The New Yorker Gets Book Sense for the Holidays

The December 9 issue of The New Yorker, which goes on sale December 2, will include the latest Book Sense insert, "Booked for the Holidays." The special feature presents the holiday picks of 13 independent booksellers, and the titles are drawn from the November/December Book Sense 76 list. (The full 76 can be reviewed here [1].)

"Given The New Yorker's broad readership, many of whom are frequent book buyers, the opportunity to use the insert as a centerpiece for merchandising some of the Book Sense 76 titles is ideal," said Jill Perlstein, ABA director of marketing services. "I recommend to booksellers that they display The New Yorker insert in their store, and promote the books mentioned in the feature with a sign saying, 'As Seen in The New Yorker.'"

Perlstein noted that, in the same issue, the November/December Book Sense 76 Top Ten will be featured in a full-page ad, and a smaller Book Sense ad [2] will highlight Last Train to Paradise by Les Standiford (Crown Publishers).

The New Yorker has a nationwide circulation of 924,745 and a readership of 3.5 million. The magazine also has a subscription renewal rated of over 77 percent.

The Book Sense insert, which was written by Douglas Chilcott, notes the importance of the symbiotic relationship between book buyers and sellers, as well as the links that independent bookstores forge with their communities. The piece features Book Sense bookseller picks and store photos, which were selected by the magazine. Throughout, booksellers talk about what makes their stores unique and give their handselling favorites.

A Clean Well-Lighted Place bookstore in San Francisco is one of the bookstores included in The New Yorker insert. "It's a big benefit," Neal Sofman, the store's owner, told BTW. "The New Yorker is a very popular publication and has very literate readers -- they are our type of customer. A good review in The New Yorker is important; they sell a lot of books for us."

The other bookstores included in the piece are: Barbara's Books in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston; Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver; Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana; Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati; Book Passage in Corte Madera, California; R.J. Julia's Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut; Sedalia Books & Toys in Sedalia, Missouri; The Happy Bookseller in Columbia, South Carolina; Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida; Orinda Books in Orinda, California; Bookworks in Albuquerque in New Mexico; and Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Brookfield, Wisconsin.