If It's Tuesday, This Must Be New Release Day

Have you noticed that new books are often released on Tuesdays?  We actually are not allowed to put new books out on our shelves before the "official" publish day, usually a Tuesday.  There are several theories behind this seemingly random choice of the day, which has been a tradition for many years. These come from Morgan James Publishing:

One theory is shipping.  Releasing new publications on Tuesday allows publishers to ship across the country in a timely manner so that everyone gets their books and has time to get them ready for sale or borrowing at the same time.  In other words, no one gets left out because they don't get deliveries on Sundays and their shipment was held up in traffic.

Sales are also a factor.  Most retailers (including booksellers) tabulate sales after the weekend, when they are busiest.  Calculating weekly sales on Monday and starting fresh on Tuesday kind of gives everyone the same advantage and a better shot at the best seller lists.  Of course, that doesn't matter in libraries (although it does give avid readers a day to recover from that best-seller hangover if they lost sleep because you just couldn't put that great book down).

One other theory is uniformity.  If one day is designated as release day across the industry, no one gets confused and forgets to put out their new selections.  I know that is the case here!

Overall, no one really knows why new books are released on Tuesdays, but they are.  Keep that in mind next time you're wondering if any of your holds are about to show up!

Here are some of this week's treasure: