'Accurate ... Great Looking ... Useful Sales Tool' -- Booksellers Rate Book Sense Bestseller Lists

An increasing number of booksellers are using the Book Sense Bestseller lists, posted each Wednesday in printable forms on http://www.bookweb.org/booksense/bestsellers/. Recently, the marketing staff at Book Sense queried the reporting stores to determine the reactions to three lists: Paperback, Hardcover, and Children's, which can be printed in multiple formats, in color, or black and white.

The questions posed to booksellers were:

• Are the lists as user-friendly as possible?
  
• Can small stores with minimal equipment make adequate copies for posting?
  
• How are customers responding to the lists?
  

According to Meg Smith, associate director, Book Sense Marketing, the bookseller response was "astounding."

"So many booksellers are taking advantage of the great merchandising opportunities the lists offer," said Smith. Nearly 100 stores answered the e-mail and the reaction to the lists was overwhelmingly positive.

Many applauded the content of the lists. At the Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Book Sense manager Morgan Spring replied, "The Book Sense Bestseller lists are a much more accurate portrayal of what our store sells than [other] lists. Thanks for producing them."

At The Corner Shelf in Culpeper, Virginia, assistant manager Jane Quinn wrote that the store posts the three Bestseller lists in a special display on the front wall of the store. "We had a customer voluntarily express to us that she had found ‘the best reads’ there in our paperback fiction section."

Corey Hiseler, buyer for Between The Covers Bookstore in Telluride, Colorado, concurred, "The Book Sense bestseller list is the only one we display in the store, and our entire bestseller shelves are based on the current week's list."

Customers must be able to see the lists to use them, and dozens of stores are posting the lists in different places around the store. Mike Dixon, assistant manager of Bayboro Books in St. Petersburg, Florida, wrote, "We print either in the PDF or the Word version of the bestsellers nearly every week. They do look great, and we display them prominently in the store."

Positioning the lists near the books themselves has been a successful sales approach for many, including Latte Books in Booneville, Mississippi. Cindy Steward responded, "We do print the PDF files for the bestsellers each week. We display them with that week's bestselling books on a table as soon as you walk in the front door."

"We print out the lists every week and re-arrange the front shelves according to the list," replied David Cheezem, co-owner of Fireside Books in Palmer, Alaska. "We try to have the top five hardbacks and the top 10 paperbacks from the list." Craig Whalley, owner of the Odyssey Bookshop in Port Angeles, Washington, wrote, "I print the bestseller list every week and we use it to ensure that we carry all the books listed and to re-arrange our bestseller section."

Quinn at The Corner Shelf added that the store highlights the information by "posting the bestseller lists and putting the books nearby in a special display on the front wall of the store. We also offer our customers a 10 percent discount on the books."

For the past few months, Full Circle Bookstore has been downloading and printing all three Bestseller lists, said Spring, "We put the hardcover list on our Book Sense display, the paperback list near our Bestselling Paperback section, and the children's list on our Children's Recommendations wall -- all face-outs of staff picks for kids."

At Warwick's in La Jolla, California, Seth Marko answered, "We print and post the list every week -- we have a wall devoted to the Book Sense bestsellers and customers really seem to notice the lists. Works great for us!"

Michelle Finley, manager of Vanderford's Books and Office Products in Sandpoint, Idaho, wrote enthusiastically about the lists, "We print them weekly! We love them. We have one shelving unit that is dedicated only to the bestselling fiction and nonfiction, hardcover and paperback." Joan Scott, owner of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina, echoed that sentiment, adding, "We post it in two different places in the Bookshop. We are very happy to have it and love the color on it."

Susan Richmond at Inklings Bookshop in Yakima, Washington, agreed about the color and wrote, "We print the Book Sense list every week. We even changed over our whole bestseller section to reflect the list, facing out at least the top 10 to 15 in each category. Now, nearly every time I go by the shelf I have to face out another book [because the books are selling] -- the list, the display, working together is, well, working!"

At Books in the Den in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, owner Ronald Wilker detailed his successful strategy, "I usually print several copies in color. I place two copies of the children bestsellers in our children's section. Two copies of the hardcover titles are displayed in the hardcover fiction section and two copies in the nonfiction section. The top 15 titles are displayed on the top of the floor shelves. Two copies of the paperback list are displayed in the section where we display only the top selling paperback titles and two are displayed in the general paperback sections. We also discount the top 15 best sellers."

A number of stores described the mechanics of how they post the lists. Bay Street Trading Company in Beaufort, South Carolina, had a local framing shop fabricate a hinged display from heavy matte board. "It displays all three lists, and all we have to do each week is to change out the old and reinsert the new," wrote owner Will Balk, Jr., "For us the size is perfect."

Back at Full Circle Bookstore, Morgan Spring often sees customers pick up the lists and peruse them. "They are mounted on cardboard and put on stands for portability. I even have a few customers who ask for copies," Spring said. At Beaucoup Books in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jefferson Turner said that they also print the lists weekly and put them in frames that "permanently hang on our bestseller shelves. It is a handy reference in addition to our own store bestsellers."

Suzy Turcotte, owner of Rainy Days in Nisswa, Minnesota, summed up her store's positive experience with the Book Sense Bestseller lists: "We have a color printer and think it looks great.

"My employees practically fight over who gets to rearrange the books per the lists. I personally like to do it, too, because putting the books in order is the only thing I do all week that isn't my decision. What a relief!"

For information about reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller list, contact Meg Smith, associate director of Book Sense marketing, at [email protected]. -- Nomi Schwartz