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A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest leads the Self-Published Bestsellers List this week.

To help GalleyCat readers discover self-published authors, we compile weekly lists of the top e-books in two major marketplaces for self-published digital books: Amazon and Smashwords. You can read all the lists below, complete with links to each book.

If you want more resources as an author, try our Free Sites to Promote Your eBook post, How To Sell Your Self-Published Book in Bookstores post and our How to Pitch Your Book to Online Outlets post.

If you are an independent author looking for support, check out our free directory of people looking for writers groups.

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of January 6, 2016

1. A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest: “On the evening of Sofia Claremont’s seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.”

2. The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle: “Read the novel that started it all: The Atlantis Gene is the first book in A.G. Riddle’s bestselling Origin Mystery trilogy, which has sold OVER ONE MILLION COPIES, is being translated into eighteen languages, and is in development to be a major motion picture!”

3. A Very Dirty Wedding by Sabrina Paige: “Caulter Sterling is the tattooed, pierced bad boy I used to hate. Now, he’s cockier and filthier than ever. And now that I’m knocked up, this bad boy can’t keep his hands off me. It’s going to be a very dirty wedding.”

4. Tough and Tender (Bad Boy Romance Box Set) by Dez Burke: “Don’t miss the Facebook Poll reader favorite Flint Mason in both Safe House & Liberated! Second place goes to Shane Davis in Skin Deep, a stock car racing champion burned in a fiery car crash.”

5. Tough and Tender (Bad Boy Romance Box Set) by Dez Burke: “Don’t miss the Facebook Poll reader favorite Flint Mason in both Safe House & Liberated! Second place goes to Shane Davis in Skin Deep, a stock car racing champion burned in a fiery car crash.”

6. Wife Me Bad Boy by Chance Carter: “Lacey thinks she wants a husband, she thinks she wants a nice man to settle down with. She has no idea. The guy she has in mind is all wrong. He doesn’t have the balls. He doesn’t even come close to being man enough for a girl like her.”

7. A Shade of Vampire 2: A Shade of Blood by Bella Forrest: “Having been delighted by the bestselling debut, A Shade of Vampire, readers are begging for more. In A Shade of Blood, Bella Forrest transports you deeper into a unique, enthralling and beautifully sensitive story. Prepare to be lost in its pages…”

8. RIDE: The Complete Delancey Brother Trilogy by Joanna Blake: “I do whatever I want, when I want to. Chasing women doesn’t interest me. Not with the responsibility of running the famed Delancey Stables falling squarely on my shoulders. Until I meet her. Or rather, until she slams into me hollering about some tree that’s on the border between our property lines. Oh yeah, my new next door neighbor is hell on wheels.”

9. Ghost at Work by Carolyn Hart: “Bailey Ruth Raeburn has always been great at solving mysteries. Why should a little thing like her death change anything? In fact, being dead gives her more of an opportunity to be on top of events. Bailey Ruth is delighted that her unique position as a ghost makes it possible for her to lend a helping hand, sometimes seen and sometimes not.”

10. F*ck Love by Tarry Fisher: “Kit Isley is everything she’s not unstructured, untethered, and not even a little bit careful. It could all be so beautiful … if he wasn’t dating her best friend. Helena must defy her heart, do the right thing, and think of others.”

Smashwords Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of January 6, 2015

1. Daughter of The Sun by Michael Lane

2. Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills by George J. Siedel

3. A Simple Cup by Michael Lane

4. LEFT Brain Trading Forex e-course by Lewis Evans

5. Naturally Flawless: A holistic approach to clear skin by Andisheh Farahmand

6. Social Security Sense by Dana Anspach

7. Dragonoak: The Sky Beneath The Sun by Sam Farren

8. The Generous Qur’an: An accurate, modern English translation of the Qur’an, Islam’s holiest book. by Usama Dakdok

9. Chaos Of A Demon War – Book Three of The Nexus Of Kellaran Trilogy – USA Edition by Wayne Edward Clarke

10. Private Practice Preparedness – The Health Care Professional’s Guide to Closing a Practice Due to Retirement, Death, or Disability by Rob Reinhardt, LPCS, M.Ed., NCC & Anne M. “Nancy” Wheeler

January by Audrey Carlan has joined the iBooks Bestsellers List this week at No. 1.

Apple has released the list of Bestselling iBooks from the week of 1/3/15. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is No. 2 on the list and February by Audrey Carlan held the No. 3 position.

We have the entire list for you after the jump.

iBooks US Bestseller List- Paid Books Week 01/03/16

Hong Kong legislator Albert Ho believes that Chinese security officers kidnapped five publishing company/book store employees in an attempt to censor their work.

In a press conference over the weekend, Ho said that he believes that the five missing book professionals from the Mighty Current publishing house were taken for working on books critical of the Chinese government. The latest project to come under scrutiny is a book about the former love life of President Xi Jinping. Yahoo News has the scoop:

The disappearances add to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are being eroded.

Under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, it enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city.

The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle leads the Self-Published Bestsellers List this week.

To help GalleyCat readers discover self-published authors, we compile weekly lists of the top e-books in two major marketplaces for self-published digital books: Amazon and Smashwords. You can read all the lists below, complete with links to each book.

If you want more resources as an author, try our Free Sites to Promote Your eBook post, How To Sell Your Self-Published Book in Bookstores post and our How to Pitch Your Book to Online Outlets post.

If you are an independent author looking for support, check out our free directory of people looking for writers groups.

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 30, 2015

1. The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle: “Read the novel that started it all: The Atlantis Gene is the first book in A.G. Riddle’s bestselling Origin Mystery trilogy, which has sold OVER ONE MILLION COPIES, is being translated into eighteen languages, and is in development to be a major motion picture!”

