The Board of Directors of The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association has written an open letter to Publishers and asked them not to cut Reps
It does seem to be a self-fulling prophesy. Publishers are cutting field reps because of dwindling sales with independent bookstores. However sales are likely to fall even further if you don’t have a person helping the buyer make sensible decisions for their store. It baffles me that publishers are cutting their sales staff now when a sale is even harder to come by. Until the day everyone is set up for web presentations there is nothing that replaces the face to face, deeply personal relationship that the sales rep has with the buyer.
The letter from NAIBA describes the situation perfectly:

We are alarmed with what appears to be a trend in the sales division of publishers–the removal of field sales reps to independent bookstores. This draconian move against our bookselling segment will be responsible for the disappearance of book culture.

Field sales reps are a crucial part of our business. Each regional independent booksellers association and Publishers Weekly honors an outstanding field rep each year. We can’t think of another publisher position that gets this recognition. We devote countless hours at conferences refining the sales rep/bookseller relationship. They are that crucial to us.

Restricting field reps to large stores will give publishers a skewed view of what is a very diverse world–independent bookselling. Sales reps take the time to know our stores, what our customers like, and what is on our shelves. They are the industry worker-bees, travelling the region, taking ideas and trends and pollinating other stores. We learn about other stores from them, what others are reading and loving; what is selling; marketing tips; event ideas; what the publisher is doing; and what authors have books coming out in the next season. They make fans for authors out of our frontline booksellers. They cut through the catalogs to make sure we carry what we’ll be able to sell, and their endorsements are why we buy what we might have ignored.

These reasons are why cuts in field sales reps devastate us. Have you really thought about what this stricture will mean to you? Fewer book sales. Without a doubt, we are not ordering as much through telemarketing. We are definitely not focusing on your backlist through tele-sales, and we definitely miss titles from the frontlist. We also don’t buy as much direct, which makes independent bookselling a less profitable business. The vicious cycle is that we buy less because we don’t have sales reps, and then you devalue our business because we aren’t buying as much as we used to.

We understand the corporate need to save money. There are more efficacious and less exclusionary ways to cut your budgets. You know what they are because independent bookstores have been telling you what they are for years. Cut multiple ARC mailings. Do away with promotional gimmicks that go from mailbox to garbage can. Consider publishing fewer titles, fewer hard covers, fewer copies. Take a hard look at celebrity advances.

We exist to sell your books, those unique and hard to place titles, not just the established authors. Field sales reps are the tools we need to do that for you. As much as you would like to think a tele-salesperson is doing the same job, you are sadly mistaken. A field sales rep is far more than a person filling in an order form.

Don’t cut our lifeline to your books.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Personally I liked the name Islate better but who am I to quibble with Microsoft.
iBooks
Here’s the books component:

“The iBooks app is a great, new way to read and buy books. Just download the app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. To read it, all you have to do is tap on it and it opens up. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich, color, so it’s very easy to read, even in low light.”
I’d love to know what people think of it.

Things are so intense in the world today that I decided to do something fun. I created a video at Animoto It was easy. I uploaded my pictures from my vacation with my dog Izzy and my cousin and her dog in Vermont and then I uploaded a song. I could not upload from my Itunes library as you can only upload MP3’s so I used their collection. I will keep working on it.
But in the meantime it was incredibly easy. They give you a free 30 second video and then charge for anything beyond that. I can start embedding this in promotions and marketing plans now. Very cool, Animoto!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Considering the current economic climate, it has never been a better time for publishers and authors to turn their focus to lower cost, high impact Internet marketing. Amazon Connect is one new vehicle for our Internet marketing efforts, which has great potential to drive sales.

Amazon Connect now makes it easier for publishers and authors to connect with consumers, while promoting their books and blogs. This free program allows publishers and authors to post messages directly to their readers. These messages appear on the consumer’s Amazon home page, on the author’s detailed book page, and profile page. Authors are also able to create their own profile page with personalized information. All you need is a blog that has the ability for people to subscribe to it through their RSS newsreader feed.

Authors and publishers are now more in control of the content on their books’ Amazon pages than ever before. There has never been a better time to start blogging!

On Oct. 28 from 6-8pm at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in NYC, PAMA will hold its Fall Cocktail Party presented by BookPage magazine. BookPage will be celebrating 20 years of book reviews.

RSVP: rsvp@pama-ny.org

Price: $25

On Sept. 27, Eat Right America will be at the American Diabetes Association Expo presenting their Eat for Health books. This event will take place from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the Javits Center in New York City. Admission is free so come for multi-cultural diabetes information, free health screenings, cooking demonstrations and everything you need to know about diabetes under one roof.

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
11th Ave., between 34th & 39th Streets
New York, NY

Admission: Free

On Sept. 22, from 9am-6pm at the NYU Kimmel Center Publishers Weekly magazine, will hold this 1 day course for authors about how the publishing industry really works. Karen Strauss will speak at 2:30pm on the topics of book marketing and publicity. The day will include many influential book agents, authors, editors and book marketing professionals, who will speak on a variety of topics, from nuts and bolts to alternative publishing.

NYU Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012

On Aug. 4, from 10am to 4pm, this free event for booksellers and book buyers will take place at the Nassau Inn in Princeton, NJ. TitleWave is a day that includes a presentation of picks of the list by Ken Abramson and the BookStream staff, appearances by new and upcoming authors, and a chance to network with fellow booksellers.

To reserve a spot call Carolyn Bennett at 866-416-1112 x209 or send an email to carolyn.bennett@bookstream.com

Could giving away free book samples drive more book sales, like giving away samples of deli meat makes grocery shoppers want to buy more? The cosmetics industry, for example, has used free samples of their products to grab customers for years, maybe the book industry should take note.

It is no secret that the culture inside a Borders or Barnes & Nobles bookstore is to hang around for hours in the comfy chairs reading books, like getting free samples before you buy. This has contributed largely to the popularity of these book chains, helped books sales and customer loyalty.

Now book publishers and authors can utilize the Internet for a similar effect. In his blog psfk, Dan Gould notes Neil Gaiman’s book American Gods, which was put up online in its entirety for free by its publisher, in an effort to promote his upcoming work The Graveyard Book. Despite being available online for free, actual book sales went up. The Internet is not killing print, in fact it can help if used in creative ways.

ABC Network’s hit Lost TV show now has a book club. The TV show book club will be, “home to any and all literary references made on the show–from Stephen King to Kurt Vonnegut.” At a time were television can be seen as eclipsing the book world, it seems this media could actually give something back in terms of book sales.

The Lost book club features books mentioned in various episodes of the show. Clicking on the book cover leads you to a short description, its reference point in the show, an opportunity to watch that clip of the show, a discussion with other members, and a buy button to purchase the book. So far it seems there are only 32 books to choose from, but the series isn’t over yet.