Indie Focus Groups Invaluable to Publishers

Independent booksellers and representatives from 12 major publishing houses and Ingram Book Group/Ingram Publishers Services gathered last week in New York for a series of focus groups organized by the American Booksellers Association on behalf of the participating companies. This is the third year that ABA has facilitated the focus groups, which enable publishers to gather bookseller feedback about existing programs, as well as input on plans for the future.

Thirty-seven independent booksellers participated in the meetings, which were held from Tuesday, March 4, through Thursday, March 6, at the Brooklyn Downtown Marriott, the site of last year's Hotel ABA. Each bookseller attended six two-hour sessions featuring a different publisher.

Participating publishers were Hachette Book Group; HarperCollins Adult and Children's; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Adult and Children's; Hyperion; Ingram Book Company/Ingram Publisher Services; Macmillan Adult and Children's; Penguin Group Adult and Children's; Perseus Books Group; Random House Adult and Children's; Scholastic; Simon & Schuster; John Wiley & Sons; and Workman Publishing Company.

Prior years' experience has shown the Focus Groups to be a cost-effective way for publishers to gather input from a diverse group of independent booksellers while furthering ABA's goal of fostering relationships between its bookstore members and their suppliers, and this year was no different.

"The greatest benefit of the focus group setting is that it allows marketers and publishers to receive unfiltered feedback and opinions directly from the booksellers in the trenches," said Rob Dyer, director of independent accounts at Wiley. "While sales reps do a great job reporting from the field, nothing compares with receiving invaluable information directly from the indie booksellers who communicate with the book-buying public every day on the sales floor."

Among the company's goals, he said, was to fine-tune its position "to better meet the needs and expectations of independent booksellers. We came out of the meeting with tons of useful information that we'll implement as quickly as we can to achieve that goal."

Workman National Sales Manager Steven Pace noted, "There is a significant return on investment when publishers collaborate with booksellers. Part of our agenda, for example, included a review of our marketing and publicity plans for titles that have not yet been published. The feedback from the focus group helps inform these plans -- and not just for [these] stores individually but, taken as a whole, the independent marketplace, as well. The 'takeaway,' on both sides, is a partnership vested in each book's, and therefore, each other's success."

"We found the session this past week to be incredibly stimulating and useful," said Annette Hughes, director of sales, children's, for HarperCollins Publishers. "It was fabulous to have the opportunity to share and discuss our online marketing and our backlist promotions ... We expect the continued dialog and follow-up to enable accounts to take full advantage of our marketing materials and backlist promotions and build sales."

"The ABA Focus Group meeting is the perfect venue for publishers to meet with booksellers and have an informal yet in depth discussion of key publishing issues," said Rachel Coun, director of marketing at Scholastic. "The feedback that we -- publishers -- receive ... is priceless. And it is wonderful to work together not just as 'publisher presenting to booksellers,' but moreover as partners, working together on what we are all passionate about, books. I look forward to next year's forums already!"

A highlight of the event was a Wednesday night dinner with authors, including Shirley Abbott (The Future of Love: A Novel, Algonquin); Annie Barrows (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel, Dial Press); Joan Bauer (Peeled, Putnam Juvenile); Leslie M.M. Blume (Tennyson, Knopf Books for Young Readers); Andrew Bridge (Hopes Boy: A Memoir, Hyperion); Leslie Connor (Waiting for Normal: A Novel, Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins); Marisa de los Santos (Belong to Me: A Novel, William Morrow); Pauline Frommer (Pauline Frommer Guides/Wiley); Robie H. Harris (Maybe a Bear Ate It, Scholastic); Jonathan Miles (Dear American Airlines: A Novel, Houghton Mifflin); Irina Reyn (What Happened to Anna K: A Novel, Touchstone); and Edel Rodriguez (Sergio Makes a Splash, Little, Brown Young Readers).

Publishers interested in learning about future focus groups should contact Mark Nichols, ABA's senior director of publisher initiatives, at (914) 591-2665, ext. 6640, or [email protected]. --Rosemary Hawkins