Considering the events of September 11, bookstore sales in September must be considered quite respectable, as they managed to exceed sales for the previous September by 6.7 percent. Preliminary sales of $1,621 million for September 2001 compared favorably with the $1,519 million performance of September 2000.

Support continues in Washington, D.C., for a proposed sales tax holiday, according to proponents. However, if passed, the initiative is likely to launch in mid-February, to help lift retail sales around the Presidents' Day holidays.

On Wednesday, November 28, the question of free expression and First Amendment rights in cyberspace returned to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the justices heard oral arguments in Ashcroft v. ACLU, a case involving the government's second attempt to regulate access to material with sexual content on the Internet.

Booksellers around the country are reporting disparate results from the first shopping week of the Christmas season. The effects of the economic recession and the traumatic events beginning on September 11 are not consistently hurting, or helping, the nation's bookselling community. Weather conditions, ranging from snowy to summery, had a great impact on post-Thanksgiving shopping, as did a store's location. Resort areas were packed for the long weekend, while some cities were fairly quiet.

I'm hearing from publishers that the NEBA and SEBA Book Sense bestseller lists are being noticed, commented on, and relayed to authors. They're becoming a big deal!

Besides the local media possibilities, these regional lists can help put your association at the forefront of publishers' agendas … and budgets. But we need more reporting stores in order to produce lists for all the regional associations.

PUBLISHER ATTENTION
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AUTHOR AWARENESS
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MORE $$$$$$$ TO YOU