BTW Articles

The January/February 2003 Book Sense 76 -- with booksellers' recommendations -- has been posted at http://news.bookweb.org/read/1029. The printed flier will be shipped to stores beginning the first week of January.

These titles were selected from 2,000 nominations from independent booksellers across the country. To access an online nomination form and deadlines for future 76s, go to www.BookWeb.org/booksense/seventysix/2330.html.

Two top ten January/February Book Sense 76 picks will be featured in newly redesigned bookmark-shaped ads in The New Yorker in January. The ads feature a clearer typeface and a larger image of the recommended book.

The January 20 issue of The New Yorker, on sale January 13, will feature an ad in which Alayne Hopkins of Ruminator Books in St. Paul, Minnesota, recommends Samaritan by Richard Price (Knopf, 0375411151).

Charles Nurnberg, executive vice president of Sterling Publishing, wants to set the record straight.

Last week, when Barnes & Noble announced that it had acquired how-to publisher Sterling Publishing, some publishing experts predicted that Sterling would inevitably receive preferential treatment in B&N stores, and they wondered if the new arrangement ultimately would negatively affect Sterling's relationship with B&N's competitors -- Borders and independent bookstores.

Anyone with doubts as to the popularity of gift certificates and books among holiday shoppers should check out the 2002 American Express Retail Index (AERI) on holiday shopping. According to AERI, gift certificates and books rank in the top five of items consumers plan to give or hope to receive this holiday season.