World Book Night - Think Globally. Act Locally.

Calling All (unshy) Book Lovers!
Only two more days to sign up as a Book Giver for this year's World Book Night on 23 April 2012.  Do it!

http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/

Out of the thirty chosen titles for this inaugural USA event, there must be one that you would like to pass along. If you have yet to read that special book you're giving away, come in to Books on First with your commitment and we will give you 20% off to get you started and ready by Monday, 23 April.

And here's start this year's event with a bang -- a wonderful short from UK's last year World Book Night:  When I saw it at the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute 7 in New Orleans where Julia Kingsford (?), head of the World Book Night organization in the UK, presented it to us, I was moved beyond words.  I love the editing, especially the finish with Stanley Tucci and Hayley Atwell's recitation of the lyrics of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)."  What a kick-off for book lovers:

Traveling with a Printed Bound Book

Traveling has many benefits, as well as complaints. Along the way, we discover that printed bound books trump electronic devices when it comes to traveling facetime. Our great proprietor-manager could read (if he were not busy lamenting our losing the war to terrorists) his printed bound book while standing in the very long security check line. He could hold it open with one hand. He could stuff it in his carry-on bag when he needed to remove his shoes.

On board, he does not have to turn off his printed bound book while the plane taxies towards the proper runway and takes off. And, at O'Hare, "taxiing to the runway" is a good ten-minute ride, time enough to finish a few pages. When the plane begins its descent, along with tray tables up and seat backs returned to their original position, all electronic devices must be turned off. Someone with a printed bound book can continue to read until until the flight attendants prepare for "de-planing," a good twenty-five minutes later.

Booksellers gather in one of our favorite cities, New Orleans. The weather has been great although a cab driver from Chechnya says it's too humid and dreams of moving to San Diego. There are great restaurants patronized by locals and visitors alike, like Herbsainte on St Charles and Arnaud's in the French Quarter.

Beignets and chicory coffee at Cafe du Monde is all about the atmosphere which makes the hot fried dough and 1/2 lb of confectioner's sugar washed down with equally hot purplish-black coffee taste better than ever, even as you feel your arteries clogging.

Ann Patchett gives a keynote speech on the first morning on how she became a bookseller and she charms us all, even me, who has been unwilling to admit her into the ranks of hardworking, long-suffering booksellers.  For all the books Larry has read, he has not read one of the thirty titles chosen for the USA's inaugural World Book Night, on 23 April 2012 (hurry and sign up to be a Book Giver).  I am very surprised.  "Not even Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried?" I ask in wonderment.  He has chosen to read Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, enjoying it, of course.

Jeremy Davenport, a cousin of a good customer here in Dixon, does his thing on weekend nights at his eponymous lounge in the Ritz Carlton.  We go to his 5:30pm Thursday show.  He plays a little trumpet, sings a little, urges on Aaron, his alto saxophonist.  We buy his CD which the waitress gets signed -- the cover, not the CD itself, to Ruby, our granddaughter.  We are disappointed to find that there is not alto sax on the CD.  Aaron's mother sits by us, celebrating her birthday.  We mistaken her for his sister or his girlfriend until Jeremy introduces her.  Let's just say she does not look her age which is somewhere between your truly's and Proprietor-Manager's.

We hear about snowstorms all over the north: Seattle, Iowa, Pennsylvania, all moving east.  We debate about leaving the booksellers' educational conference early.  New Orleans on Friday is a beautiful 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  We come down on the wrong side and find out our flight is cancelled and we are re-routed to Miami.  No worries.  We enjoy grilled oysters on a half-shell at Acme Oyster Bar at the airport, and arrive home to Walton, IL in Lee County at 3:30am.

I am really unprepared for what I should be learning at "WI7," as this conference is called -- everything I can about ebooks -- "NTA" (Nook to Android) cards, Adobe Digital Reader Edition,...My head whirls.  We still have kinks in the selling of gift cards online.  We WILL get this ebook selling down.  Kindle remains off limits, but who cares?  Still people talk about traveling with a dozen books tucked inside an 8lb mobile device, and yet how can one beat a printed bound book which doesn't need to be switched off in the landing approach?  And, if a slightly bumpy patch results in a little OJ spilled on the cover?  Who cares?  Remember, you can't short-circuit wood pulp.

