Licensing on Mars

By PT Editors
July 1, 2001
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What to say? Eloise gets larger and larger, and the blimp in her likeness lofting about the foyer of the Javits Center will probably be trundled out at the next Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. As for the rest of the Licensing 2001 International show, except for the endless licensing and marketing of dead movie stars, the industry still seems dominated by books — and mostly kids at that. Arthur, Curious George, Rainbow Fish, Clifford, and Tolkien ruled the day, not to mention his highness himself, Harry Potter, who’s beginning to feel as if he’s been around forever and reigned supreme. Not much new there (but happy 100th, Peter Rabbit).

If one is compelled to browse the film- and TV-originated brands, however, one must concede that the star of the show was probably the Butt-Ugly Martians. These winsome creatures are sort of extraterrestrial ninja-turtle knock-offs coming to a TV screen near you this fall, via massive syndication through WB Kids and Fox in the US. Produced by the Just Group in the UK, where they have recently been released and greeted by pandemonium from local youth, the Martians have been snapped up by (who else?) Scholastic for their publishing incarnation. Actually, the Just Group’s recently acquired UK packager/ publisher Marshall Editions (where chairman Richard Harman has just resigned) will produce the books. Action figures and further licensing bounty are just around the corner. Incidentally, the Martian crew gave a fittingly outlandish party at Mars 2112 in Rockefeller Center, featuring gyrating Martians in their appropriate environment, accompanied by at least two Rockettes on loan from Radio City Music Hall across the street.

On the Harry Potter front, there was a curious booth of first-timers (Muggles Magical Toys, Inc.) staffed by Margaret Lynden and her family from St. Paul, Minnesota. Margaret was nicknamed “Muggles” as a child, and the family trademarked (in 1995) the name and was offering an eponymous doll with magical shoes along with ideas for licenses in the apparel and paper products market. They gamely extended the franchise to their own line of t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, school bags, and a book. Declaring themselves to be of honorable intention, they say they have teamed up with Scholastic to beat Nancy Stouffer (of the Larry Potter titles available from Thurman House publishers a/k/a Ottenheimer in Baltimore) at her own game.

Another author coveting a share of licensing manna is Susan Branch, whose hand-lettered and illustrated books are published by Little, Brown. Her licensing is handled by Art Impressions, and Jennifer Vincioni, their licensing manager, reported that after they paid for her book tour (NB!) for Girlfriends Forever — as they correctly surmised that the book’s success would have a direct impact on the sale of their licensed tie-in paper products — their sales catapulted from $80,000 to $300,000 in a year.

First-timers included Arthur Andersen (no cuddly investment-banker dolls are on the market yet; they were just on hand as accountants); attorneys Nixon Peabody (as “brand managers” representing Arthur the irrepressible Aardvark); and Chorion Intellectual Properties, who were there to license the next episodes of Noddy, which they had withdrawn from the BBC, licensors of the first series. And Dave Borgenicht’s packaging operation, Quirk Productions, took a modest booth for the Worst Case Scenario series with Chronicle — watch for the Worst Case Scenario board game coming this fall, among other iterations of this best-case-scenario line.

Another major presence at the show was Consor, which has represented the Vatican Library for some time. This year they’ve gone for broke, with an avalanche of refrigerator magnets, wallpapers, place mats, coasters, and trivets — all extremely tasteful, of course. (What the Vatican is selling is its art collection, so these items were adorned with Ghirlandaio, Carraci, and the like.) You can forget about books, though: there was only an old Turner (sic) Publishing on display.

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International Fiction Bestsellers

By PT Editors
July 1, 2001
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Going Swimmingly
Dawn Dives In Down Under, Mathur Rollicks In India, and Enquist Writes Rx for Germany

Making a defiant splash in Australia this month is the bluntly subtitled Dawn: One Hell of a Life, the self-told tale of Australian swimming legend Dawn Fraser, who was the first athlete in the world to win the same event at three successive Olympic Games — the 100-meter freestyle. Billed in the press as an “outlaw” and “party-girl,” the feisty Fraser was banned from competition for 10 years after she refused to wear the official swimsuit (“I was falling out at the bottom whenever I bent over,” she explained) and was arrested for stealing an Olympic flag, effectively retiring her after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. As she later groused, “If I were swimming today, I’d be pretty close to a billionaire.” After hanging up her swimsuit, however, the former freestyler dove into politics — the publicity folks called it a “remarkable comeback from publican to politician” — and was elected to the New South Wales parliament in 1988. Revered now more than ever in Australia, Fraser weathered a series of tabloid-style setbacks, including the death of her mother in a car accident while Dawn was at the wheel. A first print-run of 65,000 copies is vanishing from bookstores, with customers said to be lugging out five copies at a time. The publisher has gone back to press, and we’re told only New Zealand rights have been sold, leaving all other foreign rights, including the US, up for grabs from Hodder Headline in Australia.

Meanwhile, a film tie-in calls a smash hit back to center stage in India this month, where The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur won praise upon its initial publication in 1991 as a “two-way satire” skewering both American and Indian cultures. Now in its 19th printing, the “earthy, though ribald” story follows the awkward cultural immersion of protagonist Gopal, described as a “hick from an obscure Indian village called Jajau where his family runs a hair oil factory.” Gopal’s year-long visit to America as a chemical engineering student quickly turns riotous (he drinks 37 cans of Coca-Cola on the incoming flight alone), and the slapstick goes into overdrive as Gopal (no doubt a riff on Bhopal) tangles with “beef, beer, and racism” on his quest for that ultimate American commodity: sex. As one reviewer put it, the book “had me smiling on page one, giggling on page two, and laughing out loud by page three, and I didn’t stop there.” As for the film, directed by Chandra Siddartha, one reviewer lamented that “the camera-work is horrendous” but lauded the feature as a “marvelous attempt.” Mathur’s other novels include Making a Minister Smile and Scenes from an Executive’s Life, the latter said to be a study of the typical northern Indian male who finds fame and fortune at a tender age but has not a clue about life. A new novel is expected next year. Contact Renuka Chatterjee at Rupa (via HarperCollins India).

In Canada, poet Michael Redhill’s first novel Martin Sloane has hit pay dirt (though it’s no longer in the top ten), painting a portrait of a “ferociously intelligent” young woman who is inspired by the constructions of an artist named Martin Sloane (who himself is modeled on the reclusive American artist Joseph Cornell and his eccentric boxed assemblages). Praised as “exquisitely crafted” and “remarkably assured,” the book explores the metaphor of the box as it unravels protagonist Jolene’s obsession with the older artist — and her profound sense of loss after he gets up one night and disappears. The 34-year-old Redhill, who serves as managing editor of Brick magazine, is also seeing a book of poems published this year called Light-crossing (House of Anansi), along with a reprint of his 1993 collection Lake Nora Arms. US rights to the new novel have been sold to Little, Brown for publication in 2002, but foreign rights are available. See agent Ellen Levine.

