Welcome to the

an online newsletter for publishers, authors, book lovers and booksellers

Vol. 7, No. 7   July 2009

Index (scroll down for stories) 

  1. For first time ever, more POD than conventional titles published in 2008
  2. Breaking news from the book barons
  3. Top-flight faculty announced for Boston author-publisher classes
  4. Little, Brown to publish book on “missing link” fossil
  5. Publishers Weekly’s Nawotka joins Publishing Perspectives
  6. News about bookstores, publishing, marketing and promotion
  7. Where do consumers buy books? Here’s the latest data
  8. SIBA introduces ‘The Okra Picks,’ a southern-fried book list
  9. How bad is it – and what is the book business doing to cope?
10. BookExpo America attendance down a bit less than expected
11. AAP reports April sales up, but still down for year to date
12. Update journalism: Latest skinny on past Southern Review stories
13. Georgia author specializes in books on Virgin Mary apparitions
14. Bookstore manager details experience with Espresso book machine
15. The publishing revolution: News of e-books and other new media
16. Lightning Source now providing books for Espresso book machines
17. Useful information and free services for writers
18. Arcade Publishing files for Chapter 11 protection
19. Berean Christian Stores seek Chapter 11 protection
20. News about self-publishing and vanity presses
21. Oldest indie bookstore in nation, Conkey’s, going out of business
22. Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor closing at end of June
23. Marketing books: what works and what doesn’t
24. Atlanta author promotes first novel by visiting 100 indie bookstores
25. Authors swear by Twitter, but hype undercut by study
26. Milestones: Records and news of note in book publishing
27. Fanny Howe wins $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
28. News of chicanery, dishonesty and tort-feasing in the book business
29. Author Robert Vaughan to keynote Harriette Austin Writers Conference in Georgia
30. Major upcoming trade shows, book fairs and book festivals
 

1. For first time ever, more POD than conventional titles published in 2008

Bibliographic data provider Bowker's preliminary data for books published in the U.S. in 2008 shows that output from traditional publishers declined by about three percent, and that the number of "on demand" books grew 132 percent to exceed for the first time ever the number of traditional titles published during the year.

The significance: More people are likely now publishing books than there are people who want to read them.
Bowker released the statistics, compiled from its Books In Print® database, on May 19. Based on preliminary figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that U.S. title output in 2008 decreased to 275,232 new titles and editions, down from the 284,370 that were published in 2007.

Despite this decline in traditional book publishing, there was another extraordinary year of growth in the reported number of "on demand" and short-run books produced in 2008. Bowker projects that 285,394 on demand books were produced last year, a 132 percent increase over the 2007 final total of 123,276 titles.

This is the second consecutive year of triple-digit growth in the on demand segment, which in 2008 was 462 percent above levels seen as recently as 2006.

The biggest declines for traditional publishers came in travel (down by 15 percent, with 4,817 new titles), fiction (down 11 percent, with 47,541 new titles) and religion (down 14 percent, at 16,847 titles).

"Our statistics for 2008 benchmark a historic development in the U.S. book publishing industry as we crossed a point last year in which on demand and short-run books exceeded the number of traditional books entering the marketplace," said Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publisher services for Bowker. "It remains to be seen how this trend will unfold in the coming years before we know if we just experienced a watershed year in the book publishing industry, fueled by the changing dynamics of the marketplace and the proliferation of sophisticated publishing technologies, or an anomaly that caused the major industry trade publishers to retrench."

Among the major publishing categories, the big winners last year were Education and Business, two categories that might suggest publishers were seeking to give consumers more resources for success amidst a very tough job environment. There were 9,510 new education titles introduced in the U.S. in 2008, up 33 percent from the prior year, and 8,838 new business titles, an increase of 14 percent over 2007 levels.

According to Gallagher, the Bowker data reveals that the top five categories for U.S. book production in 2008 were:

    1. Fiction (47,541 new titles)
    2. Juveniles (29,438)
    3. Sociology/Economics (24,423)
    4. Religion (16,847)
    5. Science (13,555)

The book production figures released by Bowker are based on year-to-date data from U.S. publishers and include traditional print as well as on demand titles. Audiobooks and E-books are excluded. Bowker’s Books In Print database includes input from more than 75,000 publishers in the U.S. The data is sent to Bowker in electronic files, and via BowkerLink, Bowker's password-protected Web-based tool that enables publishers to update and add their own data.

Books In Print lists more than eight million U.S. book, audiobook and video titles.          

2. Breaking news from the book barons                                                                    

The first ISBNs with the prefix 979 have been assigned to the French ISBN agency, meaning that there are now two ISBN-13 prefixes, 978 and 979, in use. As a result, duplicate 10-digit ISBNs will begin to occur, which will create problems for companies in the book supply chain that continue to rely on 10-digit ISBNs to identify books… Baker & Taylor has signed a long-term digital distribution and technology licensing agreement with OverDrive to provide customers with downloadable e-books, audiobooks, music and video. Baker & Taylor made the move in order to begin offering its Digital Media Library, powered by OverDrive, for library customers worldwide, and will offer retailers digital media that their customers can download, transfer and play back on a variety of devices… Simon & Schuster on May 1 relocated its Howard Books Christian imprint from West Monroe, La., to Nashville, Tenn., the "epicenter of Christian publishing.”

3. Top-flight faculty announced for Boston author-publisher classes

The Great American Bargain Book Show, scheduled for the Hynes Convention Center in Boston on Friday-Saturday, August 21-22, has announced instructors for four educational sessions for authors and publishers to be held in conjunction with the show. 

