Book Sense

The following newspapers, magazines, Web site, and television station recently began featuring a national, regional, or category Book Sense Bestseller List.

Newspapers

The Daily Ardmoreite -- Ardmore, Oklahoma (National list)
Waupaca County Post -- Waupaca, Wisconsin (Midwest list)

Magazines

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

Greetings BookSense.com Booksellers!

So many improvements are being made to BookSense.com this month that it called for a second installment of my On the Move… column.

Newtonville Books in Newton, Massachusetts, part of the Boston metro area, was conceived five years ago by an M.B.A. student at Boston University's Graduate School of Management. Writing a business plan for a new enterprise was the sole course requirement for one of Tim Huggins' classes, and he took the opportunity to create a viable design for his longtime passion, bookselling.

Based on reporting from well over 400 independent bookstores across the U.S. during the period March 1, 2003, to October 12, 2003.

Thanks to all the stores that report!

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

Here's a look at the titles that have been selected for the November/December Book Sense 76 to give you a heads up for planning and ordering. The full list, with booksellers' comments, will be posted to BookWeb.org next week.

The next special Book Sense feature in The New Yorker, "Booked for the Holidays," will appear in the December 8 issue, on sale December 1. To complement the story, the magazine is once again seeking photographs of bookstores with Book Sense. All Book Sense stores are encouraged to send photographs of their stores, especially good exterior shots, by October 23.

The October White Box mailing is so jam packed with offerings from Book Sense Publisher Partners it's almost frightening…. But don't be scared; just enjoy all of the goodies contained within! Here are some of the highlights:

Galleys, ARCs, Finished Books:

From Scholastic, ARCs of two upcoming YA novels:

• Kissing the Rain by Kevin Brooks
  
• Montmorency by Eleanor Updale

Penguin USA offers five ARCs from various imprints:

Booksellers who have participated in the previous two Lord of the Rings (LOTR) promotions, or who have asked to be included in the third promotion, should have received their LOTR display materials.

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

Greetings! There's a lot of BookSense.com news in this edition of On the Move, as we've made more improvements to your BookSense.com site:

David Koehl's bookstore, Paper and Ink, is an institution in Tiffin, Ohio. Koehl, who grew up in the town of 20,000, graduated from Franklin University in Columbus 25 years ago and returned to Tiffin with a degree in public administration and a job offer from the county auditor. He turned down the position, preferring to open his own business.

The results of ABA's semi-annual revenue survey of stores with Book Sense indicate that 59 percent of reporting stores experienced an increase in sales for the first half of 2003, compared to the same period in 2002. Thirty-six percent reported a decline in sales, and 6 percent reported no change in sales from the previous year.

A third of responding stores reported sales increases of 6 percent or more, and 21 percent reported increases of more than 10 percent.

The game of baseball is a statistician's dream. Every aspect of the game is recorded, tracked, and dissected to find out what creates success -- including the one figure that some experts consider the most significant these days: money. While big-market teams, with payrolls to match, dominate the post-season baseball landscape on a yearly basis (read: New York Yankees), it would seem the small-market teams, with their no-name players, shouldn't stand a chance.

Enter Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane.

It's not a mystery why these titles were chosen by independent booksellers as their top ten picks for the fall.

Thanks to all who contributed to the wealth of enthusiastic nominations.

Pads of the Mystery 76 are being sent in the October White Box mailing, and a downloadable PDF file is available by clicking here.

The following letter from Book Sense Marketing Director Mark Nichols outlining requirements that booksellers must meet to continue to receive the White Box mailings was sent to all stores with Book Sense in the September White Box.