Book Sense

Bonnie Mercier of Lynn, Massachusetts, has won the grand prize in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Final Journey Sweepstakes, which ended on December 15. Mercier won a prize package of luggage and travel supplies, a J.R.R. Tolkien library, DVDs and video games, and movie memorabilia, in the promotion, which was sponsored by Book Sense, Houghton Mifflin, and New Line Cinema to mark the release of the third and final installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, in movie theaters around the country.

As Valentine's Day focuses our sights on expressions of fond regard and appreciation, so the February White Box overflows with offerings from Book Sense Publisher Partners, included with those same sentiments in mind -- regard for the passion with which you approach your chosen profession, and appreciation for the attention you pay to each title presented. Here are just some of the highlights:

Galleys, ARCs, and Finished Books:

Based on sales for the four-week period ending February 8, 2004, at hundreds of independent bookstores across the U.S.

Thanks to all the stores that report!

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

Book Sense will reach 4.6 million readers next month through a feature in the April issue of Good Housekeeping, which goes on sale March 5. "Book It," a three-page special insert, posits the question "Wondering where to go on your next vacation?" and offers a diverse list of classic to contemporary literature to help spur travel ideas.

Rather than hope customers will use and/or buy from their Web sites when they can't get to the bookstore, some booksellers have decided to bring their BookSense.com Web sites to customers by creating Web kiosks in their stores. Booksellers who spoke to BTW about their kiosks have found the axiom made famous in W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe on target: Build it, and they will come.

There are two important deadlines for booksellers to be aware of: Nominations for the Best of Book Sense 76 titles from the past five years are due in less than two weeks, on February 16. Additionally, nominations for the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year (BSBY) Awards are due on March 8.

Here, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos provides an update on the latest improvements and enhancements to BookSense.com.

Greetings BookSense.com Bookseller! There's a lot of BookSense.com news in this edition of On the Move:

Hardcover History, the partnership of Book Sense and The History Channel, will return in March with a new look, a new book, and a chance for booksellers to get lucky.

"As a youngster I knew I wanted to own a small retail store in a small community near the ocean," said brand-new bookseller Joel Crockett. By his teens he refined his business plan to include a bookstore.

"As a youngster I knew I wanted to own a small retail store in a small community near the ocean," said brand-new bookseller Joel Crockett. By his teens he refined his business plan to include a bookstore.

With the Book Sense Gift Card program in full swing for four months now, ABA has compiled electronic gift card sales figures for the first three months of the program. The numbers indicate that gift card sales were particularly strong during the holiday season, and a number of booksellers reported significant sales increases over last year's sales of paper gift certificates.

All employees of ABA member bookstores are being encouraged to vote for the Best of Book Sense before the February 16 deadline arrives. The Best of Book Sense project, part of ABA's celebrations of the fifth birthday of the Book Sense marketing program, gives everyone in the bookstore, from staff in the backroom to those at the cashwrap, a voice in selecting the best Book Sense 76 titles of the past five years in adult and children's categories.

Unclaimed property laws, which vary from state to state, cover everything from dormant savings and checking accounts, to safe deposit box contents, and unclaimed security deposits. They also govern how stores should handle the funds they hold for unused gift certificates and gift cards.

Book Cash, the nationwide promotional program coordinated by The Properties Group, has begun a new promotion offering select credit card holders in Visa's Gold Rewards program $5 Book Cash checks. The checks, which can be used for books as well as movie tickets and pizza, should begin appearing in stores in February. (Click here for sample coupon.)

For the four-week period ended January 25, 2004, based on reporting from hundreds of independent bookstores across the U.S.

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

Attention Media: Contact Kristen Gilligan at [email protected] for reprint guidelines.