Book Sense

There will be two Book Sense Picks deadlines during the first weeks of December.

Friday, December 1, is the deadline for nominations for the February Book Sense Picks list, and the deadline for the Valentine's List is December 8.

"While sleigh bells will be ringing and your cash register jingling this weekend, expect traffic to your store website and online sales to peak each Monday between Thanksgiving and Christmas," said BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos.

Founded in November 1996 as a children's bookstore in Charlotte, Vermont, The Flying Pig celebrated its 10th anniversary last Saturday as a general bookstore specializing in children's books in the neighboring town of Shelburne.

The Winter 2006/2007 Book Sense Children's Picks list can now be previewed online. Independent bookstores with Book Sense will begin receiving the Children's Picks fliers, which are being mailed directly from the printer, within the next week. Additional copies may be requested via e-mail to [email protected].

Hopefully, all stores with Book Sense will have the happy problem of being extremely busy during this holiday season. But it is also extremely important that all stores continue to report their sales to the Book Sense Bestseller List each week. It is a crucial time to demonstrate to the industry the power of independents.

A recent survey of retail spending and trends commissioned by Deloitte & Touche USA concludes that gift cards will continue to be the top gift purchase this holiday season. The report notes that approximately 66 percent of consumers are planning to buy an average of 4.6 gift cards (up from 3.9 in 2005).

Glens Falls, a scenic town in upstate New York, just south of the giant Adirondack Park, has its first independent bookstore in an estimated 40 years. Red Fox Books, named after husband-and-wife owners Naftali Rottenstreich and Susan Fox, opened its doors on October 19. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for December 7.

A bookseller is one of the few good guys among a nasty cast of characters in Blind Submission, memoirist Debra Ginsberg's debut novel set in a Bay Area literary agency.

One of the stellar successes of the 2006 publishing season has been Sara Gruen's debut novel, Water for Elephants, which was the number-one selection on the June Book Sense Picks list.

The Book Sense 2006 Bestsellers, a special listing of the year's top 15 bestselling titles in six categories -- Hardcover Fiction, Hardcover Nonfiction, Paperback Fiction, Paperback Nonfiction, Children's Fiction, and Children's Illustrated -- will be published in Bookselling This Week on Thursday, December 7.

To duly mark its 10th anniversary, Los Angeles' Skylight Books held a weeklong celebration, beginning on Saturday, October 28, featuring parties, author readings, staff poetry readings, Yucatan burritos, and lots of cake. "We had to be kind of flashy," said Skylight's Kerry Slattery. "It's our 10th, and we didn't want to take it for granted."

Here is the full listing of December 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 December Picks fliers in the November Red Box. (The flier includes jacket images, bibliographic information, and bookseller quotes.)

Friday, November 3, is the deadline for nominations for the January Book Sense Picks list. In the spirit of this election season, Book Sense Picks Editor-in-Chief Dan Cullen urges booksellers to nominate early -- and often!

Bobbie Bicket had no intention of buying a bookstore, although she had been a regular customer of the 52-year-old Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina. But when the bookstore was up for sale last year, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. "It just happened," said Bicket. "Everything worked out. I think that things that are supposed to, do. It's a wonderful place. It really is the heart of Southern Pines."

Historian Michael Bess is too young to have lived through the global conflict that created the ethical dilemmas he scrutinizes in Choices Under Fire: Moral Dimensions of World War II (Knopf). But tales told to him in childhood by both his parents planted the seeds for this 21st-century work.