2. A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest: “On the evening of Sofia Claremont’s seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.”

3. Stitch: Satan’s Fury by L Wilder: “As the club Enforcer, Stitch is the man chosen to protect the club. There are no limits to his brutality, no lines drawn in the sand. The club is his life, and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his brothers safe.”

4. Bad Boy’s Baby by Sosie Frost: “Star professional quarterback Jack Carson has the worst reputation in the league. He’s arrogant and gorgeous, and if he’s not in bed with a new woman, he’s sleeping off the party in a jail cell.”

3. Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthorn: “It’s been exactly ten years since the murders at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and Charlotte (Charlie for short) has spent those ten years trying to forget. Her father was the owner of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and the creator of its four adult-sized animatronic animals, and now Charlie is returning to her hometown to reunite with her childhood friends on the anniversary of the tragedy that ripped their town apart.”

4. Pretend You’re Mine: A Small Town Love Story by Lucy Score: “Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. Strong, sweet, and sexy, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and doesn’t want one. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy.”

5. Stolen: A Bad Boy Romance by Kaylee Song: “I was a monster with one purpose. Kill. I couldn’t let anyone get too close. Especially Kathryn. But one night with her and I was hooked. I couldn’t let her go. It was a sin. Her brother, her father, they were the ruling crime lords of Baltimore. And I was their right-hand man. Death. That’s what I was facing for touching her.”

6. Pretend You’re Mine: A Small Town Love Story by Lucy Score: “Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. Strong, sweet, and sexy, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and doesn’t want one. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy. A fake girlfriend to keep his family off his back until he’s out on another mission.”

7. A Shade of Vampire 2: A Shade of Blood by Bella Forrest: “Having been delighted by the bestselling debut, A Shade of Vampire, readers are begging for more. In A Shade of Blood, Bella Forrest transports you deeper into a unique, enthralling and beautifully sensitive story. Prepare to be lost in its pages…”

8. To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise: “Oh, how stupidly in love with that boy I was. He was the first boy that made me blush, my first official crush. Sounds beautiful so far, right? That excitement that bubbles up inside you, those famous butterflies you feel for the very first time—he was the reason for them all.”

9. Dark Paradise by Winter Renshaw: “There’s a name for girls like me: Sugar Baby. I’m used to being passed around the sexually depraved, middle-aged senators of Washington D.C. like candy, but when I meet him – the mysterious man who buys my exclusivity for three months for price that should frighten me more than his demands – everything changes.”

10. Maude by Donna Foley: “In 1906, I was barely over fourteen years old, and it was my wedding day. My older sister, Helen, came to my room, took me by the hand, and sat me down on the bed. She opened her mouth to say something, but then her face flushed, and she turned her head to look out the window.”

Smashwords Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 23, 2015

1. Daughter of The Sun by Michael Lane

2. Naturally Flawless: A holistic approach to clear skin by Andisheh Farahmand

3. A Simple Cup by Michael Lane

4. LEFT Brain Trading Forex e-course by Lewis Evans

5. Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills by George J. Siedel

6. The Generous Qur’an: An accurate, modern English translation of the Qur’an, Islam’s holiest book. by Usama Dakdok

7. Social Security Sense by Dana Anspach

8. Dragonoak: The Sky Beneath The Sun by Sam Farren

9. How to Have a Healthy Holy Holiday by Dr. Mike Courtney

10. Private Practice Preparedness – The Health Care Professional’s Guide to Closing a Practice Due to Retirement, Death, or Disability by Rob Reinhardt, LPCS, M.Ed., NCC & Anne M. “Nancy” Wheeler

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling has joined the iBooks Bestsellers List this week at No. 13. New enhanced editions of the Harry Potter books came out this fall.

Apple has released the list of Bestselling iBooks from the week of 12/27/15. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is No. 1 on the list and The Deal by Elle Kennedy held the No. 2 position.

We have the entire list for you after the jump.

iBooks US Bestseller List- Paid Books Week 12/27/15

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is Reddit’s book club selection for the next month.

Scott will do an AMA with on Reddit on January 29th. Readers can discuss the text at  /r/books. Here is more about how to use the discussion group:

If you post something that might be a spoiler please cover it! Format your text like this: [Spoilers about XYZ](#s “Spoiler content here”) <– this way spoilers are hidden unless clicked on. We will have discussion threads later that will allow spoilers but for right now I don’t want to ruin the book for anyone. As we create discussion threads I’ll add links to them to this post.

Reddit’s book club launched earlier this year with a book every two months, but due to popular demand, the site is now reading a book a month.

If you have been reading instead of shopping for Christmas presents, there are plenty of great last minute gift options for the readers on your list, and you don’t have to go to a store to do it.

We’ve put together a list of five last minute gift ideas for readers that you can purchase and have delivered in time for tomorrow’s holiday without having to leave your home.

We’ve got the whole list after the jump.

5 Last Minute Gift Ideas For Readers

1. Give an e-book. Did you read a great book this year that you’d like to share with someone on your list? Send them the Kindle, Nook or iBook edition. We’ve mapped out how to send an e-book at this link.

2. Give a Scrib Subscription. Scrib offers readers access to more than 500,000 e-books from thousands of publishers for $8.99 a month.

3. Give a Subscription to The Believer. For $45 a year, you can buy the reader on your list six issues, some of which are themed and come with bonus items. Follow this link to subscribe.

4. Give The New Yorker subscription. The New Yorker is full of great content including excellent fiction. They also make it easy to give a subscription to a friend for $69.99 a year for 47 issues. Pay $12 more for unlimited digital access.

