo continued to do business, so he sued. The publisher did not respond to the lawsuit, and a default judgment was awarded to Flanagan for $234,783 for wages, attorney’s fees and other payments due. Flanagan says that no money has been paid him under the judgment. In mid-November, Beers told The (Macon) Telegraph that Central Bank of Georgia in Ellaville, which had been put under close scrutiny by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., was calling in the company’s delinquent loans to try to raise cash. Indigo had two promissory notes with Central Bank - one for $259,388 dated June 2008 and another for $212,394 dated September 2008 - using the company’s accounts receivable, inventory, furniture, fixtures and equipment as collateral, according to a lawsuit filed Nov. 23, 2009. In December, the judge in the case issued a writ of possession, an order that allowed the bank to take possession of the collateral. “The bank, of course, seized everything in December that we had,” Beers said. “So that pretty much put the nail in the coffin... on the Indigo side of things. From there, we just started getting people’s property to them that we were holding.” Macon native Bill Walker is among a number of authors claiming nonpayment of royalties. He wrote Skywalker: Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail that Indigo published in 2008. “I paid 100 percent of the cost of both the first and second editions of Skywalker,” Walker said. “In return, Indigo was supposed to hand over to me the proceeds from the book sales.” The book sold through Amazon, Barnes & Noble Booksellers and other retailers, Walker said. “But I never received a single dime the whole time for these sales,” he said. “I continually asked for accounting from Indigo but was repeatedly rebuffed.” Other customers of Indigo are claiming they never received books they paid to have produced. Mike Ford with NewTown Macon, a local booster organization, said it paid Indigo to have a book published in 2008 called Street Singers, Soul Shakers, Rebels With A Cause: Music from Macon. “We paid to have the book written, pictures made, produced and published and delivered to us, and we just never got all our books,” Ford said. NewTown paid for the printing of 3,000 copies of the book but has received about 500, Ford said. (Source: Linda S. Morris, Macon Telegraph)
13. Book sales down 1.8 percent in 2009; eBook sales up 176.6 percent The report, which uses data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales data from 86 publishers, estimates that U.S. publishers had net sales of $23.9 billion in 2009, down from $24.3 billion in 2008, representing a 1.8 percent decrease. E-books overtook audiobooks in 2009 with sales reaching $313 million in 2009, up 176.6%. 14. Successful published authors offer top 10 tips for wannabe writers by Angela K. Durden A panel of seven successful book authors and publishers presented their top tips for wannabe writers at two days of seminars held in conjunction with the Spring Book Show in Atlanta. The presenters at the March 26-27 Authorship 101 and 201 seminars told the prospective authors about the realities of book publishing. They covered the life cycle of books from conception to writing, editing, and successful marketing through the last retail sales before the book is remaindered or repulped. Among the top tips of the published professionals to fledgling authors: · Remember that books are a product with a short shelf life. · The author must play a major role in marketing the book. · Prepare to speak in a variety of forums about your book topics. · Test-market a sample of your book’s content and fix the problems found. · You should punctuate for power and meaning. · Remember that rejection letters are not your enemy. · It’s unlikely that you can successfully, thoroughly, and accurately edit your own writing. · There are ways you can get through the publisher’s gatekeepers. · You should appeal to all five of the reader’s senses. · You should write in the appropriate “voice,” and understand how voice is different from style. The faculty for the two days of seminars included Peter Bowerman (mastering marketing), Ahmad Meradji (controlling manufacturing costs), David Fulmer (project funding ideas), Angela K. Durden (don’t aggravate your readers - hire an editor), Chris Roerden (secrets of surviving the manuscript submission process), Tony Burton (using conflict to keep readers interested) and Dr. David Ryback (publishing success in six steps).
