How Our Booksellers Pick Each Month's Staff Favorites
It starts with reading, not sales charts
A staff favorite is a book at least one of us has finished and could talk about for five minutes without notes. Sales numbers never decide it. Some of our favorites are quiet backlist titles that sell a few copies a month; that is exactly why they need the card.
The short list
At the start of each month everyone brings one or two candidates. We ask three questions about each:
- Who is it for? “Everyone” is not an answer. A good pick has a reader in mind.
- Can we say why in two sentences? If the pitch needs a paragraph, the card will not work.
- Is it on the shelf? We only pick books we can actually hand you.
Why the list is short
We pick fewer books than we could. A wall of cards stops meaning anything, and a short list lets every pick sit face out at eye level, where it is easy to find.
Picks stay up for a month. Some come back the next year, usually because readers kept asking for them after the card came down.
Writing the card
The card is handwritten and signed. Each one follows the same few steps:
- Say what the book is like, not what happens in it, so nobody’s ending is spoiled.
- Name the reader it is for, as plainly as possible.
- Add one detail only someone who read it would know.
- Sign it, so you know whom to ask.
The best card is the one that makes you pick the book up before you have finished reading it.
Ask us
When you see a card, ask the person who wrote it. They will be glad you did, and they usually have a second book in mind for whoever enjoyed the first.
If a pick did not work for you, tell us that too. It helps us write better cards next month.