Instructors for the Authorship 101 class at GABBS University include:

Information on the GABBS University instructional program for authors and publishers is available at http://www.anvilpub.net/gabbs_university.htm

4. Little, Brown to publish book on “missing link” fossil

Little, Brown on May 19 announced details about a closely-guarded title that was released the next day, May 20.

Titled The Link, the book was written by biologist Colin Tudge. It focuses on what is being called "the astonishing new discovery that could change everything" - a previously-secret, perfectly fossilized early primate 47 million years old, "older than the previously most famous primate fossil, Lucy, by an astonishing forty-four million years.

For two years, the fossil was held in a vault.

Called Ida, this fossil is said to rewrite “what we've assumed about the earliest primate origins." The book offers "exclusive access to the first scientists to study her."

Those scientists published their findings for the first time on May 19 in PLoS One, the open-access journal of the Public Library of Science, which marks the first announcement of the remarkable fossil.
Covering the full story of the discovery, excavation, and preservation, and the revolutionary significance of Ida, the book includes a foreword by Norwegian fossil scientist Dr. Jørn Hurum of  the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum, "who for the past two years has led an 
international team of scientists as they secretly conducted a detailed forensic analysis of the extraordinary fossil, studying the data to decode humankind's ancient origins."

The book is also being published by Little Brown UK; Piper in Germany; and JC Lattes in France.

5. Publishers Weekly’s Nawotka editing ‘Publishing Perspectives’

Edward “Ed” Nawotka has been named editor-in-chief of “Publishing Perspectives,” a new daily blog/e-mail newsletter that focuses on international publishing.

He continues as the Southern correspondent for Publishers Weekly and as a book columnist for Bloomberg.

In beta form at the moment, “Publishing Perspectives” is sponsored by the German Book Office in New York, a subsidiary of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Riky Stock, head of the GBO, is publishing director of “Publishing Perspectives.”

For more information and to sign up for a subscription, go to publishingperspectives.com.

6. News about bookstores, publishing, marketing and promotion

Independent bookstore members  of the American Booksellers Association declined again in the past 12 months, totaling 1,401 as of April, compared to 1,524 stores in the same month a year ago. BEA plays a major role in funding the organization. In 2008, the convention provided $900,000 for ABA – a figure comprising about 13 percent of ABA operating revenue. That amount was down about $50,000 from the prior year.

7. Where do consumers buy books? Here’s the latest data

John Mutter’s Shelf Awareness newsletter recently cited figures from Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., on retail book sale market share. According to Coady:

30% of all bookstore sales are through bookstore chains
15% are sold online
10% are sold in independents
45% are sold in big box/specialty stores

Coady first used the simplistic figures at the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute (cited in Shelf Awareness on Feb. 2, 2009), and then again at the recently concluded BookExpo America (cited in Shelf Awareness on June 1, 2009).

A far more precise set of statistics was released at BEA by PubTrack™ Consumer, a service of R.R. Bowker, LLC. According to PubTrack,

23% of books are purchased through online purchase/e-commerce
22% are sold through large chains (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million)
10% are sold through book clubs
  7% through independents
  6% through mass merchandisers (Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart)
  4% through warehouse clubs (Sam’s, Costco, BJs)
  2% through supermarket/grocery stores
  1% each through discount stores, drug stores, religious bookstores and book fairs
22% through a variety of "Other outlets" which includes author hand-to-hand sales, churches and other organizations, craft fairs, speakers selling from the back of the auditorium, etc.

As for share of the $32 billion in annual revenues from book sales, PubTrack reported the following breakdown:

28% went to large chain bookstores
27% went to online/e-purchase
10% went to book clubs
  5% went to independent bookstores
  5% went to mass merchandisers
  3% went to warehouse clubs
  2% went to supermarkets/grocery stores
  1% was shared between discount stores, drug stores, religious bookstores and book fairs
19% went to "other outlets."

8. SIBA introduces ‘The Okra Picks,’ a southern-fried book list

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance will introduce a new marketing ploy this fall named “The Okra Picks,” not to be confused with the Oprah picks.

According to the plan, each quarter the Okra Picks will promote a list of 12 new books nominated by the organization's 250 member stores. The titles can be fiction or nonfiction - any genre or class - but they've got to be Southern.

Wanda Jewell, executive director of SIBA, told the Washington Post, "I've had the title in mind for a long time, trying to figure out how I could use it."

How does a book get on this new list?

"My member bookstores need to be excited about it and feel like it's a book they can get behind and hand-sell. And it's got to be set in the South or written by a Southerner. And it's got to be brand new - just hitting bookshelves. We also want to spread the list out around different publishers - to include our regional publishers that maybe don't get quite so much attention."

Whether the hand-selling will have a favorable impact on sales at the SIBA indies remains to be seen. The assumption is that the readers who frequent the independent bookstores value the opinions of store employees. And well they may. Then again, at a BEA panel moderated  by Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., best-selling author James Patterson recommended that the indies sell more books by discounting best-sellers as the chain stores do. Coady responded that what independents offer is value added: “for the price, you get ambiance, and I save you from buying a book that's no good." Patterson responded: "Is your opinion something they're willing to pay for?"

