Book Sense

While sitting in Los Angeles' Bodhi Tree Bookstore, it dawned on Susan Weis (it hit her "like a stack of books!") that Baltimore also needed a bookstore for the mind, body, and spirit -- a place "where like-minded people could gather for discussions and meetings in a space rich with literature and gifts, and for those new to their spiritual journey," she said. To learn the book business, Weis attended the Bookseller School presented by Paz & Associates in conjunction with ABA at BookExpoAmerica this past spring.

This week Book Sense announces the 2005 Valentine's Day Top Ten. The list is produced in conjunction with the Association of American Publishers' (AAP) Get Caught Reading initiative. This is part of an ongoing initiative with AAP to create seasonal lists based on the nominations of independent booksellers nationwide. The next Book Sense and AAP Get Caught Reading list will be an Easter/Passover Top Ten.

Book Sense specialty bestseller lists provide great opportunities for booksellers to introduce their stores, and the Book Sense program, to consumers through their local media. Many newspapers and magazines feature specialty sections or inserts that are a perfect match for one or more of the lists, and often what is needed is to bring the availability of the lists to the publisher's attention weeks or months in advance.

While holiday season sales predictions sometimes err on the side of optimism, it appears that pre-holiday forecasts regarding gift cards might have underestimated how popular the items were with consumers ... at least at bookstores participating in the Book Sense Gift Card Program. According to gift card sales figures recently compiled by ABA, sales of Book Sense gift cards increased by 256 percent in December 2004, compared to the same period last year.

Since its founding in 1819 in Hamilton, New York, Colgate Bookstore has undergone a number of incarnations, migrating around the Colgate University campus to various academic halls, a basement, and other temporary homes. Its latest and, likely, last relocation may be its most dramatic, however. The bookstore moved a mile off campus and now occupies a central position in downtown Hamilton. The move, which increased the store's square footage and customer base significantly, has also sparked the town's renaissance.

ABA member booksellers can now cast their votes for the 2005 Book Sense Book of the Year awards via an online ballot. All employees of member bookstores are eligible to vote in the streamlined balloting process announced last week.

For the eight-week period ended January 9, 2005, and based on reporting from hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available at www.bookweb.org/read/5677.

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

Dave King's teenaged writing endeavors included a novel penciled on a steno pad and a screenplay he thought would be a good vehicle for David Bowie (who never did respond to King's pitch).

Here is a preview of the February "Book Sense Picks." Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will receive their Picks fliers in the January Red Box.

Friday, January 7, is the last opportunity to nominate titles for the Easter/Passover Top Ten. Frontlist and backlist, adult and children's titles are needed to make this list a great handselling tool for the upcoming holidays.

And it's not too early to begin sending in nominations for the three February Picks lists deadlines. Friday, February 4, is the nomination deadline for the April Book Sense Picks, as well as for the Poetry Top Ten. And Friday, the 11th, is the deadline for the Spring 2005 History Top Ten.

Booksellers who wish to be part of the random drawing to win the Polar Express prize pack must send the Polar Express Prize Pack Bookstore Entry Form to Associate Book Sense Marketing Director Meg Smith for receipt by January 12.

In 1787, a group of zealous individuals gathered in a London bookshop to organize what would become a landmark undertaking: A campaign that would put an end to slavery in Great Britain. The campaign wasn't a simple one, but about 50 years later, the work of this enterprising group (which included one woman) would bring about justice for those enslaved. Their tireless efforts became a blueprint for human rights activism throughout the world, including the U.S.

Karibu Books, an African-American specialty store, now includes five locations in the Washington, D.C. area, with a sixth opening in Baltimore later in 2005. The company's philosophy is to empower and educate people by providing complete access to books by and about people of African descent.

Here is a preview of the titles to be featured on the Book Sense January "We Also Recommend." Downloadable PDFs of the flier and shelf-talkers, which include bibliographic information and booksellers' quotations for the 20 titles, will soon be available at www.bookweb.org/read/6977. The PDF flier also includes jacket images.

The hot topic of media coverage of the 2005 holiday shopping season continues to be gift cards. They have been described as the "hottest gift of the season," "riskless," the "shopper's saving grace," "the easiest present to get through airport security," and "more glamorous than cash."

Booksellers around the country offering Book Sense Gift Cards are reporting record sales now, and are confident that increased sales will result when the cards are redeemed after the holidays.