Surprise! St. Valentine’s Day is this coming Monday! It’s not too late to run by the grocery store Monday evening and buy that big heart shaped balloon and some wilted flowers, but here’s a better idea . . . books. I could list all of the reasons why books are a great idea but I think you know all of that stuff.

Here’s another idea if you want to go all out. Have you heard about our First Editions Club? Here’s the deal – once a month we either send you (or in this case your loved one) our featured signed first edition, or you can come pick it up and present the special book personally every month. What are the books? Well, it depends, they are always something special though, a hot literary book like Cold Mountain or a huge bestselling mystery like John Grisham. Sometimes we have even picked great pieces of non-fiction like say Willie Morris or Curtis Wilkie. This month we’re excited to have a really great literary work by Irishman Joseph O’Connor, you can read all about his new book Ghost Light on our blog here.

To see what else we have picked so far for 2011, click here.

A review of 2010 picks and the stories behind each pick can be found here.

This time of the year bookstores are visited by publisher sales representatives to sell the next season’s books, now mostly May-September. While trying to figure out the present book business upheaval, I ask myself this question: Is the publisher going to support independent book selling? I feel that the publisher might actually need good independent bookstores now, perhaps more than anytime since the 80s.

The publisher sales rep is the independent’s voice to the publisher and that same rep is the publisher’s voice to the bookstore. Now more than ever, this role is important. Last week, I worked with Liz Sullivan, our very fine Random House rep. (One of three–their other great reps are Toni Hetzel and Sarah Nasif.) We discussed her value as the link in helping the independent bookstore make judgments that affect both sides drastically, especially in using the art of selling to prevent costly mistakes for both her concerned customers–bookseller and publisher.

Think about the concept of the publisher’s sales rep as a publisher’s customer. I think it’s an interesting idea. (The publisher must sell the sales rep good books at a sales conference so the rep can pass the correct knowledge on to the bookstore.)

Rodney Crowell kicked off his bookstore tour in January for Chinaberry Sidewalks at Lemuria. Made possible by Liz’s savvy match-making of bookstore to author, Lemuria’s community of readers were captivated at the event.

Most Lemuria customers are unaware as to how much a good sales rep affects our local community’s reading. Her association with Lemuria affects Lemuria’s association to Jackson’s readers. Liz’s behind the scene work affects the authors and the inventory quality for which you the reader get to choose from and experience first hand. Liz’s job is to inform us of the best books for Lemuria and our job is to present them to you. Working together, our job is one of editing to bring a great selection of books to you, our readers.

Liz encouraged us to read The Invisible Bridge; Lemurians and customers will attest that this was a wise choice. Invisible Bridge is still one of our most popular books in the fiction room. We wrote more than one blog for this one, but here is one.

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The point of all this is to make you aware of how valuable the publisher is in enabling the bookstore to survive and create a joint identity for reading in their local communities. Lemuria is fortunate in that we get to “make” books; sometimes Lemuria is the first step in introducing many authors not only to Jackson but also to our region. We want Jackson and Mississippi to continue to be a hot bed for literary events, magnetizing our region with the best books for each season. Why shouldn’t great writers and great books evolve out of Mississippi?

Lemuria’s close work with Random House/Crown enabled Mississippians to get the most out of this important book with our sneak previews and events with Curtis Wilkie.  Zeus was one of six books we worked on with Random House to secure for our First Editions Club 2010.

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Another question I ask: Where would e-reading books be if authors, reps, publishers and bookstores were not in sync and vital? E-books could be the best invention to re-establish the need for good bookstores and good publisher reps. Does this sound strange? Not to me, more people may be reading in January/February 2011 than in a long time and I hope they are enjoying good books in whatever format they choose to read them. If readers enjoy what they are reading, they read more.

