Monday, April 8, 2013
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Summer Reading Help
Schools out and students are lining up their summer plans. Research finds that children who do not read over the summer may lose up to three month of reading progress. That's why it is so important to encourage your children to pick up a few books during these hot months.
To help encourage high school students to find a book of their choice, Teach.com has compiled a list of 101 books to kick off your kids' summer reading. Follow their chart of top picks until you find something that is a perfect fit.
To help encourage high school students to find a book of their choice, Teach.com has compiled a list of 101 books to kick off your kids' summer reading. Follow their chart of top picks until you find something that is a perfect fit.
Via Teach.com and USC Rossier Online
Friday, April 1, 2011
What Would You Do...
Lately there have been many inspiring stories about what a community would do to save their independent bookstore. I am wondering how far you would go to save yours. I don’t mean by pledging to purchase five more books this year , although in reality that is a great idea! I’m thinking more along the lines of the Klondike Bar commercials, only book or bookstore related.
So, let's see how creative you can be!
Include the name of your favorite independent bookstore and/or book.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Return to Titletown
If you love your man
as much as he loves the Packers,
we just received the perfect Valentine's Day gift!
Stop in and pick up a copy or order online while supplies last!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Fresh Start
In the final quarter of 2010 I slipped a bit on keeping up with the blog. Now it is a new year with a chance to start fresh. So, for 2011 my goal is to write humorous and witty blog posts about the things that interest you the most each and every Friday. They will be so brilliant you will eagerly anticipate each new post and share with all of your friends.
Not today, of course. Today I have piles of books to enter and displays to change, phone calls to make and customers to help. Just too much to do today, but next Friday for sure. Unless next Friday is the same as today and I just can’t find the time. But the Friday after that for sure!
Friday, October 8, 2010
(Not so)Scientific Findings
This morning I came across this recent Harris Pole showing that mystery, crime and thriller novels are the genre most read. No surprise here. This did cause me to wonder how BayShore Books LLC
resembled what this pole reflects, so I thought I’d spend a few minutes looking at what sells here.
Granted, I will have to accept quite a large margin for error. For instance, the poll includes those who say they read at least one book in an average year while mine will include every book purchased in a year, although I did eliminate all local, event, and bulk order titles which would skew the results. Only the genres of the pole were included but that even leaves room for debate. Stephenie Meyer and Harry Potter are classified as young adult in my system, although I have sold just as many (if not more) to adult readers. We don’t have a separate “chick lit” category, so we just used a “fiction” category. Literature for us includes only classics, the rest are included in fiction.
By now you have probably figured out that my pole in no way, shape, or form reflects the Harris Pole.
Mystery was no surprise. Romance is more popular here than reflected on the Harris Pole while Science Fiction is not. Could they have counted the young adult titles?
Probably the largest variable not yet mentioned is availability. If we do not have a certain author, title, or genre, we will order it for our customers. Most likely we would sell more of a title on the shelf, though. Of course we order what we sell so maybe that variable isn’t as great as first presumed. Moving on…
For non-fiction we just eliminated “other non-fiction”. What is “other non-fiction” exactly? Did they include cooking, gardening, pets, parenting, reference books, sports, travel? Who knows. Easier to just dump it.
Non-fiction
Total New Used
History History History
Biographies Biographies Biographies
Religion Self Help Religion
Self Help Religion Self Help
True Crime Political True Crime
Business True Crime Business
Political Business Political
What I found interesting is that in their poll the number of people who read fiction and those who read non-fiction are pretty even. Here it’s not even close. We sell a lot more fiction. Do we sell more fiction because we stock more fiction or do we stock more fiction because we sell more fiction? The number of non-fiction titles stocked has been reduced over the years based on sales so that answers that question.
The number one author on their poll is Stephen King, followed by James Patterson, John Grisham, Nora Roberts, and Tom Clancy. Remember, this is based on them asking “who is your favorite author” with no regard to what was picked up at a garage sale or borrowed from a friend. Once again taking out local favorites, bulk orders, special events, and my personal opinion; our list isn’t that different. Stephen King didn’t rate quite as high, but James Patterson and Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb did along with Fern Michaels, Nicholas Sparks, and Debbie Macomber.
So there you have it, my not so scientific findings thrown together in a few minutes for no other purpose other than my amusement. Enjoy!
resembled what this pole reflects, so I thought I’d spend a few minutes looking at what sells here.
Granted, I will have to accept quite a large margin for error. For instance, the poll includes those who say they read at least one book in an average year while mine will include every book purchased in a year, although I did eliminate all local, event, and bulk order titles which would skew the results. Only the genres of the pole were included but that even leaves room for debate. Stephenie Meyer and Harry Potter are classified as young adult in my system, although I have sold just as many (if not more) to adult readers. We don’t have a separate “chick lit” category, so we just used a “fiction” category. Literature for us includes only classics, the rest are included in fiction.
By now you have probably figured out that my pole in no way, shape, or form reflects the Harris Pole.
Types of books read in the past year
Fiction
Notice just for fun we used our totals and then broke it down based on new or used
Total New Used
Mystery Fiction Mystery
Romance Mystery Romance
Fiction Romance Western
Science Fiction Science Fiction Fiction
Western Literature Science Fiction
Graphic Novels Graphic Novels Graphic Novels
Literature Westerns Literature
Probably the largest variable not yet mentioned is availability. If we do not have a certain author, title, or genre, we will order it for our customers. Most likely we would sell more of a title on the shelf, though. Of course we order what we sell so maybe that variable isn’t as great as first presumed. Moving on…
For non-fiction we just eliminated “other non-fiction”. What is “other non-fiction” exactly? Did they include cooking, gardening, pets, parenting, reference books, sports, travel? Who knows. Easier to just dump it.
Non-fiction
Total New Used
History History History
Biographies Biographies Biographies
Religion Self Help Religion
Self Help Religion Self Help
True Crime Political True Crime
Business True Crime Business
Political Business Political
What I found interesting is that in their poll the number of people who read fiction and those who read non-fiction are pretty even. Here it’s not even close. We sell a lot more fiction. Do we sell more fiction because we stock more fiction or do we stock more fiction because we sell more fiction? The number of non-fiction titles stocked has been reduced over the years based on sales so that answers that question.
The number one author on their poll is Stephen King, followed by James Patterson, John Grisham, Nora Roberts, and Tom Clancy. Remember, this is based on them asking “who is your favorite author” with no regard to what was picked up at a garage sale or borrowed from a friend. Once again taking out local favorites, bulk orders, special events, and my personal opinion; our list isn’t that different. Stephen King didn’t rate quite as high, but James Patterson and Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb did along with Fern Michaels, Nicholas Sparks, and Debbie Macomber.
So there you have it, my not so scientific findings thrown together in a few minutes for no other purpose other than my amusement. Enjoy!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Celebrate Your Freedom to Read
Banned Books Week is coming to an end. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. Think it doesn't happen where you live? Think again! Check out this map of challenges in the US from 2007-2010.
Out of 460 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2009 the 10 most challenged titles were:
ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, drugs, and unsuited to age group
And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: racism, offensive language, unsuited to age group
Twilight (series), by Stephanie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: sexaully explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: sexism, homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group, drugs, suicide, violence
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
How many have you read? Have you celebrated your freedom to read this and every other week?
Out of 460 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2009 the 10 most challenged titles were:
ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, drugs, and unsuited to age group
And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: racism, offensive language, unsuited to age group
Twilight (series), by Stephanie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: sexaully explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: sexism, homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group, drugs, suicide, violence
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
How many have you read? Have you celebrated your freedom to read this and every other week?
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