15. The publishing revolution: News of e-books and other new media Under the shadow of the iPad's imminent debut, Amazon "agreed to halt heavy discounting of e-book bestsellers in new pricing deals" with Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, the Wall Street Journal reported, noting that the agreements "mirror deals struck earlier this year with Apple for the iPad" under the agency pricing model… Bestselling legal thriller author John Grisham has broken his personal ban against selling his books in electronic format and all of his 23 titles will now be sold as e-books, his publisher, Random House, said on March 16. The former lawyer, whose best sellers include The Firm and A Time To Kill, had previously held off selling his books electronically, expressing concern that e-books would wipe out traditional book stores and make it harder for new writers to succeed… David Baldacci’s new thriller, Deliver Us from Evil, is scheduled for release on April 20 as a hardcover, an e-book and an "enriched" electronic version that includes passages deleted from the final text, research photos, an audio interview and video footage of Baldacci at work. The "enriched" Baldacci release will cost $15.99, according to Maja Thomas, senior vice president for Hachette Book Group's digital and audio publishing. The regular e-book will start at $14.99, then come down to $12.99 once it becomes a top seller… Kobo has unveiled its new ereader. The reader will first be available at Indigo Books & Music in Canada, followed by Borders starting this summer. The reader is the cheapest one to have a full bookstore behind it. The unit will have a 6-inch screen and no wireless connection. Books will have to be transferred through a PC. The unit can read Epub and uses Adobe Digital Editions… Vanity publisher Author Solutions of Bloomington, Ind., has signed an agreement with Amazon.com to distribute its four brands through the Kindle e-reader. The electronic device that displays digital books and other media will sell Author Solutions titles for $9.99, although authors can set their own price. Author Solutions operates offices in Indianapolis under the names AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing and Xlibris. It claims to put out 20,000 new titles annually. 16. BISG, EDitEUR set agency model standard for e-books
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and EDItEUR, the international body that
maintains ONIX product information standards - working in collaboration with
representatives from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the U.K.
Publishers Association (PA) - have made provisions to the "ONIX for Books"
standards to allow for a standard means of communicating agency model sales
terms for e-books.
17. Publishers strike deals with Amazon as agency model kicks in
As Apple’s iPad made its debut at the start of April, Amazon "agreed to halt
heavy discounting of e-book bestsellers in new pricing deals" with Simon &
Schuster and HarperCollins, the Wall Street Journal reported, noting that
the agreements "mirror deals struck earlier this year with Apple for the iPad"
under the agency pricing model. 18. Smashwords offers self-publishers back-channel to Apple iPad store Smashwords, a free e-book publishing service, has come to an agreement for authors in its "premium catalog" to be available on Apple's iPad.
A Digital Book World story on the agreement offers a look at how Apple
iBookstore pricing is determined for e-books by Smashwords authors that have a
printed version. E-books without print editions can be priced at any level,
even free. 19. China expects sales of three million e-book readers in 2010
BEIJING - The e-publishing industry is showing strong growth in China.
So far, there are more than 79 million e-book users in China. More than 70
percent of Internet users are reading e-books. In the coming five years, more than 30 percent of cellphone users are expected to read e-books and digital newspapers via their mobile phones, according to a culture blue book issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Sales of e-books and digital content driven by mobile phone users will reach CNY
5 billion. Digital publishing sales are forecasted to account for 50 percent of
the entire publishing industry in 2020. In 2030, 90 percent of books will have
online versions. 20. Founder reports results for ‘Read an e-Book Week 2010’ According to an article posted at the TeleRead online digital book community by Read an e-Book Week founder Rita Toews, Read an e-Book Week 2010 (March 7-13) may be over but the amount of downloaded reading material should last readers for quite a while. Several participants of the event commented that traffic on their websites was up dramatically from last year. The Read an e-Book website had well over 60,000 page hits just prior to, and during the week. Mobile phone traffic - both Android and iPhone - was also up from last year, according to Toews. Libraries from around the world were visitors this year. Wright State University Libraries did an article on Read an e-Book Week and produced lapel button templates. Several libraries in Canada and the U.S. contacted her for the templates so they could produce buttons for their own staff. Visitors came from 137 countries, speaking 74 languages. Countries included the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, India, Argentina, South Africa, Egypt, Peru, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Cuba and American Samoa. Two Web sites partnering for the week were non-English speaking: one from Spain and one from Venezuela. “Several independent blogs asked an interesting question during the event - ‘Where are the major book publishers?’” said Toews. 21. Graphic novels and comics news Last month, we reported the sale for more than $1 million each of the first edition of Action Comics starring Superman and the first edition of Detective Comics starring Batman. Since then, Heritage Auctions sold a near-mint copy of Flash Comics #1, in which The Flash and Hawkman made their first appearances as DC Comics stalwarts, for $450,000. That beat by a long shot the previous record price at auction for this particular title… Zenescope Entertainment has officially announced obtaining the comic book and graphic novel publishing rights to the television property “Charmed”…
