The mood at this fall's regional booksellers association meetings and trade shows was generally upbeat, in part because of a optimism about independent bookselling, but more so because of enthusiastic response from booksellers to the national rollout of Book Sense, the American Booksellers Association's marketing program.

The program, which includes Booksense.com, the ABA's answer to Amazon. com and other online book retailers, was the focus of many sessions. Top people from the ABA traveled to all the regionals to explain the program personally.

Among the big news about Book Sense:

  • Booksense.com will go live next month;

  • Ingram has replaced Muze as the supplier of the database for Booksense.com;

  • Book Sense has issued its second Books Sense 76 list and is in the process of creating a national independents' bestseller list.

E-Commerce Set to Click

Speaking at the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association meeting in Philadelphia, Booksense.com head Len Vlahos said that the e-commerce site should be operational "by Thanksgiving" and added that the number of early commitments from booksellers was highly encouraging.

In an unusual twist, this first version of Booksense.com will rely on Ingram's database, while Baker & Taylor will fulfill orders. Booksense.com had been using Muze's database but dropped it recently. (Ingram was not an original partner because when Booksense.com first was announced, the ABA was campaigning to block Barnes & Noble's purchase of Ingram. Ingram reportedly has been mending fences with the ABA following B&N's withdrawal of its bid for Ingram early in the summer.)

In the next version of Booksense.com, which should be introduced in the spring, Ingram and K n will fulfill orders, in addition to B&T. It will also be easier for individual stores to fulfill orders. (In the first version, orders for titles go first to B&T; if a title is not carried by B&T, the order defaults to the store.)

Vlahos said Booksense.com decided to wait to implement several features -- such as adding more wholesalers as fulfillers -- because it wanted to be up and running in time for the holiday season.

Booksense.com sent out sign-up packets in September, and as of the first round of regional shows on the weekend of September 25“26, some 40 stores had signed up. At the beginning of October, startup kits began arriving at participating stores. In November, the site will go live, and booksellers will be able to engage in e-commerce.

Booksense.com is available for a one-time setup fee of $500, plus a monthly fee of $200 and 4.5% of sales.

Among other points made by Vlahos: the site can be quickly customized by stores, and stores that already have their own Web sites can adapt Booksense.com with relative ease. Sales tax will apply to customers in New York State (Booksense.com's location) and Illinois (where B&T's Booksense.com warehouse is located). Revenues from paid advertising on the site will go to support Book Sense.

The Book Sense List

Book Sense plans to have a national bestseller list go live in November, according to Carl Lennertz, marketing consultant for Book Sense, who was also at the NAIBA meeting in Philadelphia.

Book Sense aims to have 200“400 booksellers report their bestsellers electronically each week. The program is testing a limited list now, and by mid-October hopes to test nationally. Besides a general list, Book Sense plans to compile children's, regional and category lists.

The general Book Sense program has been enthusiastically received by many booksellers. Only three publishers have signed up officially, although more have expressed interest, according to Lennertz. (Book Sense aims to secure some funding by using unused co-op money.) Otherwise, the program is continuing apace: the second Book Sense 76 list was announced two weeks ago, and Book Sense has begun a contest that promotes in-store displays of Book Sense 76 titles.

Each Book Sense store that sends in a photo of a window or front-of-store display for both the October and November Book Sense 76 titles receives $76. First prize is a free year of BookSense.com. There are also 10 second prizes of a $500 rebate or waiver for Booksense.com's start-up fee.

Lennertz said that Book Sense takes some of the credit for the success of Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson (Crown, $25), which the program supported early on, and wants to continue helping create hot titles. "We can't have just one Cold Mountain a year," he commented.