Book Sense Bestseller List Mirrors Independents' Uniqueness

Independent bookstores are renowned for their uniqueness, and independent booksellers for their knowledge and love of books. And, aside from the local independent bookstore itself, nowhere are these traits more apparent than in the Book Sense Bestseller List. Compiled from data gathered from hundreds of independent bookstores with Book Sense, the Book Sense Bestseller List is both timely and distinctive, consistently providing consumers with knowledgeable handsells not often found on other bestseller lists until weeks or months later, if at all.

"The ability of the Book Sense system to turn around collected sales data and generate National and Regional Bestseller Lists in a matter of a few days has resulted in many cases where sales trends appear in the independent marketplace much earlier than other areas," explained Book Sense Marketing Director Mark Nichols. "Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, and Peace Like a River by Leif Enger -- all of which went on to win Book Sense Book of the Year honors --- found their initial audience in independent bookstores."

In a recent three-week comparison of the Book Sense and New York Times bestseller lists, time and again the Book Sense Bestseller List proved to have a large percentage of bestsellers not found on the Times list.

For the weeks ending on the Sundays of September 28, October 12, and October 19, 2003, comparing an average of 94 titles on the Times list against the Book Sense list showed that an average of 43 titles, or 46 percent, were unique to the Book Sense list. Seven of those 43 titles were debuts.

Remarkably, an average of 83 percent top-selling Children's Illustrated books on the Book Sense Bestseller List were not found on the Times list.

Furthermore, of the top 10 mass market titles, the Book Sense list boasted an average of 7 titles not found on the Times list.

In the Trade Paperback Nonfiction category, over half of the 15 titles were unique to the Book Sense Bestseller List.

In the Hardcover Fiction category, an average of five of 15 titles were unique to the Book Sense list. For example, for the week ending October 19, titles in the Hardcover Fiction category that were unique to the Book Sense Bestseller List included two award-winning books:

• Man Booker Prize winner DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little (Canongate) debuted at number 12.
  
• The 2003 Book Sense Book of the Year Award-winner The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little Brown) was ranked at 11.
  
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (MacAdam/Cage),
  
• Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam), and
  
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Doubleday).
  

For the latest Book Sense Bestseller Lists, click here.

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.