Cartoonist Roberto Fontanarrosa hits Argentina this month with I’ll Tell You More. Translations are a bit dicey, we’re told, as the author pastiches everything from Reader’s Digest to Scientific American, with a bit of García Márquez thrown in for good measure. Fontanarrosa, who was born in 1944, has published more than 60 books since 1979, including three novels and 10 collections of short stories. His books of graphic humor have been translated in Italy and Brazil, and a whopper of an anthology is under discussion in China. I’ll Tell You More has sold 10,000 copies in two months (a feat for Argentina) and all foreign rights are open, as they are for the author’s Best Seller, The World Was in Error, and La Gansada, says Daniel Divinsky at Ediciones de la Flor.

Sweden’s powerhouse Per Olov Enquist has prescribed 50,000 copies of his latest novel The Royal Physician’s Visit to cure all ailments at bookstores throughout Germany, where the book hits the list this month. Enquist’s first novel since the blow-out Captain Nemo’s Library of 1991, the historical tale is set in Denmark in the 18th century and tells the story of the mad King Christian, his young queen, and the royal physician, one Dr. Struensee. Alas, the German doctor implicated himself in a love triangle with the queen and was hung, drawn, and quartered. The book moved one swooning critic to write that “the erotic scenes are among the most beautiful I have read in modern Swedish literature.” Originally published in 1999, the novel won Sweden’s prestigious August Prize, and translation rights have been sold to 19 countries, including the US, where Overlook will publish in November. But take note: Enquist also has a forthcoming novel, set to be published in Sweden this September. Over 75,000 copies of the new one have been sold in Enquist’s home country, and bidding in Spain was just concluding at press time. See Agneta Markås at Norstedts.

And while on the subject of Sweden’s heavy hitters, the artist formerly known as the “Maigret of the ’90s” is back in action. Håkan Nesser hits the lists with the tersely titled The Swallow, the Cat, the Rose, Death, which is the ninth volume in the Van Veeteren crime series. The book has sold nearly 53,000 copies, and deals with the exploits of police in Maardam, although, as one riled-up reviewer noted, “I shall not talk too much about the intrigues of the plot; you just have to read the book, by which I really mean have to!!”. We’re told Maria Rejt of Macmillan UK has recently acquired four of Nesser’s titles, which marks the author’s first publication in English. All together, the cunning crime maestro has sold 850,000 copies in Sweden — not counting the 100,000 copies per title that Bertelsmann unloads in Germany — and is translated in 13 languages. See agent Linda Michaels for rights.

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The Writing on China’s Great Wall

By PT Editors
July 1, 2001
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The free market’s last great territorial conquest, China remains a daunting and volatile arena for many book publishers in the West. This month Toby Eady, of the eponymous London-based literary agency, looks back on some of his Asian adventures and shares a few words of wisdom for those seeking Chinese fortunes.

When I first visited the Beijing Book Fair four years ago, by the time I got into the halls there was hardly a book left on the stands. These volumes had all been sold, stolen, or seized by the censors the day before, deemed unsuitable for popular consumption. But for all that, compared to BEA in Chicago or even Frankfurt, there was action — and in cash. My client, a Chinese lawyer, had written a book roughly translated as “How far does contract law reach in China?”, and we sold it for cash handily withdrawn from a suitcase by the highest bidder. There was no question of royalties. But there were other sales to be had. We made separate deals with publishers in Beijing and Shanghai, and what I learned that day, later to be reinforced, is that there is no national distribution in China. Each major city has its own publishers who print and distribute locally. Printing is cheap, distribution is easy — and piracy is endemic.

There are no less than five different pirated editions of Wei Hui’s novel Shanghai Baby being sold in Shanghai, several in Chengdu, two in Beijing, and probably several Mongolian editions. The censors’ office reckons over a million copies have been bought of this banned novel, which so incensed the powers that be that the government burned 40,000 copies, shutting down the book’s original publisher last year. Wei Hui will not become rich on her Chinese sales. A bestseller, much borrowed, has a mere 7,000 copies printed throughout China.

Yet the story of Shanghai Baby’s circuitous route to success is instructive in its own way. If you really want a Chinese bestseller, here’s how: Get the list of banned books from a friendly policeman, download them off the Internet, get four chapters translated, and sell them. I was in China when the authorities moved in on Shanghai Baby, and believe me, you couldn’t ask for better publicity. Wei Hui was bought by Judith Curr at Pocket. Eight publishers turned her down in London, but watching her in BBC’s Breakfast Time this morning, she’s got it — she could damage Pfizer’s Viagra sales. She has been sold in France (Picquier), Italy (Rizzoli), and Japan (Bungei Shunju), where 200,000 copies were sold in two weeks after she toured. Robinson’s first printing in the UK will be 60,000 copies. Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia will take 100,000, the latter in connection with her tour there in July. In total 19 countries have bought her, and with film rights, book rights, and royalties, we’re talking $2 million easy. Yet would her novel have been noticed if it had not been burned?

In fact, though busts of Mao and copies of the Little Red Book have now flooded the junk shops in Xian, Chinese authors still know that the government publishing houses won’t publish a Shanghai Baby, Ma Jian’s Red Dust, or Jung Chang’s Wild Swans. In Ma Jian’s case, knowing his story from another expelled poet/painter, three years ago I gave him $10,000 to write Red Dust — a remarkable Chinese answer to On the Road. But at the same time I gave Flora Drew money to work on a simultaneous translation. At Frankfurt I sold it to Jan Mets, a Dutch publisher, and then to Rebecca Carter at Chatto & Windus and Dan Frank at Pantheon. Yet American publishers are parochial, and frightened of foreigners. Though it was well reviewed, Simon & Schuster couldn’t get Wild Swans on the bestseller list. The book has nonetheless sold over 9 million copies in 32 languages. It sells 400,000 copies every year, 10 years after publication. How did that one start, you ask? A young woman walks into your office in 1985 and says, Do you think a book telling the story of three women would work, and in the telling of which the book could show how China had changed in the last 60 years? Instinct immediately said yes, where others had said no. But beyond instinct, I also follow a simple rule: don’t represent authors mimicking Western writers, and don’t use academics as translators — they don’t have Chinese as a living language. (Check out the dead translation of Hong Ying’s Daughter of the River, or Gao’s Soul Mountain.)

