Book Sense

Based on four weeks of sales at over 400 independent bookstores across America.

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

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

Back in the 1970s and '80s -- when there seemed to be more young people going to the movies than reading books, film schools were apparently more popular than writing programs, and the goal of an increasing number of creative twenty-somethings was not to write the Great American Novel but to craft the next hot screenplay -- a chorus of dismayed voices was sometimes heard to ask, "But where will the new authors come from?"

Gift cards have come of age, according to "Holiday Retail Strategies 2004: How Christmas Shopping Trends Will Shape the 2004 Season," a study recently released by Packaged Facts, a publishing division of MarketResearch.com. According to the report, gift cards continue to increase in popularity: They accounted for 10 percent of the $226 billion in holiday sales for 2003, double the 2002 figure.

Stores will be receiving the 2004 - 2005 Reading Group Suggestions Book Sense 76 in the March White Box mailing, but the full list, with bookseller quotes, can be previewed online at news.bookweb.org/read/2313 now.

The March Book Sense White Box roars in like a lion … filled with information and materials you need to see …

First, from ABA and Book Sense:

Booksellers have a chance to get lucky with the display contest for the latest Hardcover History featured title.

A special three-page travel insert in the April issue of Good Housekeeping, which went on sale March 5, directs readers to find featured titles at independent bookstores with Book Sense.

The insert, featuring 11 titles selected by Good Housekeeping Marketing Manager Heidi Sacko and Book Sense staff members, ties classic to contemporary literature to travel destinations within the U.S.

The March/April Book Sense 76 features the incorrect ISBN and price for the title Baking Illustrated: The Practical Kitchen Companion for the Home Baker With 350 Recipes You Can Trust, edited by Cook's Illustrated Magazine (America's Test Kitchen). The book is priced at $35 and the correct ISBN is 0936184752.

With one year in the books, so to speak, recently released BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program figures indicate that the program has done well to help publishers increase book sales, while giving booksellers access to co-op to help offset the cost of their BookSense.com Web sites. "We're delighted at the early success of this program," BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos told BTW.

Here is the Spring 2004 Book Sense 76 Poetry Top Ten, based on the nominations of independent booksellers from all regions of the country. The March White Box will contain the Poetry Top Ten pads, and you can download a PDF of the list, by clicking here.

The list of newspapers, magazines, and Web sites carrying regional, national, and category Book Sense Bestseller Lists grows each month. Recently, these newspapers began featuring a regional list: Scranton, Pennsylvania's Scranton Times-Tribune (New England list); Fernandina Beach, Florida's News Leader (Southeast list); Ogden, Utah's Standard-Examiner (Mountains & Plains list); and Bandera, Texas' Bandera Bulletin (Mid-South list). The Scranton newspaper will also be featuring a category list, the Book Sense Business Bestseller List.