Book Sense

Robert Sheard, who recently opened Bookshop by the Lakes in West End, North Carolina, said he got into bookselling for the same reason a lot of people do, self-defense. "I ran out of room for all my books at home," he explained. After a lifetime of bibliophilia and with ongoing careers as an English professor, author, and investment advisor, Sheard turned to bookselling.

Here are independent booksellers' picks for the Top Ten Easter and Passover titles for 2004. This list was developed by Book Sense in collaboration with the Association of American Publishers' Get Caught Reading initiative, an ongoing project that will continue through 2004.

Many thanks to all the independent booksellers who contributed a wealth of enthusiastic nominations for this list. Pads of the list will be included in the March White Box mailing.

Here are independent booksellers' picks for the Top Ten Easter and Passover titles for 2004. This list was developed by Book Sense in collaboration with the Association of American Publishers' Get Caught Reading initiative, an ongoing project that will continue through 2004.

Many thanks to all the independent booksellers who contributed a wealth of enthusiastic nominations for this list. Pads of the list will be included in the March White Box mailing.

Last week, the number of bookstores with Book Sense reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller Lists was nearly 500 -- the highest number of bookstores reporting to date -- giving booklovers an in-depth look at the uniqueness, timeliness, and quality of the bestselling titles in local, independent bookstores.

As the popularity of Book Sense gift cards continues to grow, ABA, taking a cue from New York State's lottery slogan, "You have to be in it, to win it," would like to remind booksellers that they have to be in the Book Sense Gift Card Program to win sales with it.

Client Distribution Services (CDS), best known as a book distributor, is now looking to make a name for itself in the field of book publishing. One-year-old CDS Books will be publishing A Son Called Gabriel by Northern Irish author Damian McNicholl in June.

Based on four weeks of sales ended February 22, 2004, in hundreds of independent bookstores across the U.S.

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.

The full 2004 March/April Book Sense 76 with booksellers' quotes is now online at http://news.bookweb.org/read/2254. Fliers will be on their way to booksellers in the upcoming weeks.

The list features a wealth of great titles, including really notable fiction, intriguing memoirs, and great nonfiction (everything from all-star baking to writer's block, with a lot in between!). There are a number of creative in-store display opportunities, with many potential themes.

Hardcover History, the partnership of Book Sense and The History Channel promoting programming and reading combinations, returns in March with a new look, a new book, and a bookseller display contest with a great prize.

In 1985, when Linda Rolczynski and her then-partner Donna Flint opened Lindon Bookstore in Enumclaw, Washington, Rolczynski had plenty of experience tending her flock of sheep, but none relating to bookselling. With Lindon's 20th anniversary just a little over a year away, Rolczynski talked with BTW about the evolution of her store.

January was a very good month for many retailers, according to an Associated Press story in the February 6 edition of the Seattle Times, which reported that last month's robust sales at many retailers around the country were well above expectations and could be an early indicator of a consumer spending recovery. The article noted that analysts point to the redemption of gift cards purchased during the holiday season as one spur to sales in a month many consider to be the least important in the retail sales calendar.

The American Booksellers Association is currently accepting nominations of booksellers' handselling favorites for the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards (BSBY). All ABA member stores are eligible to nominate titles in the categories of Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, Children's Illustrated, and Paperback. Only one nomination form per store is allowed; the first form received will be the official ballot.

Paul Auster was 15 years old when he found the book that made him decide to become a writer.

"I was a sophomore in high school," said Auster (born in Newark, New Jersey, and living now in Brooklyn), "when I read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. And I was so overwhelmed by the book, I said to myself: 'If this is what a novel can be -- then I want to do it, too.'"

Monday, February 16, is the last day to submit ballots for the Best of Book Sense. By voting, booksellers will automatically be entered into a random drawing to win a grand prize of five nights' accommodations and admission to BookExpo America for the next five years or one of four other prizes. Participation is open to all employees of ABA member bookstores.

Here is the Top Ten of the upcoming 2004 March/April Book Sense 76. Watch for next week's issue of Bookselling This Week for the full 76. And, again, very many thanks to all the independent booksellers who made this list possible.

1) Good Grief, by Lolly Winston (Warner, $18, 0446533041)

2) Love in the Driest Season: A Family Memoir, by Neely Tucker (Crown, $23.95, 0609609769)

3) The Birth of Venus: A Novel, by Sarah Dunant (Random House, $24.95, 1400060737)