Marketing

Here, Laura Hansen, owner/manager of Bookin' It in Little Falls, Minnesota, muses on her bookstore's Good Living Cookbook Club, which started five years ago. As Hansen goes on to describe, the club is more than a book club -- it's a mix of good cook books, good friends, great food, with a dash of wine and rhubarb muffins thrown in for good taste.

Bacardi Mixers Book Club displays and party kits are still available. Participating Book Sense bookstores that would like to receive additional kits and stores wishing to join the promotion should send requests to Jill Perlstein, ABA director of marketing, at [email protected]. Materials supplied by Bacardi include a point-of-sale entry box with tear-pads, a poster, and a BACARDI Mixers Book Club party kit, which can be used for individual store events and includes glasses, coasters, drink charms, free BACARDI Mixers, and more.

Booksellers participating in the Book Sense Make Some Magic With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix sweepstakes display contest must send photos by Thursday, July 31, to be eligible to win a $2,000 credit from Scholastic, Inc.

The number of national and local magazines, newspapers, industry publications, and Web sites featuring Book Sense Bestseller Lists continues to grow each month. Regional Book Sense Bestseller lists recently began appearing in three more newspapers.

The New England Bestseller list is now featured in Brunswick, Maine's The Times Record and Nantucket, Massachusetts' Nantucket Independent. And the Southeast Book Sense Bestseller List is being carried by the Seven Lakes Times in Moore County, North Carolina.

The July white box lands on your doorsteps with the crackle and boom of Independen(ts) Day fireworks -- a dazzling and colorful array of offerings from Book Sense Publisher Partners including:

Galleys, ARC's, and Finished Books

Public radio listeners are among the heaviest book buyers (according to a recent analysis by Mediamark Research), so when notable public radio personality Susan Stamberg hosts a segment devoted to bookseller picks for summer reading, stores can expect a significant response. Stamberg, who serves as a National Public Radio (NPR) special correspondent, periodically devotes segments on news programs to brief interviews with independent booksellers around the country.

On Thursday, May 29, approximately one hundred booksellers attended ABA's Marketing Workshop, held during BookExpo America in Los Angeles. The session, moderated by Michael Hoynes, ABA's marketing officer, focused on strategies and tactics that independent booksellers can use to gain a greater share of current customers' business and to introduce new customers to the unique values of independent bookstores.

During the week of July 14 -18, The History Channel is traveling the highways and byways of America during Hit the Road Week, and, to complement the series, stores with Book Sense will be featuring bookmarks for Fodor's The Thirteen Colonies and Fodor's Old West in their History Channel/Hardcover History in-store displays. The bookmarks were sent to participating stores in the June white box mailing.

Book Sense stores participating in the BACARDI Mixers & Book Sense Book Club Sweepstakes should be on the lookout for a carton containing a point-of-sale entry box with tear-pads, a poster, and a BACARDI Mixers Book Club party kit, which can be used for individual store events and includes glasses, coasters, drink charms, free BACARDI Mixers, and more. The materials should arrive at stores by July 14, the sweepstakes start date.

July 31 is the deadline for receipt of photos from booksellers participating in the Book Sense Make Some Magic With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix sweepstakes display contest. The winner of the contest will receive a $2,000 credit from Scholastic, Inc.

The two-page downloadable PDF file of Book Sense 76 shelf-talkers available at www.bookweb.org/read/2833 has been updated to include shelf-talkers for six of the top ten titles on the July/August Book Sense 76. The PDF file also includes two blank shelf-talkers that booksellers can use for their own quotes or for quotes clipped straight from the Book Sense 76.

ABA is finalizing details of its national electronic gift card program for stores with Book Sense and will begin rolling out details regarding program costs, equipment requirements, and sign-up in the July 10 edition of Bookselling This Week. The association will also soon finalize a selection of generic gift card designs with a generic backer or presenter. Booksellers will be able to add their store logo and information to the front of the card and to the backer for an additional fee.

The BACARDI Mixers & Book Sense Book Club Sweepstakes is set to begin in July and will run for four months. Book Sense and The Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company teamed up to create this in-store national sweepstakes promotion to drive consumers participating in reading groups to independent bookstores with Book Sense and to raise awareness of the Book Sense brand. Bookstores with Book Sense should be on the lookout for sweepstakes materials, which should arrive no later than July 11.

Here's a reminder for booksellers regarding expiration dates on Book Sense gift certificates. Expiration dates do not apply in California, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and, possibly, other states.

The number of national and local newspapers, magazines, industry publications, and Web sites featuring Book Sense Bestseller lists (national, regional, or category) continues to grow each month.

Four newspapers recently joined the list: Bellingham, Washington's Bellingham Weekly (Pacific Northwest list); Burlington, Vermont's Burlington Free Press (Northeast list); Park City, Utah's Park City Record (National list); and Seattle's Queen Anne/Magnolia News (Pacific Northwest list).