9. How bad is it – and what is the book business doing to cope?

CBA’s annual State of the Industry report reveals a volatile 2008 for Christian book and specialty item stores. Recent CBA survey results show 2008 net sales were down 10.75 percent from 2007. However, nearly a third of respondents reported 2008 sales volumes increased. Of responding stores, 61.5 percent indicated annual sales volumes down. While 54 new Christian stores opened in 2008, at least 91 closed, with the overall channel decreased by 37 stores. More than 276 stores from 43 states representing independents, regional chains, and national chains, participated in the anonymous survey… Publishers report that book sales in March fell 17 percent to $388.4 million. The data are based on reports from 84 major publishers to the Association of American Publishers. For the year through March, book sales were down 6.8 percent to $1.625 billion. Bookstore sales were estimated to have fallen 1.3 percent to $999 million in March and are estimated to be down 4.1 percent to $4.242 billion for the year through March. Among AAP categories, the biggest winner was e-book sales, which rose 110.4 percent, while the big losers were adult paperback sales, which dropped 35.8 percent to $89.1 million and audiobooks, which dropped 43.3 percent to $7.6 million... First quarter sales at Borders fell 12.1 percent to $641.5 million. Borders reported a net loss of $86 million for the quarter, compared to $31.7 million in the same period a year earlier. Sales at Borders superstores open at least a year fell 13.5 percent. Total sales at Borders stores were $536.7 million, down 10.7 percent. Comp-store sales at Waldenbooks fell 5.5 percent and total sales fell 19.9 percent to $76.9 million, in large part because of the closing of 100 stores during the year. During the first quarter, the company closed 11 Waldenbooks locations and now has 376.

10. BookExpo America attendance down a bit less than expected

The big decline in paid exhibitor space that BookExpo America organizers had forecast became a reality, but many attendees and companies, who expected low attendance as well, ended up pleasantly surprised by the activity.

The Great Recession of 2008-2009 had been expected to adversely impact the show. The Associated Press called it "a low-budget, low-celebrity convention, with fewer parties and fewer advanced copies of books than in the past, and a sense that the best way to meet expectations was to lower them."

Attendance was 29,923, up 1,500 from 2008 in Los Angeles, but down 6,189 or 17.1 percent from 36,112 in 2007 in New York. "Verified" attendees, which excludes people with exhibitor badges, was 12,025. Media representation rose to 1,700 from 1,250. There were 7,066 book buyers and librarians in attendance, down about 13 percent from 2007. "We gave away a lot of badges" to booksellers this year under the new program with the ABA, show director Lance Fensterman said. That helped to keep ABA participation steady. "It's part of what we do," Fensterman said, declining to add that BEA also provides a financial subsidy that helps to keep the dwindling ABA in business and in attendance.

May 31 marked the last time Book Expo expects to convene on a Sunday. Exhibitions at the 2010 show will be held Friday-Saturday only, although educational sessions will be held on an extra day.
BEA show director Lance Fensterman in a blog post well in advance of this year’s show, which opened on May 29, had pre-announced that

square footage was running 20 to 25 percent smaller than the last show in Los Angeles. Registrations by indie bookstore members of the American Booksellers Association were running "almost flat (100 or so down). Registrations by librarians were down "about 25 percent.” Miscellaneous industry professionals were slimmed by about 1,350.

Overall registered attendees were down by 30 percent compared to the last time the show was in New York, and exhibitor registrations were down by 35 percent.

Fensterman concluded: "What does all this mean in the simplest of terms? For BookExpo in NYC we are going to see an appropriately smaller exhibit floor with less 'low quality' attendees, less exhibiting personnel and roughly the same number of retailers, ABA booksellers, national booksellers, and authors.... BEA needs to be a high level book industry event where publishers can connect with key influencers. We need to make this connection easier, not harder, and I genuinely think we may be on the road to doing just that."

11. AAP reports April sales up, but still down for year to date

Net book sales in April, as reported by 85 publishers to the Association of American Publishers, rose 3.3 percent to $494.9 million. However, net sales for the first four months of 2009 were down 4.1 percent to $2.131 billion.

Ebook sales continued their dramatic rise in April, jumping 228.3 percent to $12.1 million. Ebook sales in April represented 2.4 percent of overall book sales reported by the AAP members.

The biggest gainer in April, however, was higher education sales, which jumped 312.4 percent to $33.5 million.
The biggest loser category in April was audiobook sales, which declined 39.2 percent to $9.5 million, according to the AAP news release.

12. Update journalism: Latest skinny on past Southern Review stories

Amazon has apologized for removing sales rankings for various erotica titles, blaming a “coding error” by an employee in Europe. The deletions touched off a Twitter-led ruckus after young adult author Mark Probst noted in a Live Journal blog that Amazon sales ranking for two recently released gay romance books had disappeared from their Amazon pages. An Amazon Advantage publisher, Probst posted the answer he says he got from Amazon Advantage Member Services: "In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude 'adult' material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists." As word spread on Twitter, where “#amazonfail” became the top trending topic, posters asserted that sales rankings and other search-matching features had disappeared from what appeared to be many gay and lesbian books on Amazon, as well as erotica/erotic romance titles. Amazon spokesman Andrew Herdener told online newsletter Publishers Lunch, "We recently discovered a glitch to our Amazon sales rank feature that is in the process of being fixed. We're working to correct the problem as quickly as possible." Cynical Twitter posters added the hashtag “#glitchmyass” for more angry posts. Dear Author concluded that "all the content that was filtered out had either gay, lesbian, transgender, erotic or sex metadata categories."

13. Georgia author specializes in books on Virgin Mary apparitions

Wayne Weible is a former newspaper publisher and columnist who became interested in alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to six young Croatians in the tiny farming village of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina in October 1985.

He has since written eight books on his experiences and investigations of the reported apparitions, all which have become international best sellers.
The first, titled, Medjugorje: The Message (Paraclete Press, 1989), has more than 500,000 copies sold in the U.S. and another 500,000 copies in other languages around the world. His publisher reissued the book in March 2006 in a special hardcover edition commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Medjugorje apparitions.

