Five years ago today Shelf Awareness published our first issue to our "friends and family" list with a staff that consisted of John Mutter and Jenn Risko working out of formerly quiet corners of their houses. Amazingly now, more than 1,200 issues later, we have 20,000 subscribers from around the book world (as well as some "civilians"); our staff includes six full timers and a small armada of freelancers; and we have two offices.

But some important things remain constant: we continue to focus on how to help booksellers and librarians sell and lend more books. Over the last few years, we've added more regular features like the twice-a-week Book Brahmins, which introduce authors via our version of the Proust questionnaire. We've dropped in the drop-in title database.

In the past year, we've added special issues that allow us to focus on publishers, imprints, authors and books of interest and importance. Dedicated issues now run monthly and are sold out for this year and part way into 2011. We also launched adult and kids Maximum Shelf issues--in which we pick the best of upcoming titles and highlight them--along with their authors, editors and others.

In the near future, we plan on launching our biggest new initiative to date, something that will continue to help booksellers and librarians do their job better.

Among staff changes, just yesterday newsletter and web producer Amber Elbon, whose portfolio wowed us, started at Shelf Awarenss. So far so good: she seems to have survived her first day. All of you who have wanted a mobile version of the Shelf, give her a week or so.

Last fall we hired managing editor Robin Lenz, who, along with many other responsibilities, has added more pictures to the newsletter and made our issues look and read better. Via @ShelfAwareness she's also become our presence on Twitter and is one of the crew that is up before dawn every weekday working on Shelf Awareness.

Contributing editor Robert Gray continues to write his great weekly column as well as many news items and stories. He also provides the most reliable and fresh editorial backup we can imagine. When he takes the helm for an issue, Robert's aim, he says, is to make it seem that the same person is always putting out the issue. And he succeeds!

Children's books editor Jennifer M. Brown remains one of the most enthusiastic and cheerful people we know, a pleasure to work with--perhaps even more so when deadlines loom.

Officially a vagabond as she and her husband tour the country in a camper, contributing editor Shannon McKenna Schmidt keeps writing thoughtful, lively pieces that focus on bookstores, imprints and books.

In the Seattle office, CFO Richard Jobes continues to enlighten us again and again on the intricacies and vagaries of the business world and provide excellent financial advice. Although he denies it, he's a great and witty writer, too.

Book review editor Marilyn Dahl seems to do the impossible (and always in style): in addition to writing elegant reviews and editing the Book Brahmins, she manages and edits a growing group of reviewers (who include Debra Ginsberg, John McFarland, Harvey Freedenberg, Nick DiMartino and Valerie Ryan) and now selects and writes adult Maximum Shelf issues every month.

Sales and marketing manager Melissa Solberg is consistently hard-working, a quick study and a general savior--since no detail eludes her. The former Melissa Mueller marked her own personal milestone last year, marrying Dakota Solberg. We're still getting used to calling her Mrs. Solberg.

Graphic designer Alex Baker makes sure we keep looking good and is responsible for one of the most popular parts of the newsletter: the decoration of our Buddha, Vik.

Our occasional columnists--Stephanie Anderson, Jenn Northington and Michael Bagnulo--cover digital matters and graphic novels and bring fresh voices and stimulating viewpoints to Shelf Awareness. And a shoutout to contributors like Laurie Lico Albanese, who seemed to cover half of this year's BEA panels, and Bridget Kinsella, who's always game for even the most quirky story.

John and Jenn are both so grateful to work with such talented people, to work with each other, to do what we love and to make a living at it. It's been especially wonderful considering that much of our growth has occurred during the economic downturn and started when John was laid off. At the time, one of his friends said eventually he would look back on that moment and realize that it was the best thing that ever happened to him. "Easy for you to say," he thought then. But she was right!

Recently we asked some of our friends about Shelf Awareness's birthday and heard wonderful things back. We thank them and all the others in the industry who have supported us in so many ways. (Add your own comments at info@shelf-awareness.com.) 

"All of us are bombarded these days with in-box deliveries and gradually choose what to read and what to discard based on what we need to know and how well it is presented. On both counts, Shelf Awareness is a valued asset. Congrats to John, Jenn and the staff. What we said about PublicAffairs after five years applies to you now: No longer a start-up; not yet an anti-trust case."