For March of this year, we have been working intensely on these two debut novelists, Téa Obreht and Karen Russell, both of whom are already receiving copious amounts of national praise. Lemurians loved reading both of these books. As a result of Toni and Liz’s work, we picked them for our First Editions Club and secured author visits with Karen Russell and Téa Obreht in late March. Lemurians could not even wait until Swamplandia came out; Kaycie and Zita were blogging about it in 2010. (Many thanks to Toni and Liz!)

Will more readers cause more excitement to be created about authors visiting Mississippi? As far as e-books go, at present Lemuria has no desire to sell e-books and may never, but who knows what the winds of change or what the future will bring.

However, I can assure you that Liz and the Lemuria staff worked hard last week to associate Random House through Lemuria with the goal of giving Jackson the best possible book selection. We strove to arrange prime author appearances (regional and national) for our local community and Mississippi. Enjoy reading and loving books. It’s a decent way to live.

The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry

Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

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Hey Guys–

Since girls and girl reading selections now dominate the fiction room, we guy Lemurians have to decided to launch our certified guy reading club monthly selection. Suggestions will be picked only by the male Lemurians (now Mark, Joe and John). Each month one of us will pick a favorite to feature, with the hope of providing a good fun reading experience.

Our monthly guy book fix will be called Martini Soup. We hope as you read our list, your stew pot will be full of some good meaty reading. Also, we suggest these fine books to be read with a stiff martini (straight up or on the rocks) by your side, and of course, Cathead vodka to be the beverage of choice.

Without question, Jim Harrison is our first author of choice. Our baptism fiction is his 1978 novella Revenge included in his immortal Legends of the Fall. What more can I say to kick this club off, but–

“Revenge is a dish better served cold.”

-Old Sicilian adage

To read or reread is our proposition. While following our club, find new jewels or revisit old favorites. John picked first, Joe and Mark will follow and then the list will grow as it will. We welcome your suggestions and comments. Let’s have some fun.

P.S. We welcome you gals to read along if you like stiff drinks while you read.

-John

This link will lead you to all of our editions of Legends at Lemuria. The one pictured above is a first edition signed (1979).  To get his memorable voice in mind, enjoy the audio file of Jim Harrison reading from The Beast God Forgot to Invent and a poem, “In the Old Days,” at Lemuria in 2000.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was somewhat caught up on my work this past Saturday. After lunchtime traffic, I decided to check out Borders. In response to my Tuesday local market Bookstore Key blog, I thought I might start relaying my perceptions.

I don’t know much about the Borders national restructuring yet. However, I can make some observations about the present local business model.

When entering Borders, I was immediately greeted by a vanity author welcoming me to the store. She seemed determined to intercept all visitors. I’m not faulting the author but the store management. At times, I feel I’ve let Lemuria be taken advantage of by dominating-self-centered authors “hawking their books.” I’ve always considered this rude to my regular reader customers. So now, I promise we will do a better job of keeping this sales tactic under control within Lemuria.

Back to my analysis. In January, bookstore inventory is usually light (returns begin and inventory replacement can be cumbersome). However, it’s not too difficult to keep your prime picks and your customers main desires on hand.

At the end of December, Borders announced it was going to suspend payment to publishers of their owed bills. Some publishers responded by suspending book shipments. My impression of Borders inventory, as I walked around, was that it was very light. Knowing that analyzing publishers book representations in such a big store is difficult, I was still struck by the lack of dominating store presence by local market titles. The Help (Penguin) was in quantity. However, I did not see Bush or Zeus (Random House) stacked up in the front.

Trying to figure out which publishers were playing hard ball with Borders was also difficult, but I began to form inclinations. I suspect the wholesalers, Ingram in particular, are supplying Borders, demanding immediate payment. My guess is the withheld publisher payments are being used to buy negotiating time and channeling those funds to the wholesalers. Publishers are not being paid while wholesalers are?

Saturday at 6:30 on my way home from work, I browsed Barnes & Noble. It seems down scaling of the physical book inventory is well underway. Already, I see expanded children’s activity sections, larger product displays, puzzles and multiple sideline gimmicks. I don’t think I’m deceiving myself but it seems in a short month’s time since Christmas, the B & N transition to less real book inventory is well underway.

