The Bookseller.com

25th July 2008

Alison Flood is The Bookseller's news editor.

Blogging the BA Conference - Day Two

13.05.08

We'll be updating this blog throughout the day with our thoughts about the latest talks, so keep checking back.

16.15
Neill Denny writes:

Second day at the BA Conference and the mood is being considerably helped by the beautiful sunny weather, matched at times by an optimistic mood in the hall. At other times, though, the contrast between some of the gloomier predictions and the holiday mood of Brighton in the sun was stark.

First upbeat areas: libraries are coming back, with more people visiting and more books being borrowed, plus events with booksellers at which books are being actually sold. In some areas, the spending on books is actually going up - and even, get this, more people are visiting as a result.

Second, CSR, green, call it what you will. Good stuff is starting to happen at Waterstone's at HarperCollins judging from their presentations. Waterstone's cut 400 tons from their CO2 emissions last year, whilst HC are moving to full FSC status.  It's a start, but a lot of other big names are notably silent in the area.

Dark stuff: the fear of the ipod moment, when today's teenagers grow up and expect everything on one device - phone, e-reader, internet - seems to lurk at the back of everyone's mind. How will anyone apart from a few big name authors make any money - and what is the role, if any, for the humble independent bookseller in all of this. No-one really knows.
 

16.10
Philip Jones writes:

One of the more bizarre conference sessions allowed four delegates to pitch the next big thing: though no-one seems to have explained this to Mark Rusher whose talk, whilst interesting, seemed bereft of a pitch.

Personally, I voted for Emma Barnes' BookBackers mainly on the grounds that it looked like something that might actually happen. Emma voted for David Kohn's charitable idea Book Relief--an industry wide initiative aimed at improving literacy levels. Controversially Kohn said current initiatives such as National Year of Reading and World Book Day didn't have much profile and had only lukewarm industry support. He wanted one big week devoted to a massive reading push, like Comic Relief and Sport Relief.

I was sitting next to Jamie Byng and we both agreed that it was unlikely to  get off the ground, but I think it won the day in a show of hands - just about. The BA is now going to canvass members to see if it really has legs.

14.00
Philip Jones writes:

Following McGrath with a seminar on the digital future may not have been easy but author Charlie Leadbeater lost no time charming the audience: "The last time I spoke to the trade, half the audience thought I was mad, while the other half just thought I was evil." Perhaps Charlie was referring to a British Library discussion he took part in in March, when he accused PA chief executive Simon Juden of "flailing around trying to prop up a failing industry, rather than dealing with the issues at hand".

He gave no such harsh predictions this time around: "The idea that the book is dead is wildly wide of the mark, but new forms will emerge." Consumers will want to participate, and even to create, he said. As new tools emerge that enable books to be made more easily, Leadbeater, argued that there would be "more of everything" and there will be more "disorder". To survive, he added, the book business will have to add value--and learn to experiment. "No-one really knows what is going to happen, but the less you have do with it the more frightening this world will become. Unfortunately, that does not mean the more you do the better you feel. But you just have to get stuck in."

History professor David Edgerton took a different view, arguing that "old" stuff keeps coming back, from cruise ships to books, annoying the tech-futurists, who tend to get things wrong anyway. "Why do internet gurus publish books, don't they realise that it undermines their thesis?" There was a great danger in over-estimating the value of the new, and underestimating the legacy of the past. The story of the book was also the story of very many other things that were once thought to be dead but which are still around. "I'm not arguing that the world is not changing but it isn't changing in the way that internet gurus have been telling us for years."

Despite their differing views, and Leadbeater's repeated assertion that Edgerton was "wrong", the pair only clashed towards the end. Edgerton valued books and teachers, while Leadbeater argued that the free flow of information was vital for people who couldn't afford to pay for it and that the internet was changing the way it was acquired and used. Knowledge is not free, Edgerton countered. "The digital divide is about those who have access to rubbishy digital information, and those who have access to books."

13.00
Graeme Neill writes:

Despite being mocked by the man himself for showing up late I was pleased I attended Rory McGrath's keynote address. Going spectacularly over the time allocated, no one seemed to care as they were laughing so much. Highlights included a joke about Fatima Whitbread that is far too obscene for this august publication and McGrath's musical career.
He used to be in a blues band called Blue and a reggae band called Reg. "I'm in a country band now but I'm not sure what to call it," he quipped. The avid Arsenal fan got a big laugh when he started musing about his ex-wife. She once accused him of loving Arsenal more than her. He shot back: "I love Spurs more than I love you."

