Specialty Bookselling

Coleen Harty of Madison, Wisconsin, has spent years perusing the vast category of personal growth books and tapes. Beginning March 1, she will be putting her knowledge into practice and helping others navigate the self-help arena in her own bookstore, Invest in Yourself. Harty, a long-time employee of the Middletown, Wisconsin-based Pleasant Company, founder of the American Girl dynasty, is opening the 1,500-square-foot store, also in Middletown.

Sometimes there's more to an investment than just profits. That was certainly the case when Deacon Maccubbin, owner of Lambda Rising, decided to take over operations of the New York City independent Oscar Wilde Bookshop.

Dear Booksellers, As always, thank you for all the great recommendations. A few very deserving mysteries you e-mailed me about are due in March, so we may have enough for another mystery 76 top ten. And look for more category 76s soon; go to http://www.bookweb.org/read/2330 for a schedule and nomination deadlines. Thanks again! Carl carl@booksense.com

Based on the last four weeks of sales from over 350 independent bookstores across America.

Based on the last four weeks of sales from over 350 independent bookstores across America.

First off, this is no knock on Harry, Mary, Junie B., Judy B., Lyra, or our friends at Redwall. Ellen Mager at Booktenders Children's Bookstore in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, asked for a list of individual best-selling paperback fiction not in a series. The result is a nice mix of favorites and classics, with recent releases. I'm sure you know all these, but you might spot an old favorite that deserves new attention, or a new book you may not have read yet. (Sorry I can't separate by age groups, but you know 'em.)

The Women's National Book Association (WNBA) has announced its annual call for nominations of outstanding U.S. booksellers in the field of children's literature. From the nominations, two bookstores -- one general bookstore and one specialty children's store -- will be selected as winners of the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award to be presented at BookExpo America 2003.

Based on the last four weeks of sales from over 350 independent bookstores across America. Thanks to all the stores that report, the new expanded electronic reporting options, and the software our team here has built to sort and slice a ton of data according to BISAC categories, this is the latest of many subject category lists to run in BTW each week. These are intended as inventory checking tools for booksellers, alerts to publishers as to what’s selling, and lists that the media can run.

The decade-old Outwrite Bookstore moved from a small space in a midtown shopping center to an old disco in the center of a gentrified, historically gay and lesbian neighborhood in Atlanta. The store doubled its size, to 3,000-square-feet, and created a vibrant place to gather, drink coffee, and buy books and gifts -- from morning until late at night.

The fliers are on press now; 100's will go out in the November white box, and additional quantities, as in the past, will mail from the printer. Thank you for the great recommendations!! Carl carl@booksense.com 1. A HOUSE CALLED AWFUL END: Book One of the Eddie Dickens Trilogy, by Philip Ardagh; illus. by David Roberts (Holt, $14.95, 0805068287) Ages 9-12.