Celebrating 15 Years of Training Booksellers

Donna Paz

This year, Paz & Associates is celebrating its 15th anniversary as a leading provider of training and marketing services for prospective and established booksellers. The firm, founded by Donna Paz, a former manager for Davis-Kidd Booksellers, features the services of a team specialists, including Paz's husband, Mark Kaufman, a marketing and communications specialist, and Dennis DeLorenzo, an architect and lighting specialist. Other members of the team design newsletters for bookstore clients, while others select books to create an opening inventory and choose books for review.

In recalling the early days of the business, Paz described the conflicting feelings of an entrepreneur. "It's so exciting [to embark on a new venture] but very scary," she told BTW." People were very supportive when I introduced the idea of a business training booksellers, but asked me how I was planning to make my mortgage."

Although Paz first considered investing in a bookstore, she explained, "I like being a generalist -- I'm more of a big picture person. I relate to strategies and concepts as well as the details. I realized that I could do both in the training role."

Paz & Associates offers weeklong seminars focusing on bookstore essentials for bookselling newcomers. (Its next session will start on March 19 on Amelia Island, Florida.) Other training programs are offered in partnership with ABA and its educational programming. In addition, the firm has developed training guides for frontline booksellers and DVDs on employee training and merchandising, which are available for purchase via its website, www.pazbookbiz.com.

Kaufman offers specialized consulting on maximizing co-op benefits and a host of marketing issues.

"We serve as the central marketing department for about 40 independents," Paz said. "We help bookstores who don't have the resources to do these things themselves, and larger stores who may not want to deal with some aspect of the business, such as co-op or newsletters.

"With Dennis [DeLorenzo], we have designed bookstores around the country and in Europe. Bookstores are different from general retail stores. The lighting, the flooring ... everything should be a creative expression of the owner's personality."

Paz said that fluctuations in the numbers of independent bookstores haven't changed its part of the business. "New people are coming in who are curious and passionate about bookselling and want to learn the skills," she said.

What does concern her, however, are the prospective booksellers who don't attend any seminars. "Way too many people are opening bookstores under-prepared. It's necessary that people understand that they don't know what they don't know," she explained. "[Bookselling] has always been about being able to change with the times."

Noting that new stores are opening in emerging communities, she added, "There are opportunities -- it's not about the issue of indies dying or thriving -- it's more complicated than the way journalists report [the trends]."

Paz sees a good era opening up for bookstores in general with the gradual retirement of baby boomers -- people changing careers and opting for more leisure time. "People are joining books groups and traveling," she told BTW. "Travel writing is very big. [Baby boomers] are going in to the next chapter of their lives. It's a golden opportunity, and they really want a comfortable, meaningful experience." Regarding bookstores, she said, "It's more about design and comfort and less about how quickly you can get something. These customers want some quiet, reflective time."

An indication of the company's optimism about the future of independent bookstores was its sponsorship of last week's reception for Emerging Leaders at ABA's Winter Institute.

Reflective time for Paz and Kaufman has resulted in a new venture, unrelated to bookselling, and not at all quiet. During a family trip to Poland to celebrate the 75th birthday of Paz's mother and to visit what was her Polish-born parents' farm, Paz and Kaufman visited an orphanage for children with disabilities. They later sent a small donation and were surprised when they discovered how much their money was able to buy. After several more trips to Poland and more visits to orphanages, Paz and Kaufman founded Care for Polish Orphans, Inc. with the stated mission "to celebrate Polish heritage by helping to improve the quality of life and well-being of orphans living in Poland and making life easier for their caretakers too."

"In six months," said Paz, "we've raised $10,000 for four different orphanages. We're not taking this on as a business -- friends tell friends and the word spreads. We're covering all the administrative costs; every cent goes to help children there." --Nomi Schwartz