The children’s bookstore connected to Newtonville Books The Lizard Tale, in Newton, MA is up for sale. Newtonville Books owner Mary Cotton notes, “We just renewed the lease, so we can pursue this sale in a leisurely manner with the hope of finding someone whose passion for children’s literature matches my passion for adult literature and the literary programming we provide the community through Newtonville Books.”
The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association has given voice to the concerns of their members in an open letter to publishers: “Restricting field reps to large stores will give publishers a skewed view of what is a very diverse world–independent bookselling.” And the group underscores, “without a doubt, we are not ordering as much through telemarketing…. The vicious cycle is that we buy less because we don’t have sales reps, and then you devalue our business because we aren’t buying as much as we used to.”
Among the things they value: “We learn about other stores from them, what others are reading and loving; what is selling; marketing tips; event ideas; what the publisher is doing; and what authors have books coming out in the next season. They make fans for authors out of our frontline booksellers.”
They suggest other, better ways for publishers to save money: “Cut multiple ARC mailings. Do away with promotional gimmicks that go from mailbox to garbage can.”