Canada’s dominant book retailer Indigo has informed publishers of new recyled paper guidelines that “will require publishers to use an average of 20% post-consumer recycled paper for uncoated books and 10% for coated books, starting this fall. Those levels will then climb to 50% (for coated and uncoated books) after five years. Indigo has also set benchmarks for magazine vendors, and has vowed to reduce its own internal paper usage by 25%,” Quill & Quire reports. A consulting company Indigo worked with indicates that “publishers will not be punished for failing to meet the new benchmarks” but those who do […]
Bookstores
Indie Community
A group of New York City-booksellers has officially announced the formation of the Independent Booksellers of New York City. “Member stores must primarily sell books, have a storefront that is open to the public, and be located within one of the five boroughs.” They will promote NYC stores to the public and serve as a professional support group and advocate to publishers and lawmakers on behalf of bookseller concerns.http://ibnyc.org/ Separately, the ABA has launched a web site to organize an online community around independent community-based retailers of all kinds of merchandise, including books, around the country.IndieBoundCommunity.org
"Happy Bookseller" to Close
Columbia, SC-based Happy Bookseller, “the city’s most well-known independent bookstore,” will close in October. The paper reports that owners Andy and Carrie Graves mailed customers with the news last week. “We’re very sad this is all going to end. The reality is we don’t have a choice.” They add: “Sales peaked in 1993, Andy Graves said. They have been steadily declining but the last four to five years have been particularly hard, he said.” Rhett Jackson started the store in 1974 and solve it to Andy Graves, an employee, in 1996. Jackson says, “I babied that and loved it and […]
Personnel, Bookstores, and Distribution
Mary Cummings, former administrator of the McKnight Award in Children’s Literature and organizer of the Festival of Children’s Literature at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, will be representing children’s books in association with Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises. Hollan Publishing’s principals Holly Schmidt and Allan Penn have joined with literary agent Lori Perkins to form Literary Partners Group, which is launching an online publishing company called Ravenous Romance. They will publish daily novel-length erotic romances, as well as lunchtime short stories, in e-book and downloadable MP3 format, starting December 1. Schmidt says in an announcement “we will succeed by producing […]
The Billionaire and the Bookstore
Apparently folks on Nantucket are trying hard to find some kind of dark side to Wendy Schmidt (wife of Google ceo Eric Schmidt) and her support for local businesses–including her saving of Mitchell’s Book Corner. “Nantucket philanthropists do not, as a rule, stick their noses into the business of running the town. Last year, Wendy Schmidt changed that. She donated land for a transit hub, then saved the bookstore. Now she’s talking about saving other local businesses, at least ones that she and her advisers deem worthy of preservation, and, in doing so, she may be changing the face of […]
Plus: Skylight for Kids; More "Guernsey" and Announcements
Skylight’s new next-door space Skylight Books 1814 “allows us to expand a number of our sections into the new store, but also expand and better display things in our existing store, including the children’s section and the fiction section,” co-owner Kerry Slattery tells the LAT. After a soft opening last month, on Saturday they “are throwing an opening gala Saturday that is equal parts coming-out party and thank-you celebration for the community.” Slattery notes, “When we opened 12 years ago, we were debating if we would even have a children’s section, because it seemed to be mostly older people and […]