This has been an on-going problem for years, and here I go again trying to solve it. Usually, as with this issue, informal (not on a ballot) nominations begin the summer of the eligible year, and I even mention any nominations in my inserts. Perhaps something more attention-getting is necessary? How about a box that is always on the inside front page of the issue, listing all nominations to date? The box would be updated to the following year's nominees in the summer issue, and would be titled "Nominees for the 1990 Awards" or something like that. [I don't know how you all feel about using the public (government) library, but many of the books are available there so you could read them while you are waiting for your copy.]

Problem and possible solution two. I usually don't start asking publishers for books until you have gotten your renewals to me. If renewal notices go out promptly on October 1st from now on, and IF Advisory members renew by November 1st, then requests to publishers for books could go out in November, and you might even get some books to read in that month. If the November 1st deadline were in very large print then you'd all know that a delay might cost you some books.

As for your other suggestions, please remember that we ASK the publishers to send books to Advisory members, and not all of them wish to. We certainly don't have the money to buy all the nominees for the members, and even if we did, Laissez Faire Books is certainly interested in stocking some of our nominees, but not all of them. One other problem is that some books are discovered and nominated late, so it is always a possibility that we will have books to read at the last minute.

Anyway, the ideas above should make things a lot easier for us, right?

As always, I would love to hear any other suggestions from members.

-V.V.