Ordering Underway for the ABC Best Books for Young Readers Catalog

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Woman reading, father with baby, and a catAmerican Booksellers Association member stores can place their orders for this year’s ABC Best Books for Young Readers catalog from now until September 6 via an order form on BookWeb.

The full-color, 16-page consumer circular is slated to be in stores in September. It will feature nearly 200 frontlist and backlist titles for children and teens, all suggested by ABA member booksellers. The catalog carries no fourth-quarter/holiday branding so booksellers can use it throughout the year.

This year’s catalog cover features art from Babymoon, written by Hayley Barrett and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (Candlewick). The cover art was chosen by the ABC Children’s Group Advisory Council from publisher submissions.

Heather Hebert of Children’s Book World in Haverford, Pennsylvania, said she had not used the ABC Best Books for Young Readers catalog in previous years, but was inspired to when she saw another store using it as part of a book fair at a local school. “A light bulb turned on and we started seeing the possibilities for using the catalog as an option not just for school book fairs but as a way to reach customers beyond our store, in communities and workplaces that we would normally not be able to service,” said Hebert. “This has helped us increase business and increase awareness of our store.”

Members of the ABC Children’s Group at ABA will automatically receive 250 free catalogs with no imprinting (stores can join the ABC Group here). ABA stores that have opted to receive the Children’s Box mailing will automatically receive 20 free catalogs with no imprinting. The online order form is for purchasing additional catalogs, either imprinted or plain.

An imprint is a half-page spread on the back cover of the catalog that is personalized for the bookstore; it consists of the store’s logo, name, location, and hours of operation. Imprinting helps customers know where they can purchase the titles found inside the catalog.

Once again this year, the inside of the back cover will feature a full list of the titles contained in the catalog, complete with checkboxes, for ease of ordering or wishlist-making; booksellers are encouraged to add imprinting to their catalog, which will appear on both the front and back covers.

Additional catalogs are available in units of 500 copies without imprinting, and the cost for each additional 500-unit is $30 for ABC Group members and $40 for non-members, shipping included. The one-time plate cost for imprinting, if desired, is $85 for ABC Group members and $130 for non-members; the minimum catalog order for imprinting is 1,500 copies.

Orders of up to 10,000 copies may be placed via the online form. For larger orders, stores should contact ABC Group Manager Gen de Botton.