"I've loved Shelf Awareness from the day it was born. It's been fun to watch it grow and grow. It's the first thing e-mail I read daily. It has enlightenment, wit, pathos, good gossip and much food for thought. We often share pieces from it in our weekly e-mail newsletter. I think its five years are like animal years--as in each year is actually seven years--it's 'matured' that much. Did I mention that I love Shelf Awareness?"

"It doesn't seem possible that Shelf Awareness is only five years old, it has become such an essential part of our daily reading, a touchstone to what is happening in the world of bookselling! Congratulations on creating such an informative, enlightening, and fun communication. With best wishes on your anniversary."

"Shelf Awareness is the first word in bookselling and publishing. As an advertiser, an agent, and a reader, kudos and Happy Fifth Birthday to my friends at Shelf Awareness for enlightening all things literati."

"My daily addiction to the Shelf is due to its two most enduring qualities: heart and humor. It reminds me of why I'm so fond of the book industry and the people in it, and it inspires me to think in different ways about our customers and titles. Plus, Jenn and John are super cool. Happy Fifth."

"True to its name, Shelf Awareness is always enlightening. I always think of it as my 'morning pages' as I ease into the work day. And what could be better that the voyeurism of Book Brahmins? Still one of my favorite parts of the Shelf, five years later. Congratulations, and I'm looking forward to the next five years' evolution!"

"Aside from its obvious value to those in the book industry who look for it in their mailbox every weekday, Shelf Awareness also has tremendous appeal to readers in general--'civilians' who want to know what books are coming out, what their favorite authors are up to, and how their favorite bookstores are faring. It's not just a business resource, to many of us it's also a fan magazine. There's nothing else like it in publishing."

"Five years ago, when John Mutter and Jenn Risko talked about launching Shelf Awareness, some of us wondered if the book business really needed another industry publication. Would anyone read it? Would there be sufficient advertising to support it? Well--five years later--Shelf Awareness has become an industry staple, a must-read for its interesting, timely, and unique perspective on what is happening in the book business. I eagerly look forward to it arriving in my mailbox every weekday morning. Warmest congratulations to John and Jenn from all of us at ABA for a great first five years. Here's to the next 20!"

"Bows to the entire Shelf Awareness staff for five wonderful years! Each morning the Buddha of Books is dutifully sitting and serenely smiling with humility and good humor--authors are praised; booksellers and librarians are extolled; and publishers noted! Publishing is lucky indeed for all that they do!"

"In five short years, Shelf Awareness has become the web destination of choice when it comes to industry news, insightful and often in-depth book reviews, and special features--like Book Brahmin, which I always enjoy. Long live the Shelf!"

"It was a pleasant surprise when Shelf Awareness made its debut, providing the trade a daily dose of what was going on, with timely detail, balance and humor. Five years later and you have become an indispensible source of information to the bookselling community. Now that's a great story! Congratulations John and Jenn, we look forward to another five years of daily enlightenment."

"Ever since the day Shelf Awareness made its debut, I have relied on it to keep up to date on all of the important news and happenings within the book trade. I can't imagine starting my day without this informative, vital, and, yes, extremely entertaining e-mail newsletter. Congratulations to John Mutter, Jenn Risko, Marilyn Dahl, and the entire Shelf Awareness staff for five enlightening years!"

"Congratulations on your fifth anniversary--my how the years fly by! I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy and look forward to receiving Shelf Awareness everyday. In fact, I find it addictive... John, you and your team do a terrific job covering the book industry -- please know that your efforts are most appreciated."

When Bridget Smith Ohl of Anthology Book Company, Loveland, Colo., met Brunonia Barry at the ABA Winter Institute in February, she suggested Barry come to Anthology when she toured for The Map of True Places. Barry remembered the invitation and earlier this month she stopped by for a signing, one of only two appearances she made in Colorado. At the store: (bottom from l.) Anthology manager Teresa Martinez, Barry; (top from l.) bookseller Greth Patterson, Ohl and owner Stephanie Stauder.

At Barnes & Noble, total sales in the fourth quarter ended May 1 rose 19%, to $1.3 billion, and the net loss was $32 million, compared to a net loss of $2 million in the same period last year.

E-books and e-readers were popular: B&N.com sales rose 51%, to $141 million. B&N store sales fell 3%, to $962 million, and sales of stores open at least a year fell 3.1%. B&N College sales amounted to $205 million, and sales at college stores open at least a year rose 2.9%.

For the full year ended May 1, total sales rose 13.4%, to $5.8 billion, and net earnings were $36.7 million, compared to $75.9 million in the same period a year earlier. B&N.com sales rose 24%, to $573 million. Store sales were $4.3 billion, and sales at stores open at least a year fell 4.8%.

The company said it expects sales for the current fiscal year, ending next April, to rise 20%-25%. B&N.com sales should increase 75% to $1 billion. Sales at bookstores open at least a year will grow between 0% and 3%, and sales at college stores open at least a year should be flat.

B&N CEO William Lynch said that during the quarter "each of our three channels of business have all gained significant share: physical bookstores, digital books and books sold online at bn.com. In fact, in just a brief 12 months since we launched the Barnes & Noble ebookstore, our share of the digital market already exceeds our share of the retail book market."

Lynch emphasized that the company plans "to redirect a significant portion of our financial resources towards investments in technology, sales and marketing. These investments will impact our bottom line in 2011, but we believe they will enable Barnes & Noble to capitalize on the significant mid-to-long-term growth opportunities presented by the digital markets."

Kindle offline: HMSHost Corp., which operates stores and restaurants in airports, will sell Amazon Kindles at its Simply Books stores in nine airports, according to the AP. The airports include Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Ga.; Dallas-Fort Worth; and George Bush in Houston, Tex.

Amazon has been busy elsewhere, too: it now has a free app for Google's Android phone.

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Emily Powell officially becomes president of Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., in mid-July, the Portland Business Journal reported. She takes over from her father, Michael Powell, a transition that has been underway over the past four years.

Michael Powell, his wife, Alice, and daughter Emily all are co-owners of the company, which Michael Powell called "an estate planning move."

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Congratulations to Bridge Street Books, Washington, D.C., which celebrated its 30th anniversary this past weekend with a party at the Four Seasons. The store specializes in politics, poetry, philosophy, film and cultural studies.

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Since June 5, Stephenie Meyer's novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, has sold more than a million copies, according to the Associated Press (via USA Today). Little, Brown Books for Young Readers said "it now ranks as the year's best-selling book so far." 

The movie version of Eclipse opens tomorrow.

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Searching for bestsellers of every description in Manhattan, the New York Post asked "the city's restaurants and retailers for a list of their all-time best-selling items. We left off the fads and current trends--no Twilight movies or Stieg Larsson novels. Instead, these are the things that, year after year, customers crave, whether it's the shoes that go with everything or the food that always comforts."

At the New York Public Library, The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (342,400 checkouts) and Ayn Rand's Anthem (22,800 checkouts) topped the list for the past two years.

J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is the Strand Bookstore's bestseller. "We’ve sold 18,000 copies over the past nine years," said owner Fred Bass, and he wasn't counting second-hand copies. 

And, just for literary balance, the legendary Algonquin Hotel's most popular drink is "the vodka martini, $18. It's the classic drink for regulars since the days of Dorothy Parker and Gertrude Stein," the Post wrote.

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Marcia Fuller owns Red Brick Books, "the last bookstore" in Springfield, Mass., and the Republican reported that she has been "in the book business since 1981, when she opened her first store, Books and Such, located in the back of her husband Richard's Page Boulevard Fuller's Auto Body. Five years later she moved to the red brick building next door at 797 Page Blvd. in the East Springfield neighborhood where she grew up."

"When I started you'd never think a place like Johnson's Bookstore would ever close. And, the Internet was something in a sci-fi book," she said, adding that when she heard in January about the closing of a local Waldenbooks, she realized, "I was the last book store in Springfield as far as people know. It was a little hard to believe and very sad to hear."

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As the book world ponders its unfathomable digital future, traditional book design remains an important factor and "nobody takes cover art lightly," the Toronto Globe & Mail reported. "Publishers pile time, money and talent into cover art. They recruit top artists, run market tests and hold focus groups. And they count on covers to make old books new again, and attract attention in bookstores where half the purchases are made on the whimsy of browsing."