In October, 1985, after hearing of the apparitions which began in 1981, Weible decided to write an article about them for his four weekly newspapers. It was while viewing a videotape of the apparitions as research for the article that Weible, a Protestant at that time, says, "I suddenly felt a strong message within my heart that not only was I to write about these events, but I was to devote my life to the spreading of its basic message of reconciliation with God.

Weible wrote a series of articles after, as he says, "spending a great deal of time on my knees in prayer." In April 1986, he sold his four weekly newspapers so that he could devote the majority of his time to spreading the Medjugorje message.

Due to a multitude of requests for copies of the articles he wrote, Weible published them in September 1986 as an eight-page tabloid under the title "Miracle at Medjugorje." From an initial printing of 3,000 copies, "Miracle" now has 100 million-plus copies in print and is still being distributed throughout the world.

Weible converted to the Roman Catholic faith in December 1991. However, he continues to emphasize that "The message coming from the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje is for all faiths, not just for Catholics - or for that matter just for Christians."

Weible has traveled to Medjugorje 92 times through August 2008, and is personally acquainted with all of the visionaries. He is married and lives with his wife Judith in the North Georgia mountains in the small town of Hiawassee.

He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, with a degree in journalism, and is preparing to pursue a Masters degree in theology. Weible’s second book, Letters From Medjugorje (Paraclete Press, 1991), has sold 160,000 copies; his third, Medjugorje: The Mission (Paraclete Press, 1995) has sold more than 100,000 copies internationally.

Weible’s fourth book, The Final Harvest (Paraclete Press, 1999), with 75,000 copies sold, is, according to Weible, his best informational work on the apparitions. It was revised and published under the title Final Harvest by CMJ Marian Publishers in 2003, with 17,000 copies sold.

Weible’s fifth book, A Child Shall Lead Them (Paraclete Press, 2005), is a collection of stories of spiritual conversions attributed to the apparitions at Medjugorje. It has sold more than 25,000 copies.

Weible’s sixth book, The Medjugorje Prayer Book, also by Paraclete Press, is a compendium of prayers he says he was given or learned during his travels to Medjugorje. It has sold more than 15,000 copies.

His seventh book, co-authored with noted Marian theologian Dr. Mark Miravalle, Are The Medjugorje Apparitions Authentic? (New Hope Press, 2008) is a straightforward appraisal of the apparitions from a theological standpoint.

Weible’s latest work, a book on prayer, fasting and penance titled The Medjugorje Fasting Book, was released this spring.

Weible has also authored numerous audios and videotapes on the subject.

Weible now spends most of his professional time writing and lecturing on the phenomenon of Medjugorje, traveling throughout the world and the United States. In the past 23 years, he has lectured on the phenomenon in virtually every major city in the U.S. He has also appeared on numerous national, regional and local television and radio programs, including the Oprah Winfrey Show. (Source: Ralph Hipp, “Virgin Mary apparitions author Speaking in Topeka,” Ch. 13 News at 4, May 22, 2009)

14. Bookstore manager details experience with Espresso book machine

In a presentation at BookExpo America, Chris Morrow, manager of Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, Vt., detailed a mostly positive experience with the Espresso Book Machine

The machine, made by On Demand Books, boosted foot traffic at the store, Morrow said, but cautioned that the print on demand machine takes at least 15 minutes from the time a customer request is processed until the sale is registered.

Morrow said the machine was fairly easy to use, attracted customers, boosted community relations and vastly improved the customer experience. "From a customer point of view it has been a big success," he said. Customers congregated to watch books being made.

The only independent bookseller in the U.S. to have an Espresso machine, Morrow estimates that Northshire sells 150-200 POD titles per week, most of them self-published books by local authors, and said his bookstore is known throughout the state now, thanks to the machine that the store nicknamed Lurch, "because it's big and clunky."

On the downside, Morrow said the machine takes up a lot of space at the front of his store and "broke down too much for my comfort level."

On Demand Books believes it has resolved the two problems Morrow encountered with its new Espresso 2.0 model, which was unveiled in April at the London Book Fair.

The machine requires one dedicated staff person who must be trained on the equipment.

Morrow outlined three categories of use for POD's direct-to-consumer capabilities: self-publishing; accessing public domain books, including out-of-print and hard-to-find titles; and instant sale of copyright titles available through Ingram's Lightning Source.

He expressed frustration with the limited availability of copyrighted titles, which he attributed in part to "a bit of disconnect" on the part of publishers. If, as usually happens, e-books are released on publication date, POD format should be simultaneously available, he said. Morrow also suggested On Demand Books’ software needs to be improved, especially its ability to integrate with retailers' inventory control systems.

The popularity of Northshire's POD self-publishing capabilities led the store to establish the Shire Press, which offers a full menu of services from editing to layout and cover design - and even provides ISBNs. The business has a gross margin profit of 60-80 percent for the finished product. About 10 percent of his POD revenue is realized through publishing services, Morrow said.

Morrow estimated that if POD can capture 20 percent of sales lost when a title is not in stock, it will bring in roughly $60,000 in additional revenue per year. "I'm confident the numbers can work easily in favor of the bookstore," he said. The average cost to consumers for a self-published or other book is $10-$15 for a title of 200 pages. Publishers' retail prices apply to copyrighted books.

