DON'T COUNT THE BOOKSTORES OUT
by Bruce J. Miller


The news that the owner of Publishers Group West was bankrupt hit the bookselling and publishing community like a ton of bricks and mortar, with many small publishers worrying that the capricious pestle of fate would grind them to powder in another kind of mortar. For weeks that was the story everyone was talking about.

While word of Borders Group Inc.'s plans for changes in its business model (see Wall Street Journal, "Borders' Business Plan Gets a Rewrite" By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG) didn't create as much conversation in independent bookselling circles it pointed up once again the corrosive effect of online sales on bookstores. Borders announced it would attempt to sell books themselves rather than through Amazon.com.

As Liz Murphy of the Learned Owl Bookshop in Hudson, Ohio recently pointed out to me, the independents had "learned how to deal with competition from the chains," but the acceleration of online sales is a more difficult problem. The Learned Owl and others like it continue to have strong sales, but in the present environment no "over the counter" booksellers, chain or independent, are jumping for joy.

The Miller Brothers remember when the discounter Crown Books first opened, and the best argument to Indies for ordering from university and literary presses was "the chains won't have it." It was a strong argument that often won the day.

Then came Amazon, a sexy listing service that included virtually everything from heavily promoted Big-Press trade books to the most obscure scholarly titles. The fact that Amazon's profit on book sales was virtual mattered not to those who chose to click on an icon rather than walk across the street to order from their local store or check their "stacks," to borrow a phrase from the old-fashioned library.

So, many of us felt resigned to the idea that one could not kill the Beast--not with excellent service, not with inventory, and certainly not with discounts--who can compete with a triumphant technology?

The Trachtenberg article tells us that online book sales rose from 2% to 13% of the market from 1998--2006. I cannot argue with his contention that "traditional book retailers are shrinking" while "online and nonbookstore retailers are gaining." But I'm quite certain that the average book reader would be shocked to learn that, even now, all online sales from all sources constitute a relatively small percentage of total book sales. Not only that, but the American Booksellers Association figures show a resurgence of new independent stores opening, a small but significant counter-trend.

And that brings me to my main point: there are many people out there who love bookstores, and the more interesting and unusual the mix of titles, the farther that love will go. The juxtaposition of books from Random House and trade books from, say, Duke University Press, can only delight those who love to pick from the stacks. A bookstore that carries a mix of scholarly and small press titles will impress the browsing public and ultimately make up in sales and customer loyalty what the store may have lost in discount points.

Last week I called on Read Between the Lynes (the owner is Arlene Lynes) in Woodstock, IL. I emerged from the store just as three women, two in their late 40's, one in her 20's, were walking towards the coffee shop next door: "oh look!" said one of the women, "a bookstore!" The three of them were genuinely surprised and delighted, and they went in to take a look.

PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY 4-2-07


Boombox
Gabriel Cohen. Academy Chicago, $15.95 paper (230p) ISBN 978-0-89733-558-4

Cohen's impressive second novel abandons the gritty waterfront of his Edgar-nominated debut, Red Hook, in favor of a rapidly gentrifying nook a few stops up the F train line.

Shortly after 9/11 in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill, Jamel Wilson, a 16-year-old father and high school dropout who finds a sense of pride in his fast food gig, wants to listen to music in his courtyard, but his recreation is a profound irritation to his demographically diverse neighbors, each with domestic dramas of their own.

Carol Fasone lives with her racist mother and Bosnian husband, Milosz, whom she's putting through engineering school.

Mitchell Brett, a bored accountant, and his attractive but troubled wife, Kristin, are trying to have a child.

Grace Howard, a West Indian lady, is a workaholic at a downtown insurance company hoping for a big promotion and some romance.

Jamel's mother, Melba, sells real estate and struggles to keep Jamel off the streets.

But when tempers flare over the loud music, the cops are of little help and the situation turns volatile. Despite an unsurprising climax, Cohen's tight plot, complex characters and vibrant cityscape create a convincing slice of urban life. (July)

Library Journal, 4/1/07

Haile, Rebecca G. Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia. Academy Chicago. May 2007. c.200p. ISBN 0-89733-556-2 [ISBN 978-0-89733-556-0]. pap. $17.95. AUTOBIOG
Haile's memoir traces her family's emigration from Ethiopia to the United States in the mid-1970s, a journey that led to her return 25 years later. The author's father was an academic who served in the Ethiopian parliament after the coup that toppled Emperor Haile Selassie. However, he was persecuted under the new regime, which forced him and his family (Haile was 11 years old at the time) to flee to the United States and eventually to central Minnesota. The book is chiefly about Haile's return to Ethiopia, as she attempts to reconcile and process the harsh realities and issues that still plague the country and her relatives who continue to live there. This engaging read provides a compelling face to the story of Ethiopia today, a country of 75 million people and with an immigrant representation across the United States. The book is also a good companion piece to Barak Obama's Dreams of My Father, which also explores African family history. Haile, a graduate of HarvardLawSchool living in New York City, includes a helpful glossary of Ethiopian words and phrases and notable historic figures. Recommended for public or academic libraries with strong African history or biography collections.-Joslyn Jones, Oak Park P.L., IL