Publishing in the Streets

Officially there are over 1,000 recognized publishers in China, with the major houses in Beijing and Shanghai. Each book is chosen by an editorial board on which there will be a party member, hence the cautious nature of what gets published. A sampling of major Chinese publishers would include Xinhua Publishing House, which has good relations with Germany, Russia, Japan, Singapore, and the US, and has over 5,000 titles in print that cover a range of fiction and nonfiction. Also players are the People’s Education Press (which is as it sounds) and the Foreign Language Press, which was founded in 1952 and has published over 20,000 titles emanating from 40 languages. Most foreign titles are bought through Taiwanese agents at present. Advances are not gargantuan — Bill Gates’ $50,000 being the highest advance paid. Most advances run between $500 and $2,000 per title, and be surprised if you get paid royalties: the sales force from my experience gets space by giving the kiosk or bookstore extra copies to sell without accounting for them.

Books not of the educational or how-to variety are a luxury, as evident in the past strength of the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Literary Guild. Now Bertelsmann’s book club in Shanghai is working on the basis of subscription and home delivery, much the same as in West Germany after 1945. On the other hand, China boasts very good art book publishers such as Art Books in Cianjing, whose work rivals Abrams. And in Nanjing, which has many mom-and-pop bookshops with the same feel as a good independent store in America, booksellers proffer two-volume works to foreigners for $30 (there is nothing comparable in the West!). With the main publishers in China firmly controlled, however, Chinese writers tend to publish their own books, and distribute them via their networks of friends on the streets. What they are writing today is exciting, real, and new, but you’ll find them not on the big lists of the Chinese publishers. Danielle Steel or John Grisham they are not. Chinese writers are distinctly wary of product writers, and they don’t come out of writing schools. John Steinbeck would have understood them, and so would have the original poets and authors published in the Evergreen Review in the fifties. Their enthusiasm and courage is that of first novelists everywhere.

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Book View, July 2001

By PT Editors
July 1, 2001
Comments (1)

PEOPLE


There’s much happening at 375 Hudson Street: Danny Gurr has resigned as CEO of DK’s US operations, as a result of the following organizational changes effective immediately: The US editorial department will report primarily to DK UK Publisher Christopher Davis. Sales and Marketing will report through Dick Heffernan, President, Director of Sales, Adult Hardcover and Children’s Books, at Penguin Putnam Inc. Skip Fisher will continue as Chief Operating Officer of DK US, reporting primarily to David Shanks. His secondary reporting line is to Anthony Forbes Watson, CEO of The Penguin Group [UK].

As reported elsewhere, Louise Burke leaves NAL for Pocket as Mass Market Publisher (with Judith Curr moving within the Adult Trade Group to launch a hardcover line, PB Press), while HarperCollins’ Adrian Zackheim moves to Viking to launch a business book imprint. (He and Bill Shinker both start on Sept. 4th, as does Lauren Marino, who is leaving Broadway to follow Shinker as Executive Editor.) And Leslie Gelbman has been promoted to the newly created position of President of Mass Market Paperbacks, responsible for all aspects of the mass-market publishing programs for NAL and Berkley, including hardcover. She will report to David Shanks. Finally, Julie Shiroishi has been promoted to Director of Advertising and Promotion at Viking and Penguin, while Gretchen Koss has been promoted to Director of Publicity for Viking Studio. She will continue to work on Viking and Penguin titles in her new position.

Lisa Kitei has left Cahners, where she was SVP Communications. She is one of 200+ people who have been laid off from the company since the beginning of the year. She may be reached at Ljkitei@aol.com.

Randy Kaye has been named VP Director of Sales for Exley Gift Books (USA). He was National Accounts Manager for Random House Value Publishing. . . . Ronni Stolzenberg has been named Associate Director of Marketing for the American Museum of Natural History. . . . Natalie Chapman has gone to Creative Homeowner to “expand and diversify” its list. She was most recently at Discovery Books. . . . Alice Baker, formerly of S&S and Rebus, has been named Director of Specialty Retail for the von Holtzbrinck group of companies, reporting to Judy Sisko. . . . Meanwhile, Manie Barron, Publishing Manager at HC’s Amistad imprint, has joined William Morris. . . . Paul Schnee has been named Senior Editor at ReganBooks/HarperCollins. He was formerly at Contentville.

As reported elsewhere, Julie Burns has been named President of Ingram Book Company. She had been President of Ingram Periodicals. She succeeds Jim Chandler, who continues as Chief Commercial Officer.

More movement in children’s books: Vivian Antonangeli resigned from Penguin Putnam, where she had been President and Publisher of Grosset. Deborah Dorfman from Scholastic is taking over the position. Margaret Anastas, Editorial Director, has also left Grosset (as have two others) and has gone to HarperCollins Children’s Books. And, Daisy Kline has been named Retail Marketing Director for HCCB. She hails from Random House. . . . Jeff Conrad has left Millbrook, where he was President and CEO. His position will not be filled; Jean Reynolds, SVP, Publisher, Dave Allen, COO and CFO, and Dick McCullough, VP of Sales and Marketing, will assume his responsibilities. Howard Graham continues as Chairman. . . . Angus Killick has been named Director, Global Marketing, for Disney Publishing, reporting to Jeanne Mosure. He was previously VP Director of Marketing at PP for Young Readers. . . . And Christine Longmuir is joining Harcourt Children’s Books as Director of Marketing. She was at Ten Speed Press’s Tricycle Line.

DEALS


Doubleday has signed a two-book deal with Pete Dexter. ICM’s Esther Newburg agented. . . . Robin Straus has sold Jim Villas’s memoir, an inside look at the food world, to Susan Wyler at Wiley. And Harvard Common Press has just signed up his new book, The Biscuit Bible (to follow Crazy for Casseroles, which he is completing now) to Pam Honig, his longtime editor. . . . At press time, word is that the auction has concluded on Bill McKibbin’s book on the perils of genetic engineering. Gloria Loomis is the agent and the price is in the mid six figs. No word yet as to the winner.

DULY NOTED


Changes in the generally stable von Holtzbrinck stable: WH Freeman has been closed, with all 7 editors terminated. The books will now be published by Holt, most in the Times Books imprint, under David Sobel. . . .