Hail to the New Ambassador for Youth Reading

Walter Dean Myers is best known for his harsh, urban grit writing for young adults, touching on the pressure of gangs, the plight of broken families, the grimness of poverty and lack of legitimate opportunity, the horror of prison, and the loneliness of being different.  He will be our next Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a position which was created in 2008 and is chosen by a committee formed by two groups: the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Children’s Book Council, a trade association for children’s book publishers.  It was first held -- and thus defined and pioneered by Jon Scieszka, a young children's author best known for Trucktown and then, by Katherine Paterson, best known for Bridge to Terabithia.  He is championing early reading advocacy by parents and other family members, citing his mother's love of true romance magazines.  As a baby, he listened and watched his mother with finger on the page, slowly but surely reading aloud to him.  By four, says Myers, he could read to her as she ironed clothes.  Sigh!  What a story. 

Growing up in my household, my older sister and I were obsessed with reading, to the detriment of doing more useful tasks, like setting and clearing the dining table.  To be able to go to the Village of Babylon Public Library was a treat.  I loved visiting my maternal grandparents' apartment, because my three aunts (some fourteen to sixteen years younger than my mother and thus, only a decade or so older than I) had left books galore on the shelves, including Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, from which I learned at a tender age all about show business, pill popping, sex, mental retardation which does not preclude a singing career or need for sex and breast cancer, and Edith Hamilton's Mythology, from which I gained major knowledge about the Greek and Roman gods.  From the West Babylon High School library, I signed out anything and everything, discovering the OSS, Wendell Willkie and Phillip K Dick.  I also translated what I saw on screen to sought-after reading material.  Just like today's movie goer looking to read Harry Potter or Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games, I wanted to know where my favorite movie (which I saw on television) Guys and Dolls came from, which is how I discovered Damon Runyon. 

My world has narrowed somewhat as I am not as patient with writers or unhappy endings as I once was.  Anyone can take credit for my love of Georgette Heyer, especially my first -- Frederica, since I can't seem to remember when I first happened upon this great English Regency-era writer, from whom all of today's romance writers owe much.  All in all, I applaud the appointment of Myers (as I applaud the position of "Ambassador for Young Adult Literature") and wish him every good fortune in continuing the work of getting more people to read.

A Bookseller Writes…

I share with you a profoundly thought-out response to the question,"What is the future of books?" And if publishers want to continue publishing books, how do they propose to distribute them? There is a place in the future for brick-n-mortar bookstores, but who determines it?

I feel that Books on First is already very much a "showroom" for books as well as for magazines.  And, we pay for the "demos" through return freight and restocking fees, deep discounted sales below cost for non-returnable copies, and simply non-sales which we donate to the local prison, the local library and troops stationed overseas, but that act of generosity does not pay the rent.  With magazines at least, no one denies that our racks are mere showcases for potential readers. 

I agree that we are long overdue on changing the way publishers do things in this industry.  Printed bound advance reader copies?  They have mistakes in them.  They go out to (one hopes) hundreds of booksellers, book reviewers and others.  So, there is cost of printing, paper and freight.  They should not be printed bound paper copies (even while I personally prefer the bound hardcopy, I know this).  Publishers should consider sending out electronic versions compatible with the IndieBound Reader App or the Google eBook reading format.

It is true that most of the American Booksellers Association/IndieBound's efforts are focused on the electronic book, but that's because it is dedicated to educating would-be booksellers. With limited resources and a group of near-Luddites like myself, it is no wonder to me that IndieBound needs to direct much of the organization's attention to getting members on board with e-books.  However, I agree that its vision is too limited.  Electronic books are not another format, like hardcover versus paperback versus audio (which one can further finely divide into tape cassette, CDs and MP3 recordings) as we were lectured some four years ago.  This is a new format, to be sure, but it is a game-changer.  The internet is a game-changer.  And, let me correct myself, what we're discussing is not a game.  Our trade organization needs to do more.

And for those references to Ben Austen's article "The End of Borders and the Future of Books," I give you the link here: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-end-of-borders-and-the-future-of-books-11102011.html and thank Bloomberg Business Week for enabling the permalink.