Please understand this observation is just a limited Saturday viewpoint on the local market. I can tell you with certainty, however, that we at Lemuria are more proud than ever of our standards. We have to started to make our real book selection better edited than it has ever been: from paperback to hardback to signed first edition. We are striving to be more interesting and surprising to our browser while adding increased value to the book purchase. We hope our hard work over the next few months defines our goal.

The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry

Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

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As I begin to grasp how much the book business is changing and contemplating how fast the change will come about, I’ve been pondering the future of Jackson’s local market, wondering what our book selling faceplate will become.

Lemuria in Highland Village, 1986

After 35 years and three locations all inside Jackson’s city limits, I’ve seen a lot of change. The Jackson malls of Northpark and Metrocenter had at one time five bookstores between them. Today neither of them has a bookstore. The big stores came to Jackson in the 90s–Books-a-Million across the street and Barnes and Noble on County Line–both of them very close to Lemuria. The 2000s were marked by a shift into the Jackson Metro area with Borders and Barnes & Nobles on the move. Metro area book selling has boomed while the local Jackson market has been drained.

Increased competition can be good for our desire to enhance business quality and performance. However, product shifting and an overall shrinking market make it difficult for customer growth in terms of increasing satisfaction.

We know we are in the midst of an intense change. We look into our crystal ball as we try to predict how all this change will play out for Jackson book buyers and Lemuria’s solid book readers.

Here are some questions we are asking ourselves:

1. Will Borders close or restructure itself into a new business model, de-emphasizing books as their main product and thus discouraging book browsing?

2. Will Barnes & Noble use all their square footage to build a great physical inventory and swamp their competition? Or will they diversify into marketing e-reading so strongly that they emphasize more department store type merchandise?

3. Will B & N and Borders come together to become a new dinosaur, merging into a new entity?

4. How many more nonbook items can Books-a-Million add to their square-footage? I’m sure some but how much more value will they add to their physical book inventory? Will Books-a-Million move outside Jackson and into the metro area?

As answers unfold to our questions, we will begin to decipher how our Lemuria will be altered. For 35 years we have been a Jackson institution, one for which I am proud and I hope my efforts represent my pride and desire for enhanced reading quality. For real book lovers, we are challenging ourselves to improve our service to you. Hard times are ahead and hard decisions will be made.

As we progress to Spring, we hope to share with you our interpretations of this ‘Big Swoop” of change. Our hope is for Lemuria to emerge from its challenges as a stronger institution for Jackson, a bookstore you can still be proud to bring “out-of-towners” to browse and enjoy, maybe in the future more than ever.

The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry

Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

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As you can imagine, Lemurians have been reading a lot about changes in book selling. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but there is one theme that comes up again and again: relationships.

“Madeline MacIntosh, who is Random House’s president for sales, operations, digital, has worked for both Amazon and book publishers, and finds the two strikingly different. ‘I think we, as an industry, do a lot of talking,’ she said of publishers. ‘We expect to have open dialogue. It’s a culture of lunches. Amazon doesn’t play in that culture.’ It has ‘an incredible discipline of answering questions by looking at the math, looking at the numbers, looking at the data . . . That’s a pretty big culture clash with the word-and-persuasion-driven lunch culture, the author-oriented culture.'” (“Publish or Perish” by Ken Auletta, The New Yorker, April 26, 2010)

Jane Friedman, formed CEO of Harper Collins, has opened up her very own e-book company. Despite her shift to the e-book, she still recognizes the importance of developing relationships with authors as well as the concern that Amazon could take on a wider role as publisher: “An author needs a publisher for nurturing, editing, distributing, and marketing. If the publishers are cutting back on marketing, which is the biggest complaint authors have, and Amazon stays at eighty per cent of the e-book market, why do you need a publisher?” (“Publish or Perish” by Ken Auletta, The New Yorker, April 26, 2010)