• On a brighter note, Priddy & Biddle, St. Martin’s first serious, albeit quiet, foray into the world of children’s book publishing, will ship their first titles in July. The idea took serious form in the minds of two DK-trained executives, John Sargent, CEO von Holtzbrinck US, and Steve Cohen, newly promoted COO of SMP, and now President of this new imprint. When Pearson acquired Dorling Kindersley and began a series of UK layoffs (see “People” section), it hired six former DK staffers in the UK, headed by Richard Priddy, design, and Joanna Bicknell, sales and business management. The open design photographic baby board books and toddler activity titles (ranging from $4.95 to $9.95) will be recognizable to many, and the line is aimed initially at the merchandise corner of the market, with books being offered non-returnable but at a generous discount. Although the group is based in the UK, the primary market is — and the books must work in — the US. Co-editions with Macmillan UK and sister publishing arms including Australia and South Africa, as well as Holtzbrinck in Germany, will be offered and encouraged, but participation is apparently not mandatory. Rights will be available to all in the rest of the world, with P&B operating somewhat as an independent packager. Jeanette Mall, also a former DKer (US) is coordinating editorial efforts in the US. Each title on this list will have a first printing in the 100,000-copy range, with about nine series in the first catalog.

• Comment made by Tuttle’s VP Sales and Marketing, on the industry’s current spate of high returns: “That’s what they’re using print-on-demand technology for: They’re printing returns.”

• It’s hard to imagine you haven’t gotten an invitation to AAP’s “Introduction to Publishing” seminar on Oct. 1 & 2 in New York (we got 8 of them — two for each “department” in our corporate offices, including Finance) but if you haven’t and are interested, call Aimee Catalano at 212 255-0200 ext. 262.

EVENTS


Jacqueline Susann would have loved the party — but maybe not the music? In any event, the DKNY store on Madison and 60th was crammed full of beautiful people to celebrate the publication of Rae Lawrence’s sequel to Valley of the Dolls, based on a written draft worked on for many months by the diva herself (she died of cancer in 1974). Co-hosts Crown and Interview staff members were joined by the likes of celebs Rona Jaffe (who is the one who REALLY started it all), Sopranos’ star Jason Cerbone, veteran baseball player Keith Hernandez, as well as the book’s original editor Ann Patty.

• Fledgling publisher Red Rock Press, owned and operated by Ilene and Richard Barth, celebrated the publication of the latest, Sloth (fourth in the “Sin Series”), with a party for author Dale (“On the seventh day God rested, he did not play squash” to NYT’s Clyde Haberman) Burg, featuring, natch, pigs in a blanket and sloe (get it?) Gin fizz. Following Gluttony, Lust, and Greed, the next title is Envy, Anger & Sweet Revenge: Hey, it Works in Hollywood by Stephen M. Silverman.

• And Michael Cader’s take on the most recent publisherslunch.com Live Lunch, held on June 20 and devoted to the ineffables of the Random/Rosetta and Wind Done Gone court cases: “Everyone left the event more confused than when they came, and with a greater sense of the nuance and complexity of both of the cases at issue. Even the lawyers speaking both acknowledged the reasonableness and sound argument of the opposition. . . .”

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Wake Up, Gotham

By PT Editors
June 1, 2001
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Vendor Survey 2001

As the old nursery rhyme has it: “Three wise men of Gotham / Went to sea in a bowl; / If the bowl had been stronger / My story had been longer.” The ever trenchant respondents to Publishing Trends’ annual survey on publisher services to wholesalers and retailers have cast publishers in the image of those merry fools of Gotham, setting sail not in a bowl but on a schooner made of spreadsheets. As they blithely pursue efficiencies, say booksellers, publishers are sinking amid evaporating sales representation and operational fumbles that are putting the industry comically out of touch with the real world. “Publishers are trying to save money by hiring work-at-home moms,” one account typically relates. “Unfortunately, they’re moms first, reps second. Wake up, New York.”

Indeed, a blend of Monty Python and Grand Guignol characterized this year’s responses, which, though scattered with Ds and Fs — in fact, average grades slipped a notch — were by and large free of last year’s splenetic rage. Confirming the theme of disconnection, we note that this year’s question on Internet resources — a category suggested by an independent bookseller concerned about online sales support and links from publishers to account sites — was largely ignored by accounts, even after we specifically explained its import. While some houses have plowed resources into online databases, it seems accounts aren’t firing up their browsers (but see below for a few exceptions). As a national chain explains, “We utilize vendors’ web sites on a very infrequent basis.”

Lonelier at the Top

Backlash against New York jarred survey champion Random House. A regional chain cut to the chase: “They want to run our business for us! NY attitude sucks, but rep compensates.” As a wholesaler explains further, Random is “attempting to micromanage their business, and the result is that they are not providing info as needed to us. Their performance is perceived to be lacking compared to previous years.” The heavy artillery of Bertelsmann’s corporate warship prompted other complaints about meddling management and stricter contractual terms. As an independent bookseller notes, “New procedures for ‘managed’ titles confusing. Refused returns have increased greatly this year. Inflexibility of credit dept. lowers grade.” Meanwhile, last year’s “SAP disaster” seems to have been downgraded to a mere calamity. “Warehouse problems were horrible, now OK, but still more inaccuracies in shipments than most large publishers,” one account says, confirming the Cs cropping up for Random’s shipping, which received low As and Bs last year. “Great sales force and Internet support,” a bookseller adds, “but inaccurate shipping, a host of receiving problems, and consistent technical ordering glitches make for overall lower evaluation.”

As a wholesaler marveled, “Amazing that two good companies can merge and slip in all areas other than sales and marketing.” Respondents observed that Random’s combined warehouse still does not match levels achieved two years ago, in the pre-merger era. A national chain notes, “Warehouse problems in 2000 were made worse by lack of proactive communication between operations areas.” But the warehouse isn’t the only problem — behemoth lists are again a source of dismay: “All Little Random imprints in one sales call is a tremendous amount for the rep to present and the buyer to absorb.” And not all reps are created equal, even in Random-land: “BDD department is excellent. The trade rep is very responsive and timely; she is even taking our orders for the Random rep.”

Ranking second overall, Simon & Schuster won accolades for improved fulfillment and operations. “Old reliable,” one bookseller sighed, while another cheered, “The best all-around.” A national chain notes that S&S “finally resolved most of the endemic database problems,” and a bookseller adds: “Turnover in credit dept. has been a horror, but sales dept., publicity, and fulfillment are commendable.” But not everyone sent flowers with their survey. “Prompt Plus was very reliable for new release ship dates, but is now bad,” says a bookseller, apparently forced to work through reps even though better discounts would apply to EDI orders: “Reps getting better ship dates just recently. Event ordering by phone gets 45% whereas EDI gets 46% (so we go through rep which is not the most efficient).” Others faced “continual shipping problems” and hassles receiving credit for shortages, while a wholesaler expressed “growing concern with out-of-stock titles, defective books, and price discrepancies.” Still, a chain looked upon such vagaries with a perfectly saintly attitude: “Great house with opportunity to improve.”