22. Marketing books: what works and what doesn’t
23. Vendors report solid sales at Spring Book Show 2010 Vendors and book buyers attending the show were almost universal in saying the upscale Cobb Galleria Centre location resulted in an intimate sales atmosphere, great customer contact and excellent sales. While vendors at the show reported strong sales, some also felt that the number of buyers was down from 2009. Larry May, in the best position for gauging show attendance, explained, “We had almost as many business units at this year’s show as at last year’s, although the economy probably caused some of the big buyers like Barnes & Noble to send fewer persons to represent them. A business unit is a company that buys remainders like Barnes & Noble, Half Price Books, Citi Trends or Hastings. We had 315 businesses buying at the 2009 show in Atlanta. We had 300 businesses buying at this year’s show, down very little despite the economy.” “The show went very well for us,” said Jerry Rosenbaum of JR Trading Company of Monmouth Junction, N.J. “We added new customers to our client list, and everyone was happy with the inventory we brought to the show. We’re already looking forward to next year.” While most of the buyers and sellers came from the United States, a large contingent of vendors from the United Kingdom - particularly Great Britain and Canada - were present and doing a brisk business. David Crane of Columbia Marketing, located in the London area, chatting with Bill Sjolander of Armadillo Trading, told Sjolander that coming from Great Britain to the show was well worth the expense. Sjolander responded that the show had been “terrific” for Armadillo. While international buyers were present from a number of other countries including Australia, Pakistan, Korea, Japan, Nigeria, Ireland and France, the largest contingent of buyers and sellers came from the U.S., especially the Southeast. Many of the buyers present were members of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA), which covers independent bookstores from Louisiana through the Virgin Islands on up to Virginia and West Virginia. SIBA held training sessions for member bookstores in conjunction with the show. Larry Austin, owner and president of East Tennessee Trade Group of Madisonville, Tenn., was enthusiastic about his sales at the show. “Great show!” he summarized. “It was extremely profitable for us, and well attended.” Tom Post, who handles remainders for the University of Tennessee Press, said the show was good for academic presses like his for three reasons – it clears dead inventory from expensive warehousing, creates immediate cash flow and brings in new contacts for sales down the road. Sherri Goodknight of Inspirational Closeout Solutions, who handles remainders for a wide spectrum of Christian publishers like Zondervan, said her sales to both Christian and secular bookstores were “excellent,” and that she was busy writing orders all three days of the show. While the show’s main emphasis is on books, sales of CDs, DVDs, computer software and specialty merchandise also did well. “It was a great show in a great venue for us,” said Terry Hailwood of Piccadilly Journals, Gifts & Stationery of Del Mar., Calif. “We had buyers not only from chain stores and independent bookstores from throughout the U.S. but from countries like Nigeria and Great Britain.” He said it was the best Spring Book Show ever for him since he began attending annually. Rick Towner, the owner of Bullseye Calendars of Raleigh, N.C., said the Spring Book Show has consistently been the best show he attends annually. “We really appreciate the time and effort that goes into staging it,” he said. Heidi Wells of The Innovative Alliance (TIA) of Denver, Colo., said she was “pleasantly surprised given the state of the economy.” She said she and her staff were busy throughout the show writing orders. Wyman Cook of World Publications Group of East Bridgewater, Mass., which had one of the largest presences at the show, complimented the show staff, saying “Larry May and his group do a great job.” He thought that World was less busy at the 2010 show than in 2009, although his company had an excellent Friday. Even the smaller vendors appeared to be happy. “Among many small orders, I sold eight skids of Marvel graphic novels,” said Noel Griese of Anvil Brokers of Atlanta. “I think that one was the biggest single sales I’ve had at a Spring Book Show.” Mike Paper of Bradley’s Book Clearance of Pittsburgh, Pa., had a helpful suggestion. “The show should be earlier,” he said, “in February or early March. The late March date comes too close to BEA and the London show.” Larry May said that as soon as he and his staff follow up on Spring Book Show details, the emphasis will shift to getting ready for the Great American Bargain Book Show scheduled for Thursday-Friday, Aug. 19-20, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. May said that more than two-thirds of the available exhibitor space for the GABBS show was sold to vendors attending the Spring Book Show.
