BTW News Briefs

April 16, 2008

NEIBA Calls for Rusty Drugan Scholarship Nominations

The New England Independent Booksellers Association is accepting nominations for the Rusty Drugan Scholarship for Emerging Leaders, which is awarded annually in memory of Wayne "Rusty" Drugan, NIEBA executive director from 1992 to 2006. The scholarship includes three nights at the NEIBA Trade Show Headquarters Hotel and two tickets to each meal function.

Applicants must presently be working full-time in a NEIBA member bookstore and have been working for at least a year. Candidates may apply directly for the scholarship or be nominated by others in the book industry. Self-nominators should send a resume and must describe in detail their background and reasons for interest in the award.

Other nominators should indicate in detail why he or she is nominating the candidate. Nominations/applications must include all the following information for both the applicant and the nominator: Name, Store Name, Current Position, and Store Address. Nominations should be submitted by e-mail to nan@neba.org. Submissions must be received by June 27 to be considered.

Beacon Press to Publish Series on Free Speech History

Beacon Press has announced plans for a series of books about the history of freedom of speech in the U.S. to be edited by Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and Brian Halley of Beacon Press.

A statement from Beacon Press said the series "will explore the widespread denial of free speech during the first 150 years of our history; the emergence of an organized fight for free speech in the years after World War I, and the many battles that have been fought over free speech in recent years."

Books in the series will be approximately 65,000 words and will be intended mainly for a popular audience. Potential authors include historians, journalists, and people who work for the growing number of organizations that defend free speech.

Finan, who is the author of Beacon's From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America, will have primary responsibility for soliciting and reviewing proposals. Halley will acquire and edit the books.

Authors interested in submitting proposals for the new free speech series should contact Finan at finan@mindspring.com.

National Park Association Leases Blue Heron Bookstore

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association (CVNPA) will lease Blue Heron Bookstore in Peninsula, Ohio, beginning the end of this month. On April 15, Blue Heron co-owner Debbie D'Andrea announced that store operations would remain the same through April 20, but then the bookstore will head in a new direction, with a name change, new inventory, and a focus on local, environmental nature, health, and children's educational books.

D'Andrea noted that, since its inception, Blue Heron has worked cooperatively with the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the CVNPA, and the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to develop programs and events of interest to the community, park visitors, and residents of the surrounding areas. "Because of our location, which is central to the CVNP, we found that many visitors believed us to be a park store," she said. "We became information central for everything from local biking and hiking trails to the CVSR train schedule and reservation procedures. The Blue Heron makes the perfect locale and venue for the CVNPA's initiative of building awareness, participation, and support for the CVNP."

Online Sales Expected to Climb Despite Struggling Economy

According to The State of Retailing Online 2008, the 11th annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research, Inc., online retail will continue growing, with retail sales increasing 17 percent this year to $204 billion. Apparel ($26.6 billion), computers ($23.9 billion), and autos ($19.3 billion) will be the largest three sales categories.

As the number of people new to the Internet begins to wane, online retailers are constantly struggling between investing in strategies that retain current customers or those that attract new ones. According to the report, online retailers allocate 53 percent of their marketing budgets to online customer acquisition and 21 percent of marketing dollars to online customer retention. However, retailers are finding that traditional acquisition programs such as search engine or affiliate marketing may also serve as retention tools that attract existing customers as well as new shoppers.

According to the survey, retailers report that search engine marketing continues to be the most effective way to reach new customers, citing 35 percent of sales coming from that initiative. In addition, though free shipping offers have proven to get some consumers over the obstacle of shopping online in the past, the study showed that retailers are less interested in promoting free shipping options this year.

Lightning Source UK Expands

Lightning Source Inc. announced this week that Lightning Source UK is moving to a newer, larger facility to accommodate its rapid expansion. "Publishers are seeing phenomenal success integrating Lightning Source print on demand into their traditional supply chain models," said J. Kirby Best, president and CEO of Lightning Source Inc. "We are ... thrilled to not only expand our operation, but build upon the wonderful achievements our publisher partners are realizing."

Lightning Source has acquired Chapter House, an 88,000-square-foot facility in Milton Keynes for its new location. The new building offers a production and distribution area of approximately 60,000 square feet, compared to 12,000 square feet of production space in the current location. The Lightning Source UK division will maintain full production at current service levels during the move into the new building, which is expected to be completed this summer.

The expansion of the Lightning Source U.K. location comes on the heels of the opening of Lightning's third facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 2007.

BISG to Hold 5th Making Information Pay Conference

The Book Industry Study Group will be holding its fifth annual Making Information Pay Conference on May 9 at the McGraw-Hill Auditorium in New York City. The conference will focus on the role of experimentation in an evolving publishing industry and will include a presentation by Todd Anderson from the University of Alberta bookstore on the Espresso Book Machine.

Speck Press Moves to Fulcrum Publishing

Effective May 1, Speck Press titles will no longer be distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution. Trade distribution of Speck Press titles will be handled exclusively by Fulcrum Publishing, which purchased the press in the fall of 2007.

Topics: News - Bookselling,