Mixed messages hit HarperCollins, with breezy comments such as “refreshingly competent” and “no complaints” accompanied by grouchy rants: “VERY unreliable on ship dates for new releases; in general has gone downhill in past several years in most service aspects.” On the whole, Harper gained ground for complete statements, prompt ship times, and improved stock availability, and was one of the few houses commended for Internet services. One indie praised Harper as a “very proactive Internet resource,” while a wholesaler added, “online support great.” Unfortunately, “Availability of titles still a big issue,” a wholesaler writes. “Serious problems with stock allocations, reprints, and initial order cuts,” says another. And the incredible shrinking sales force has caused the ultimate lapse. “We have very little contact with this company — no longer have a trade rep,” a bookseller writes. “We just don’t have the time to handle our needs for these titles via telephone or the Internet.” An indie scolds: “No representation in Texas except telephone reps! BAD!!” Consequently, a national chain observes: “Fiscal conservatism compromises commitment to sales.”

Fourth-ranked Houghton Mifflin found comparatively smooth sailing, with a national chain applauding the publisher’s “good sales, good books,” and another bookseller chiming in, “They are great with sales! Rep in touch all the time; have really gotten better in the past few years (after warehouse disaster with PRI)!” Quibbles included remarks that Houghton’s packing slips are “very difficult to read” and one particularly sour bookseller’s note: “Timeliness of shipments needs improvement — worse than anyone else in this survey.” Perhaps most worrying was the comment from this underserviced bookseller: “I don’t have a sales rep for this vendor. Nor do we frequently order from them.” Quid pro quo, eh? Mayday broadcasts for reps lost at sea also haunted Time Warner Trade. As a regional chain puts it, “I could not remember my rep’s name when I filled out this survey . . . how’s that for service?” Another bookseller notes that TWTP “seems to know least about how a bookstore operates.” (National chains seem to fare better with this publisher, as one praises a “strong focus on sales and marketing,” and another calls the publisher a “leader in information exchange.”) As far as the rest of the business, a wholesaler lauds the publisher’s “extremely prompt shipping,” though an indie cautions that “shipments are very fast, but accuracy has been sacrificed.”

Meanwhile, grades for St. Martin’s remained mostly unchanged, an unfortunate result considering the failing marks it received last year. This time around, complaints were aptly summarized by one bookseller: “Dealing with Holtzbrinck is a constant nightmare. Their excellent sales reps are undermined by an incompetent back office.” Consequently, as another bookseller adds, “We won’t buy directly from them except frontlist, and they still routinely lose our orders.” Concerns still circled around the publisher’s long-promised but apparently still missing-in-action direct EDI link. “VHPS needs to implement an EDI ordering system,” a bookseller urges. “VHPS and Norton are the only major trade publishers that do not have this capability.” Among other concerns, several booksellers sounded this desperate plea: “Horrible freight costs — please — go to a standard discount with no freight charge.” A national wholesaler also cites “ongoing barcode problems,” while an indie complains that “co-op is a joke.” Speaking of co-op, Workman raised hackles on that issue, as a wholesaler explains: “There is extra concern in regard to the recently announced co-op policy, which is not compatible with the industry.” Alas, Workman was again chastised for its antiquated procedures. “They must be the only company in the world still using carbon paper!” one account stammers. “Makes me nuts! Did they buy a 30-year supply in 1975??”

Off the Shoals?

Penguin Putnam pulled itself out of a last-place ranking last year and on balance received kinder, gentler criticism this year. “Warehouse finally working well,” says a wholesaler. “Still a few shipping problems, but much better than before,” adds another, and a bookseller says: “Trade rep delivers the results we need and keeps me posted via the Internet.” Indeed, a national chain deemed Penguin “a leader in information exchanges.” But we’re not off the shoals yet. “Steadily improving, but still the most bureaucratic and slow-moving of all the major publishers we deal with,” one bookseller writes, while accounts cited customer service reps’ “attitude problems” and unremitting paperwork disputes. “They are impossible with processing claims, for both returns and co-op,” one bookseller explains. “We’ve had a group of claims that they haven’t processed for a year (at two months we called; we’ve sent copies several times; people leave; calls are not returned; promises to fix the problem are not kept; now they’re trying to say the claims are ‘too old’).” And though “ship times have improved from last year,” a wholesaler says, duplicate shipments and unordered merchandise persist.

Prayers for Scholastic to ditch Penguin Putnam’s fulfillment services were answered on July 1, when a new back-office agreement went into effect with HarperCollins. The industry response? “Thank god they left Penguin!” exults one bookseller. “Alliance with HarperCollins has helped,” says another. In any case, post-Harry improvements boosted Scholastic’s grades in almost all areas. “Overall, given the challenge, I give them pretty high marks for handling Harry Potter,” an account explains. However, a wholesaler cites “continued problems with sales rep for our account” and another regrets a “combative ‘us against them’ attitude from sales management.”

Finally, PGW again draws exasperated grunts from accounts. “Can’t seem to get act together,” one bookseller says. “Never seem to have the bestselling books in stock,” adds another. A national chain notes that PGW “tries hard,” but the “nature of multiple sales distributors is inherently difficult, particularly in inventory management.” Missing paperwork, mis-numbered cartons, and slow shipping of backlist orders from the West coast to the East topped the laundry list of complaints. While PGW “has improved turnaround time,” a bookseller says, “customer service staff can be terse,” and a regional chain blasts “prehistoric” EDI systems. Others were more lenient, even in the face of adversity. “They will ship one book in ten boxes instead of ten books in one box,” an account says, “but overall performance OK.” Fortunately for PGW’s sake, signs of complaisance were noted elsewhere. “Poor fulfillment, but we try to be understanding,” a bookseller says. Such tenderness despite PGW’s many shortcomings may in fact be a matter of geography. After all, Berkeley is a world away from Gotham.