McGrath over-ran so much that he was offered the opportunity to take part of in the follow-on digital seminar: "It's a tempting offer, but it's Brighton and there's topless volleyball . . ."

11.20
Philip Jones writes:

BookRabbit's Kieron Smith (perhaps the only other person besides us blogging the BA conference) wonders where all the booksellers have gone: "there seem to be precious few of them about, out of the 430 attendees to the conference, a quick count by me put the booksellers in attendance at about 100, less than 25% of the whole". Good point.

It is probably unavoidable, but having the BA a.g.m. at the same time as the first session doesn't seem like a great idea, either. Everyone was so scattered during that session that author Tracy Chevalier got half the room to shift over so they were closer to the other half.

11.00
Philip Jones writes:

Libraries are back! That was the message from this morning's session on why libraries are the missing link between readers and writers.

Karen Cunningham, head of libraries at Glasgow, admitted investment in IT had resulted in books being sidelined, but that had all changed: "It's really important to say that reading is our core business."

There were positive numbers across the board, with book issues rising and library membership up (according to an email just received by Honor Wilson-Fletcher, National Year of Reading project director, library membership in Cambridgeshire has risen 43% thanks to all the recent marketing initiatives).

HarperCollins' Amanda Ridout was in typical buoyant mood, it is "incredibly exciting" and we have to "seize the moment", she said. Publishers at their core, were all about connecting readers with writers, she said, admitting that they'd somehow lost the "knack" of doing that in bookshops. Libraries, she suggested, offered another route to that.

Author Tracy Chevalier questioned whether librarians made the best use of authors, saying that her local library (in Highgate) tended to greet her with blank stares whenever she went in: "It is not part of a librarian's culture to cultivate a relationship with local authors, and I don't know why." Chevalier said she was going to try again, so watch out Highgate librarians.

Tensions were momentarily raised when Bloomsbury's Richard Charkin said that a library typically cost £700,000 to run, and spends only about £3,000 - £4,000 on books. Cunningham was not having that: she said that in Glasgow even the smaller libraries spent at least £20,000. "It's not that bleak," she said, "we are no longer in decline".

Cunningham also reminded delegates that libraries are in the recycling business - the original green service.


10.50
Graeme Neill writes:

Day two of the conference kicked off for me with the Booksellers Association's annual general meeting. The book industry is clearly made of sterner stuff than I because those who attended looked far fresher faced than I felt. Discussions focused on Batch.co.uk and BookTokens (flat sales since 2001, but electronic tokens are coming on stream early next year).

And next year the conference is going to held in Newcastle.

I'd disagree with Alison about the mixed reaction to Luke Johnson's speech. The response I heard from publishers and retailers was pretty much one-sided.

09.30

Alison Flood writes:

Everyone at the conference today is probably nursing sore heads - I know I am. The combination of sea breeze cocktails, red wine, beer and gin and tonic is never a good one, particularly when it's given a good shaking courtesy of the waltzers and rollercoasters on Brighton Pier.

The President's Party was great fun this year; I don't think you can go wrong with fish and chips, doughnuts and fairground rides - and I was surprised just how thrill-seeking some of the great and good of the book trade are.

Bill Samuel and Carole Blake, I salute you for your fearless riding of the Techno Coaster. I've never seen Stephen Page look more excited than when he was riding the waltzer, and the aggression being taken out on the dodgems was something to behold - perhaps the book industry needed a bit of light relief.

 Dodgy business: Faber's Stephen Page and Patrick Neale of Jaffe & Neale independent bookshop relieve their aggressions on the dodgems at the President's Party.

Much of the chat was about digital issues - what's better, the Sony e-reader or the iLiad? How are we going to get our e-book lists ready in time? How many iLiads has Borders sold? Philip Downer told me it was 8 yesterday - he's getting an email every time Borders makes a sale. Booksellers were bemoaning the good weather - it keeps people off the high street, while many were discussing Luke Johnson's speech yesterday with a varied prognosis.

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