5. Give Amazon Prime. Amazon’s loyalty program costs $99 a year. In exchange you get free two-day shipping on many Amazon purchases, plus unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows, as well as the ability to borrow books from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Japanese bookseller Morioka Shoten has taken niche bookselling to a new level: The Tokyo-based shop only carries one title at a time.

The idea is to have a single room with (multiple copies of) a single book. The store features an art exhibition with work inspired by the book as well. The title and installation change weekly. The store’s owner Yoshiyuki Morioka dreamed up the idea when he was working as a bookstore clerk in second-hand bookstores. His ideas was to build a deeper connection between the reader and the book by having such a sharp focus on one title.

The idea came to fruition at a lecture on new business at design firm Takram’s  “takram academy” in September 2014. Every attendee presented was given the chance to present a business. Morioka attended the event and shared his idea: “Regeneration of Bookseller Atom → A bookstore with a single book”. “This very incident brought a path to his ideal book store he has dreamt for many years,” explains Takram’s site.

Bad Boy’s Baby by Sosie Frost continues to lead the Self-Published Bestsellers List this week.

To help GalleyCat readers discover self-published authors, we compile weekly lists of the top e-books in two major marketplaces for self-published digital books: Amazon and Smashwords. You can read all the lists below, complete with links to each book.

If you want more resources as an author, try our Free Sites to Promote Your eBook post, How To Sell Your Self-Published Book in Bookstores post and our How to Pitch Your Book to Online Outlets post.

If you are an independent author looking for support, check out our free directory of people looking for writers groups.

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 23, 2015

1. Bad Boy’s Baby by Sosie Frost: “Star professional quarterback Jack Carson has the worst reputation in the league. He’s arrogant and gorgeous, and if he’s not in bed with a new woman, he’s sleeping off the party in a jail cell.”

2. Stitch: Satan’s Fury by L Wilder: “As the club Enforcer, Stitch is the man chosen to protect the club. There are no limits to his brutality, no lines drawn in the sand. The club is his life, and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his brothers safe.”

3. Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthorn: “It’s been exactly ten years since the murders at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and Charlotte (Charlie for short) has spent those ten years trying to forget. Her father was the owner of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and the creator of its four adult-sized animatronic animals, and now Charlie is returning to her hometown to reunite with her childhood friends on the anniversary of the tragedy that ripped their town apart.”

4. Pretend You’re Mine: A Small Town Love Story by Lucy Score: “Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. Strong, sweet, and sexy, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and doesn’t want one. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy.”

5. The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle: “Read the novel that started it all: The Atlantis Gene is the first book in A.G. Riddle’s bestselling Origin Mystery trilogy, which has sold OVER ONE MILLION COPIES, is being translated into eighteen languages, and is in development to be a major motion picture!”

6. The Agreement by J.C. Reed: “That’s what life is supposed to be like. As the rightful heir to Waterfront Shore, I would gladly refuse my inheritance. I don’t want the money. I sure don’t want to have anything to do with its dark past. Except for the letters of my deceased mother, I would be willing to cut losses and move on and give up my rich lifestyle.”

7. To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise: “Oh, how stupidly in love with that boy I was. He was the first boy that made me blush, my first official crush. Sounds beautiful so far, right? That excitement that bubbles up inside you, those famous butterflies you feel for the very first time—he was the reason for them all.”

8. A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest: “On the evening of Sofia Claremont’s seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.”

9. Dark Paradise by Winter Renshaw: “There’s a name for girls like me: Sugar Baby. I’m used to being passed around the sexually depraved, middle-aged senators of Washington D.C. like candy, but when I meet him – the mysterious man who buys my exclusivity for three months for price that should frighten me more than his demands – everything changes.”

10. Loving My Neighbor by C.M. Steele: “Trent Davenport isn’t your average rich playboy. He may have wealth, but what he doesn’t have is patience—for people which includes the opposite sex. Loving his solitude, Trent was taken by surprise with his need to possess his new neighbor.”

Smashwords Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 23, 2015

1. Naturally Flawless: A holistic approach to clear skin by Andisheh Farahmand

2. Daughter of The Sun by Michael Lane

3. LEFT Brain Trading Forex e-course by Lewis Evans

4. Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills by George J. Siedel

5. The Generous Qur’an: An accurate, modern English translation of the Qur’an, Islam’s holiest book. by Usama Dakdok

6. Social Security Sense by Dana Anspach

7. How to Have a Healthy Holy Holiday by Dr. Mike Courtney

8. Methods of Pulse Differentiation and Assessment 辨脉平脉法 Biàn Mài Píng Mài Fǎ by Stephen Bonzak & Tzu-Ying Chiang

9. Private Practice Preparedness – The Health Care Professional’s Guide to Closing a Practice Due to Retirement, Death, or Disability by Rob Reinhardt, LPCS, M.Ed., NCC & Anne M. “Nancy” Wheeler

10. Do Chu by John Perttu

The Force Awakens (Star Wars) by Alan Dean Foster has joined the iBooks Bestsellers List this week at No. 1.

Apple has released the list of Bestselling iBooks from the week of 12/20/15. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is No. 2 on the list and  Cross Justice by James Patterson holds the No. 3 position.

We have the entire list for you after the jump.

iBooks US Bestseller List- Paid Books Week 12/20/15

Publishers book sales for trade (consumer) books were down 1.1 percent from January to August 2015, as compared to the same time frame in 2014, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) revealed today.

Publisher revenue during the eight-month period was $10.4 billion, down 2.3 percent over last year. The metrics include sales data from more than 1,200 publishers including: trade – fiction/non-fiction/religious, K-12 instructional materials, higher education course materials, professional publishing, and university presses.

