SOURCE: "Modern Library Helps Bookstores Promote 'the List,'" in Publishers Weekly, Vol. 245, No. 37, September 14, 1998, p. 24.

[In the following essay, Angel describes the impact of the Modern Library list on bookstores and their customers.]

Tapping the conversation about books sparked by the Modern Library's list of the "100 Best Novels of the 20th Century," Random House has shipped promotional kits to 2700 independent and chain bookstores. The kits contain a reading-group guide, an easel-back counter display, bookmarks listing all 100 chosen books and easy-peel stickers to put on books from the list. The kits are designed "to give stores an opportunity to merchandise around all the commentary about the 100 Best Novels." said David Ebershoff, publishing director of the Modern Library and publishing manager of Random House. "A lot of people have come into bookstores—the place they go to talk about books—to continue their rants" about the list.

Kepler's Books...