24. Milestones: Records and news of note in book publishing 25. Independent booksellers name Indie Choice winners
The winners of the 2010 Indies Choice Book of the Year, sponsored by the
American Booksellers Association, are: 26. Harold W. McGraw Jr., of McGraw-Hill dead at 92 Harold W. McGraw Jr., son of Harold M. McGraw, grandson of McGraw-Hill co-founder James H. McGraw and father of current McGraw-Hill CEO Harold W. McGraw III, died March 24 of natural causes at 92. McGraw Jr. led McGraw-Hill through a bitter 20th-century takeover attempt by American Express. McGraw-Hill was one of the largest publishing conglomerates in America when Mr. McGraw became chief executive in 1975, reporting gross revenue of about half a billion dollars. In his eight years in the post, McGraw-Hill’s revenue more than doubled and its earnings per share more than tripled. In 1968, he succeeded Edward H. Booher as president of McGraw-Hill Book Company, which was founded in 1909 by his grandfather, James H. McGraw and John A. Hill, owners of separate publishing companies, when they merged their book departments. By the late 1960s, the house had become the top-ranked publisher of textbooks for colleges and elementary and secondary schools. Among its best-known texts is “Economics,” by Paul A. Samuelson. In 1966, it acquired Standard & Poor’s, the financial rating service, adding it to a number of companies. In 1974 Mr. McGraw took over as president of the parent company, whose name had been changed to McGraw-Hill Inc., in 1974. It is now the McGraw-Hill Companies. He succeeded Shelton Fisher, who had led the company through a period of expansion, including the move of its headquarters from West 42nd Street in Manhattan, near Times Square, to a sleek steel and glass tower on the Avenue of Americas, near Rockefeller Center. McGraw subsequently became chief executive and chairman, guiding the company through a period of growth, with revenues surpassing $1 billion in 1980 for the first time. A pivotal moment of his tenure came in 1979, when American Express began one of the bitterest takeover attempts in Wall Street history. James D. Robinson III, the chairman of American Express, and Roger Morley, the president, came to McGraw’s office and presented an offer of almost $1 billion for McGraw-Hill, with an initial bid of $34 a share for its stock, then trading at $26. The offer was later raised to $40. McGraw listened politely but was said to have been furious. A few days later, Newsweek reported, “his face streaked with perspiration, his voice trembling with emotion, the chairman of McGraw-Hill formally presented his board’s unanimous rejection.” McGraw publicly condemned American Express. It “lacks the integrity, morality and sensitivity” to merge with McGraw-Hill, he said, adding that the offer was “illegal, unsolicited and improper.” The battle cost McGraw-Hill $3.4 million and American Express $2.4 million. 27. Photographers sue Google over scanning books containing their work The American Society of Media Photographers has filed a class-action copyright infringement lawsuit against Google’s book-scanning project. The lawsuit, which the ASMP filed on April 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, makes similar claims as the ones filed in 2005 by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) on behalf of authors and publishers. Essentially, the ASMP objects to Google's wholesale scanning of millions of books for its Google Books search engine without always getting permission from copyright owners. A difference is that the ASMP focuses on photographic and visual arts work in the books. "Google has been involved in a massive campaign of unauthorized scanning and public display and distribution of works. A lot of those works are photographs and illustrations and they're doing it without authorization of the copyright owners," said Victor S. Perlman, the ASMP's general counsel and managing director. "I call that infringement." Unlike the Authors Guild and AAP lawsuits, this one has a broader scope beyond the Google Books project to scan millions of library books, and instead challenges what it considers other infringing Google activities and services, the ASMP said in a statement. Google said that Google Books operates within the law. "We are confident that Google Books is fully compliant with international copyright law," said Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker. "Google