Marketing

This fall, Southeasterners will be able to tune into author readings hosted at independent bookstores all over the region. Starting October 1, the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) will be the presenting sponsor of The Spoken Word, a series broadcast by Atlanta's public radio station, WABE. The Spoken Word features author readings and talks and performances about literature and the arts that are recorded around the Southeast.

On Thursday, May 29, over 300 independent booksellers from around the U.S. converged in Los Angeles for the ABA Education Day, which included ABA's first annual "What Are You Reading Lunch." The day's numerous sessions were packed with prospective, novice, and veteran booksellers alike, each looking to enhance their bookselling skills. According to comments from a number of booksellers, the programming did not disappoint.

Growing Market Opportunity for Independent Booksellers

By Michael F. Hoynes, ABA Marketing Officer

Much has been written about the aging of America. A major part of the story is the approximately 72 million baby boomers who are now moving into their fifties. Every shift in demographic patterns creates a new business opportunity for some business sector, and there is a great deal of evidence that the growing number of older book buyers opens a major marketing opportunity for independent booksellers.

How can a regional public radio station that covers parts of seven northeastern states, including New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Hampshire, offer local coverage for listeners in very different communities?

Book Sense and The Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company have teamed up to create an in-store Book Club Sweepstakes that aims to drive consumers participating in reading groups to independent bookstores with Book Sense. The national sweepstakes promotion, the BACARDI® Mixers & Book Sense Book Club Sweepstakes, will start in July and run for four months. It is expected that the promotions will drive traffic to Book Sense stores and raise awareness of the Book Sense brand.

For May's white box mailing, which booksellers can expect mid-month, Book Sense Publisher Partners have provided sell sheets, easelback posters, postcards, bookmarks, and some fun promotional items, such as a promotional T-shirt for Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't, by Jim Collins (HarperBusiness).

On April 24, Book Sense and Levenger, Inc., a catalog and Internet company that provides high-quality tools for reading and writing, announced that the two companies had formed a marketing partnership to cross-promote their Web sites and merchandise. Starting in May, all BookSense.com Web sites will feature a Levenger link, and sales resulting from these links will earn participating booksellers an affiliate commission. Additionally, Levenger.com will have an affiliate link to BookSense.com.

The American Booksellers Association is inviting publishers to participate in the BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program. The new program helps publishers promote their books through both the Web sites and bricks-and-mortar locations of participating stores. ABA has been testing the program with the help of four publishers -- AOL/Time Warner, Harcourt, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster -- and 30 bookstores.

Starting in June, Book Sense and the History Channel will launch a monthly in-store promotion called Hardcover History, meant to entice readers to experience history through exceptional books and extraordinary television.

The number of national and local magazines, newspapers, industry publications, Web sites, and, now, televisions programs featuring Book Sense Bestseller (national, regional, or category) and 76 lists continues to grow each month.

The media outlets listed below recently began running one of ABA's Book Sense Bestseller or 76 lists. To view the complete list of media outlets, click here.

Newspapers
The Conway Daily Sun, Conway, New Hampshire (NEBA List)

When the clock strikes 12:01 a.m. on June 21, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will bring its magic to booksellers everywhere. Local events including sleepover parties, midnight openings, and costume balls are in the works at independents around the country. Now Book Sense has brewed a special sweepstakes -- Make Some Magic with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- for every purchaser of the book between 12:01 a.m. on June 21 and 11:59 p.m. on June 26. The sweepstakes will have one winner, chosen at random from all entries.

ABA members visiting BookWeb.org will note new and updated information on the Book Sense program. Among the most notable changes are:

Book Sense has established a marketing partnership with The Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company to attract consumers participating in reading groups to independent bookstores with Book Sense. The new sweepstakes promotion for BACARDI® Mixers will run for four months starting in July. Bookstores participating in Book Sense must sign-up to participate in the program.

Booksellers with Book Sense should be on the lookout for new Book Cash checks that are being distributed as part of three new Book Cash promotions, with Bausch & Lomb, Coca Cola, and Albertsons.

At the Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans, author events are a pretty common occurrence -- the independent bookstore averages around 30 events in a year. However, author Susan Vreeland's appearance at the bookstore this past February was different. The author of The Passion of Artemisia (Viking hardcover, Penguin paperback) and Girl in Hyacinth Blue (MacMurray & Beck hardcover, Penguin paperback) came to the Garden District because the owner and staff of the store had nominated her titles for the Book Sense 76.