Marketing

Booksellers attending the panel on "Creating Killer Events" on Thursday, May 18, at BookExpo America heard from experienced booksellers about the importance of making an independent bookstore the community center for great author (and "authorless") events, to sell books, to garner free publicity, and to strengthen ties with customers and other key community institutions.

Booksellers who are eager to get into the swing with Curious George, whose eponymous film opens on February 10, still have an opportunity to grab a yellow hat and other special promotional materials from Book Sense. However, quantities are extremely limited.

In celebration of the movie Curious George, opening in theaters nationwide on February 10, 2006, Houghton Mifflin and Book Sense have produced exclusive materials -- including a two-foot high yellow hat (for The Man with the Yellow Hat, of course) and a Curious George-wrapped disposable camera -- to help booksellers create, and capture, displays and special events. The materials are being sent in a special Yellow Box mailing to arrive in stores by December 9.

When Roger and Margy Layton, the owners of The Read Leaf Bookshop in Springville, Utah, were looking for a new marketing campaign, they thought of the uniqueness of their customers and staff, as well as the diversity of their inventory. And that was almost all they needed.

Every week, Bookselling This Week's Media Guide provides timely information about books and author appearances featured in print publications and on TV and radio programs, as well as news about regional and national book-related events. This information is a helpful tool for booksellers planning orders and displays, and may come in handy when trying to track down titles sought by customers who saw or heard something in the media, but are lacking a title.

By Chuck Robinson, co-owner of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington

"If you build it they will come" is a great line from a great novel and movie. As a business marketing philosophy -- often adopted by booksellers -- it leaves a great deal to be desired. They will come when they are invited and invited and reminded and reminded. In other words, when marketing is used effectively.

The American Booksellers Association is seeking member input for its BookExpo America "All-Day Education Program" session "The Bookstore as a Third Place: Making Your Store a Community Center Through Innovative Events." The event, which will be held from 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. and again at 3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m., on Thursday, June 2, will focus on creating events to position the bookstore as a center for community and political action.

This week, ABA announced a new partnership with Constant Contact, a leading company that provides services to manage e-mail marketing campaigns. Through this partnership, all ABA member bookstores will have access to Constant Contact's suite of tools -- making it easier to create and send compelling e-mail newsletters -- and will earn annual rebates for participating.

From the outside, Riverwalk Books in Chelan, Washington, appears to sell books in its 1,500-square-foot space. And, of course, it does. But a number of other activities take place in the nine-year-old store as well, thanks to the creativity of owner and founder Libby Manthey. She took seriously the lessons she learned at ABA's prospective booksellers school over a decade ago, and more recently at the education sessions given at PNBA meetings. "I know that I have to keep my eye on the bottom line -- always on the bottom line.

In the classic baseball movie Field of Dreams, the mantra repeated throughout the film is, "If you build it, they will come." Not so with websites.

By Jay Conrad Levinson

When it comes to marketing, guerrillas become creative in very special ways and they're not the ways that are demonstrated by most marketing.

The definition of customer service includes factors like location, access, speed, product quality, communication, competitive pricing, knowledgeable sales associates, store hours, return policies, and price guarantees.

In her book Ordinary Acts, Extraordinary Outcomes, Betsy Sanders defines customer service as "what the customers are willing to pay for."

The success of a bookstore's Web site is directly dependent on the bookseller's efforts to market it, stressed Len Vlahos, BookSense.com director. "In some ways, a storefront retailer's Web site functions as an extension of the store, and, in other ways, as an additional location," Vlahos said.

The November issue of Nick Jr Family Magazine, which offers parents advice on everything from the best holiday toys to the best video games, directs those looking for a good book to read with their children to titles included in Book Sense Best Books: 125 Favorite Books Recommended by Independent Book