Indies Report Okay Holiday Sales

By Kevin Howell & Bob Summer -- Publishers Weekly, 1/3/2006

Early reports from independent booksellers across the country found most satisfactory news. As predicted, there was no runaway bestseller this year, although Our Endangered Values, Misquoting Jesus, and The Silver Spoon Cookbook appeared on multiple bestseller lists. The surprise hits proved tough revenue drivers for many indies though, as the stores had trouble getting in enough copies to meet consumer demand. Other strong sellers included a mix of national titles (Teacher Man) and regional (Redneck Dictionary). No big disappointments were cited by booksellers, although 700 Sundays and The Complete New Yorker did not sell as well as hoped at some stores.

Karen Wilson, owner of Page & Palette in Fairhope, Ala., said she had a "fabulous Christmas," with sales up at least 10% in the final quarter. Wilson ran many more events throughout October, November, and December than in the past, and all were successful to varying degrees. A Nicholas Sparks event attracted 1,500 people and produced $45,000 in sales for his At First Sight and True Believer novels, with At First Sight the store's top holiday seller. Regional hits included Official Guide to Christmas in the South and Cathy Donelson/Fannie Flagg's pictorial Fairhope.

John Evans, owner of Lemuria Books in Jackson, Miss., said that after a very slow start due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, business picked up noticeably by year-end. "With such a good December," Evans said, "I feel like our Katirna problems are finally behind us."As for December's sales leaders, he pointed to Looking Around Mississippi and The Square Table Cookbook from the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and noted there was an even larger demand for local and regional titles this year than usual. "There's a lot of nostalgia around the state for pre-Katrina Mississippi, and I think you'd find that these two books were Christmas bestsellers at all stores down here." New Orleans books sold well too, especially Galatoire's Cookbook. But Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary, which Evans expected to be a big hit, "was unavailable for so long that it lost it's momentum and was dead before Christmas."

According to Emokew B'Racz, this was the best Christmas in her Asheville, N.C.-based Malaprop's Books 24-year history."Our Web and gift card sales were way up and overall business was up almost 10%," she noted. B'Racz credited a number of factors from the sharp increase to a strong local economy, more days in the selling season, a very productive December event for Widow of the South, and the pulling power of SEBA's Holiday Catalog. B'Racz had to scramble to find enough copies of Silver Spoon, a problem she also had withMisquoting Jesus. "That book caught us by surprise, but we couldn't get enough of it after a customer told us he was interviewed on NPR."

Michele Sulka, v-p for marketing at the Joseph-Beth group said same store sales were up 6% in December. "Last year we had some nasty weather during the holiday season in at least two of our cities, but this year the weather was lovely pretty much everywhere and I'm sure that helped." In addition to the national bestsellers, a local hot seller was a Joseph-Beth exclusive, Dr. Thomas Clark's Kentucky Treasures [Kentucky Herald Leader].

Sales at Chapter 11 Bookstores in Atlanta, which is in bankruptcy, were down, but Perry Tanner, owner and CEO, said: "All things considered, we had as good a Christmas as could be expected." Despite sales being down, Tanner found glimmers of hope for the future. "Our Web sales were up as were gift card sales, and since we have our own card that seems to indicate our customers have faith that we'll be here for awhile. And both revenue and transactions during our 30%-off sale the week after Christmas equaled those for last year's sale," he said.

Sales at Nicola's Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Mich., were better than expected said owner Nicola Rooney. "We were not expecting it to be as good as the last year, but we're about 1% up and I'm very happy with that because the rest of the year has been down a couple percentages," Rooney said. In addition to running into shortages on Misquoting Jesus, Our Endangered Values, and Silver Spoon, Rooney had a hard time getting S is for Silence. Local bestsellers were led by Has Anyone Seen Christmas [Mackinac Island Press] and Return to the Common Grill [Huron River Press].

The transit strike hurt sales at St. Mark's Bookshop in New York, said owner Robert Content, with sales off significantly during the three-day walkout. "The strike even affected our local customers because people didn't even know if they'd be able to get home from work," Content said. "We had to pay to get our employees home from work. When the strike was over it gave people about a day and half to do Christmas shopping and I think most people shopped online." The Year of Magical Thinking was the store's top seller, while How We Are Hungry also sold really well. The different editions of Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain both sold well with the small hardcover of just the story selling best of all. The biggest sleeper was the mystery Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo [Europa Editions], which was published in France a few years ago.

Brookline Booksmith manager Dana Brigham said the Brookline, Mass., store came out a bit ahead of last year for the whole season. "We—like most people—had been somewhat flat most of the year, but picked up momentum at the end." Team of Rivals, The Year of Magical Thinking, On Beauty, Education of a Coach and a new local novel, New Boy by Julian Houston, stayed strong all season. The store's sidelines/gift section had significant increases this year, ranging from $2 windup robots to tea pots. Booksmith also sold "a gazillion copies of Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha because both movies opened across the street from us at an indie theatre," Brigham said.

Lori St. James, operations manager at Powell's Books Burnside store in Portland, Ore., said sales were up slightly from last year. The biggest surprise of the season was the continuing demand for bios—books about Bob Dylan, Lincoln and the Beatles along with The Tender Bar and Teacher Man were all in demand.

Holiday reports from the national chains are due later this week.