Bringing in Customers in January and February

This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on January 18, 2007 Sign up now!

by Judith Rosen, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 1/18/2007

What do Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief, Jan Brett's Hedgie Blasts Off and Lisi Harrison's Dial L for Loser have in common? They are among the top 25 children's bestsellers for 2006 at Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley, Mass.—and the leading customer draws for 2007. "One of our post-holiday tricks," says book buyer Lorna Ruby, "is letting customers know our top 25 bestsellers. At the end of December we run a report and have it ready in January. Customers ask for it."

In the past, the store printed up bookmarks with a mix of the top 25 children's bestsellers on one side and the top 25 adult titles on the other. "This year," Ruby says, "we decided to expand on the list and we couldn't fit it on a bookmark." Instead they printed up tri-fold flyers, which are available in the store this month and next, with the books broken down by category: picture books are separated from children's novels on one panel, adult hardcovers and adult paperbacks are listed on the other two panels.

For Ruby, the annual bestsellers list is an extension of the handselling efforts for which the store is known, such as talking one-on-one with customers and handwritten shelf talkers. "Customers are used to getting good recommendations from us," she says. And a few are used to coming back for the same books year after year. Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings has been a bestseller "from the beginning" at both Wellesley Booksmith and its sister store, Brookline Booksmith.