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In the age of e-readers, what will happen to the time-honored custom of judging other readers in public by the books they're holding? Wired suggested a few alternatives, including the MindReader, "a slightly beat-up looking device that only loads quality literature," and the Bk, which "automatically translates any downloaded book into text-speak."

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Anyone familiar with the sound stylings of Michael Winslow will know they are in for a treat when they hear his recitation of "The History of the Typewriter."

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Book trailer of the day: Percival's Planet by Michael Byers (Holt).

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At Hachette Digital:

Neil DeYoung has been promoted to executive director. He has been at Hachette Book Group five years and among other things, was project manager for the company's website relaunch.

Liz Kessler has joined the company as digital managing editor, a new position.

Amy Grillo has been promoted to associate manager, digital book accounts.

Alessandra Aliquo has been named digital operations and client services coordinator, a new position.

Paul Florez has been named executive administrator for Maja Thomas, senior v-p.

Mark Kohut of Redburn Press remembers Stuart Brent, who died last week.

Buttonholing customers to recommend a book doesn't come close to describing what Stuart Brent often did: racing across his bookstore to greet a customer and press one of his latest discoveries on them. They were books that mattered, really mattered, and I, a young rep, learned what unbridled enthusiasm for a book or writer meant.
 
The obits mention that Stuart Brent selected and bought only the best books, the most interesting and original. He did that, of course, by reading and listening to readers he trusted. Much of this happened after books were published, although he learned early of upcoming books, of course.
 
One of the highest compliments he paid reps was allowing you to "write his order." Luckily the rep I took over from, Hugh Collins, grandfathered me in with Stuart, so to speak. 
 
If you sent him, in moderate quantities, the real and, shall we say, necessary books, the special gig kept on keeping on. His store needed "commercial" fiction and nonfiction; it was the "interchangeable books"--financial planning, baby names, etc., etc.--that he did not need until his staff learned which ones had risen to the top.
 
If one visited his store between new title sales calls, learned what he was recommending and therefore what was selling, and checked physical inventory--this was in the time before computers--one could get wonderful reorders.
 
While initial orders are par for the course, reorders is what makes good books last. This was just one thing I learned from Mr. Stuart Brent, Bookseller, R.I.P.

This morning on the Today Show: Adam Perry Lang, author of BBQ 25 (HarperStudio, $19.99, 9780061990236/006199023X).

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Today on NPR's Diane Rehm Show: Bruce Henderson, author of Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War (Harper, $27.99, 9780061571367/0061571369).

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Elizabeth Edwards, whose Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities (Broadway, $15, 9780767931564/0767931564) is now out in paperback.

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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Peter Gleick, author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water (Island Press, $26.95, 9781597265287/1597265284).

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Tomorrow on NPR's Diane Rehm Show: Garret Keizer, author of The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want: A Book About Noise (PublicAffairs, $27.95, 9781586485528/1586485520).

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Tomorrow night on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Chelsea Handler, author of Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (Grand Central, $25.99, 9780446552448/0446552445).

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Tomorrow night on the Colbert Report: Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (Norton, $26.95, 9780393072228/0393072223).

The Girl Who Played with Fire, the Swedish movie based on the second novel in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson (Vintage, $15.95, 9780307454553/030745455X), opens this Friday, July 2.

By the way, for a hilarious takeoff on the series, see Nora Ephron's "The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut" in the current edition of the New Yorker.

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Don Most (Happy Days, The Last Best Sunday, Moola) will direct Exposed Memories, adapted from an autobiography by Gianni Bozzacchi, "a street kid who became personal photographer to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton," Variety reported. Joey Tayler, co-author of Exposed Memories (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), will write the screenplay.

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Deadline.com observed that "Columbia conveys a lot with a little in this teaser trailer for the David Fincher-directed and Aaron Sorkin-scripted The Social Network, with Zombieland's Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg." The film, which debuts October 1, is based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.

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The first full-length trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--part one of which hits theaters in November--"features the massive epic quality one would hope for from such a grand finale," MTV.com reported.

Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg by John Hough Jr. (Simon and Schuster) has won the 2010 W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction.

