Publishers Weekly

The economy may be rousing from its slumber, but it’s not yet fully awake. Job numbers are improving slowly: the U.S. Department of Labor reported that an anemic 115,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added in April 2012. Unemployment hovers stubbornly around 8%, refusing to budge much. Logic would dictate that business is a buyer’s—that is, an employer’s—market these days.

Despite the odds—the growth of e-books, rising rent, and online discounting—bookstores continue to open and succeed. Speaking at the American Booksellers Association Forum in Medford, Mass., last month, ABA CEO Oren Teicher affirmed that membership in the organization has “stabilized,” and the number of bookstores is up slightly. PW contacted new bookseller/owners who have joined ABA over the past 18 months. Many are filling a void created by the collapse of Borders. Rebecca Glenn and Pete Ledesma, owners of the Book Frog, both worked for Borders stores. Some like Jennifer Cook, owner of Little Joe’s Books, are dipping their toes into the business for the first time and others have previously owned bookstores. A key for all, though, seems to be to think small, 400 to 2,700 sq. ft.

Since Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Scientific American, both Macmillan brands, announced in fall 2010 that they were joining forces, Amanda Moon, senior editor of what is being called the Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux imprint, and Scientific American editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina have been culling both of their resources to ready the publication of their first books. To generate buzz for the debut title, the May issue of Scientific American has an excerpt from What a Plant Knows by Daniel Chamovitz, which will be released May 22.

After a year of interviews and discussions, DeAgostini began a product test last year, and the company was encouraged enough by the results to launch a major presence in the U.S. beginning with a debut at BookExpo America (booth 2840) and building to a rollout of a full line next year. The company has hired Darren Deguire, formerly with Advance Publications, as general manager, and rented office space on Broadway just south of the Flatiron Building in New York City. The first products have been drawn from material originally published for other markets, but Franks said DeAgostini plans to develop titles that originate in the U.S. as soon as possible.