Hand-selling to the Masses.

The article provides information on the marketing strategies used by Susan Novotny, owner of the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York, and Market Block Books in Troy, New York. Novotny appears on television shows to hand-sell books. She offers unscripted, enthusiastic recommendations for a diverse selection of titles, including The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry, Live, Laugh, and Be Blessed by Anne Bryan Smollin and Geronimo by Joseph Bruchac. Two of her senior frontline booksellers--Marggie Skinner, master bookseller and community liaison, and Stanley Hadsell, manager at Market Block Books--share media duties with her.