Book Sense

When Book Sense announced the Book Sense 2006 Bestsellers, a special listing of last year's top-selling books at independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide, staff at Nomad Bookhouse in Jackson, Michigan, recognized a great marketing opportunity.

The owners and staff of all ABA member bookstores are invited to cast their ballots for the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards, honoring the titles independent booksellers most enjoyed handselling in 2006.

In this first On the Move of the New Year, BookSense.com presents a report on website sales during the holiday season, improvements to inventory upload features, ISBN-13 compatibility, digital content, a new content management system, and more.

Holiday Sales

BookSense.com announced that participants saw a double-digit increase in orders placed during the 2006 holiday selling season and that aggregate sales are up once again.

The owners and staff of all ABA member bookstores can now cast their ballots for the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards.

This Friday, January 12, is the deadline for the Spring Book Sense Children's Picks, the debut of the fourth kids' list. Nominations of children's and young adult titles that independent booksellers will be enthusiastically handselling this spring may be sent to [email protected] or via a convenient web form on BookWeb.org.

For booksellers who are looking for ways to keep holiday sales momentum going, Book Sense sends a reminder that a flier and shelf-talkers for the January Book Sense Notables are available in PDF format on BookWeb.org.

For the approximately 500 booksellers attending the American Booksellers Association's Second Annual Winter Institute, business will mix with pleasure at an Author Reception on Thursday, February 1.

This past fall, HarperCollins Publishers' backlist promotion "Harper Celebrates Six Years of Book Sense Selections" benefited both booksellers and publisher. Participating retail accounts earned an extra discount when they promoted select Harper backlist titles that had appeared on the Book Sense lists. "The promotion ranks as one of the more successful retail promotions we ran last year," said Jeanette Zwart, vice president of field sales for HarperCollins. "We were very, very pleased with the results."

Since the inception of the Book Sense Gift Card program in fall 2003 through December 31, 2006, participating stores have sold 700,100 cards, with a total value of more than $18 million and an average sale per card of $25.96. For the 2006 holiday season, Book Sense Gift Card sales grew nine percent over last year.

In October, central New York State became home to a new bookstore with a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) focus, when The Lavender Inkwell Bookshoppe opened in Syracuse. Co-owners Scott Henni and John Besaw started the barely 700-square-foot store because they felt a need for one, especially in the city's Near Northeast historic district.

For the eight-week period ending Tuesday, January 9, 2007, and based on sales at hundreds of independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available on ABA's trade website, BookWeb.org.

Attention Media: Contact Meg Smith at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

Here is the full listing of February Book Sense Picks, with booksellers' comments, as well as a preview of the month's Notables. Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will be receiving their February Picks fliers in the January Red Box. (The flier includes jacket images, bibliographic information, and bookseller quotes.)

Booksellers with Book Sense should note that the new Book Sense Bestseller system has been upgraded so that ISBN-13 support is now live.

Here is a look at the changes to the system:

1. It provides booksellers with the ability to enter ISBN-13 via the manual entry system.
   
   

2. Booksellers can now upload inventory control system files with ISBN-13s.
   

This Friday, January 5, is the deadline for the March 2007 Book Sense Picks list. There's still time to make your voice heard.

At the close of the year, the Book Sense team extends a very appreciative thanks to all the booksellers who have participated in the program's initiatives -- from nominating titles for the Picks lists and creating great in-store displays, to reporting to the bestseller list, promoting Book Sense in newsletters and on websites, selling Book Sense gift cards, and participating in BookSense.com.