Book Sense

Just four weeks since the American Booksellers Association announced the opening of reservations for Hotel ABA at BookExpo America 2008 in Los Angeles, more than 75 percent of the available rooms have been reserved. The hotel, The Renaissance Hollywood, offers a special room rate of $164 per night exclusively for ABA bookstore and provisional members, as well as a package of other benefits.

Here is the full listing of January Book Sense Picks, with booksellers' comments, as well as a preview of the month's Notables. Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will be receiving their January Picks fliers in the December Red Box.

Participants in this January's Winter Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, who want to visit one of the area's local independent bookstores need only cross the Ohio River to find Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana. Though it's in a neighboring state, the store is 10 minutes from the Wi3 hotel, and that's "if the traffic is really bad," said Destinations' co-owner Randy Smith.

The 2007 Book Sense Bestsellers, a special listing of the year's 15 bestselling titles in six categories -- Hardcover Fiction, Hardcover Nonfiction, Paperback Fiction, Paperback Nonfiction, Children's Fiction, and Children's Illustrated -- will be published in Bookselling This Week next Thursday, December 13.

Kim Sunée

For the eight-week period ending November 27, 2007, and based on sales in independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide. 1. Book of the Dead Patricia Cornwell, Putnam, $26.95, 9780399153938 2.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Gift Card Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, gift card sales this holiday season will total $26.3 billion, compared to $24.8 billion in 2006.

It's Thanksgiving weekend, and that means one thing to retailers: the holiday selling season is finally here. While sleigh bells are ringing and cash registers jingling, booksellers can expect traffic to their BookSense.com websites and online sales to peak each Monday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (What "Black Friday" is to storefront retailers, the Monday after Thanksgiving -- "Cyber Monday" -- has become to online retailers.)