E-books were down 11 percent in during the timeframe in 2015, comparable to 2014. Hardback title sales were down 7.7 percent year-to-date compared to the same timeframe last year. Here is more from the press release:

Downloaded audio and paperback remain the formats with the most growth. Downloaded audio increased 43.3% in August, compared to August 2014. This brings the year-to-date growth for this format to 37.8%, compared to the same timeframe in 2014. Paperback Books showed growth in all trade categories, and is up 12.2% year-to-date compared to the same time in 2014.

Holidays at Brookline Booksmith. Used by permission.

In our January/February 2016 issue, Abby McGanney Nolan tackles a topic dear to my former-bookselling (and aspiring children’s-book-creating) heart. Her article “Shelf Lives: From Bookseller to Bestseller” features interviews with a slew of children’s book creators who got their start working in bookstores. Plenty of current and former Horn Bookers have also spent time as booksellers, and all of us feel at home among alphabetized shelves.

This time of year in particular makes visions of book displays dance in my head, and I’ve ducked into dear old Brookline Booksmith several times to pick up holiday essentials — and always ended up with things I hadn’t realized were essential until I saw them.

In case you’ve been missing out on the perfect place for gift-shopping, here are five reasons to stop missing out:

1. In a bookstore, you can sit down and test books out in real time. You can even take them home right away, and you don’t have to pay shipping.

2. You’re surrounded by people who are really, really excited about books, whose job it is to give you recommendations if you want them (and leave you alone if you don’t). These people inhale advance reader copies and discuss them fervently on their breaks. If your giftee liked one book, booksellers know of several good readalikes — and they’ll tell you how the books are alike and how they’re different.

3. Websites *ahem* can give you age or grade recommendations in the form of numbers. Booksellers can tell you what those numbers mean. Is the book violent? Does it tackle difficult issues? Does it have complicated vocabulary and sentence structure? Not all readers of the same age have the same needs. You know more than a number about the recipient; a bookseller knows more than a number about the book.

4. When you support a bookstore, you’re supporting a lot of good things. Like books, and jobs for people who are obsessed with books. Like author events. I met Ann M. Martin at a bookstore in 1994, you guys. No, you don’t understand, I met the creator of the Baby-Sitters Club series. Basically, I met the Queen of 1994. Because of a bookstore. Because people shopped there. And I know that other bookstores gave other lucky kids the same opportunity, because there’s photographic evidence in Nolan’s article.

Sorry, got sidetracked a bit there. (Have I mentioned that people who work or have worked in bookstores are often really, really excited about books?) What I meant to say was…

5. Bookstores often do good things for their communities, including but not limited to, creating magical meet-the-author memories. They do food drives. They serve as hosts for World Book Night. They engage in friendly competition to sell diverse books. When you buy your gifts there, you give another gift — you help this sort of thing continue.

Yes, if you go to a bookstore (like any store) right about now, it will probably be a little crowded. But you’ll encounter booksellers with lots of sugar-fueled energy. You’ll find stocking stuffers at the register while you stand in line. You may even find kids around the age you’re looking for who can give you a general sense of what books they like. (I’ve seen this happen. It’s adorable.)

And hey, if you prefer a quieter shopping environment, bookstores are still there, and a little less frenzied, the rest of the year.

The post Five reasons to get your holiday gifts from a bookstore appeared first on The Horn Book.

BOOM! will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with a Humble Bundle deal. The two collaborators have crafted a digital comics package that is worth $759.

Customers can choose between the publisher or a non-profit as the recipient of their money. They have two options: the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Choose Your Own Charity (a selection of 30,000 charities).

Here’s more from the press release: “Customers can pay what they want for Irredeemable Vol. 1 – 2, Bee and Puppycat Vol. 1, Steed and Mrs. Peel: A Very Civil Armageddon Vol. 1, RoboCop Vol. 1, Sons of Anarchy Vol. 1, Bravest Warriors Vol. 1 + 2, Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Return #1 – 6, Hacktivist Vol. 1, Lumberjanes Vol. 1, and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Masterpieces Vol. 1. Those who pay more than the average price will also receive Steed and Mrs. Peel: We’re Needed #1 – 3, Steed and Mrs. Peel Vol. 2 – 3, RoboCop Vol. 2 + 3, Sons of Anarchy Vol. 2 + 3, Bravest Warriors Vol. 3 – 5, Hacktivist Vol. 2, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Masterpieces Vol. 2, Bee and Puppycat #5 – 9,RoboCop: Dead or Alive Vol. 1, and Lumberjanes Vol. 2. In addition, customers who pay $15 or more receive all of the above plus RoboCop: Dead or Alive #5 – 12, RoboCop: The Human Element, Sons of Anarchy #15 – 25, Irredeemable Vol. 3 – 7, Bravest Warriors #21 – 36, Lumberjanes #9 – 20, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Omnibus (#1 – 24).”

The Books of Wonder mafia: George O’Connor, Julie Fogliano, Neal Porter (editor), Philip and Erin Stead, Nick Bruel with daughter Izzy, and store manager Jennifer Lavonier. Photo: Carina Vocisano.

When Brian Selznick first applied to work at Eeyore’s Books for Children on New York’s Upper West Side, he was given a children’s literature test by store manager Steve Geck. “I knew Where the Wild Things Are, the Remy Charlip book Fortunately, and some Dr. Seuss,” recalls Selznick. “One of the questions was, ‘What book would you recommend for a ten-year-old?’ and I think I wrote down a Dr. Seuss title. Steve basically told me to go away.”

Selznick got himself to a library, immersed himself in children’s books, and re-applied for the job — this time successfully. “I still didn’t know a huge amount, but Steve would send me home with a bag of books every night.”