The $5,000 award honors "the best fiction set in a period when the United States was at war" and aims to recognize "the service of American veterans and encourage the writing and publishing of outstanding war-related fiction."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, July 6:

What Women Want: The Global Marketplace Turns Female Friendly by Paco Underhill (Simon & Schuster, $25, 9781416569954/1416569952) explores the increasing economic influence of women.

Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity by Drew Brees, Mark Brunell and Chris Fabry (Tyndale House, $26.99, 9781414339436/1414339437) chronicles the remarkable comeback of Saints quarterback Drew Brees from a shoulder injury and New Orleans itself from Katrina.

As Husbands Go: A Novel by Susan Isaacs (Scribner, $25, 9781416573012/1416573011) follows a woman who seeks her husband's killer after he is found dead in a prostitute's apartment.

The Search by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $26.95, 9780399156571/0399156577) centers on a canine search-and-rescue trainer who once survived a serial killer's attack and must now face another.

The Beaufort Diaries by T. Cooper and Alex Petrowsky (Melville House, $15.95, 9781935554073/1935554077) is about a polar bear who makes an environmental action movie with Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Island: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand (Reagan Arthur Books, $25.99, 9780316043878/0316043877) tells the story of a family of women who find and lose love on Nantucket.

Think of a Number: A Novel by John Verdon (Crown, $22, 9780307588920/0307588920) follows a retired detective who becomes obsessed by the threatening number-based puzzles he keeps mysteriously receiving.

The Cookbook Collector: A Novel by Allegra Goodman (Dial Press, $26, 9780385340854/0385340850) takes place during the dot-com bubble. A couple working for different Internet companies share secrets that threaten their relationship.


Now in paperback:

Under the Dome: A Novel by Stephen King (Pocket, $19.99, 9781439149034/1439149038).

Stardust: A Novel by Joseph Kanon (Washington Square Press, $15, 9781439156322/1439156328).

The Anthologist: A Novel by Nicholson Baker (Simon & Schuster, $15, 9781416572459/1416572457).

Even the most cursory look at Comic Art Propaganda overwhelms the eye with a dazzling array of painting, drawing, caricature and cartooning. Closer examination of the artwork shows how brilliant use of color and graphics pumps up the energy and/or outrage for that special brand of storytelling that makes comics so popular in the U.S., Belgium, France and Japan. "Comics have been used time and time again as tools of propaganda... because [they] have an almost magical way of catching and keeping the reader's attention," Strömberg says at the beginning of his fascinating survey of 20th-century comics intent on promoting agendas, both wild and prosaic.

Strömberg divides his history by the major themes he finds, including inciting racism, supporting wars in progress and promoting certain religions. Although his approach is balanced and almost scholarly, reading about the comics themselves, as well as their large audience, reminds how easily fear can be exploited to promote insularity and hatred. One particularly disturbing section concerns comics that grew out of "the Asian question" (initially, fear of the potential volume of Chinese immigration into the U.S.) with their tone of "downright racist, derogatory hate-based propaganda." The comics that came out of the 1950s Red Hunt in the U.S. are equally telling on that score.

Strömberg devotes well-deserved time and attention to La bête est morte! (The Beast Is Dead), a retelling of the history of World War II, and to Art Spiegelman's Maus, his intensely personal attempt to deal with the Holocaust. Strömberg celebrates their status as deft and affecting works that make the complexities of history vivid and absorbable at the same time that he looks at them as "propaganda."

As Strömberg recounts, Petr Sadecky took another approach to history in his Octobriana and the Russian Underground. Sadecky has said that he went to Russia in the late 1960s and met a group of dissident artists calling themselves the Progressive Political Pornography group. Their main creation was Octobriana, an angrier and more dangerous variant of Brigitte Bardot. Sadecky smuggled copies of the underground comics featuring Octobriana back to Czechoslovakia and published his story to acclaim and much publicity in 1971. And then the story acquired a bizarre edge: upon closer examination, there seems to have been no Progressive Political Pornography group and nobody in Russia seems to have heard of Octobriana (the purported idol of all dissident youth); Sadecky may have engineered Octobriana himself--in one fell swoop, Sadecky's gambit proved that comics can be fun, subversive and completely misleading to uncritical readers. Beautiful propaganda and beautiful art!--John McFarland

Shelf Talker: A provocative, beautiful and disturbing survey of the role of comics (and their eye-popping art) in 20th-century propaganda.