May 17, 2007 with anecdotal tips for everyone from the entry-level employee to TABLE OF CONTENTS: the CEO. • Plenary Speaker Cathie Black to Focus on Black began her career in print media in advertising sales with Five Pillars of Successful Change .................... 1 several magazines, including Holiday and Ms. In 1979, she became • Think Local: Attend "Localism" at BookExpo the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine, New York . America ............................................................ 2 3 • Restaurant Suggestions From a Brooklyn Widely credited for the success of USA Today , Black joined the paper in 1983 as president and then became publisher. She also Insider ............................................................... 2 served as a board member and executive vice president/marketing • How to Talk to a Bookseller: A 10-Step Guide of Gannett, USA Today 's parent company. For five years prior to for Authors ........................................................ 4 joining Hearst, she was president and CEO of the Newspaper • Oprah to Announce Next Book Club Pick ........ 5 Association of America, the industry's largest trade group. • Time Out to Guide Booksellers Around NYC ... 5 As president of Heart Magazines, Black manages the business side • ABFFE Auctions Offer Some of the Best of and development of some of the industry's best-known magazines, including Cosmopolitan , Esquire , Good Housekeeping , Harper's BEA .................................................................. 6 BAZAAR , O, The Oprah Magazine , Redbook , and Town & • Stephen King Returns as Rock Bottom Country . She also serves on the boards of IBM, iVillage, Remainders Embark on One-City Tour ............ 6 Coca-Cola Company, and the Advertising Council. • ABACUS 2007: Did You Know ... ..................... 6 Black will address booksellers about adapting to change on • Welcome to Hotel ABA ..................................... 7 Thursday, May 31, at 9:00 a.m. at Hotel ABA, the New York • Author Autographing & Define-A-Thon: Special Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, in Brooklyn. BTW recently had Events in ABA's Book Sense Lounge ............... 7 the opportunity to talk to Black via e-mail. • Users Groups to Convene at BEA .................... 8 • A Moving Memoir From Maine's Unlikeliest BTW: Can you give booksellers a few highlights of what to expect from your presentation at the plenary session, Chaplain ........................................................... 8 "Adapting to Change"? • BTW News Briefs ............................................. 9 Cathie Black: There are many similarities that exist between the bookselling business and the magazine business. The essential BOOK SENSE THIS WEEK "common thread" is the strong connection and engagement we both • The Summer 2007 Book Sense Children's enjoy with our readers. I'll be talking about the Five Pillars of Successful Change, which are: Picks Preview ................................................... 10 • Understanding the imperatives • Brownstone Books: A Cornerstone of • Building the brand and determining what makes yours unique Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy Neighborhood .................. 10 • Expanding your reach • The Book Sense Bestseller List for Holocaust • Serving your consumers what they want in the ways they want it Remembrance Month ....................................... 10 • Changing the model when necessary to stay ahead of the game MARKETPLACE BTW: With so many new technologies and communication channels these days -- today's MySpace could be tomorrow's • Classifieds ........................................................ 11 Friendster -- do you have any suggestions for staying current? • Other Advertising .............................................. 11 CB: Understanding your consumer is the key to staying current. Any media today must be constantly thinking about three key questions: How do we connect with consumers? How do we deliver Plenary Speaker Cathie Black to Focus the products of that connection: what they want, how they want it, and when they want it? And when we have those answers, how do on Five Pillars of Successful Change we translate them into growth and profits? At Hearst, we are May 17, 2007 -- Cathie Black, cited by the Financial Times as "one launching robust, engaging, interactive websites for all of our of the leading figures in American publishing over the past two brands to maintain and strengthen the connection with our readers. decades," will be the plenary speaker at ABA's "Day of Education 1 The sites give consumers an opportunity to go deeper into the ." Black is the president of Hearst Magazines and the author of content they already relate to in print form, and it gives our editors Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and a chance to experiment -- both with content and technology. in Life) 2 (Crown Business, this fall), a primer on business strategy, © 2007 American Booksellers Association. http://news.bookweb.org/ 1 BOOKSELLING THIS WEEK May 17, 2007 BTW: Adaptation and change are, of course, key parts of movement will be spotlighted as part of ABA's information surviving and thriving in business, but how can a business sessions on Saturday, June 2. "Localism ... Is the tipping point at balance its previous success while staying nimble enough to hand?" will look at burgeoning "local first" efforts and how safeguard its future? In other words, how do businesses avoid independent retailers are working together to preserve the diversity the (very expensive) New Coke pitfall? of their communities. The discussion, moderated by ABA COO Oren Teicher, will feature Bill McKibben, author of Deep CB: It is important to remember what your core competency is but 5 you have to be willing to adapt as changes happen around you. Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future Businesses must stay in tune with what their consumers want. For (Times Books/Henry Holt). example, Cosmopolitan is one of the world's most successful 6 "Local is the place we're headed -- and since bookstores got there magazines, but we know that our readers today want more and first in many ways, they deserve to be a big part of the next big different ways to interact with our content. As a result, we have economic idea," McKibben told BTW via e-mail. launched a Cosmo Sirius Radio channel, a series of Cosmo books, The June 2 panel, said Teicher, "is all part of ABA's continuing a yearly special issue on Cosmo Style, as well as Cosmo Web and efforts to help educate booksellers about Main Street coalitions and mobile websites, which are all different and compelling ways for independent business alliances." the reader to stay engaged with a brand she already feels connected to. For his part, McKibben said, he will talk about "the very big picture -- why we might want to spend the next hundred years reeling in some of the supply lines we spent the last century BTW: In Basic Black , you talk about some of the routes taken flinging out -- and also the small picture: some glimpses of places to bring about USA Today 's success, which included calculated that are making the transition." risk taking, creating "gimmicks" that grabbed readers' attention, and "blowing the dust off the curtains." How do you Teicher plans to include a quick update on the Shop Local world. think these strategies might apply to independent booksellers? "It's a movement that has now clearly become a 'movement,'" he said. "It's gathering critical mass with new independent business CB: I am a big believer in taking calculated risks -- even if they alliances being established and the increasing evidence that aren't all successful, you will always learn something that will help consumers understand 'localism.'" He added that the recent "San you in the future. For independent booksellers to market Francisco Retail Diversity Study" 7 , commissioned by the San themselves successfully, they must help consumers reconnect to the Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Alliance (SFLOMA) and concept and unique advantages of the local bookstore: personal conducted by Civic Economics, was further evidence that service from someone who knows you and your tastes, a staff that independent bookstores provide more economic value to a is passionate about books and shares the book buyer's love of community than do chains. reading, and an inventory that includes much more than the latest bestsellers. Independent booksellers also have the ability to present "Localism ... Is the tipping point at hand?" will be held on small-scale events, including intimate readings with authors, and to Saturday, June 2, from 1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. in Rooms develop and host neighborhood book groups. By increasing these 1B02/1B03/1B04 of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. activities, and promoting them as points of differentiation, independent booksellers will reinforce what makes them integral Restaurant Suggestions From a parts of their communities. Brooklyn Insider BTW: Given your position at Hearst, you're in a unique place May 17, 2007 -- By Pat Willard to provide an "old media" vs. "new media" forecast. Do you Booksellers, thank your lucky stars you're staying in Brooklyn! think the "old" is as threatened by "new" as many believe, or You'll eat well -- some may say even better than on that little island can the one enhance and inform, or possibly even provide a across the river. If you know Brooklyn at all, this fact is not that platform for the other? surprising. With its vibrant ethnic diversity and strong