Starting out as an author or illustrator can be difficult, but many aspiring children’s book creators have been able to delve deep into the world of kids’ books while working at stores such as Eeyore’s (which closed in 1993). Learning the trade of bookselling has taught them about both the economics and, indirectly, the craft of children’s books — and often gave them a community of like-minded souls. Thankful for both the bags of books he read and the people he met, Selznick — illustrator of the Caldecott-winning Invention of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck, the Doll People series, and, most recently, The Marvels, among many others — says, “It’s very easy to draw a line from Eeyore’s to everything I’ve done since.”

While talking to a selection of booksellers-turned-book-creators, I found that the lessons they learned from their time working at bookstores range widely, from the highly conceptual to the very practical. But everyone agrees that a central benefit stems from having ready access to many great children’s books.

Nick Bruel, creator of the Bad Kitty series of picture books and chapter books, was starting out as a cartoonist when he took a job at Manhattan’s Books of Wonder and became immersed in “this rich history of illustration. Your job is to get as many books as possible into the hands of children. To do that, you have to read a lot of children’s books. You have to figure out what works and why.” Bruel says he submitted material to publishers for four or five years “before I created something that was viable as a children’s book.”

Two-time Newbery Medal winner Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux, Flora and Ulysses) worked at a Minneapolis book warehouse, the Bookmen, early in her career. As a “picker,” she had to pull books off the shelves and transport them from one floor to another for shipment. “I read a lot on the job. Is that terrible to say? I did. I read one miraculous book after another.” At Half-Price Books, the new-and-used-bookstore where she subsequently worked, she remembers

…mothers coming into the store clutching copies of Louis Sachar’s Holes and saying, “My son read this. He loved it. My son needs another book just like this one. Help me.” I remember standing there and saying, “Well, there isn’t another book just like this one. But let’s see, how about The Westing Game?” I loved it. All of it. All those people who read books and talked about books. Working [at those two places] gave me permission, hope, inspiration, an education.

It is hard to keep up with all the books published every year, even if that is your job. But Leo Landry (Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise!), who worked at The Children’s Book Shop in Brookline, Massachusetts, for twenty years and now works at An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Café in Plainville (opened in 2015 by Diary of a Wimpy Kid creator Jeff Kinney and his wife, Julie), says: “Reading that many picture books helped me figure out their pacing, as an author and illustrator. It also really helped me find my own style as an artist. I learned what I liked.”

* * *

Interacting with children in bookstores has also influenced the work of children’s book creators. Franny Billingsley’s first novel developed from overhearing girls talking about books they loved.

These were upper elementary and middle-school kids, and they loved books about friendship. I don’t know how clearly I thought about it then, but Well Wished is about a complicated friendship, with a fantastical element. It’s the friendship that makes one protagonist do a really dangerous thing, which provides the catalyst for the main part of the plot.

Billingsley also conducted “about a million story-hours” during her twelve years at Chicago’s 57th Street Books. Although she considers herself a novelist at heart, she says that “because I read picture books aloud so often, I got them into my blood and my bones. I would see what made the kids laugh and what made them yawn, and I wrote a picture book [Big Bad Bunny], which was published after I left the store.”

Novelist Jenny Han (The Summer I Turned Pretty), too, saw the value of firsthand experience with her future audience. She was a graduate student in writing at The New School in New York when she started working at Books of Wonder. “It was a way to find out what was popular with kids, not just adults,” she says.

Terra Elan McVoy has worked at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia, for ten years. The author of seven YA and middle-grade novels, including The Summer of Firsts and Lasts and Being Friends with Boys, McVoy says that running book clubs for girls has made her more aware of her audience. “As I am writing, I know that my middle-school girls may be reading my books. I don’t want to put anything in there that I wouldn’t be willing to talk about with them.”

Marika McCoola (Baba Yaga’s Assistant), who works at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has also found the feedback from young customers useful: “Watching elementary-school girls get excited about graphic novels made me excited that there was a place for my graphic novels.” McCoola’s Porter Square Books colleague Mackenzi Lee (This Monstrous Thing) says that her bookselling experience has given her an appreciation of the way good YA books develop exposition, story, and characters very quickly. “If readers are not hooked in the first few pages, they will put the book down.”

* * *

George O’Connor and Nick Bruel at Books of Wonder. Photo: Miriam Parnes.

Authors and illustrators who have worked in bookstores (and libraries, no doubt) are well aware of the gatekeepers who connect their books to young customers. Says Caldecott-winning illustrator Erin Stead (A Sick Day for Amos McGee), “You do realize that you have to get the books past the adults some of the time. But I don’t make books for adults. I mean, I don’t want an adult to read a book of mine and want to kill me, but they are not my main concern. I just want to make a good book.”

Stead worked at Books of Wonder at the same time as Nick Bruel and became part of a group that editor Neal Porter later called the “Books of Wonder mafia.” Surrounded by classics and out-of-print books, Stead found that many of “the illustrations are amazing but that the storytelling could be dated. A lot of the stories are basically about conforming. Books now show that kids can be different — they should be proud of it, that it makes us better.”

Other classics, though, provided invaluable lessons to up-and-coming creators. Books of Wonder mafia members Julie Fogliano (And Then It’s Spring, illustrated by Erin Stead) and Jason Chin (Redwoods; Gravity) both mention Ruth Krauss as inspiration. Krauss’s books made Fogliano “realize you don’t need characters and stories with a beginning, middle, and end.” And although Krauss’s I’ll Be You and You Be Me, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, is not one of Chin’s own personal favorites, he saw how it “speaks directly to kids. It’s a very tender book but not sentimental.”

Plus, these aspiring creators were surrounded by a constant stream of new, sometimes innovative books being published that offered them creative inspiration. Nick Bruel cites I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullan as one of the books that impressed him for not following a formula.