A spokesperson for On Demand said the Espresso 2.0 machine and two associated printers rent for approximately $1,000 per month. Paper and ink are the same quality as those used on larger presses, and the finished product is a traditional perfect bound paperback that can be trimmed to meet specs from 4.5" x 4.5" to 8.5" x 11." A color printer allows for full-color covers and interiors. (Source: Laurie Lico Albanese, co-author of The Miracles of Prato)

15. The publishing revolution: News of e-books and other new media

In 2006, the world produced 161 exabytes of digital data, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. (An exabyte is one billion billion bytes.) That is three million times the information contained in all the books ever written. By 2010, the total is expected to reach 988 exabytes, or more than 18 million times the information in all the books ever written… Personal data-consumption is growing exponentially. While Westerners continue to watch an average of eight hours of television each week, the time that they spend online rose by 24 per cent between 2006 and 2007, according to a study by Compete, which studies online marketing... Does Anthony Zuiker's Level 26: Dark Origins mark the "origin of the 'digi-novel?'" USA Today in May reported that the creator of the hit TV series CSI and its two spinoffs says his new multimedia “digi-novel” will launch a “revolution in publishing for the YouTube generation.” Level 26, slated to be published by Dutton Sept. 8, is the first in a series written by Zuiker with Duane Swierczynski "in which each book will be supplemented with 20 videos, or 'cyber-bridges,' featuring actors playing characters from the novel," according to USA Today.

16. Lightning Source now providing books for Espresso book machines

Lightning Source, the Ingram POD company, in May launched a pilot program to provide some 85,000 titles from 13 publishers on Espresso Book Machines.

The machines, developed by On Demand Books, are or will soon be installed in 15 locations, mostly bookstores and libraries, around the world, and can print and pop out a paperback book in a minute or two, accorsding to On Demand.

The participating publishers in the Ingfram program include Hachette, S&S, Wiley, Macmillan and Norton, who already produce print on demand books with Lightning Source.

After the pilot, other publishers that print and distribute with Lightning Source will have the option of participating in the Espresso Book Machine program. That should occur in the second half of this year.

In a statement, David Taylor, president of Lightning Source, said that the program would allow "the many thousands of publishers with whom we already work the chance to get their books into this new distribution channel with minimal effort."

17. Useful information and free services for writers

Filed By, Inc., launched in March by Peter Clifton and Mike Shatzkin, features a FiledByAuthor directory of authors, writers, illustrators, photographers, editors, translators and others who contribute to books. The authors and others can join for free and manage their own pages on the site, allowing them to create an online community where they can communicate with readers and each other. The aim of FiledByAuthor is to attract readers who will buy books. The site can also be used as a reference. FiledByAuthor has more than 1.8 million author sites; another one million sites for photographers, illustrators and others who contribute to books; and more than 7.5 million book pages. Perseus Books Group has already added FiledByAuthor as an online marketing platform. More than 2,000 authors have joined since March.

18. Arcade Publishing files for Chapter 11 protection

Jeannette Seaver, whose husband Richard Seaver died in January, has filed for bankruptcy protection for Arcade Publishing. Richard Seaver had been serving as president of the publisher.

According to the filing, Arcade has assets of $4.5 million and liabilities of $6.3 million. The company owes Little, Brown almost $500,000 for a loan and distribution services.

The filing says that "the challenges of a small, independent publisher were made especially difficult by the current economic climate. For the past several months since the death of the Debtor's president, the Debtor has struggled in an effort to reorganize and seek investors. The loss of Mr. Seaver coupled with the ongoing financial issues in the publishing industry and the breakdown of the company have all conspired to force the Debtor to seek relief."

Other publishing creditors include Harper UK, Hodder & Stoughton, Key Porter Books, Orion, Random UK, and Germany's Suhrkamp.

The filing also lists two suits already pending, one from printer Edwards Bros. for the payment of almost $240,000 and another from Steven K. Hodel for the payment of author royalties.

19. Berean Christian Stores seek Chapter 11 protection

Berean Christian Stores has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Prior to the filing, the company announced that it had reached an agreement with a group of buyers for a 363 sale, which is a process similar to what Chrysler is going through with Fiat.

The unnamed buyers, according to Berean President Bill Simmons, are “no one inside the industry,” but are committed Christians who intend to run the business in a profitable manner.

According to Simmons, the buyers plan to keep current Berean management intact.

In a phone interview with CBA Retailers+Resources magazine, Simmons said the decision to file for chapter 11 was not an easy one, nor the first choice of the company, which has been working with trade vendors for the past several months on solutions to avoid bankruptcy.

Simmons said that the company’s goal is to emerge from bankruptcy by July 31.

20. News about self-publishing and vanity presses

As of this spring, AuthorHouse, a vanity press/subsidy brand owned by Author Solutions, has published 60,000 titles by various authors… In 2002, there were only about 68,000 small press and independent publishers in the U.S. By 2004 the small and independent presses had increased to 86,000. According to www.ISBN.org, there are now roughly 116,000 small and independent presses.…

21. Oldest indie bookstore in nation, Conkey’s, going out of business

Conkey’s Bookstore, Appleton, Wis., is going out of business, the Appleton Post-Crescent reports.

Conkey’s, with a 113-year history, is believed to be the oldest independent bookstore in the nation.

Owner John Zimmerman called the decision a difficult one.

Conkey’s lost its on-campus bookstore contract with Fox Valley Technical College to Barnes & Noble earlier this year. The contract represented about 50 percent of Conkey’s business, according to the Post-Crescent.

22. Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor closing at end of June

Shaman Drum Bookshop, a local institution in Ann Arbor, Mich., for some 30 years, will close at the end of June. Owner Karl Pohrt told The Ann Arbor News that “ the shop is not a sustainable business any more despite a first-rate staff, a fiercely loyal core of customers, a very decent landlord and my own commitment to the community of arts and letters in Ann Arbor."

Pohrt told the News that he plans to continue with a venture to create a literary arts center. The plan for the center is still in the works and does not yet have a location.

