Book Sense and the A&E Network have announced the formation of a new marketing partnership that both anticipate will extend their brand into the well-known territory of the other.

"We are extremely excited about our new partnership with Book Sense," said Stacy Margot Krusch, director, Strategic Alliances & Consumer Promotions, A&E Network. "Through this incredible relationship, A&E will have the opportunity to extend some of our most important brands, including Biography and Cold Case Files, into independent bookstores nationwide, not only enabling us to reach an important demographic, but to help support independent bookstores. We look forward to the many creative promotions we'll be launching with Book Sense."

In the first A&E/Book Sense promotion, A-list performers Jerry Seinfeld, Jamie Lee Curtis, Richard Gere, and Tom Selleck, all subjects of A&E's Biography series, will make their marks on a series of bookmarks to be distributed exclusively in Book Sense stores. The full-color bookmarks feature photos of the actors taken by famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz that are used in print media campaigns for the Biography series. On the reverse side of the bookmark will be a clear Book Sense message. The bookmark promotion is expected to continue throughout the year, with a different celebrity featured each month.

A&E has also created a unique bookmark holder, which will be distributed with shelf-talkers and the bookmarks, in the May White Box.

Future collaborations include a fall promotion for the A&E series Cold Case Files, which will tie in with the September publication, by Berkley, of a book by the same name.

Questions about this promotion should be addressed to Meg Smith, associate director of Book Sense Marketing at [email protected] [5]. --Nomi Schwartz [6]