Right in the middle of these anecdotes about a truck, there’s an alphabet of all of the disgusting things that this truck wants to eat. The alphabet is not important to the story, but critical to the book as a whole. Picture books don’t necessarily have to be storybooks. Or rather, you can tell a story in myriad ways. I didn’t appreciate that until I was working at the store.

Peter Glassman, co-founder of Books of Wonder as well as an author himself (The Wizard Next Door; My Working Mom; My Dad’s Job), says that he doesn’t set out to hire talented writers and illustrators. He says the most important qualification is “an ability to communicate a love of books. If you can’t sell books, we have to close the store.” Elizabeth Bluemle has run The Flying Pig Bookstore in Vermont (with co-owner Josie Leavitt) while also writing several picture books (Tap Tap Boom Boom; Dogs on the Bed), but she keeps the roles very separate. “They are completely different zones of the brain. When I look at my work after it’s done, I think from a bookselling and teaching point of view about whether it has a resonance with an audience.”

Peter H. Reynolds (The Dot) had established himself as an author and illustrator before opening the Blue Bunny Bookstore in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 2003. Since then, the store has grown up with its audience. Having started with board books and picture books, it now includes a café and books for adults. “Being in touch with the front line — seeing how kids light up when a book is special — definitely inspires me,” says Reynolds.

The Blue Bunny Bookstore. Photo courtesy of Peter H. Reynolds.

* * *

Several authors and illustrators have also mentioned the benefit of knowing the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that goes into bookselling. While working on the Books of Wonder website and newsletter and on the sales floor, Jason Chin learned the nuts and bolts of how bookstores operate. Among other things, “I understand when I go to an event now that I should always thank the booksellers. It’s a lot of work.”

“It’s physically grueling,” agrees Bruel. “You are on your feet for hours a day, hauling boxes of hardcovers around. I think everyone in publishing needs to spend at least a month working in retail because you need to see what becomes of the end product you create.”

One of Brian Selznick’s duties at Eeyore’s was painting art on the store windows. “I would change them every couple of weeks. They had to look good from across the street and up close, and this training was helpful when it came to doing book covers because you want to grab people’s attention.”

George O’Connor, creator of The Olympians graphic novel series, was an illustration student at Pratt Institute when he started working at Books of Wonder. He credits the bookstore, rather than his schooling, for teaching him about the publishing industry. “There wasn’t much taught about the business side in my program. I got to meet tons of illustrators, authors, editors, and marketing people through the store.” He followed the advice that Shel Silverstein, a frequent customer, gave him: “Write your own books. Editors are looking for reasons to reject you and they might not like the writer you teamed up with. Plus, you get paid twice.”

Bluemle says she is “more realistic about some things,” such as book tours, because she has been a bookseller. “I didn’t have the illusion that I would have a hundred people at my readings in places where I didn’t have family and friends.” On the other hand, she says, “one of the great gifts [of being a bookseller] is that I know there is room enough for every good book to find its home.”

From the January/February 2016 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Shelf Lives: From Bookseller to Bestseller appeared first on The Horn Book.

Bad Boy’s Baby by Sosie Frost continues to lead the Self-Published Bestsellers List this week.

To help GalleyCat readers discover self-published authors, we compile weekly lists of the top e-books in two major marketplaces for self-published digital books: Amazon and Smashwords. You can read all the lists below, complete with links to each book.

If you want more resources as an author, try our Free Sites to Promote Your eBook post, How To Sell Your Self-Published Book in Bookstores post and our How to Pitch Your Book to Online Outlets post.

If you are an independent author looking for support, check out our free directory of people looking for writers groups.

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 16, 2015

1. Bad Boy’s Baby by Sosie Frost: “Star professional quarterback Jack Carson has the worst reputation in the league. He’s arrogant and gorgeous, and if he’s not in bed with a new woman, he’s sleeping off the party in a jail cell.”

2. Four Week Fiance 2 by J.S. Cooper: “Mila Brookstone has been in love with TJ Walker for years so when he asked her to be his fake fiancee, she knew she would say yes. However, Mila wasn’t prepared for the gamut of feelings and emotions that would hit her once playing that role.”

3. Pretend You’re Mine: A Small Town Love Story by Lucy Score: “Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. Strong, sweet, and sexy, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and doesn’t want one. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy. A fake girlfriend to keep his family off his back until he’s out on another mission.”

4. Some Sort of Crazy by Melanie Harlow: “When a psychic tells Natalie Nixon her life is about to be upended by a mysterious stranger, she laughs it off. After all, she has everything she’s ever wanted—a successful bakery, the perfect boyfriend, and the keys to her dream house.”

5. The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle: “Read the novel that started it all: The Atlantis Gene is the first book in A.G. Riddle’s bestselling Origin Mystery trilogy, which has sold OVER ONE MILLION COPIES, is being translated into eighteen languages, and is in development to be a major motion picture!”

6. A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest: “On the evening of Sofia Claremont’s seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.”

7. To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise: “Oh, how stupidly in love with that boy I was. He was the first boy that made me blush, my first official crush. Sounds beautiful so far, right? That excitement that bubbles up inside you, those famous butterflies you feel for the very first time—he was the reason for them all.”

8. Six by Hilary Storm: “Blade Montgomery takes shit from no one. He’s a leader. He’s a fighter. He’s the President of an MC. His nature to take care of others precedes his will to do anything for himself. He’s a protector. He’s a no nonsense kind of guy with the sexual appetite of a beast.”

9. Bad For Me by Aubrey Dark: “I only had one shot. One chance to impress Clint Terrance, the baddest billionaire playboy in the NYC music scene. One song to make all my dreams come true. So I did what I had to – I tugged on a sexy red dress, slipped on the highest heels I could stand in, and sung my heart out.”

