Book Sense

With the Book Sense Gift Card Program in full swing, and the holidays upon us, booksellers participating in the gift card program should note these important announcements regarding reordering cards. Booksellers can now restock their Book Sense Gift Cards and the coordinating presenters at a newly launched web site: booksenseorders.givex.com. Booksellers need to use the same login and password, which was provided by Givex, that they use to access store.givex.com.

On Monday, December 8, ABA COO Oren Teicher sent a letter to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to thank him for his efforts to educate consumers about the ins and outs of gift cards and to provide the senator with information about the new Book Sense Gift Card program. Enclosed in the letter was a $25 Book Sense Gift Card presented to the senator by ABA, as well as a list of stores in New York State where he can redeem the card. (To read the letter in full, click here.)

As the 2003 Book Sense White Box mailing year draws to a close, Santa himself couldn't come up with a more wonderful selection of items than those provided by our Publisher Partners. No lumps of coal here! Just some of the highlights:

Galleys, ARCs, and finished books:

With 49,900 square feet of space, over 250,000 books and 60,000 CD and DVD recordings, and a full-service Cajun restaurant in its main store, Chester County Book & Music Company (CCBMC) in West Chester, Pennsylvania, may not give the appearance of a local mom-and-pop store. But, in fact, it is just that.

Rivaling summer as the time to roll out blockbusters or wannabe blockbusters are the busy weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that the memories of Seabiscuit, Mystic River, The Cat in the Hat, and others have receded, a broad collection of film adaptations from literature are gracing screens across the country.

From the moment a farmer's hoe digging turf unexpectedly reveals the perfectly preserved severed head of a beautiful young red-haired woman, Erin Hart's debut novel, Haunted Ground (Scribner), captivates the reader with its parallel tales of two women -- one recently mysteriously missing and the other executed during the 17th century.

Here is the Top Ten of the upcoming 2004 January/February 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 once again made this list possible.

1. The Lady and the Unicorn, by Tracy Chevalier (Dutton, $23.95, 0525947671)

2. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters: A Novel, by Elisabeth Robinson (Little Brown, $23.95, 0316735027)

Book Sense sends many thanks to all the independent booksellers who sent in nominations for the upcoming Book Sense 2004 Valentine's Day Top Ten. This follow-up to the successful Halloween Top Ten is being produced in conjunction with the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and it’s the first in a series of seasonal Top Tens that Book Sense and AAP will be creating next year. The Valentine’s Day Top Ten will feature a range of front and backlist titles and should offer a number of great in-store promotional opportunities for booksellers.

Based on sales for the four week period ended November 30, 2003 as reported by hundreds of independent booksellers across the U.S.

For reprint information, send an e-mail to Kristen Gilligan at [email protected] .

With the holiday shopping season now in full swing, a number of news outlets have found a new "hot" topic: hidden gift cards fees.

Robert Kaplow has recently returned from Carnegie Hall. And no, he didn't get there by practicing -- well, an instrument, anyway. For the last 20 years, however, Kaplow has been writing and performing for NPR, teaching high school English, and authoring six books.

Book Sense 76 Editor-in-chief Dan Cullen sends a big thanks to all the booksellers who took the time to send in nominations for the upcoming January/February Book Sense 76 list, which is being now being finalized. All of your contributions have made possible what already looks to be a great list.

The full-page add featuring the November/December Book Sense 76 Top Ten that will appear as part of the "Booked for the Holidays" insert in the December 8 issue of The New Yorker is now available as a downloadable PDF on BookWeb.org. The 8.5" x 11" ad, which includes book jackets and booksellers' quotes, is ideal for in-store displays. (To download the ad, click here.)

Susan Danner, owner of Danner's Books in Muncie, Indiana, noted with a laugh that her store was only open a week before it moved. That's because, Danner explained, in 1995, she purchased the bookstore from a friend with the understanding that the travel agent next door would be expanding into the space occupied by the bookstore. As a result, the bookstore would have to move down a door.

Homer Hickam, author of the November/December Book Sense 76 Top Ten novel The Keeper's Son (Thomas Dunne), said he knows what people are most interested in reading about: "Other people."

It was his own interest in other people -- specifically, his father -- that turned Hickam into a keen reader and a budding writer at a precocious age.