Every year our supply (oversupply) of used books gets larger. We’re having a used book sale to try to reduce our supply.
All used books will be 20% off, whether you have a discount card or not. The sale includes used paperbacks, used hardcovers, used magazines, used gaming books, and bagged books.
Because we have so many used audiobooks, we will be selling all used audiobooks at $5.00 each, whether cassette or CD. The sale runs from Friday, August 28 through Sunday, September 6.
This sale will be for customers shopping in the store–it does not apply to mail orders. If you’re thinking about bringing in lots of used books to sell to us during the sale, expect a longer than normal wait.
Award News
The Hugo Award for Best Novel went to The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman ($17.99).
The Locus Award winners included Anathem by Neal Stephenson ($29.95, $7.99 pb coming in September) for Best SF Novel, Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin ($14.95) for Best Fantasy Novel, Singularity’s Ring by Paul Melko ($7.99) for Best First Novel, and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman ($17.99) for Best Young-Adult Book.
The nominees for the Anthony Award include the following.
Best Novel: Trigger City by Sean Chercover ($23.95, $7.99 pb coming in September), The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly ($26.99, $9.99 pb coming in September), Red Knife by William Kent Krueger ($15.00), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ($14.95 tr pb or $7.99 mass market pb), and The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny ($7.99).
Best First Novel: Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris ($6.99), Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer ($22.95 signed hc or $7.99 pb), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ($14.95 or $7.99), Death of a Cozy Writer ($13.95), and Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith ($7.99).
Best Paperback Original: The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins ($6.99), Money Shot by Christa Faust ($6.99), State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy ($7.99), In a Dark Season by Vicki Lane ($6.99), and South of Hell by P. J. Parrish ($7.99).
Business News
by Don Blyly
The U.S. Census Bureau continues to crank out their monthly reports of bad news regarding the book industry (and the rest of retailing), and on a national basis total bookstore sales were down 3.8% for the first 5 months of 2009 compared to 2008. The news seems to be particularly bad for many mystery bookstores. Kate’s Mystery Books in the Boston area announced that they are closing August 1 after 26 years in business, and Creatures ‘n’ Crooks in Richmond, VA announced that they are closing the end of September after over 9 years in business. Several bookstore in the Chicago area also recently announced that they are closing.
The recession is hitting the U.K. even harder than the U.S. I recently read a BBC report that about 12,000 independent store and nearly 7000 branches of major chains have closed since the beginning of the year. Several major towns in the north of England have lost over 20% of all retail establishments since the beginning of the year, and many southern towns have lost 15% of all retail establishments since the beginning of the year.
A study at the University of Sussex has found the reading is the best way to reduce stress. Six minutes of reading lowered stress levels by 68%, compared to 61% from listening to music, 54% from having a cup of tea, 42% from taking a walk, and 21% from playing video games.
