• The New York Times, Thursday, November 2, 2006 12:45 PM

Ann Volkwein's "Arthur Avenue Cookbook" and bologna go together like a soup and sandwich at Mike's Deli in the Bronx. And Annie Leibovitz's "A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005" lies nestled between sweaters and skirts at a hip clothing store in SoHo.

With book sales sagging--down 2.6% as of August over the same period last year--publishers are pushing their books into butcher shops, carwashes, cookware stores, and cheese shops--even chic clothing boutiques where high-end literary titles are used to amplify the elegant lifestyle they are attempting to project.

The point, publishers say, is to follow customers who might not visit bookstores into the places they shop. At Penguin Group, sales reps have begun pushing into rural areas that are short on big bookstores--selling at cattle auctions, among other places. And the Time Warner Book Group routinely changes the color or design of book jackets at a store's request so the book will color-coordinate with merchandise.

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