Specialty Bookselling

For summer listening and in celebration of June is National Audiobook Month, here are your top ten picks.

The pad of fliers will be in the May white box, and to you by June 1. Thank you!!!

Carl
[email protected]

1. THE NANNY DIARIES, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus; read by Julia Roberts (Random House Audio, Abridged, $25, 0553714759)

In a notable achievement, independent presses carved out five of the 10 slots for books nominated by independent booksellers for the Book Sense Poetry 76 Top Ten list, released late February in advance of April's National Poetry Month. The presses include Seven Stories, Holy Cow! Press, BOA Editions, Copper Canyon, and Graywolf.

Make no mistake, notwithstanding its witty title, A Child’s Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper (Scribner) is definitely not a tale for little ones. This Book Sense 76 March/April selection is a story that mingles animal characters from children’s books with true crime elements -- a gruesome murder, an unexplained disappearance -- and perpetual human dramas -- the search for truth and the loss of innocence.

Six months after the September 11 terrorist attack, travelers are finally venturing back into the skies. But are they venturing back into the specialty travel bookstores? "Yes," store owners told BTW, but not in the same way. Missing are sales growth numbers, and customer buying habits have changed.

Programming for children’s booksellers looks stronger than ever at this year’s BookExpo America (BEA), as, for the first time, the Association of Booksellers for Ch

George P. Pelecanos, the crime-fiction author whose Hell to Pay (Little, Brown) is a Book Sense 76 pick for March/April, started laying the groundwork for a writing career when he was still a youngster -- although he didn't know it then.

This April, booksellers can celebrate National Poetry Month with a custom poetry CD (which was exclusively produced for participating Book Sense stores, by Sourcebooks, publisher of the book and CD set, Poetry Speaks) and a poetry writing contest for high school students. Stores can use the offerings -- from "Poets Speak Back, A Poetry Writing Contest," sponsored by Sourcebooks and Book Sense -- as the basis of their National Poetry Month events or as a complement to planned readings and activities.

Since 1980, Thomas Cook, the U.K.-based travel giant, has been honoring the art of travel writing with its annual Travel Book Award, announced each fall. Aside from inspiring readers to travel, the award also spurs greater travel-book sales, according to Thomas Cook spokesperson Joan Lee. "Booksellers benefit … by the increased sales generated by the promotion of the [Travel Book] Award," Lee said in a statement.

The nominees for the 14th annual Lambda Literary Awards have been announced. The awards will be presented on May 2 at a ceremony in New York City. In addition, the Lambda Literary Foundation's Jim Marks told BTW that the comic and writer Margaret Cho will be presented the Bridgebuilders Award "for her ability to help bridge communities."

The nominees are:

Lesbian Fiction

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2002 Edgar Awards, the top awards for mystery authors. The Edgars will be presented at an awards ceremony at New York City's Grand Hyatt Hotel on May 2.

Among those nominated are:

Best Novel

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?

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.

We've been able to put together, due to the number of nominations, another wonderful Mystery 76 Top Ten. The pad is in the January white box mailing. Thank you for all the great picks … and click here for the full schedule for all full and specialty 76s for 2002.

There's one pad per white box; if you'd like extras, please e-mail [email protected].

1. A PLACE OF EXECUTION, by Val McDermid (St. Martin's, $6.99 paper, 0312979533)

To be in stores for January 2002:

The idea for this 76 Top Ten came together over the last few weeks while going through all of your e-mails for the January/February 76. There were also many nominations in this area over the last year, and, in looking back, we found we had a good message to send out about looking forward. Thank you for your continuing efforts to help people find answers.

Again, this is--like the full 76--a compilation of most recommended books, not necessarily bestsellers … though many are, and now can be again.