Newmarket Press and Book Sense Team to Publish Book Sense Best Books

Independent publishing house Newmarket Press and Book Sense are teaming up to publish, in book form, a compilation of 125 "favorite book" recommendations from independent booksellers. Book Sense Best Books, Volume 1: 125 Favorite Books Recommended by Independent Booksellers will be published in September 2004 to mark the fifth anniversary of the Book Sense program.

"The idea of compiling [title] recommendations in one volume has always had a great reception by booksellers and readers alike," said Esther Margolis, founder and president of the New York City-based Newmarket Press. "Booklovers love referrals." Moreover, she noted, the idea of teaming up with Book Sense to publish a volume of recommendations was a natural. "We're an independent publisher, and supporting independent booksellers was a perfect match."

Book Sense Best Books will have a foreword by bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver and an introduction by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. Additionally, the quick and easy reference book features:

• The "Book Sense Best Books of the First Five Years" list of 15 adult and 10 children's titles, annotated by individual booksellers. The list is the result of voting by more than a thousand independent booksellers across the country, who cast ballots for the titles they most enjoyed handselling over the past five years. (To view the winners of the Book Sense Best Books of the First Five Years, click here);

• Top Reading Group Recommendations, an additional 50 titles, organized by category; and

• Top Classics for Children and Young Adults, 50 more titles, organized by age and reading level.
  

The paperback book, which will sell for $12.95, will also feature an appendix representing the full Best Books ballot, which included 223 adult and 148 children's titles culled from the Book Sense 76 lists of the past five years. Also included is a complete index by title and author.

Margolis told BTW that Newmarket Press plans to promote the book at this year's BookExpo America in Chicago, at booth 1426 - 1428. "Our booth will be part of the Norton Group [the book's distributor], and we'll have special handouts [there]," she said.

To read Newmarket's catalog description of Book Sense Best Books, click here. --David Grogan