General Book Sense News -- And Exhortations

By Carl Lennertz

BIG!!! -- Bring photos of your 76 display to the Regional Shows!

This is so you can have a chance to win a color printer ... AND ... to have your photo considered for a portfolio to be shown to publishers over the next year.

So, spiff up your display, take a snapshot (or several) and bring it to the ABA booth at each show. (And make sure that all entry photos have the name of the store, store address, and a phone number where we can reach you if you are not present at the time of the drawing.)

Some more news from the bestseller data:

Hardcover fiction:

• #23 The Solace of Leaving Early, Haven Kimmel, Doubleday, $23.95, 0385499833 -- A number-one Book Sense 76 pick on the move due to The Today Show's pick of Zippy for the show's book club (see below).
  

Hardcover nonfiction:

• #26 Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't, James C. Collins, HarperCollins, $27.50, 0066620996
  

Trade paper nonfiction -- Zippy Rules!!!

Debut:

• #1 A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana, Haven Kimmel, Broadway, $12.95, 0767905318 -- a Book Sense 76 pick and the latest Today Show book club pick!
  

To watch:

• #47 Diamond: The History of a Cold-Blooded Love Affair, Matthew Hart, Plume, $14, 0452283701
  

And these, this time of year:

• #24 501 Spanish Verbs, Barron's, $13.95, 0812092821
  
• #35 501 French Verbs, Barron's, $13.95, 0812092813
  
  

Trade paper fiction:

• #22 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith, Anchor, $11.95, 1400031346 – 76 pick and indie discovery!!
  

Other 76 picks to watch; all just first or second week out:

• #30 Kissing in Manhattan, David Schickler, Delta, $12.95, 0385335679
  
• #33 Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gold, Hyperion, $14.95, 0786886323
  
• #53 Love Among the Ruins, Robert Clark, Vintage, $13, 1400030307
  
• #55 The Grand Complication, Allen Kurzweil, Hyperion, $16, 0786885181
  

Mass market:

Debuts:

• #1 Full House, Janet Evanovich, St. Martin's, $6.99, 0312983271
  
• #6 Dune: House Corrino, Brian Herbert, Spectra, $7.50, 0553580337
  
• #7 Funeral in Blue, Anne Perry, Fawcett, $7.99, 0345440021
  
• #8 Black House, Stephen King, Ballantine, $7.99, 0345441036
  

Children's fiction:

Debuts:

• #10 The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke, Chicken House/Scholastic, $16.95, 0439404371 -- A number-one fall kid's Book Sense 76 pick.
  
• #11 Meet Kaya: An American Girl, Pleasant Company, 1584854235
  

The regional lists are getting more and more interesting and diverse, thanks to the increasing number of reporting stores.

Also, summer was kind of an odd time to launch our category lists, but we do have media pick-up on some of them already, and if you just look at them and find one book you weren't carrying that you might now sell 10 of, it's worth it. The past lists are all at BookWeb.org. (And, yes, the cookbook list a little dated, but a new one will be coming.)

Carl
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