BookExpo America plans to open its remainder pavilion on the trade show floor a day early during the New York City show next spring. As outlined in Bargain Book News, on Thursday, May 31, the remainder pavilion will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for remainder dealers and any attendee with a BEA badge. The rest of the show floor will open for business on Friday, June 1.

The move was made in part in an effort to hold costs down for remainder exhibitors. At remainder shows like CIROBE, for example, because of limited stock and intense competition between buyers, many exhibitors take off-site rooms and sell for several days before the official opening of the show.

Show director Lance Fensterman said that the remainder pavilion has become "increasingly more important to us . . . We would like to embrace the industry and some of its unique issues by opening the remainder pavilion a day early."

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The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review chronicles the disappointment of some Downtown residents in the closing of a Barnes & Noble that has operated in the area for 12 years.

Manager Leann Sprinkles told the paper: "A lot of the customers we see so often, we're on a first-name basis with them because most of them have been coming in for a long time."

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John Niedhart joined DK Publishing yesterday as the Barnes & Noble national accounts sales manager. For the past six years, Niedhart has held editorial positions at O'Reilly Media and Addison Wesley. Prior to that, he held several positions at B&N, including computer book buyer, field merchandiser and store manager.

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LibraryThing.com is the Web site on which more than 100,000 bibliophile members catalogue their books, either what they're reading or their personal libraries or both (Shelf Awareness, May 23, 2006). Much like Amazon.com, B&N.com and other online retailers, LibraryThing makes book suggestions for members, based on their interests. Unlike online companies, LibraryThing has begun what founder Tim Spalding called "a humorous service" named the UnSuggester that turns the algorithm of "people who read Book X read Book Y" on its head.

Some examples of UnSuggester in action, according to LibraryThing: the program has found that people who read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason likely are not fond of Kinsella's Shopaholic. Readers of The Mists of Avalon probably do not enjoy John Piper's Desiring God. Anyone with a copy of Lauren F. Winner's pro-chastity Real Sex usually doesn't have Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Spalding added that "it's actually a little scary, as certain sub-cultures--particularly evangelical Christian Living books--are so persistently in opposition to contemporary literary fiction."

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More about The Unbearable Lightness of Being comes from Agence France-Presse via the New York Times. Now available in the Czech Republic in a new edition, the book is for the first time a bestseller in the author's home country. Luxor Book Palace, Prague, has been selling about 100 copies a day; owner Jiri Bilek wrote to the publisher, Atlantis, warning that low stock would lead to "the anger of its clients."

Following up on some ideas that were discussed informally at its mid-September show in Valley Forge, Pa. (Shelf Awareness, September 17, 2006), the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association plans to change the focus of its annual convention and trade show from "soliciting orders to selling better what booksellers have already acquired"--and as a result is renaming the show the NAIBA Bookseller Sales Conference.

During the two-day event, the emphasis will be on having publishers consider booksellers their "frontlist sales force," NAIBA said in a statement addressed to publishers. "We need to know why you acquired a title, why you are publishing a title, and share your enthusiasm for that title. We want to understand the marketing support you are going to provide and, thus so prepared, we can sell more, and deeper into the season."

On the first day of next year's NAIBA Bookseller Sales Conference, Sunday, October 14, the focus will be on educational programs and author events, while Monday, October 15, will be devoted to meetings on the sales floor. Picks of the lists sessions will be expanded and the number of sales tables will be limited to focus on picks of the lists. NAIBA also wants publishers to inform booksellers of special market opportunities available to them.

This morning on the Today Show: Carl Hiaasen, whose latest tale is Nature Girl (Knopf, $25.95, 0307262995).

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This morning on Live with Regis and Kelly: Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens passes on news about his children's book, Little T Learns to Share (BenBella Books, $14.95, 1933771208).

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Today on Good Morning America: former Senator John Edwards stumps for the book he edited, Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives (Collins, $29.95, 0060884541). Edwards is scheduled to appear later today on Hannity & Colmes, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Charlie Rose Show.

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Today on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show: Philip Orbanes, author of Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game--And How it Got that Way (Da Capo, $26, 0306814897).

The following are selected titles whose laydown dates are next Tuesday, November 21:

Cell by Stephen King (Pocket, $9.99, 1416524517). The horror master makes the ordinary cell phone into an instrument of terror. Now out in paperback.

The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman (HarperCollins, $26.95, 0060563451). Retired Navajo policeman Lt. Joe Leaphorn and his longtime partner Sgt. Jim Chee return.

Capital Crimes by Jonathan and Faye Kellerman (Ballantine, $24.95, 0345467981). The Kellermans offer two tales featuring their respective series characters, psychologist-sleuth Dr. Alex Delaware and LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker.

Murder at the Opera: A Capital Crimes Novel by Margaret Truman (Ballantine, $24.95, 0345478215). Crime fighters Mac Smith and his wife, Annabel Reed-Smith, go to the opera to solve the latest Truman tangle.

Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin, $35, 159420120X). Pynchon's first novel in almost 10 years is a sprawling tale that takes place between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the period right after World War I.

Facing Your Giants: A David and Goliath Story for Everyday People by Max Lucado (W Publishing Group, $22.99, 0849901812). A book about the lessons of David, giant killer.

