A Book Sense Bestseller by Any Other Name ... A BTW Contest to Discover

On Monday mornings, Meg Smith, associate director of Book Sense Marketing, sends independent booksellers in the Book Sense program an e-mail reminding them to report to the Book Sense Bestseller list before the Tuesday, 3:00 a.m. deadline. Booksellers who receive the e-mails know that they are witty; punctuated with interesting book- and bookstore-related anecdotes; and, sometimes, even poetic.

On March 22, Smith wrote booksellers:

Dear booksellers,

In honor of Spring, a bestseller poem:

Now, the faint Lost Light of winter --
that recurring One Hundred Years of Solitude --
Tilts its view towards Summerland,
the making of a brightening mood.

Daylight Delivers Us From Evil,
from dim nights of Touching the Void.
Now Aloft The Spiral Staircase, our
Power of Intention buoyed.

Like returning to The Sexy Years,
like the Birth of Venus, once again,
each renewal in the New Spring,
a Small Wonder mightier than the pen.

The next morning, Smith related to BTW, in addition to reporting their bestsellers to Book Sense, a few booksellers had replied to her as well -- in verse!

In the spirit of National Poetry Month, BTW is sponsoring a "Bestseller Poem" contest for booksellers in bookstores with Book Sense. The rules are few: Compose a poem employing the titles of books that have appeared on the Book Sense Bestsellers lists in recent weeks and e-mail it to [email protected], and, please, put "Bestseller Poem" in the subject line.

The winner will be decided by the BTW staff, with the editorial assistance of Book Sense's Meg Smith. In addition to international industry bragging rights, the winner's poem will be published in an upcoming issue of BTW.

And, in the meantime, for details about how to report to the Book Sense Bestseller List, contact Bill Cunningham at [email protected] or (800) 637-0037, ext. 1211. For details about how to get your local newspaper to run these lists, contact Kristen Gilligan at [email protected] or (800) 637-0037, ext. 1286.

And for the latest Book Sense Bestseller List, click here.