Marketing

As florists await February 14 and poultry farmers the fourth Thursday in November, this year, booksellers have June 21. The laydown date for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix may well be the day a record number of copies of a single book are sold.

On Thursday, March 13, Book Sense, HarperCollins, and the History Channel launched their latest national marketing program for independent bookstores with Book Sense. Designed to tie in with the April 14 History Channel broadcast of the documentary based on the book April 1865: The Month That Saved America, by Jay Winik (Perennial), the cooperative promotion runs until the end of April.

Once again, Book Sense is working with The New Yorker to put together a special spring insert featuring titles selected by independent booksellers. The latest New Yorker Book Sense appearance is set for the May 5 issue, and the emphasis will be on books that make great gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and graduation. To complement the story, the magazine is seeking photographs of bookstores with Book Sense. All Book Sense stores are encouraged to send photographs of their stores, especially good exterior shots.

Book buyers on the Coos Bay/North Bend coast of Oregon look forward to Books By the Bay owner Trish Midyette's birthday. Last November 28, she turned 36, and her patrons eagerly await her advancing years. Customers of the store know that every November 28 is declared Trish's Annual Birthday Blast, and, to show appreciation to all her customers, Trish discounts books one percentage point for each year of her life.

By Ed Avis

Writers buy books. According to a survey in 2000, nearly all readers of The Writer magazine purchased books in the last year, and 60 percent of them bought at least one book each month.

How do you get those folks into your store? Starting a writers' group is one way.

Ingram Book Group has collaborated with OurSelves, a new newsletter and Web site (www.ourselves.com) aimed at women between the ages of 45 and 65, to develop a merchandising program to reach women baby boomers, a demographic group of significant book buyers.

By Carl Lennertz

Here's an update on books to watch, thanks to the almost 400 stores who reported last week! Are you one of the stores contributing to that wealth of knowledge?

Hardcover Fiction:

Book Sense, HarperCollins, and the History Channel are launching a significant new promotional opportunity for independent bookstores participating in the Book Sense national marketing program.

By Carl Lennertz

Huh? How does that work?

Two ways:

#1) I get a lot of e-mails from you all, obviously, and a surprising amount don't have any store information in a standard signature area at the close of the e-mail. It doesn't affect me much; I can just write back for more info. BUT, are your e-mails to customers and publishers leaving out a chance to promote your Web site and other services?

By Carl Lennertz

Please check stock on these titles and display in support of the publishers who have made these national ads possible:

In The New Yorker, these January/February Top Ten picks:

January 20 issue; out January 13 - THE PASSION OF ARTEMISIA, by Susan Vreeland (Penguin, $13 paper, 0142001821)

January 27 issue; out January 20 - SAMARITAN, by Richard Price (Knopf, $25, 0375411151)

By Carl Lennertz

The stack on my desk of publishers' own ads that included a mention of a book's 76 Pick status hit a precarious two feet high by the end of 2002.

Booksellers should be aware that the New York Times Book Cash Certificates expire on January 31, 2003. Times Book Cash checks were sent as gifts to consumers who upgraded from a trial subscription to a full subscription to the newspaper and are good for $10 towards payment for any book purchase.

The January white boxes are in the mail to booksellers participating in the national Book Sense marketing program. Importantly, in this month's white box is an array of Book Sense promotional materials for bookstores to freshen-up their co-branding. Included are a poster (rolled in a tube), a new removable vinyl two-sided decal for the front door or window, a decal for the cash register, a 76 counter card, and an order form for even more marketing materials.

This past New Year's Day, two bookstores marked the holiday with successful celebratory sales events as a way to thank their customers. In Tempe, Arizona, Changing Hands Bookstore continued its tradition of holding a Customer Appreciation Day sale on January 1, while The King's English bookstore in Salt Lake City launched its first appreciation day, complete with hors d'oeuvres, champagne, and lots of handselling.

Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, Arizona