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Sydney Writers’ Festival 2001

By PT Editors
June 1, 2001
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Though most of us can name a few Australian authors — Tim Winton, Robert Hughes, David Malouf, Colleen McCullough, Shirley Hazzard, and Thomas Keneally — the fact is we may not understand the greater context from which they have emerged. And judging from a week spent as a guest at the 2001 Sydney Writers’ Festival, the publishing culture of Australia is home to a significant degree of untapped writing talent and potential that we don’t know about. But most impressive is the fact that the country loves to read: There is a greater sell-through rate of books per capita in Australia than in either the US or Britain. What is surprising is that K-mart and not a bookseller is the nation’s #1 national account. While there are no wholesalers in such an enormous country, and only one “chain” of franchise stores, the balance of selling falls firmly in the hands of the nation’s numerous independent booksellers.

The festival kicked off on a suitably contentious note with the NSW literary awards dinner, where the State Premier advocated bypassing Amazon.com to protect the prevailing independence of Australian bookselling. If, of course, there had been an Amazon.com.au, then the issue would have been moot. While visiting authors and publishers went to work in earnest the next morning, a discussion on the latest sword of Damocles to hang over Australian publishing — parallel importation — continued behind closed doors: Local agents and mid-sized publishers prepared to explain yet again to the government why parallel importation caused a threat to the local publishing industry. When the Premier touched on the subject at the official opening cocktails later in the week, he met with booing from publishers. Negotiations did not seem to be going well.

The strong ties that bind Australia to Europe have been a hot-button political issue in recent years, and attendance at a panel to discuss how to take Australian fiction to Europe was at full capacity on a rainy morning. Members of the public may not have understood the relevant rights and translation issues, but clearly the need to be involved in the rest of the world, no matter how far away, is keenly felt. England, however, wasn’t even discussed as part of Europe, and it remains a frustrating fait accompli that most British publishers will not pick up rights to a novel from Australia when the Australian market is already tapped. That much the public also seemed to take for granted. Interesting, on the other hand, that American publishers are able to separate rights out between the UK and Australia in the case of nonfiction.

After a few days with appointments Frankfurt-style (but even more brief: every 20 minutes), each of the seven international visitors had met with more than 95% of the Australian publishing community, some of whom flew in from as far off as Perth and Adelaide to convey their passion, their smarts, and their fervor. As the week drew to a close, we realized the Australian literary scene may be far away but it keeps us in mind on a daily basis and puts us all somewhat to shame, particularly since its community of agents, publishers, and booksellers is so supportive of local authors and of each other. Most of us were tempted to stay, as have many other publishing types over the years. If the nation’s vibrant literary life isn’t enough of a draw, consider this: a few Australians even hold their publishing lunches on Bondi Beach.

This article was contributed by Rebecca Strong, senior editor at Harmony Books.

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International Fiction Bestsellers

By PT Editors
June 1, 2001
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Barbarians at the Gate
French Success for Harnum, Boo-Hoo from Sweden, and Mortier Back on Tap in Holland

With international lists seemingly locked in place, we cast a glance at a couple of interesting, if less remunerative, deals this month. First off, US agent Rosalie Siegel reports that she has started selling to so-called regional publishers — presumably as the larger ones take fewer and fewer risks as the economy slows. A recent case in point is Robert Harnum’s Exile in the Kingdom. Narrated by a seventeen-year-old boy living with a deadbeat mom and an estranged father, the basketball star one day acquires a gun and starts a rampage at school — by now a familiar story in this country. The first sale via France’s Mary Kling was to Hachette, which published the title in 1999 as La Dernière Sentinelle, and whose Canadian subsidiary also published in Montreal. This led to a movie option from Canadian production company Max Films (best known in the US for this reporter’s favorite movie, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire). Which led to the rights being acquired in the US for Fall ’01 publication by Phil Pochoda’s Hardscrabble Press, associated with the University Press of New England. Siegel describes the novel as intense, powerful, and sober in the fashion of Camus’ The Stranger. The agent reports she will shortly go out with the author’s second novel, The Siege of Innocence.

Back to this month’s lists, Bonniers overwhelms Sweden with six titles, one of which is Miss Priss and Her Career, an illustrated book that takes a humorous look at the life and demands of a spirited working woman. Miss Priss knows that the important thing is, of course, to become somebody important. A nuclear physicist, a film director, or a Manhattan designer, anything as long as you get the Nobel Prize before you’re twenty-five. But what if, somewhere between the latest issue of Glamour and the Employment Service, you’ve lost your determination? Miss Priss is both an accurate spoof on careerism and a touching tale about the fear of not having what it takes. Author Joanna Rubin Dranger received the Swedish Illustrators’ Award for 2000; her earlier work Miss Scaredy-Cat and Love has been sold to Norway, Germany, and Finland, while Miss Priss has been sold to Norway so far. See agent Linda Michaels for US rights.

On a few further notes in Sweden, “a city of chaos and turbulence” awaits in Maja Lundgren’s Pompeii. Set in 78–79 AD, the year before the catastrophic earthquake, the work has painted a picture of a time and a place that was equally bawdy, humorous, moving, and real, while tending inexorably toward its doom. See Linda Michaels for US rights. And watch out for Boo Hoo: A Dot-com Story from Concept to Catastrophe, from the Swedish co-founders of the most famous dot-com disaster Boo.com. Ernst Malmsten and Kajsa Leander, writing with WSJ Europe journalist Erik Portanger, create a tale to be published this fall by Random House (UK) business books that’s a pacey, glamorous business thriller. Set to do big business in the UK with a huge serial deal in place, this one’s being pitched as “barbarians at the gate for the dot-com age.” See Gillon Aitken Associates for rights.

Neighboring Holland, meanwhile, is exercising open trade in translations with England, with an English first novel by Santa Montefiore making an appearance. Set mainly in the Argentinian campo, Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree is a novel of illicit and forbidden love. Its central heroine, Sofia, is a spoilt and spirited tomboy — a Scarlett O’Hara of her times — and loved by all around her, except her own mother, Anna, who is tortured by jealousy and a sense of inadequacy. When Anna discovers Sofia has embarked on a passionate relationship which will bring shame on the families involved, she exiles her for over twenty years. Book club France-Loisirs printed “masses and masses” of copies prior to trade publication by Belfond, according to the agent. Rights have also been acquired in Germany, Italy, and Estonia, though are yet to be snapped up Stateside. The author’s name first became familiar for being sister of the more famous Tara Palmer-Tompkinson, London’s It-girl of the nineties, but Santa’s reputation as a writer has been quietly growing. Her second novel, The Butterfly Box, is an epic saga of love and metamorphosis, and will also be published by Hodder, due out next year. For translation rights, see Linda Shaughnessy at AP Watt; for US rights see Jo Frank at same.