23. Marketing books: what works and what doesn’t

Speaking at BEA in New York, David Singleton, AARP's director of publications planning and promotion, said half of the 24 million readers of AARP the Magazine cite books as a top interest and visit the magazine's book pages in large numbers… One of the ploys often used successfully by authors to publicize their work, thereby attracting sales and readers, is the listicle. For those unfamiliar with the term, a listicle is a pseudo-newsy article the central core of which is a list, usually of 10 items.  A typical listicle headline, this one drawn from a recent New York Times, reads "10 new sitcoms meant to cure the recession blues."

24. Atlanta author promotes first novel by visiting 100 indie bookstores

Just before his first novel, Valeria’s Last Stand, was released in late April, author Mark Fitten, editor of the Chattahoochee Review and a creative writing instructor at Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta, promised to visit 100 independent bookstores in an effort to build sales.

“I'm going on an extensive book tour in support of my new novel, Valeria’s Last Stand,” Fitten promised on one of his blog sites. “Only, to spice things up, I've decided that while I'm on the road, I will visit 100 independent book stores and blog about what I think makes them unique. It's a road trip, from city to city - 100 stores, as long as it takes.

The novel is a light-hearted love story involving Valeria, a 68-year-old spinster who lives in the Hungarian town of Zivatar. Fitten lived for four years in a similar village in Hungary. His heroine, Valeria, suffered heartbreak as a young woman, and has since become the crotchety town bitch. She rediscovers love late in life with the town potter, but he is involved with another woman, the pub owner Ibolya. Valeria, Ibolya and the potter each fears that this is their last chance at love.

Can a tour of 100 independent bookstores be effective in building sales for such a novel, given that the indie bookstores generate only about five percent of overall retail book market revenue, and that 100 indie stores are only a fragment of those that account for that five percent market share?

Fitten’s plan is far less ambitious than that of author J.A. Konrath, who in 2008 visited 612 bookstores in 29 states to promote his thriller Rusty Nail “I called it the ‘JA Konrath No Nookie Tour.’” Konrath said. “My wife won't let me do that again.”

Fitten started his campaign in early May with visits to a few indie bookstores in his home town, Atlanta. By May 23, a little over two weeks after his book was released, Fitten had driven nearly 2,000 miles and visited 31 independent bookstores. He then departed for Germany to briefly promote the European editions of the book. By the time this issue of the Southern Review was published, he had not indicated on his Web site that he had visited any more.

While he had visited 31 stores in the U.S. by May 23, he had posted information on his blog on only 18 of the stores he had visited, the vast majority of them in New England. By June 10, he had posted information on 21 of the 31 indie bookstores he had visited.

In a brief note on the blog site on May 23, Fitten explained, “I’m leaving for Germany today where I’ll be touring for the German edition of Valeria’s Last Stand, but I’ve found some German indies and I’ll find a pit stop and I will post those as bonuses.”

Listed in the table below are Fitten’s Amazon.com rankings through June 13, taken on the morning of each day, for Valeria’s Last Stand.

How do his results compare to other recent campaigns we’ve followed at the Southern Review?

Fitten’s lowest Amazon.com ranking was 9,596 on May 30. His worst, recorded on May 11, was 141,133. His average ranking for the period monitored, May 9 to June 13, was 42,334.

In March of this year, by comparison, J.A. Konrath conducted a virtual tour of 100 blogs to promote his new mass market thriller Afraid, released under the pen name Jack Kilborn on April 1. We tracked his Amazon rankings from release of the book on April 1 to April 18. During that period, Konrath’s best ranking was 998 and his average ranking was 2,562. Konrath’s numbers are much better, although we can’t say with certainty that that is due to his visits to 100 blogs.

Also in April, Atlanta authors Stephanie Triplett and Sara Ellington conducted a much different sort of campaign to influence Amazon.com rankings for their book The Must-Have Mom Manual, released April 7 as a $17 trade paperback by the Ballantine Books imprint of Random House. Triplett and Ellington gamed the Amazon rankings by soliciting friends, neighbors and relatives – including members of the Kennesaw State University-sponsored Georgia Writers Association – to buy copies of the book on April 8, the day after it was released. The book had an Amazon rank of 36,711 on April 7, the day of its release. On April 8, the day of the promotion, it went to a low of 382. By April 14, the ranking had gradually returned to 35,398.

How do Amazon.com rankings correlate with number of books sold? Author Hamilton Swoop recently provided some data on his book Hamilton Swoop Wizard of Green Ridge published two months earlier. In those two months, according to his publisher, the book sold 33 print copies and 134 e-books. Its Amazon rank for the print version fluctuated between 78,000 to 170,000. The e-version fluctuated between 19,000 and 90,000. Looking just at the print data, that would mean that Amazon.com rankings in the 78,000 to 170,000 range equate to sales of one print copy every two days or so.

See the May 2009 issue of Southern Review for more information on the correlation of Amazon.com rankings with sales. Meanwhile, we'll consider doing a follow-up story on author Fitten when he finishes his tour of 100 independent bookstores.

25. Authors swear by Twitter, but hype undercut by study

Listservs and blogs frequented by authors have been atweet with advice on how to use the popular social networking site Twitter to build fame, fan base and book sales. But how effective is Twitter really?

Not as effective as authors would like to think, according to a Harvard-conducted study of 300,000 twitterers.

Just 10 percent of Twitter users generate more than 90 percent of the content, the study found. That means a relative few are generating most of the site’s content.

Estimates suggest Twitter - which Apple is reportedly close to buying -  now has more than 10 million users and is growing faster than any other social network.

However, the Harvard team found that more than half of all people using Twitter sent updates less than once every 74 days. And most people "tweet" only once during their lifetime, the researchers found.

"Based on the numbers, Twitter is certainly not a service where everyone who has seen it has instantly loved it," said Bill Heil, a graduate from Harvard Business School who carried out the work.

