Making the Case for a Book Sense Success Story

One of the stellar successes of the 2006 publishing season has been Sara Gruen's debut novel, Water for Elephants, which was the number-one selection on the June Book Sense Picks list.

However, a significant chapter in this story occurred months earlier. It was during the busy 2005 holiday season that many independent booksellers nationwide took the time to read the novel at the request of Craig Popelars, the director of marketing for Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Then, ARCs of Water for Elephants were distributed at the ABA's first Winter Institute last February.

What followed was a potent example of the power of independent booksellers when they enthusiastically promote and hand sell a book. Recognizing this, ABA documented the ensuing publishing success in a marketing case study: Water for Elephants: An Independent Booksellers Success Story.

"ABA took quick notice of our members' excitement about this superb book," said ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz of Water for Elephants. "So we decided to track its progress. Our thinking was to create a case study showing that if independent booksellers get behind a book, a certain kind of book, they can make it happen in a big way, where it might not have happened otherwise."

ABA followed Algonquin's marketing efforts and tracked Water for Elephants' appearance on bestseller lists (the Book Sense list and others), as well as other sales metrics. The result is a marketing case study that demonstrates the strength of the independent bookseller, especially when working collaboratively with the publisher.