10. Undercover Love: A Billionaire Romance by Lucy Score: “Despite being smart, sassy, and driven, Ashley finds herself left out in the cold thanks to her fiancé Steve’s career. During a disastrous cocktail party, Ashley’s finds herself all alone after being ignored by Steve and humiliated by his ice queen colleague Victoria.”

Smashwords Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 16, 2015

1. Naturally Flawless: A holistic approach to clear skin by Andisheh Farahmand

2. LEFT Brain Trading Forex e-course by Lewis Evans

3. Daughter of The Sun by Michael Lane

4. The Generous Qur’an: An accurate, modern English translation of the Qur’an, Islam’s holiest book. by Usama Dakdok

5. Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills by George J. Siedel

6. A Simple Cup by Michael Lane

7. How to Have a Healthy Holy Holiday by Dr. Mike Courtney

8. Methods of Pulse Differentiation and Assessment 辨脉平脉法 Biàn Mài Píng Mài Fǎ by Stephen Bonzak & Tzu-Ying Chiang

9. Social Security Sense by Dana Anspach

10. Do Chu by John Perttu

Will Evans, founder of Deep Vellum Publishing, a non-profit literary publisher based in Dallas, Texas, has opened a bookstore.

In a post for Lithub.com, the publisher of the literary imprint explained why he wanted to move beyond just book creation and get into retail. Here is an excerpt from the piece:

When I moved to Dallas two and a half years ago, there were no literary publishers left in the city—SMU Press had just shut down—and there were no independent bookstores selling new books in the city. And not just an absence in Dallas, but there were none in the entire Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex either. This is a region the size of some countries, with over seven million people, and it had no bookstores. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t cool stuff going on all over the area, especially in Dallas. And that definitely didn’t mean there hadn’t been tons of amazing literary history in Dallas, and in the region, whether or not anybody in or outside of the city was aware of it.

The Athens Solution by Brad Thor has joined the iBooks Bestsellers List this week at No. 8.

Apple has released the list of Bestselling iBooks from the week of 12/13/15. The Guilty by David Baldacci leads the iBooks Bestsellers list this week and Cross Justice by James Patterson is No. 2 on the list.

We have the entire list for you after the jump.

iBooks US Bestseller List- Paid Books Week 12/13/15

Bestselling author James Patterson has revealed plans to donate $2 million in grant money to independent bookstore employees and school libraries.

Patterson, who donates money to literacy causes every year, pledged $1.75 million in grants to school libraries in partnership with Scholastic Reading Club. So far this year, the effort has received 27,924 grant requests and has now selected 467 school libraries to award $1,000 to $10,000.

In October, Patterson revealed the $250,000 holiday bonus program for independent bookstore employees in partnership with the American Booksellers Association. The ABA has gotten 2,848 nominations, and Patterson personally choose 87 independent bookstore employees to pay out bonuses to, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

Barnes & Noble has unveiled its “Best Books of 2015″ picks.

Some of the titles include The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Last Ever After by Soman Chainani, and Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. The bookseller’s list features several different categories such as “Bestselling Books with Staying Power,” “Books That Will Make You Laugh,” and “Hoping for a Movie.”

Here’s more from the press release: “Spanning serious literature to pop culture sensations, the nation’s largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products has identified the books that got people talking, debating, laughing, imagining and reading through the night…Barnes & Noble has compiled this year’s lists based on proprietary criteria, most notably the trendspotting expertise of its booksellers in nearly 650 stores nationwide who converse daily with customers.”

Pretend You’re Mine: A Small Town Love Story by Lucy Score continues to lead the Self-Published Bestsellers List this week.

To help GalleyCat readers discover self-published authors, we compile weekly lists of the top e-books in two major marketplaces for self-published digital books: Amazon and Smashwords. You can read all the lists below, complete with links to each book.

If you want more resources as an author, try our Free Sites to Promote Your eBook post, How To Sell Your Self-Published Book in Bookstores post and our How to Pitch Your Book to Online Outlets post.

If you are an independent author looking for support, check out our free directory of people looking for writers groups.

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 9, 2015

1. Pretend You’re Mine: A Small Town Love Story by Lucy Score: “Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. Strong, sweet, and sexy, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and doesn’t want one. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy. A fake girlfriend to keep his family off his back until he’s out on another mission.”

2. Some Sort of Crazy by Melanie Harlow: “When a psychic tells Natalie Nixon her life is about to be upended by a mysterious stranger, she laughs it off. After all, she has everything she’s ever wanted—a successful bakery, the perfect boyfriend, and the keys to her dream house.”

3. A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest: “On the evening of Sofia Claremont’s seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.”

4. Undercover Love: A Billionaire Romance by Lucy Score: “Despite being smart, sassy, and driven, Ashley finds herself left out in the cold thanks to her fiancé Steve’s career. During a disastrous cocktail party, Ashley’s finds herself all alone after being ignored by Steve and humiliated by his ice queen colleague Victoria.”

5. Roommates by Erin Leigh: “Life is full of expectations. For Brady Coldwell it’s always been about the game. Hockey is and always will be, his life. His family sacrificed everything to get him here and he won’t let them down. He knows what’s expected of him.”

6. The Stocking Was Hung by Tara Sivec: “What happens when your life goes to crap the week of Christmas? You invite a hot Marine you met in an airport bar to come home with you for the holidays, to distract your crazy family from the truth.”

7.  Seducing Simon by Maya Banks: “Toni Langston certainly has her share of problems. She’s in love with one of her best friends, Simon. Firemen Simon lives with Toni and her brother and another fireman they’re best friends with. The four have been friends since high school and Toni has been in love with Simon for seemingly forever.”