On a typical online social network, he said, the top 10 percent of users usually account for only about 30 percent of all content.

That said, no one disputes the popularity of Twitter.

Recent figures from Nielsen Online indicate that visitors to the site increased by 1,382 percent, from 475,000 to seven million, between February 2008 and February 2009. It is thought to have grown beyond 10 million in the past four months.

By comparison, Facebook has 200 million active users, 20 times as many.

Research by Nielsen also suggests that many people give the service a try, but rarely or never return. More than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month.

The study found that men had 15 percent more followers than women despite there being slightly more females users of Twitter than males.

It also showed that an average man was almost twice as likely to follow another man than a woman, despite the reverse being true on other social networks.

26. Milestones: Records and news of note in book publishing

This year's £30,000 (US$48,893) Orange Prize was awarded to the novel Home by Marilynne Robinson. The decision of the judges was unanimous for best novel written by a woman. Robinson easily bested a shortlist that included Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else, Samantha Harvey's The Wilderness, Deirdre Madden's Molly Fox's Birthday, Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows and Ellen Feldman's Scottsboro. Francesca Kay won the Orange Award for New Writers for her novel An Equal Stillness… Judith Krug, 69, died May 9 of cancer. She was director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom since it was founded in 1967, and was responsible for starting Banned Books Week in 1982.

27. Fanny Howe wins $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

Fanny Howe is the winner of the Poetry Foundation's $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, presented annually to a living U.S. poet whose lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition.
"Fanny Howe is a religious writer whose work makes you more alert and alive to the earth, an experimental writer who can break your heart," said Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine.
Ange Mlinko won the $10,000 Randall Jarrell Award in Poetry Criticism. According to the Poetry Foundation, "From Sappho to the Language poets, from Nicolas of Cusa to the Brady Bunch, Ange Mlinko’s criticism is brilliantly wide-ranging; it is eclectic and astringent yet always lucid and generous. We are pleased to recognize a young critic whose distinctive sharp wit and formidable power have helped revitalize the art of writing about poetry.”

The prizes were presented during the Pegasus Awards ceremony at the Arts Club of Chicago on May 19.

28. News of chicanery, dishonesty and tort-feasing in the book business

Lawyers for J.D. Salinger filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on June 1 seeking to force the recall of a copycat book titled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, by an author writing under the name JD California. The suit also seeks unspecified damages. Named in the suit in addition to the author are UK company Windupbird Publishing, Sweden-based Nicotext and Gardena, Calif.-based SCB Distributors, which sells Nicotext books in the U.S. The complaint declares, "the sequel is not a parody and it does not comment upon or criticize the original. It is a rip-off pure and simple." Initially, J.D. California was said to be a man living outside Gothenburg, Sweden, who told the UK’s Telegraph, "My initials really are JD, my first names are John David and I changed my last name to California. That's what's in my passport." Publisher Fredrik Colting, who runs Nicotext in Sweden, which in turn created the start-up UK publisher Windupbird to publish the novel, called the lawsuit "ludicrous."  Aaron Silverman of U.S. distributor SCB, who has wisely retained an attorney, described JD California as a Swedish-American man in his 30s who fell in love with The Catcher in the Rye when he discovered it in “an abandoned cabin in rural Cambodia.” Subsequently, Nicotext publisher Colting admitted that he was the author of the work, which he wrote under the pseudonym JD California. “ “I’m not Swedish American. I’m 100 percent Swedish, born on April 1st, 1976 in Borås, a place outside of Gothenburg,” Colting admitted. A photograph of JD California that appeared in a major British newspaper turned out to be that of Gustav Roth, an actor friend of Colting… Publishers tell the New York Times that the problem of illegal digital copies of copyrighted books appearing on the Web "has ballooned in recent months as an expanding appetite for e-books has spawned a bumper crop of pirated editions on Web sites like Scribd and Wattpad, and on file-sharing services like RapidShare and MediaFire." Publishers are reacting by notifying sites of problems. The CEO of Scribd estimated that unauthorized editions are only a small fraction of the site's content and that his company is "working very hard" to keep such editions off the site.

29. Author Robert Vaughan to keynote Harriette Austin Writers Conference in Georgia

Robert Vaughan, author of 200 books with sales in the millions, will deliver the keynote address for the Harriette Austin Writers Conference July 18 at the University of Georgia's Center for Continuing Education in Athens.

Vaughan, a decorated Huey helicopter pilot from the Vietnam conflict, will also present a workshop later in the day. Among his books are Andersonville, the novelization of an acclaimed television production; Survivial; The Power and the Pride; Brandywine's War;  and Armor of God.

More than two dozen lectures and workshops by agents and authors await attendees at the South's oldest and largest writers workshop, named in honor of Harriette Austin, long-time instructor of writing workshops in Athens.

One-day intensive writers workshops on July 17 precede the main conference.  Registration is still open for both days. Information: www.harrietteaustin.org.

30. Major upcoming trade shows, book fairs and book festivals

June 21-23. The Australian Booksellers Association's Annual Conference and Exhibition. Sun.-Tues., Manly, NSW (near Sydney).
June 27-29. The International New Age Trade Show West. Sat.-Mon., Denver, Colo.

July 9-15. American Library Association's Annual Conference. Thurs.-Wed., Chicago, Ill. Some 2,000 seminars and events as well as a huge trade show.
July 12-16. CBA’s International Christian Retail Show. Sun.-Thurs., Denver, Colo.
July 18. Harlem Book Fair. Sat., New York City.
July 22-24. HKTDC Hong Kong Publishing Copyright Fair. The Fair co-locates with the HKTDC Hong Kong Book Fair, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2009. Emphasizes the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Pacific Rim.
July. National Association of College Stores’ Innovate 2009 conference.