Holland, or rather Meulenhoff, has meanwhile made a two-book deal with Harvill for the novels of Erwin Mortier. The first, Marcel, which received tremendous critical attention, will be published this fall in the UK. It is a novel about a child’s growing awareness of the secret at the heart of his family. A ten-year-old boy lives alone with his grandmother in a Flemish village. Among the photographs his grandmother cherishes is a portrait of a boy named Marcel, who died young and far away. How did he die? The little boy is determined to find out. Standaard der Letteren declared the book to be “a brilliant novel, full of nostalgia, the bitter history of Flemish collaboration, and hilarious humour.” Rights were sold by Meulenhoff to France (Pauvert) and Germany (Suhrkamp). The second novel by Mortier, My Second Skin, has just entered the Dutch top ten. Also written through the eyes of a boy, the story is about the gently growing love of one boy for another at school, the pain of youth and growth, and ultimately loss. Only German rights have sold for My Second Skin; US rights to both novels are available from Harvill; contact Barbara Schwepcke.

In France, Albin Michel expects Didier van Cauwelaert’s The Apparition to be his English-language breakthrough. It details the exploits of Nathalie, a young ophthalmologist, who is called upon by the Vatican to examine an image of the Virgin that appeared miraculously on the tunic of an Aztec Indian in the early 16th century. Political maneuverings in Vatican City reluctantly involve Nathalie in the battle between science, politics, and the Church. As her own convictions are called into doubt, she ultimately finds meaning in her life. A consistent seller (about 100,000 copies) in his homeland, van Cauwelaert’s 1994 novel One-Way Ticket won the Prix Goncourt, and film rights to his last novel The Education of a Fairy were sold to Miramax despite there being no translation deal for the book. His translation of the classic Marcel Aymé play, The Walker-Through-Walls, will soon be performed on Broadway. Contact Lisa Rounds at the French Publisher’s Agency for rights.

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E=I(nternet) + M(ail): Direct Marketing Days NYC

By PT Editors
June 1, 2001
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Direct Marketing Days in New York 2001, the May 21–24 conference at the Hilton when envelope manufacturers and list brokers convene to discuss changes in their industry over the past twelve months, showed once again that the basic business — junk mail delivered to your mailbox — has not died yet. And this despite the Deputy Postmaster General’s grim announcement at one meeting that the US Postal Service is in dire financial straits and will raise its rates yet again this summer.

Nevertheless, the buzzword of the conference was “integrated marketing”: the blending of traditional mailings with email, and physical sites with websites. Perhaps a third of all sessions during the conference dealt with finding the balance between online and offline. Chris Peterson, CEO of the appropriately named FusionDM, noted that response rates for b-to-b email solicitations have plummeted over the past four years — from highs that grazed 30% to under 1% now (lower than for old-fashioned mail) — while the cost of renting e-lists has gone up, making the cost of email solicitations comparable to mail. In other bad news for e-marketers, the rates at which users are giving websites permission to let vendors solicit them by email are down from 80% in 1998 to under 40% today.

Perhaps that is why Roger Blackwell, keynote speaker on Tuesday and author of Customers Rule!, remarked that “the marriage between ‘e’ and ‘commerce’ needs a little counseling.” A professor of marketing at Ohio State, Blackwell has long argued that direct marketing is based on giving the customer what he needs, in the most efficient way possible. He believes that those in the catalog business (rather than traditional or online retailers) are best able to bridge the gap between the customer’s expectations and the logistics of fulfillment because they know that how the customer orders is less important than how their needs are met. Who’s going to break it to Jeff Bezos?

And speaking of whom, this year saw another decline both in the number of speakers or attendees who could conceivably be connected to book publishing. Among the few publishing types present, Rich Kelley, SVP of Doubleday Select, was seen wandering the halls, as was Random Direct’s Lisa Phillips. Which made Wednesday’s keynote speaker — Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the Chicken Soup series — all the more anomalous. It says something about the schizophrenia of this business, ricocheting as it is between what was thought to be a dying form of communication (mail) and its possible salvation (e-commerce and email), that a man who is neither a direct marketer nor in an industry that is of any interest to most of the attendees should be chosen to address the hordes. But he did, and they loved it. Hansen displayed an alarming tendency to speak so quickly that it seemed as though he were racing through his slides under the mistaken impression that his audience had the same set in front of them and could follow along. But he is, after all, a well known motivational speaker who says he has made 2,500 presentations in 35 or more countries, and who puts the number of books he and his partner have sold in the US at 75 million. There are, he says, 74 more titles in the pipeline. He’s a man on the move, attempting to help us all “entrepreneurialize” ourselves, whatever it takes, and whatever the means. NB: Hansen will present a full-day seminar at BEA on “How to Create & Market a Mega-Bestseller.” Admission is $197.

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Book View, June 2001

By PT Editors
June 1, 2001
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PEOPLE


As announced previously, Bill Shinker will join Penguin Putnam as SVP and Publisher of an as yet unnamed imprint, on Sept. 4. He was most recently at Free Press, where he had been Publisher from August 2000 to his resignation at the beginning of April.

Ken Wright, formerly at Holt Reference, has been named Editorial Director, Scholastic Reference replacing Wendy Barish, who has retired. Other Scholastic appointments: Spencer Humphrey, who joined Scholastic when they acquired the Barney publishing program, has been named VP, Director of Mass merchandise product reporting to Jean Feiwel. Ellie Berger, in addition to her current role as Book Group Cross Divisional Director, adds the title VP, Deputy Publisher, directing all licensing and media business relationships and product development in these areas. And Bernette Ford, founder and editorial director of Cartwheel, is branching out to develop an imprint of African American and Latino titles for the very young as Editorial Director of Special Projects.

In Norton’s publicity department, Marian Brown is filling in for Louise Brockett, who is on maternity leave until September. . . Patrick Reilly, the one-time publishing reporter at the WSJ, and subsequently at the pr megapower Robinson, Lehrer, Montgomery, has gone to Bertelsmann to work for Andreas Schmidt, head of ecommerce; meanwhile Kevin Goldman, also once at the WSJ, and subsequently SVP Communications for WalkerDigital, has gone to Bookspan as VP Communications. He will work out of the 1271 Ave. of Americas office, and report to Bill Gatti, SVP Human Resources. Speaking of WSJ, Dominick V. Anfuso has been named vice president, editorial director of the Free Press, S&S Source and Wall St. Journal Books, reporting to Martha Levin.

