Roy Schonfeld Named PW’s Rep of the Year

by Kevin Howell -- Publishers Weekly, 3/14/2008

Roy Schonfeld, from Abraham Associates, Inc., has been named Publishers Weekly’s Sales Rep of the Year. Schonfeld, who services bookstores in the Midwest and lives in Cleveland, Ohio, has worked for Abraham Associates, Inc. for 15 years—his entire career as a publisher representative. His experience in the publishing industry stretches back even further: he worked for 12 years as a book buyer at two different Ohio bookstores.

“I’m very honored to have this recognition of my work by booksellers,” Schonfeld said. “It’s especially heartening to get this news after driving around throughout this incredible hard winter—I seem to have hit every storm in Michigan and Ohio. But, I enjoy traveling around, meeting these booksellers and having friendships with them.”

“This is so exciting and it’s great for our group,” said Stu Abraham, adding with a laugh, “Now the publishers will be off our backs for at least a year.The other associates and I are so excited that Roy’s getting the recongnition he deserves for working so hard on his accounts.”

“I’ve been working with Roy now for probably 16 years and in my mind he models what I admire most in sales representatives,” said Karl Pohrt, owner of Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Mich. “Abraham Associates represent a staggering number of publishers--including Consortium and D.A.P., both of which are monster anthologies of excellent presses—and, to say the least, sales calls could be daunting and formidable. However, Roy effectively communicates his excitement about titles on the lists without being pushy.”

“We’ve all heard talk over the years that the rep system is doomed, but I think reps are absolutely indispensable for our business,” added Pohrt. “Despite the hyper-marketing and the commoditization of nearly everything in our culture, books are sold one at a time. Bookselling remains an area of the entertainment economy that is intensely personal. Roy understands this. When I think of the indispensability of sales representatives in our business, I think of Roy Schonfeld.”