Beyond Bricks and Mortar: booksellers are using novel ways to get books to where the readers are. (market buzz).

In 1999, Ruth Bridges got her act together and took it on the road--literally. Nine years before, in 1990, she launched Atlantic Bookpost, a home-based, mail-order book business as a sideline to her full-time job as a law librarian.

Bridges was encouraged by increased interest in works by African-American authors, the growing number of black book clubs and reading groups, and the ease of communication via the Internet. Inspired by descriptions she read of literary salons with members like Nella Larsen and Zora Neale Hurston during the Harlem Renaissance, Bridges decided the time was right to take the literary salon concept national as "Literary Retreats for Women Who Love to Read."

Have books, will travel

"Nothing elevates the enjoyment of a book like talking about it with others," says Bridges. "The retreats create a venue for authors and readers to come together and support each other." She says her programs fill a void created by the lack of black bookstores in some areas and the dosing of stores in others and diminished opportunities throughout the country for authors to appear and have successful book signings. Established authors and neophytes, mainstream and self-published authors have participated in the retreats. Of course, featured books are available for sale through Atlantic Bookpost before the retreat and on-site.

The first literary retreat was held in Virginia Beach in April 1999. Featured authors Victoria Christopher Murray, Evelyn Coleman, Valerie Wilson Wesley, Lolita Files and Jacquelin Thomas led discussions on a broad range of book topics and genres. Since then retreats have been held in Scottsdale, Arizona, New Orleans, Chicago, New York, Savannah and San Pedro, California. As part of a Caribbean retreat last year, readers got to spend time with author Roslyn Carrington during a stop in Trinidad.

Bridges says she selects sites for the retreats that readers might like to visit. "I did a survey at the first retreat and the answer to `Why did you come?' was just as often `for a weekend vacation' as it was `to talk about books,'" she says. Retreats in Scottsdale and Charleston are planned for the fall of this year.

On September 11, 2001, Vivian Benton and her niece Kia Saunders left Pittsburgh to attend the retreat in Savannah. The two avid readers had planned to spend a few extra days shopping and sight-seeing before the weekend retreat began. But after the terrorist attacks in New York and outside Washington, the FAA grounded all commercial airline traffic and they found themselves on an unscheduled side trip to Charlotte. Once the flight ban was lifted, Saunders and Benton continued to Savannah.

Meeting writers and book lovers

"I think I just wanted to connect with people, and I knew this would happen once we got to the retreat," says Benton. She was not disappointed as approximately 50 women--from as far away as California--attended the revised program, which included presentations by authors Timmothy McCann and Margaret Hodges-Johnson. "What I liked most was the exchange of opinions and ideas about a range of books, not just one genre," recalls Benton.

Like Atlantic Bookpost, African-American Literary Book Club (AALBC) promotes the exchange of ideas and opinions, but on a broader scale. Using the Internet, New York investment banker Troy Johnson found a way to parlay his degrees in engineering and business to launch a cyberbook dub and marketplace (www.aalbc.com).

Since its inception in 1997, the AALBC has become one of the most heavily trafficked sites devoted to works by and about African-American authors. An affiliate of the Barnes & Noble Bookstore, AALBC also gives readers a chance to buy rare, out-of-print and autographed books from its site or directly from the author.

Johnson is proud of the opportunity to facilitate literary discussions among people throughout the world. The site's chats, reviews, message boards, author profiles and advertising are visited hundreds of thousands of readers in small towns, on military bases and overseas.

"With today's technology, there is no reason a reader-author-publisher-editor-agent-book club president with a strong love for literature could not have a powerful impact on the book world," he says. "I simply want to produce and promote one of the most powerful, positive and profitable elements of the African-American culture--literature," says Johnson.

"The AALBC hopes to expose every online visitor to the richness that is African-American literature, by celebrating the greatness of our literary history, while promoting current and aspiring authors. More importantly, the AALBC wants to foster a more balanced perspective of what it means to be African American."

However, there are still those like Jackie Perkins who has a brick-and-mortar bookstore in Orlando. But through Montsho Books, Literary Events & Services, Inc., Perkins is able to tap into the tourist market. Montsho participates in about five conferences and convention held in the city each year.

Tapping the tourism market

"Orlando is a popular venue for huge conferences and we are invited to several per year. However, we are very selective and tend to choose those with attendees that we think will like our books," says Perkins. She adds that up-front vendor fees and space constraints enter into the decision to take part in an event.

Montsho has participated in conferences sponsored by African-American sororities and fraternities, the National Baptist Convention, National Medical Association, the National Educators' Association, National Reading Association, National Association of Black Journalists Romance Slam Jam 2001, Jack & Jill of America and the National Black Storytellers' Association. And for the past 13 years, Montsho has run the Writers' Pavilion at the annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival in Eatonville, about 10 miles outside of Orlando. Each January approximately 100,000 people attend the event in the city of the author's birth and site of her burial.

Interested in planning your own literary events? Ruth Bridges has created a book called The Grapevine, a handy, how-to guide with information on starting and maintaining a business, as well as information on "the black literary community." The book is available via Atlantic Bookpost's website: www. atlanticbookpost.com for $28.95.