Resources

Joanna Parzakonis of Bookbug, Lanora Hurley of Next Chapter Bookshop, and Maggie Tokuda-Hall of Books Inc. share tips for attracting and keeping YA book club readers.

Random House Children’s and Random House Adult catalogs will be going digital only, beginning with their Summer 2012 and Fall 2012 lists, respectively. The change ensures the catalog information will be “more up-to-the-minute, and thus more viable, practical, and useful,” said Ruth Liebmann, vice president, director, account marketing, Random House, Inc.

Dealing with customers who are obviously browsing the store to buy elsewhere can be tricky. To steer them toward the cash wrap instead of the door, booksellers are engaging customers in conversations and using videos, signage, and fliers with QR codes.

ABA has launched a completely redesigned and expanded online Booksellers Resource Directory in partnership with Multiview, Inc., a publisher of digital buyer’s guides and e-news briefs.

Whether looking for a way to increase margin, responding to customers’ pleas for caffeine, or just because coffee and books are such a natural, booksellers have been including cafés in their bookstores for years. But are they worth it? The majority of booksellers who spoke to BTW say they can be.

To help booksellers capitalize on the October 29 movie release of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Music Box Films is offering free passes, a free documentary, and a chance for consumers to win a trip to Sweden.

Harper's Magazine  “New Books” columnist Benjamin Moser talks about his new column and why he's making his reviews available to indie booksellers via BookWeb.org.

To help booksellers capitalize on film-release buzz for The Girl Who Played With Fire, Music Box Films is offering a multifaceted promotion, including free passes, a free documentary, and, appropriately, free temporary tattoos.

ABA has announced that it is in the process of updating the Bookstore Source Guide, a comprehensive listing of over 1,100 nonbook vendors. It is expected that the Guide will be back online at BookWeb.org in early March with a new name, more categories, and a user-friendly design.

It took Nancy Pearl a year to complete Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (Sasquatch Books, September 2003). But that's just one way of looking at it.

Former Wisconsin bookseller (and database software manager of the San Francisco Giants) Nick Glass has introduced a free Web site, TeachingBooks.net, useful for anyone involved with children's books. The comprehensive site offers useful links for all booksellers -- original multimedia information about authors, tour schedules, reading guides, and more arcane bits.

Nancy Kranich, chair of the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee

As bookseller concern continues to grow regarding the current state of civil liberties in a post-9/11 world, here's a comprehensive resource list of Web sites

Twice a year since July 1999, Paz & Associates Bookstore Training & Consulting Group, in conjunction with the American Booksellers Association, has been conducting weeklong intensive workshops designed to teach potential booksellers the ins and outs of the bookstore business. The next program, "Opening a Bookstore: The Business Essentials," will take place in Portland, Oregon, on September 9 - 15, in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association convention and trade show, held September 13 - 15.

ABA member booksellers recently received a letter with full details of the recent launch of the Book Buyer’s Handbook Online, the fully searchable electronic edition of the Book Buyer’s Handbook. The new online edition of the Handbook is available to all ABA bookstore and associate members at BookWeb.org, the association member Web site.

Note that the handbook icon is now on the main navigation bar on the left-hand side of BookWeb.org’s home page.

By Kenneth Corrigan