August 21-22. http://www.gabbs.net The secret is out! The Great American Book Show is journeying north to New England. Historical Boston, Mass., will be the host city for GABBS 2009, slated for August 21–22. The Friday-Saturday event will be held for the first time ever at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s Back Bay area. A block of rooms for those attending has been reserved at the connecting Sheraton Hotel.
August. The New York International Gift Fair. New York City.

Sept. 3-7. The Beijing International Book Fair. Thurs.-Mon., Beijing, China.
Sept. 10-12. Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Thurs.-Sat., Portland, Ore.
Sept. 13-15. The Munce Group Christian Product Expo (CPE) for members only. Munce estimates that 300 retailers, representing over 150 independent Christian stores, and 80 product vendors, representing nearly 100 product lines, will gather at the Embassy Suites and Conference Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Training will cover subjects ranging from consumer marketing analysis to outreach to churches and current market trends. The show floor will close on Tuesday afternoon with cash giveaways of $400, $600, and a grand prize of $1,500.
Sept. 13. Brooklyn Book Festival. Sun., Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sep. 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. First Author! Author! book festival in the courtyard of the Princeton Shopping Center, Princeton, N.J. topbanana@chickletbooks.com
Sept. 21-26. Fall for the Book Festival. Mon.-Sat., George Mason University's Campus, Fairfax, Va.
Sept. 23-26. Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. Wed.-Sat., Denver, Colo.
Sept. 24-26. Midwest Booksellers Association. Thurs.-Sat., St. Paul, Minn.
Sept. 25-27. Baltimore Book Festival. Fri.-Sun., Baltimore, Md.
Sept. 25-27. Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Fri.-Sun., Greenville, S.C. This show includes the SIBA book award authors luncheon, team spelling bee, a moveable feast of authors and trade show.
Sept. West Texas Book & Music Festival. Abilene, Tex.
Sept. National Book Festival. Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Library of Congress and on the Mall.

Oct. 1-3. New England Independent Booksellers Association. Thurs.-Sat., Hartford, Conn.
Oct. 2-3. Inaugural Sedona Book Festival in Sedona, Ariz. Activities include a fundraising Southwest BBQ on Friday evening, with keynote speakers Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald, founders of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore and the Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale, who will discuss trends in publishing.
Oct. 1-4. Amelia Island Book Festival. Thurs.-Sun., Fernandina Beach, Fla. In its eighth year, this festival takes place on Amelia Island.
Oct. 2-4. Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. Fri.-Sun., Cleveland, Ohio.
Oct. 4. West Hollywood Book Fair. Sun., West Hollywood, Calif. Attracts around 20,000 people.
Oct. 4-5. New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association's Fall Conference. Sun.-Mon., Baltimore, Md.
Oct. 8-10. Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. Thurs.-Sat., Oakland, Calif. Educational programming for booksellers on Friday, followed by a trade show and other events.
Oct. 8-11. Wordstock. Thurs.-Sun., Portland, Ore.
Oct. 10-11. Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word. Fri.-Sun., Nashville, Tenn.
Oct. 14-18. Frankfurt Book Fair. Wed.-Sun., Guest country: China. Biggest book show in the world.
Oct. 17. Louisiana Book Festival. Sat., Baton Rouge, La.
Oct. 24. Southern California Independent Booksellers Association. Sat., Los Angeles, Calif.
Oct. 24. The Boston Book Festival. Sat., Boston, Mass. The fair makes its debut this year. Website launched in early February.
Oct. 31-Nov. 1. Texas Book Festival. Sat.-Sun., Austin, Texas. Benefitting Texas public libraries, this year is the festival's 14th year.
Oct. Litquake, San Francisco's Literary Festival. San Francisco, Calif.
Oct. The New York Times Great Reads. New York City.
Oct. Twin Cities Book Festival. Minneapolis, Minn. Sponsored by the Rain Taxi Review of Books.
Oct. Wisconsin Book Festival. Madison, Wis.
Oct. Book Group Expo. San Jose, Calif.
Oct. Kansas Book Festival. Wichita State University campus, Wichita, Kan.
Oct. Midwest Literary Festival. Aurora, Ill.

Nov. 6-9. CIROBE, the Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book Exposition. Fri.-Mon.,. Chicago, Ill. Oldest but no longer largest of remainder shows in the U.S.
Nov. 7. Self-Publishing Book Expo. New York City, www.selfpubbookexpo.com
Nov. 8-15. Miami Book Fair International. Sun.-Sun., Miami, Fla. Draws hundreds of thousands of people. The street fair runs Fri.-Sun., Nov. 13-15, and the Congress of Writers runs the whole week.
Nov. 9. Self-Published Book Expo, New York. It will highlight service companies along with individual titles, and offer advice on marketing and publicity. Nov . 11-14, Publishers Association of the West's conference and trade show in Tucson, Ariz. The association is seeking proposals for sessions and speakers; send them to executive director Kent Watson at kent@pubwest.org. pubwest.org.
Nov. Buckeye Book Fair. Wooster, Ohio.
Nov. Connecticut Children's Book Fair. Storrs, Conn.
Nov. Kentucky Book Fair. Frankfort, Ky.
Nov. Vegas Valley Book Festival. Las Vegas, Nev.
Nov. New Orleans Book Fair. New Orleans, La.

2010

March 12-15. Shortened National Association of College Stores CAMEX show in Orlando, Fla., reduced to four days from its traditional five. Under the new schedule, the trade show and educational panels will overlap somewhat on Saturday, March 13. 

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