Laurence Kirshbaum, a New York Literary agent, echoes Jane Friedman and Random House’s Madeline MacIntosh: “‘Writers like Anne Tyler and Elmore Leonard have to simmer quite a bit before they are going to boil. Publishers no longer have the patience to work through multiple modest successes . . . There is a real danger these people could be lost today.'” (“Authors Feel the Pinch in Age of E-Books”, The Wallstreet Journal, September 26, 2010)

However, there seems to be no lack of patience and nurturing in Amy Einhorn’s relationship with the up and coming author Siobhan Fallon. Read what Fallon wrote on her blog in November: “The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I received an email telling me that I was going on a “Pre-Pub” trip to meet some important indie booksellers. Denver, Boston, Seattle, LA. . . . Here we all are worrying the publishing industry, and yet the very savvy publicity people at Putnam have decided to send a very un-savvy first-book-of-short-stories-writer (short stories!?!) off on a little cross country adventure, with drivers waiting at airports, nice hotels, and restaurant dinners booked. You must think I am delusional. Yes, shake your head and tell me again that this kind of stuff just doesn’t happen in today’s publishing world. But, by some incredible miracle, this is all about indie bookstores. Indie bookstores are making my writing dreams come true.” (Read full blog here.)

Publishers establishing and maintaining good relationships with authors helps independent bookstores. The more authors and publishers work together, and the more publishers and independent bookstores work together the more books we can sell. There is a series of neurological connections created here–passed from author to publisher to bookseller to reader–resulting in an experience for the reader. You see the beginning of this in Siobhan Fallon’s case.

A book is a rather long term commitment. You don’t read it in 60 seconds. You spend days, weeks, maybe even months with this author, this physical book. And once you have finished reading, it stays with you forever. I think our society may have reached the end of its consumer binge. Many customers are waking up and they’re demanding community, customization and experience–not just a download, not just a cheap book. There is talk of Amazon opening their own brick-and-mortar stores to supposedly provide community, customization and experience. Which independent bookseller has already been doing this for years? It’s time for publishers and independent bookstores to do some serious work together.

The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry

Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

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As mentioned below Borders has been in the news a good bit in the last two weeks. It seems that they’ve had a great deal of trouble keeping in good standing with publishers. Well, the announcement came out yesterday that they are finally meeting with publisher representatives this afternoon – so we’ll be expecting an announcement, or some news late today.

In the same breath they announced that they are closing one of their distribution centers, the one in LaVergne Tennessee. Apparently the Tennessee distribution center is one of three or four – they have a large center in California another in Pennsylvania, but only the one in the south. Of course this sounds like bad news for Borders (and of course it’s horrible news for the 300 employees who lost jobs) but what does it mean to the larger book industry? And to southern retail bookselling? Well, two things, one: LaVergne is also the location of the major southern distribution center for Ingram. Ingram is one of the two big book distributors in the South. So will Borders be handicapped when it comes to getting books quickly from Ingram? But secondly, and more importantly, this means that Borders is severely handicapping their southern efforts – maybe even giving up the south. If they are planning to close more stores, and it seems almost guaranteed that they will, then does the closing of the southern distribution center mean that many of the closings will be in the South? Does this mean that Books-a-Million will be changing their strategy as well? How will this effect independent bookselling in the South?

The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry

Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

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With the widespread use of e-books, the book business is in a state of tremendous change. Authors, professionals in the publishing industry, book sellers, independent bookstore owners, CEOs of the big bookstore chains, and readers have all been left with an abundance of questions as we go through this exciting paradigm shift.

Borders has consistently been in the headlines since the New Year due to the fact that they cannot pay their bills to the publishers. And now the publishers must decide how they will handle the situation, which is no small feat since every other bookstore will expect any grace that Border receives.

The brick and mortar bookstore is being challenged like never before. What will bookstores that sell e-readers do with all the square footage? The marketing emphasis is on the e-book, no longer the physical book. It seems a major overhaul is overdue for the big box bookstores.