Books is an historic effort to make all of the knowledge contained within the world's books searchable online. It exposes readers to information they might not otherwise see, and it provides authors and publishers with a new way to be found." Joining the ASMP in the lawsuit are the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of America, the North American Nature Photography Association, Professional Photographers of America and several individual photographers and illustrators. In its complaint, the ASMP charges Google with engaging in "the most widespread, well-publicized and uncompensated infringement of exclusive rights in images in the history of book and periodical publishing." The ASMP considers members of the class photographers, illustrators, graphic designers and visual artists who own the copyright to at least one work contained in a book or periodical Google has scanned without permission. The ASMP and other lead plaintiffs ask the court to enjoin Google from scanning and storing copyright works without permission, and ask that Google pay a minimum US$180,000 per infringed work. 28. News from trade shows, book fairs and book festivals BookExpo America's opening night keynote reception on May 25 will feature Barbra Streisand, who will be interviewed about her book, My Passion for Design, scheduled for release in November… 29. Major upcoming trade shows, book fairs and book festivals April
April 16-18. Philadelphia Book Festival,
http://libwww.freelibrary.org/bookfestival/, attended by 35,000 and more
than 50 authors, performers. May May 6-9. Harlem Book Festival, http://www.qbr.com/, Bermuda.
May 17-20. The Museum Store Association's
Retail Conference & Expo June The American Library Association - Anaheim, CA. June 12-13. Printers Row Book Fair, http://www.chicagotribune.com/about/events/printersrow a large book fair attended by more than 100,000 book lovers in 2009. The International New Age Trade Show West - Denver, Colo. June 24-29. American Library Association's Annual Conference. Some 2,000 seminars and events as well as a huge trade show. http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/annual/index.cfm Washington, D.C., some 2,000 seminars and events plus a huge trade show. June 27-30. CBA/The International Christian Retail Show, St. Louis, Mo.www.christianretailshow.com. Considered the best show for Christian authors. See also http://www.marketingchristianbooks.com June. The National Association of College Stores Conference. www.nacs.org August August 20-21 (tentative). The Great American Bargain Book Show (GABBS) – Boston, Hynes Convention Center. www.gabbs.net August. The New York International Gift Fair – www.nyigf.com August. New Orleans-Gulf South Booksellers Association. September
Sept. 4-5. Decatur Book Festival, Decatur (Atlanta), Ga.,
http://www.decaturbookfestival.com/Community/index.php. Held Labor Day
weekend, claims to attract over 50,000 book fans. October Oct. 6-10. Frankfurt Book Fair 2010. This is the Big Daddy of all book shows, the biggest in the world. Argentina is the Guest of Honor. Held in Frankfurt, Germany. Oct. 8-10. Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word, http://tn-humanities.org/festival/index.php, Nashville, Tenn., attracts more than 200 authors from throughout the U.S. October. Litquake, San Francisco’s Literary Festival. Event was held Oct. 9-17 in 2009. We’ll post the 2010 dates when we get ‘em. Meanwhile, visit http://www.litquake.org. Louisiana Book Festival, Baton Rouge, http://lbf.state.lib.la.us. Event was held Oct. 16-17 in 2009. Oct. 30. Also visit http://www.litquake.org. November Nov. 14-21. Miami Book Fair International, http://www.miamibookfair.com draws hundreds of thousands of people.
Dates uncertain –
check hyperlink for Show Web site Vegas Valley Book Festival, Las Vegas, http://www.vegasvalleybookfest.org
Kentucky Book Fair,
http://www.kybookfair.com. Frankfort Convention Center, attended by up to
5,000 people including 150 authors.
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The
Southern Review is edited by Noel Griese. The author of 17 books and
numerous articles on various subjects, he has been a newspaper reporter
and editor and has taught English and journalism at the Universities of
Wisconsin and Georgia. Elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi,
he holds three degrees in English and journalism.
