Booksellers Take On The Internet

New Zealand Booksellers are planning a campaign to combat overseas internet sales and the increasing dollar at their Industry Conference in Auckland this weekend.

Booksellers New Zealand chief executive Linda Henderson said all the talk in media encouraging people to buy books online was not helpful to the New Zealand Book Industry.

The annual Industry Conference themed Buy the Book, Bookselling in a Changing World, was imperative to give Booksellers skills to face these challenges, Mrs Henderson said.

The Book Trade wants to let the public know that buying books in New Zealand does make a difference.

“Every time someone makes a choice to buy a book online from an overseas supplier it takes money away from New Zealand Booksellers. We cannot always compete with price but we can compete in other ways and that is what this conference will be focusing on,” she said.

The Conference runs all day Sunday July 29 at the SKYCITY Convention Centre in Auckland.

Television presenter and broadcaster Simon Morton, Melbourne’s pre-eminent independent bookstore owner Mark Rubbo, and award winning author Lloyd Jones are all keynote speakers.

Morton is fresh from his television series Why We Buy. He will explore some of the challenges facing the industry, like the internet, and how best to combat them.

Readings Books Music and Film Managing Director Mark Rubbo was awarded an Order of Australia Medal last year for his service to Australian literature and bookselling and is a past president of the Australian Booksellers Association and was voted one of Melbourne’s sexiest men.

He will talk about how his independent bookselling business has survived in a cut throat industry, managing to maintain its $19.6 million turnover.

The Book Trade will also get a rare glimpse into the workings of award winning author Lloyd Jones.

It is the first time the private author has spoken to the Book Trade. In May he was announced the winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Mister Pip, which is also shortlisted for the Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry in this year’s Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

The Conference will culminate with the Industry Awards that evening where Booksellers will vote for their peers in the THORPE-Bowker New Zealand Book Industry Awards.

Independent Book Shop of year will be decided, along with best Group Book Shop and best Regional Book Shop.

For more details about the New Zealand Book Industry Awards and Buy the Book Booksellers Conference go to the Booksellers New Zealand website, www.booksellers.co.nz

Buy the Book conference, the New Zealand Book Industry Awards and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards are all administered by Booksellers New Zealand.

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