The weekly Heartland Indie Bestseller List is a reflection of regional tastes and handselling expertise of bookstores and readers throughout the Greater Midwest. We release the list via email to 1,500 members throughout the industry every Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning and also post it below.
Here’s the most recent list: Week ending May 19, 2013
Bookseller Karin Kimble of Valley Bookseller in Stillwater, MN, says the following about the Heartland list.
“We have a section in the store where the top 15 fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, and trade paper titles from the Heartland Indie Bestseller List are featured as Notable books. In the trade paper section, both fiction and nonfiction especially, this generates terrific sales for us. Customers see that display as they enter the front door. It’s almost a daily task to refill those shelves. The Heartland list reflects the interests of our customers better than the New York Times or West Coast lists.”
Booksellers, please see the Bookseller/Bestseller List page of our website for complete instructions about how (and why) to report your sales.
Sue Ostfield, sales and marketing director at Milkweed Editions, comments on the value of bookseller sales reports from the perspective of a publisher.
“It’s incredibly gratifying to see sales pop on Bookscan following a successful event or a great review. Bookscan sales help build recognition for an author and for a publisher’s program. I highly recommend that MIBA booksellers participate in sales reporting, especially for a house like Milkweed Editions, when so many of our authors and favorite hand-selling bookstores are located in the Midwest.”
The Heartland Indie Bestseller List is based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association, the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association, and IndieBound.
