A little irony for your Friday


I was tickled when my friend, author Shelia Goss, sent me a link to the bestselling books as reported by Jokae's African-American Bookstore in Dallas, for the Dallas newspaper. A New Kind of Bliss rounded out the five titles. After informing my editor and agent, I promptly forgot about it...until I saw the latest issue of Essence magazine at the Islip, Long Island, airport earlier this week. Jokae's is a contributor to their list of bestselling books, and I thought there was a possibility that I might see my name on that list for the first time (wouldn't that be great!).

Well, I bought a copy, and guess what? After scouring the magazine plus the table of contents, I came to the unhappy conclusion that there is no bestselling list of books for September! I haven't been a regular reader of Essence for quite some time now, but this list has been a staple of their issues for years now. I don't ever remember there not being one.

I then checked their web site, which traditionally has an extended list of the 10 top books in four categories (Hardcover and paperback fiction and nonfiction), only to see that it still has the August listing...and just 5 books at that (not an extended list).

Could I have made the list? There's still time for a September update on the website, even if it was not included in the magazine. But if they don't update their website, I guess I'll never know. Such is life, I suppose.

Have a great weekend!