Dr. Perricone's 7 Secrets to Beauty, Health, and Longevity: Stay Young and Healthy from the Inside Out Through the Miracle of Cellular Rejuvenation by Nicholas Perricone, M.D. (Ballantine, $25.95, 0345492455). The doctor is in--for a long time.

Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries by Josh Bernstein (Gotham, $27.50, 1592402771). The host of the popular History Channel series, Bernstein doesn't have to dig far for some compelling material.

John's Story: The Last Eyewitness by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Putnam, $24.95, 0399153896). From the authors of the Left Behind series, this is the first of a new series, the Jesus Chronicles; in this title, John, the last apostle still living, writes about Jesus and his life.

Some booksellers claim it's too early for holiday shopping, but for others the festivities have already begun.

Food for Thought Books Collective in Amherst, Mass., is expecting a sizeable crowd the first Saturday in December. A group of retailers band together and place an ad in the local newspaper, said Mitch Gaslin, and customers who bring the ad to participating stores receive 20% off one item.

Turnrow Book Co. in Greenwood, Miss., held its holiday open house on November 7. After a signing at the store with William Dunlap, a party was held at a nearby hotel. Turnrow owner Jamie Kornegay expects the Mississippi artist's book, Dunlap, to be a popular choice for gift-giving, along with other regional titles. Books promoted by author appearances--which garner coverage in local publications and word of mouth among Greenwood's residents--are proving to be strong contenders for holiday sales, among them Food Network star Paula Deen's Paula Deen Celebrates! and Janice Cooke Newman's historical fiction novel about Mary Todd Lincoln, Mary. Upcoming events at Turnrow include a signing with John Grisham, whose first nonfiction book is The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, at the end of the month, and another with Richard Ford, whose latest novel is The Lay of the Land, in December.

Customers at the Bookworm in Omaha, Neb., are coming into the store with copies of the Midwest Booksellers Association holiday catalogue. "They bring it in," said Ellen Scott, "and they've got items circled." Scott, who manages the store's children's department, sees some standouts for the younger set: Edward Bloor's YA novel London Calling; Geraldine McCaughrean's Peter Pan in Scarlet, the authorized sequel to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan; and the picture books Fancy Nancy and I'm a Duck!. The impending movie version of Charlotte's Web has reignited interest in the classic book, noted Scott, and Madeleine's Christmas is benefiting from a production based on the story being staged at a local children's theater.

Booksellers at Books, Inc., in San Francisco, expect fiction titles to fly off the shelves, from Michael Crichton's Next (on sale November 28) to Thomas Harris' Hannibal Rising (on sale December 5). Senior buyer Barry Rossnick cites new novels from area residents Isabel Allende (Inés of My Soul) and Dave Eggers (What Is the What) as other likely customer favorites.

Eclectic is the adjective general manager Kerry Slattery used to describe the holiday buying habits of the customers at another California retailer, Skylight Books in Los Angeles. Buyer Charles Hauther added, "For the most part what is successful for us is having a good general selection of books that customers might not be able to find in a more mainstream store." This year's holiday standouts include The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History by Gregory Paul Williams, Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians by Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons, Wall of Piece by graffiti artist Banksy, and Gonzo, a limited edition visual biography of Hunter S. Thompson from AMMO Books. As for fiction titles, Slattery and Hauther expect Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day and Janet Fitch's Paint It Black--which is set in the store's Los Feliz neighborhood--to do well. Continuum Press' music-themed 33 1/3 series is proving popular with Skylight's clientele. Each book is devoted to a different album by a famous artist. The books (displayed on a spinner rack) are about the size of a standard greeting card, making them ideal, Hauther noted, for stocking stuffers.

"Thanksgiving is about as early as it gets," said Dick Hermans of Oblong Books & Music in Millerton, N.Y., "and that usually translates into positive things." His top picks for the holiday season include what he deemed two "no-brainers" with similar-sounding titles--Bill Bryson's The Thunderbolt Kid and Erik Larson's Thunderstruck. Hermans is curious to see if the frenzy associated with the mid-term elections will continue to translate into sales in the coming weeks. Sideline items the store has done well with are tins of mints from the Unemployed Philosophers Guild--National Embarrassmints, Impeachmints, and Indictmints--and they're perfect stocking stuffers, noted Hermans.

Vicki Erwin at Main Street Books in St. Charles, Mo., expects political books to remain on an upswing during the holidays. "I don't feel politics is a particularly strong category for us," said Erwin, and yet the store is selling books across the political spectrum, from the humor book Bad President to Bill O'Reilly's Culture Warrior to Senator Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. A significant number of Main Street Books customers, noted Erwin, are making preliminary shopping lists, "coming in and writing things down." Water for Elephants is the store's seasonal pick, she said, "and we think we're going to do very well with it." Sara Gruen's novel is featured in the store's ad in a local St. Charles publication.

Erwin is looking ahead and has created two programs to draw customers back to the store in the New Year. In the first, customers receive a percentage of their purchases in "blue dollars" to spend at Main Street Books in January. The second is a "year-long coupon book," which entitles customers to a discount on a particular category of books each month throughout the year, such as diet and health in January and romance in February. "We're hoping to take advantage of our Christmas traffic," said Erwin, "to bring business in after the first of the year."--Shannon McKenna