Dorchester has announced that George Sosson is the new President and Publisher, following Lisa Rasmussen’s departure earlier in the month. She may be reached at 917 886-2561. . . Thea Feldman, GVP and General Manager of the books division at Sesame Workshop, has left the company. She may be reached at 212 989-5330. . . And S&S’s Children’s Publishing has announced that in restructuring its paperback division, positions held by Nancy Pines, and by Ingrid van der Leeden, have been eliminated. Ellen Krieger has been promoted to the newly created position of VP Associate Publisher of paperback books, and will oversee Aladdin and Pulse. She will report to v-p and publisher Brenda Bowen. According to Kristina Peterson, President of the children’s publishing division, new editorial and marketing positions will be announced after ALA.

Speaking of children’s publishing, Willa Perlman has joined the Cheyenne Group, a consulting firm with headquarters in New York. She will work from her Rhode Island home. . . Steve Cohen, most recently CEO of Brainquest.com, is the latest addition to The Popular Group, the company recently launched by Jack Hoeft. Other recent hires include Jane Leventhal and David Lappin . . . Arlene Kriv has been named Director of Publicity and Advertising for Harcourt Trade Books. She was Director of Publicity for Basic Books. . . Rob Grover joins Four Walls Eight Windows as editor. He previously worked in television, and was an Associate Editor at Knopf.

VIRTUAL PEOPLE


Lucinda Karter (in the New York Office) and Nick Webb (in London) have left Rightscenter, though no announcements have been made.

JUNE DATES


Pat Schroeder will be honored by the UJA on June 6th at the Grand Hyatt. Contact Marcy Frank at 212 836-1448.

• The Licensing Show is back in town, June 11–14, at the Javits Center. Golden Books, Scholastic, and Hungry Minds are among those exhibiting. Call 800 331-5706 for more information about the show.

• The ALA Annual Convention is in San Francisco this year, June 14–20.

• Michael Cader’s next Live Lunch in NY on June 20 is a “Legal Lunch,” on the subjects of contracts, electronic licensing, and the complexities of copyright. Trident Media’s Robert Gottlieb and attorneys Ken Norwick (who represents then AAR) and Helene Godin are the speakers. To reserve, email michael@caderbooks.com.

DULY NOTED


Publisher presence at the Premium Incentive show was minimal — which presented a fine opportunity for the smaller ones who were there, such as Trafalgar Square, Kensington, and World Almanac — all of whom said business was booming. A possible indication of the downward trend in business generally, and books specifically, might have been seen at the booth Buyenlarge.com, a poster company run by Paris Pierce — 25% owned by B&N.com. They had been developing a very successful program with BN.com selling classic book jackets as posters or reduced and suitable for framing. This business has now been successfully transformed from one selling art to one selling chocolate. From Harry Potter to To Kill A Mockingbird, you can buy your chocolate bars suitably encased.

PARTIES


May, traditionally a busy pub party month, began with a signing and party at the Madison Avenue Bookstore, thrown by David Godine to honor William Zinsser, not for On Writing Well, but as the author of a book about American songwriters, Easy to Remember. May also marked the first time the UJA honored a German, Thomas Middelhof. The occasion was the annual Steven J. Ross dinner and there was a large crowd, though very few publishers. (The Entertainment, Media & Communications Division hosted this $1000 per ticket event, rather than the Publishing Division, whose tickets go for a relatively modest $600.) Although all the music industry luminaries were there, other than Peter Olson and some Random House execs, no other publishers were present. They’re undoubtedly saving their pennies for the June 6th dinner honoring AAP’s Pat Schroeder.

Otto Penzler and Herman Graf threw a party for his author, Joyce Carol Oates, at the Players Club on May 22. Guests included NY DA Robert Morthenau and wife, Lucinda Franks, Russell Banks, Edmund White, and Gloria Vanderbilt. The same evening DK Publishing and The New York Times celebrated the publication of Campaigns: A Century of Presidential Races, by Ted Widmer and Alan Brinkley, at the Times. And the Janklow & Nesbit Agency launched the BEA with a party at their offices on May 29 for international publishers, from Leonardo Mondadori to Shona Martyn of HC Australia to a substantial Japanese contingent who then got on their planes for Chicago.

MAZELTOV


Congratulations to Three Rivers Press’s Becky Cabaza and Broadway’s Charlie Conrad on the birth of their first child, a boy, Carlos Patrick Conrad on 23rd May.

Congrats also to Norton’s Louise Brockett and husband Mark, on the birth of twin boys John Duley and Thomas Wadsworth on May 25.

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BookExpo 2001:

By PT Editors
June 1, 2001
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When You Care Enough to Give the Very Best With Your Galley

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT INSIDE.COM (6/2/01)

CHICAGO — According to a recent survey, interest in e-books is minimal, and recent figures suggest that retail sales of books are flat. But that hasn’t stopped publishers from hyping their new books, whatever it takes.

And what it takes, these days, is a diamond. Or a tie pin. Those are the gifts from Walker & Co. as it promotes the new books, Diamond, and Sputnik about, you guessed it, the worlds of diamonds and the history of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellites.

Columbia University Press is going one better. It’s giving away a diamond ring to promote Living It Up: Our Love Affair With Luxury. OK, so it’s not a real diamond, but when was the last time a university press went for kitsch?

Johns Hopkins is giving away a house — a miniature one — to celebrate its publication of My House Is Killing Me!

There was a time when bound galleys were the coin of the book-fair realm, with publishers piling up heaps of them for booksellers to grab at their will, while they kept the hottest books behind locked cabinets until their best customers appeared.

This year there is a bounty of bound galleys heaped on the floors, but the most promoted promotions are the tchotchkes on the counters. There are the candies and the tote bags, for sure, and the posters and scratch pads that booksellers swipe with abandon. In this, a year of the flat sales and e-book ennui, it’s the quality of the booty that matters.

Outside magazine has a cool Swiss Army knife that it gives to special visitors. Rodale gives away chocolate-covered espresso beans to promote its books about ”psychic delicacies.” Newmarket Press wins the award for best packaging — of tea bags, given away to promote success@life, by Ron Rubin and Stuart Avery Gold, ”ministers” of the Republic of Tea. Harcourt has a packet of flower seeds urging us to ”Wing Into Spring,” on behalf of its children’s book line. Even staid Norton has matches to promote smoldering Sebastian Junger and his new book, Fire.

And then, for thingamajig overload, there’s Crown’s ”Prescription for Hot Summer Sales,” the vial of little white pills that smell suspiciously like mints, and are promoting Rae Lawrence’s steamy Jackie Susann homage, Shadow of the Dolls. The label recommends ”unlimited reorders,” and suggests that ”Transfer … to other booksellers is highly recommended.”

Oh, and pick up a galley while you’re at it.

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