8. Christmas Kisses and Cookies by Linda West: “This is a hilarious light hearted and charming romance about a delightfully funny family and their determination to win the prestigious Christmas cookie competition against all odds.”

9. The Truth About Cads by Elisa Braden: “When a wager goes wrong …
Painfully shy Jane Huxley is the furthest thing from a diamond of the first water. Bookish, bespectacled, and, well, plain, she never expected to befriend a dissolute charmer like Colin Lacey, much less agree to help him retrieve a lost family heirloom. Fortunately, he is nothing like his cold, rigid older brother.”

10. At His Mercy by Hannah Ford: “Authors Hannah Ford and Kelly Favor combine to bring you the sexiest, hottest books with the most dominant alphas—guaranteed to leave you gasping for more! With hot and demanding bosses and achingly seductive billionaires, this TWENTY BOOK BOX SET indulges every secret desire you’ve ever had.”

Smashwords Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of December 9, 2015

1. Naturally Flawless: A holistic approach to clear skin by Andisheh Farahmand

2. Methods of Pulse Differentiation and Assessment 辨脉平脉法 Biàn Mài Píng Mài Fǎ by Stephen Bonzak & Tzu-Ying Chiang

3. The Generous Qur’an: An accurate, modern English translation of the Qur’an, Islam’s holiest book. by Usama Dakdok

4. Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills by George J. Siedel

5. How to Have a Healthy Holy Holiday by Dr. Mike Courtney

6. Do Chu by John Perttu

7. Private Practice Preparedness – The Health Care Professional’s Guide to Closing a Practice Due to Retirement, Death, or Disability by Rob Reinhardt, LPCS, M.Ed., NCC & Anne M. “Nancy” Wheeler

8. Ba Mùa Yêu by Châu Sa Nguyễn Phương Văn

9. Credo – Economic beliefs in a world in crisis by Brian Davey

10. Exposing the Truth about the Qur’an: The Revelation of Error, Volume 1 by Usama Dakdok

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins has been named the bestselling book of 2015 on Amazon.

In addition to its bestselling books of the year list, the e-commerce company has revealed the titles that made it onto the bestselling kids & teens book of the year, and the most gifted books of the year. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School by Jeff Kinney claimed the number one spot on the kids & teens book list. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee nabbed the top spot on the most gifted book list.

Sara Nelson, the editorial director of Books and Kindle at Amazon.com, gave this statement in the press release: “What this list suggests is that Amazon customers like to be entertained—and scared! The creepy thriller The Girl on the Train is our best-selling book of the year, hands down, but Silent Scream, 14th Deadly Sin and Luckiest Girl Alive are no slouches in the category, either. It’s great to see The Nightingale perform so well; it suggests that readers continue to come back to novels about WWII, as long as they deliver stories of people and the difficult decisions that war makes them make.”

Amazon’s Top 20 Bestsellers in 2015

Tom Clancy Commander in Chief by Mark Greaney has joined the iBooks Bestsellers List this week at No. 3.

Apple has released the list of Bestselling iBooks from the week of 12/6/15. The Guilty by David Baldacci leads the iBooks Bestsellers list this week and Cross Justice by James Patterson is No. 3 on the list.

We have the entire list for you after the jump.

iBooks US Bestseller List- Paid Books Week 12/6/15

Maira Kalman has become well-known as an artist and an author. On Dec. 6, she will serve as the host of a popup shop called radish.

Kalman teamed up with Caitlin O’Shaughnessy to curate a variety of book, snacks, ceramics, and other gift items. All of the proceeds generated from this business will be donated to charity.

This shop will be housed inside a New York City-based independent bookstore called McNally Jackson Books. Visitors can stop by from 1:00pm to 5:00pm

What were the most popular books at the Google Play store this year? The data team crunched the numbers and announced that E.L. James claimed the number one spot.

In total, James captured five slots on this year’s list. Some of the other titles on the list include Paper Towns by John Green, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, and The Giver by Lois Lowry.

James, Green, and Roth were all featured on the 2014 list. Below, we’ve collected free samples of all the books from the 2015 top ten for your reading pleasure.

1. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

2. Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian by E.L. James

3. Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James

4. Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James

5. American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice

6. The Girl on the Train: A Novel by by Paula Hawkins

7. Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn

8. The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir

9. Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle by E.L. James

10. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

IDW Publishing has established a new partnership with Humble Bundle. The two collaborators have crafted an X-Files themed comics package.

Customers can choose between the publisher or a non-profit as the recipient of their money. They have two options: the Traveling Stories organization and Choose Your Own Charity (a selection of 30,000 charities). It will be available until Dec. 02, 2015 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time.

Here’s more from the press release: “Customers can name their price for: The X-Files Classics Vol. 1, The X-Files: Season 10, Vol. 1 (#1 – 5), The X-Files: Season 10, Vol. 2 (#6 – 10), The X-Files Classics: Season One, Vol. 1, and The X-Files: Year Zero (#1 – 5). Those who pay more than the average price will also receive: The X-Files Classics Vol. 2, The X-Files Classics Vol. 3, The X-Files: Season 10, Vol. 3 (#11 – 15), The X-Files: Season 10, Vol. 4 (#16 – 20), The X-Files Classics: Season One, Vol. 2, The X-Files Annual 2014, The X-Files Archives, Vol. 1: Whirlwind & Ruins, The X-Files Annual 2015, and The X-Files Classics Vol. 4. Customers who pay $15 or more will receive all of the above plus: The X-Files: Season 11 #1, The X-Files: Season 11 #2, The X-Files: Season 11 #3, The X-Files: Season 10, Vol. 5 (#21 – 25), The X-Files Classics: Ground Zero, and The X-Files: Trust No One.”