Released on: August 3, 2008, 11:28 pm

Press Release Author: Noel Griese

Industry: Education

Press Release Summary: Booksellers attending the Great American Bargain Book Show at
Atlanta's Cobb Galleria Centre on Aug. 1-2 found a wide variety of bargain books
suitable for holiday stocking of store shelves. Vendors were pleasantly surprised by
strong sales despite the struggling economy.


Press Release Body: Atlanta, Ga. - August 4, 2008 -- According to Spring Book Show
2008 organizer and Freight Management Systems CEO Larry May of Knoxville, Tenn.,
moving the Great American Bargain Book Show from the downtown Georgia World Congress
Center to a north suburban venue provided a number of advantages,

Vendors and book buyers attending the show were almost universal in saying the Cobb
Galleria Centre venue in north Atlanta resulted in an intimate sales atmosphere,
more customer contact, higher traffic and increased sales.

"I had a blast," said Karin Wilson, owner of the Page & Palette book store in
Fairhope, Ala., and the current president of the Southern Independent Booksellers
Alliance (SIBA). "I'm going to talk everyone in SIBA into doing this. Mixing
remainders into regular stock is the thing of the future."

As for the experience of sellers, Jason Zutaut, executive vice president of bargain
book dealer Strictly By-The Book of Fall River, Mass., summed it up. "Overall, a
great show. We were busy all day, and wrote a bunch of great orders. We sold over
half a million books," he said.

Among the shoppers at Zutaut's display area was Todd Morris, proprietor of Pickle
Patch Book Fairs of Austell, Ga., who was attending his third bargain book show.
"This helped us get ready for the start of the school year. We bought thousands of
books from seven different vendors," he said.

Larry Austin, owner and president of East Tennessee Trade Group of Madisonville,
Tenn., was equally enthusiastic. "This was a tremendous show for us," he said. "We
quadrupled our expectancy for the show. I think anyone that retails books is missing
the boat if they don't attend this show."]

Debbie Smith of Bargain Books Wholesale of Grand Rapids, Mich., a wholesaler whose
offerings are about one-third Christian and the rest secular, hadn't expected much
from the show, given the current state of the economy. "It surprisingly turned out
to be a very good show," she said. "Most of us came not expecting a lot. I could go
home very happy right now, two hours before the show officially ends."

Another happy buyer was Sander Sakhrani of Pages Mail Order of Forest Hills, N.Y.,
and Mumbai (Bombay), India. Pages buys primarily academic titles - particularly
books that Indian students who hope to study in the United States buy to prepare
themselves for exams that will get them passports and admissions. Near the end of
the show, Pages had bought more than $22,000 in books, 90 percent of which will be
exported to India.

Amy Simon of World Publications of East Bridgewater, Mass., was impressed by the
steady stream of orders. "It's been a good show for us," she said. "Bookstore
owners, mostly from independent stores, mixed with buyers from small and regional
chains, kept us busy."

Even Lakieta Bagwell, who works part time for show organizers Larry and Val May, was
happy. A former singer at the Dollywood amusement complex in Tennessee, she was the
featured vocalist at the Friday evening reception for show attendees. She obviously
impressed her audience. One of the buyers bought 50 copies of her CDs for later
retailing.

Many of the vendors came to the show with low expectations, remarked Richard RePass
of Fairmount Books of Buffalo, N.Y., one of the senior salespeople who has attended
many bargain book shows. A vendor himself with more than 4,000 titles, and who also
represents four other vendors, RePass credited Larry May with making bargain book
shows like GABBS a success. "He's coalesced the remainders industry into a serious
part of the book business," RePass said.

Said Barry Baird of Thomas Nelson Bargain Books, the remainder arm of Christian
publishing giant Thomas Nelson, "We were surprised and delighted that our sales were
as strong as in previous years, given the state of the economy. There seems to be an
unspoken consensus that the bargain book business is particularly appropriate in
today's economy. If retailers ever needed bargain product, it's now."

Larry May, perhaps in the best position for getting feedback from show attendees,
summed the show up by saying, "We delivered exactly the number of attendees that we
had told the vendors to expect. Almost every vendor said it was a good show,
especially after the serious decreases in attendance and sales at this year's Book
Expo America in Los Angeles in May and the International Christian Retail Show at
Orlando, Fla., in July."

May said he and his staff would soon be following up with GABBS attendees to get
their thoughts about next year's show.

About GABBS: The Great American Bargain Book Show is one of the three largest
bargain book shows in the United States, staged annually in time for retailers to
buy inexpensive stock for marketing during the winter holiday season. The show is
organized by L.B. May & Associates of Knoxville, Tenn. Further information at
www.GABBS.net
Press release distributed by PressReleasePoint(http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/)

Contact:
Noel Griese
Anvil Publishers, Inc.
ATLANTA, GA
770-938-0289
custserv@anvilpub.com
http://www.anvilpub.net


Web Site: http://www.anvilpub.net

Contact Details: Anvil Publishers, Inc.
ATLANTA, GA