Thursday, July 19, 2007

Bookseller's Choice List

I've create a new list called "Bookseller's Choice" for the store. The Bookseller's Choice is Indigocafe.com's answer to a bestseller list. Instead of listing books pushed by the large publishers and the book industry, we offer a list of books recently released that we actually like!

This is in keeping with a the concept that I suggested in my blog post:
"Why I Don't Sell 'Booty Books'" —

I think that we need to take this thing back. One idea I had is to create an alternative to the bestseller list. (I've never been able to create one that made any sense any way.) Let's create a "Critics list" or "Best Reader's list" in which writers, booksellers, and literary critics vote on the best work being produced every month, one for fiction and one for non-fiction. (This wouldn't be a bad idea for the "greater" community of writers) After all, isn't the bestseller lists just a self-perpetuating guide to what is being read? It is kinda crude to only use sales as a measure to what is worthy of reading. These new lists are not a complete solution to these very complicating set of issues but it could be a start. It's a way of putting a stamp of approval on some of our more worthy books and making a clean separation from the "street lit."

I've never been one to sell "street lit." My taste in books are multicultual, political, and literary. I've never fit into any of the usual marketing catagories; The same goes for my customers. So now here is a list that reflects our divergent attitude. Enjoy the list!

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