MPBA Book Sense Bestseller List Debuts

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The first Mountains & Plains Independent Bestseller List, published in a cooperative effort between Book Sense and the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA), debuted this week.

"We're wildly excited -- we've been working on this so hard," said Lisa Knudsen, executive director of MPBA. "We've been [Book Sense] cheerleaders from the get-go. Book Sense has been a really successful marketing program. Over the past few years, more Publisher Partners have joined …and it is essential for us as an association and for our member stores that we have a regional list because publishers pay attention to it."

The MPBA list includes bestsellers in the categories of Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction, Trade Paperback Fiction and Nonfiction, Mass Market, and Children's (Fiction and Illustrated) books.

Seven other regional Book Sense Bestseller lists are currently published. The MPBA list joins those published in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association and the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association, the Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association, the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, the New England Booksellers Association, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and the Southeast Booksellers Association.

The regional lists are created from weekly sales reports to the national Book Sense Bestseller List from independent bookstores participating in the Book Sense marketing program within each region.

Consistently providing consumers with independent booksellers' handselling favorites -- titles not often found on other bestseller lists until weeks or months later, if at all -- the Book Sense Bestseller lists are the freshest lists available and show what is truly selling regionally in the independent bookselling market.

Consistent weekly reporting by bookstores with Book Sense is key to keeping the lists fresh and unique. For details about how to report, booksellers should contact Bill Cunningham at (800) 637-0037, ext. 1211, or at [email protected].

Media outlets interested in publishing any of the Book Sense Bestseller lists should contact Kristen Gilligan at (914) 591-2665, ext. 1286, or at [email protected].