How do authors react to the e-book? Seth Godin, a Lemuria favorite, says his next book will only exist in e-format. Do all authors only want to read and publish books this way? We don’t think so. Authors also feel the financial pinch of the e-book. While many unknown writers may have a better chance to get published, established authors are seeing a fraction of the advances they typically received. One has to ask how does this influences the quality and respect for literature. Will authors rally to preserve bookstores?

This leaves independent bookstores in particular with many more questions: Will publishers give bookstores the information and tools to help preserve the hard back read? Will publisher sales reps go to bat to preserve their stores and keep reading vital? Will marketing become more credible and more important to the independent book seller? Will the publishers recognize a need for real book selling, word of mouth in our stores and on our web presence?

Will all these changes make readership grow? As the demand of maximizing our reading time increases, will these changes add more value to our lives?

This time is very exciting for our industry. Change is now. Lemuria has the opportunity to redefine itself to you, our customer. As the spring unfolds, we will be blogging our take on all things concerning book selling.

We want you, our readers, to stay informed and have the ability to voice your concerns and questions. We also invite authors, publishers and their reps, editors, anyone who has a stake as changes unfold to follow-up with any comments.

The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry

Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

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What are you working on?

Answer: A small book, the next Theodore Boone. I’ll finish it early next year and it will be published around June 1. I usually get bored on my birthday, February 8, and start writing another big book.

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Is The Confession the first legal thriller published in the Fall? Why?

Answer: Yes. To sell books. One/third of all books are sold during the Christmas season and Doubleday has always wanted to test the market at this time of the year. So, this is an experiment. If sales are up, I might do it again. If not, I’d love to go back to an early Spring publishing schedule.

6.        What are you working on?

        Answer:  A small book, the next Theodore Boone.  I'll finish it
early next year         and it will be published around June 1.  I usually
get bored on my birthday,         February 8, and start writing another big
book.

7.        Is The Confession the first legal thriller published in the Fall?
Why?

        Answer:  Yes. To sell books.  One/third of all books are sold during
the         Christmas season and Doubleday has always wanted to test the market
at this time         of the year.  So, this is an experiment.  If sales are up, I
might do it again.          If not, I'd love to go back to an early Spring6.        What are you working on?          Answer:  A small book, the next Theodore Boone.  I'll finish it early next year         and it will be published around June 1.  I usually get bored on my birthday,         February 8, and start writing another big book.   7.        Is The Confession the first legal thriller published in the Fall? Why?          Answer:  Yes. To sell books.  One/third of all books are sold during the         Christmas season and Doubleday has always wanted to test the market at this time         of the year.  So, this is an experiment.  If sales are up, I might do it again.          If not, I'd love to go back to an early Spring publishing schedule.
publishing schedule.

It’s funny that since I started working at Lemuria I never get any books for Christmas.  To remedy that situation through the years I have just bought myself a few.  I guarantee that there will be a few under the tree with a card that say Merry Christmas Maggie…Love, SC!   This year I thought I might let you all know a few books that I’m interested in just in case the Christmas spirit might move one of you to help me out!!!

Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

This is the new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.  I usually like to read a classic after the first of the year and have decided that this is the one.  The fact it has been translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky is really the main reason I chose it.  I have read some of their other translations and have really enjoyed them.  I’m embarrassed to let you know that I have never read this book but alas I have only seen the movie.  The time is now!

Hellhound On His Trail by Hampton Sides

When this book came in I really wasn’t interested in reading it but I have had way to many of you telling me how good this is.  This book is about what James Earl Ray ( or rather his alter egos)  and Martin Luther King were doing in the days leading up to Kings assassination.

Spirit of New Orleans by Bruce Keyes

When I look through this photography book of New Orleans it just makes me feel like I am in NOLA.  The photographs just take me back to some experiences I have had myself and I know you have too.  I also think that it will look fantastic on my coffee table!!!

Thanks and hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Maggie