Update Announcements by Craig Stark #58, 26 December 2005

You may recall that when Guusje Moore submitted her first children's books column to me last month, I was somewhat hesitant to publish it in the free newsletter - not because it wasn't any good but because it was too good. Packed with flashpoints, it was. Rich in insider information. Well, bless her heart, she's at it again this month, spilling beans by the bucketful in her second column - "Witches, Mice and Cats - Oh My!" If you're smart, you'll get your scouting notebooks out and pay attention. There's more gold coming your way, some of it in the form of nuggets that she matter-of-factly drops here and there - e.g., "Keep in mind that since librarians tend to weed by letter of the alphabet, you'll often several books by the same author piled together at an FOL sale." By the way, if you have any questions or comments for Guusje, you can contact her at childrensbooks@bookthink.com

Also, it's time for Pamela Palmer's BookThink's Top Ten on eBay column again - November's best. As Pam notes in her article, there are some surprises this month: "George Orwell took the lead with two winners in the fiction category, two in the non-fiction group, and an association copy as well. He wasn't the only interesting quirk this month. The non-fiction top seller brought in over 4 times the price atop the fiction list. One seller hit the jackpot with two fiction and two non-fiction titles. Other intriguing twists include an author's handwritten comments about his ex-wife, two charity auctions, and an 18th century history of Armenia, apparently written in Armenian."

This is our last issue of the BookThinker for 2005. I'm sincerely thankful for the support we received from so many of you this year, also for your valuable contributions in the forum, not to mention the outstanding articles many of you have written for us - and let's not forget about those intriguing bookseller's profiles. ( Warning: more of you chickens are going to have to stand up and be counted next year!) Thanks to each of you, growth continues at BookThink, and the treasure trove of bookselling knowledge that's been archived to date is both deep and comprehensive - exactly what we were aiming for when we launched this crazy thing in 2003. And we're far from done. All of us here look forward to serving your bookselling needs again in 2006. And please - if you have any suggestions for what you would like to see us address in the future, don't hesitate to write me at editor@bookthink.com.

On behalf of Pam, Tim, Cathy, Guusje, Gail and Ken (who does expert, near thankless copy work for us behind the scenes), I'd like to wish all of you the best of everything in 2006, and may the bookselling gods smile warmly upon you. See ya' next year.