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MPBA Retires Bestseller Lists
Steven M. Zeitchik -- 1/24/00

In deference to the bestseller rankings compiled by the American Booksellers Association under its Book Sense initiative, one regional organization has terminated its own list and voiced its support of the ABA's efforts.

The Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association, which six months ago began several bestseller rankings as a response to what it believed was a lack of regional lists, announced last week that it didn't want to dilute the ABA's Book Sense campaign to get member stores to participate in its bestseller compilation. "The fact is that it's too much for some of our stores to report to us and report to Book Sense. We didn't want to be splitting the vote," executive director Lisa Knudsen told PW, adding, "Book Sense needs 100% of the stores reporting." Indeed, upon telling one of her member stores, Knudsen said she was greeted with, "Now I can report to Book Sense."

In addition to a general list, the MPBA had instituted a list of regional titles, which covered a different category each month and included titles not seen on any other list. Knudsen said she is not concerned that the Book Sense list lacks some of this regionalism because "in the future, we may be able to request lists of different kinds that can in fact reflect our region."

The NCIBA list, which predated and helped inspire the Book Sense rankings, remains the country's only regional list.

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