"Very nice weather" in October "discouraged traffic" at the Book Stall
at Chestnut Court, Winnetka, Ill., as customers found ways to enjoy the
fall outside, but the cold weather since then has helped drive people
to the store and made November "exciting and dynamic," owner Roberta
Rubin told Shelf Awareness. "We will be up for the month. It gives us heart that our customers love us so."
Rubin gives much credit to the store's newsletter, "our main marketing piece," which now goes to almost 10,000 people. The store added lists of holiday titles and did an insert, both of which have helped draw people to the store.
So far this season, there is "no one big blockbuster, nothing like The Da Vinci Code," Rubin said, but a range of titles is doing well. "Nonfiction is carrying the banner," she said cheerfully.
The Book Stall puts on several events a day, as many as five, both in-store and at other sites, including downtown clubs like the Union League and University Club, and many of its bestselling titles reflect this. As Rubin put it, "We're an events-driven store."
It's obvious, too, from the Book Stall's bestseller list that the store is on the author tour A-list: No. 1 title Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin has no rival in sales since the author's recent appearance. Teacher Man by Frank McCourt is giving sales lessons since McCourt came to the Book Stall--his third visit there. Long after David McCullough's June appearance, 1776 continues to sell. Joan Didion did not come to the store for The Year of Magical Thinking, but the Book Stall was able to get autographed copies of the book, and it, too, is selling magically.
Other strong titles Rubin and the staff are promoting include Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See ("we've sold hundreds and hundreds of that"); The March by E.L. Doctorow; Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow; On Beauty by Zadie Smith; and The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea. In addition, Rubin said, people who have seen the movie Capote "are picking up on" his ur-first novel, Summer Crossing, which was discovered late last year and published in October.
Among perennial bestsellers are The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Small Island by Andrea Levy and Thirteen Steps Down by Ruth Rendell. And "everyone's raving" about Into Temptation by Penny Vincenzi, Rubin added.
Rubin was especially excited after finishing a galley of The Fugitive Wife by Peter C. Brown, a January title that she believes will glitter in the new year. "It's about going to Nome, Alaska, searching for gold in 1900," she said. "It has a woman heroine who's outstanding."
Rubin gives much credit to the store's newsletter, "our main marketing piece," which now goes to almost 10,000 people. The store added lists of holiday titles and did an insert, both of which have helped draw people to the store.
So far this season, there is "no one big blockbuster, nothing like The Da Vinci Code," Rubin said, but a range of titles is doing well. "Nonfiction is carrying the banner," she said cheerfully.
The Book Stall puts on several events a day, as many as five, both in-store and at other sites, including downtown clubs like the Union League and University Club, and many of its bestselling titles reflect this. As Rubin put it, "We're an events-driven store."
It's obvious, too, from the Book Stall's bestseller list that the store is on the author tour A-list: No. 1 title Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin has no rival in sales since the author's recent appearance. Teacher Man by Frank McCourt is giving sales lessons since McCourt came to the Book Stall--his third visit there. Long after David McCullough's June appearance, 1776 continues to sell. Joan Didion did not come to the store for The Year of Magical Thinking, but the Book Stall was able to get autographed copies of the book, and it, too, is selling magically.
Other strong titles Rubin and the staff are promoting include Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See ("we've sold hundreds and hundreds of that"); The March by E.L. Doctorow; Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow; On Beauty by Zadie Smith; and The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea. In addition, Rubin said, people who have seen the movie Capote "are picking up on" his ur-first novel, Summer Crossing, which was discovered late last year and published in October.
Among perennial bestsellers are The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Small Island by Andrea Levy and Thirteen Steps Down by Ruth Rendell. And "everyone's raving" about Into Temptation by Penny Vincenzi, Rubin added.
Rubin was especially excited after finishing a galley of The Fugitive Wife by Peter C. Brown, a January title that she believes will glitter in the new year. "It's about going to Nome, Alaska, searching for gold in 1900," she said. "It has a woman heroine who's outstanding."