Book Sense

31 Jan

Book Sense Gift Certificates Go for the Gold

The Book Sense Gift Certificate program continues to grow and gain national acceptance. Indeed, more gift certificates were sold on BookSense.com Web sites in December thancolo in the previous 11 months combined.

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31 Jan

Birmingham Bookseller Offers a Long Tradition of Service and Innovation

"Like son, like father," Alabama Booksmith owner Jake Reiss III describes his foray into bookselling to BTW. His son Jake IV sold books door-to-door; son Frank became manager of Acorn Books in San Francisco then moved to Atlanta and opened the still thriving A Capella Books in the late '80s. Jake's brother Norman also sold books, at Malone's Bookstore in Tuscaloosa.

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30 Jan

USA Today Features Selections from Book Sense Teen 76 Top Ten

Readers of USA Today this morning got a Book Sense-specific "USA Today Snapshot," when the newspaper's Life section featured five "top teen books" taken from the recent Book Sense Teen 76 Top Ten. The featured spot -- on the first page of the Life section -- also noted that the complete list and recommendations were available on BookSense.com. (The full list can be found here, and it will also be mailed to Book Sense stores in the February white box.)

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24 Jan

Booksellers Say New Bestseller List Reporting Saves Time, Effort

This month, reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List has gotten a lot easier. Booksellers in the Book Sense program have begun reporting their store sales by uploading a file from their POS systems directly into the ABA system and by using an improved online Bestseller data entry form. [For an earlier BTW story about new reporting options, click here].

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24 Jan

Teen 76 Top Ten - #1 of 2002

Here's news of the next 76 Top Ten -- a Teen 76 Top Ten. It will be mailed to you in the February white box, for store display in March.

Teen/young adult books will still be included in the full Children's 76s, but, just as you've moved and increased your teen sections in your stores, we want this group of readers to have their own distinct place.

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24 Jan

Five Easy, But Important Things

  1. Send in your Book Sense Book of the Year ballot, Round One, by February 11. Ballots sent by mail must be postmarked by February 4. (Click here for an online form.)
  2. Nominate poetry and SF/fantasy books by February 8.
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24 Jan

Books Add a Big Plus to Ohio Store

Cheryl and Raymond Zadd, co-owners of Mail Hub Plus Books, have long been on the lookout for niches to fill in their community of Brecksville, Ohio. Midway between Akron and Cleveland, with a population of 13,000, Brecksville is a little too small to be courted by any of the big chain stores. And that's just fine with the Zadds. "There are no malls in Brecksville," Ray Zadd told BTW emphatically.

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24 Jan

Shelf-Talkers for Book Sense 76 Picks

Some publishers send shelf-talkers to you in the monthly white box. The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association very generously sends out shelf-talkers for the Top Ten picks to any interested store in the country; let me know if you're interested! And, we have a blank Book Sense shelf-talker, downloadable from BookWeb.org, for you to write on or, literally, to cut and paste the quote from the 76 flier: Here's the link.

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17 Jan

Leader in U.K. Crime Fiction Finds Fans in U.S.

Quick, now: Who was the biggest-selling crime-fiction writer in the United Kingdom in 2001, according to official industry figures? P.D. James? Ruth Rendell? Patricia Cornwell? John Grisham?

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17 Jan

Attention Booksellers and Publishers: A Directory of All 76 Picks to Date

Many booksellers have written to say they like to review past 76 fliers for books they may have missed and for ideas for reading groups. Also, they report that past fliers are a good resource for beefing up backlist, and even for going around and stickering past picks.

The word from publishers is similar in a way. Reminders to marketing staff and reps about past 76 picks provide a way to increase backlist sales. Publishers may also want to go back and prepare reading group guides, if you haven't already.

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17 Jan

Getting Some Deserving Books Back Into Print

In a nutshell, I'd like to gather a list from booksellers of favorite books that have been out of print for a while and deserve a new life, AS WELL AS a list of recently published hardcovers that aren't going into paperback.

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17 Jan

From Tiny Classified Ad to Community and Cultural Center in Fort Worth

In 1992, Sonia Williams-Babers entered the world of bookselling with "the smallest ad available" in the June issue of Black Enterprise magazine. The ad read "Get Hooked on Black Books -- send $1 for a catalogue." On returning home to Fort Worth, Texas, from Anaheim, California, and their first ABA Convention, Williams-Babers and her husband and business partner, Elvis Babers, found an overflowing post office box.

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17 Jan

A Call for 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year Nominations

Join your fellow independent booksellers in the first round of voting to nominate five titles in each of five categories -- Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, Illustrated Children's Book, and Rediscovery -- for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards. Nominations will be drawn from the Top Ten Book Sense 76 picks of 2001. Only books published in the preceding year are eligible. Lines for write-ins are also provided on the nomination form.

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17 Jan

Mr. Postman, Look and See Is There a Bookstore in Your Ad for Me?

Two major purveyors of the printed word came together recently when the United States Postal Service recruited a bookstore for one of the locations featured in its holiday advertising campaign.

The television commercial was shot at Reading on Walden in Chicago all day December 10, said bookstore owner John Presta. He told BTW, "It went very well. [The ad] is showing all the time now. It's called 'Holiday.'"

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16 Jan

Entries for"Dog Stories" In-Store Display Contest Due by January 25

If your store has created an in-store display featuring the "Dog Stories" books -- and you'd like to win three signed books to offer to your customers, be sure to send in your entry no later than January 25. The three books are: Zen Dog, photographs by Toni Tucker with concept by Judith Adler (Clarkson Potter Publishers); Dog, photographs by Deborah Samuels (Chronicle Books); and Rover Saves Christmas, by Roddy Doyle, illustrated by Brian Ajhar (Scholastic Books).

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About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.

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