NECBA's Pub Crawl: Two Publishers, One Day
This article originally appeared in PW's Children's Bookshelf. Sign up now!
By Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 6/18/2009 3:00:00 PM
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Pat Fowler, co-owner of Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls, Vt., tours Porter Square Books. |
The crawl—or more accurately walk and subway ride—was intended to initiate an ongoing dialogue between independent booksellers and two of the region’s largest children’s book publishers: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Candlewick Press. Carol Stoltz, co-owner and children’s book buyer at Porter Square, served as both host and timekeeper, gathering booksellers—a feat comparable to herding cats—for the day’s first publishing appointment. A veritable bookseller parade formed as the group threaded its way through Porter Square Shopping Center, down Elm Street, past Wisdom Publications, and into neighboring Davis Square, Somerville, where Candlewick is located.
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Booksellers arrive at |
“As I drove in,” said Supovitz, “I was thinking of convergence—the convergence of New England bookselling and bookmaking and New England independent children’s bookselling and independent children’s bookmaking.” That convergence was even more apparent following a brief NECBA confab on the upcoming fall trade show, when Supovitz was joined by several colleagues. They spoke on how a book, or more particularly Kate DiCamillo’s The Magician’s Elephant (Sept.), illus. by Yoko Tanaka, comes to be.
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A limited-edition print from Kate DiCamillo's The Magician’s Elephant, part of a pre-order promotion for independent booksellers. |
After the contract was negotiated and Tompa edited the book with DiCamillo, it went to copyediting. There spelling, grammar and consistency were reviewed. At the same time, creative director and associate publisher Chris Paul began planning how the physical book would look—its trim size, format, typeface and illustrations. The production department gets involved, said Kim Lanza, executive director of production and marketing, with purchasing paper and binding. To illustrate the types of decisions that arose for DiCamillo’s book, Lanza and Paul let booksellers look at some of Tanaka’s original sketches with in-house comments, as well as dummies showing how different papers would affect the bulk of the book.
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No rest for weary booksellers |
After a break for lunch, it was back down Dover Street to the Davis Square T Station to take the subway across the river to Boston’s Back Bay, where Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has its offices on Berkeley Street. If Candlewick’s year-old building with industrial touches and a bright red wall in the entry way spoke of being hip and modern, HMH’s headquarters exuded the feel of a long-established house, which traces its roots back 177 years. En route to the fifth-floor conference room, booksellers paused at paintings by N.C. Wyeth, somber portraits of heads of house past and a writing desk from the 19th century.
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Elise Supovitz (center front) joins |
“With the down economy we’re all taking fewer books,” said Groban. She noted that even when it was reported last fall that the adult side of HMH wasn’t acquiring books, children’s never stopped. “Paring down and focusing is what’s going on. During the go-go years, people over-published.”
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The Pub Crawl reaches HMH’s Berkeley Street building. |
When Magram asked booksellers what’s doing well?, the meeting turned into a focus group, much like it had at Candlewick. “Paperbacks” was the near universal response. “Even The Graveyard Book,” said Karlene Rearick, owner of the Alphabet Garden in Cheshire, Ct. “People say, ‘It’s not in paperback yet?’ ” Among the exceptions were stores like Bunch of Grapes on Martha’s Vineyard, which does a strong gift business in children’s hardcovers. Morris at Wellesley Booksmith also pointed out how hard it is to make money on paperback events.
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Linda Magram (center) greets booksellers as they arrive |
While no resolution came for how to pick a cover or even why some books make publishers’ lists, a bookseller concern at both houses, NECBA members commented afterwards that the day was definitely a success. “The opportunity to view all the amazing art at both houses was well worth the trip,” said Goddard. “The Bookloft has just finished a Web site overhaul, so I was interested to hear that both marketing departments have content we can incorporate.”
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Vicky Uminowicz of Titcomb’s Bookshop wins HMH’s bookseller raffle. |
Publishers were no less upbeat. “We hope that the meeting added to our ongoing dialogue with the booksellers right here in our backyard, and we look forward to stronger partnerships with NECBA members,” said Candlewick’s Supovitz.
“I think we all enjoyed the chance to have candid conversations about the state of the business, what we all can do better, and how we can work best together to promote and sell more children's books,” added HMH’s Magram. “We hope to continue this conversation with our New England bookselling colleagues, and to expand the discussion to booksellers across the country.”
