The Book Sense Book of the Year Award, formerly known as the "ABBY Award", was inaugurated on June 2 at BookExpo America 2000. Winners are chosen by independent booksellers across the country who vote for the titles they most enjoyed hand selling to their customers in the previous year. In 2003, an award for Paperbacks was added, to make six in all: Adult Fiction, Adult Non-fiction, Children's Literature, Illustrated Children's Book, Rediscovery, and Paperback.