For More Page Views, Add the Best Books for Young Readers Catalog to Your Website

Data analytics compiled by the American Booksellers Association indicate that bookstores that have added the digital version of the 2018 ABC Best Books for Young Readers catalog to their IndieCommerce or IndieLite websites saw a healthy number of catalog page views over the last month.

From October 12 to November 16, 2018, bookstores that were recorded by IndieCommerce as having a high number of page views for the digital catalog page include Once Upon a Time in Montrose, California, which received 174 page views, and Little City Books in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minnesota, which each received 88 page views during that period.

It’s easy for booksellers to see what the digital catalog can do for their store website — the mobile-friendly asset can be seamlessly integrated by IndieCommerce staff in seconds with no work necessary on the store’s end. Interested IndieCommerce and IndieLite stores can e-mail [email protected] to have the IndieCommerce team integrate the catalog into their websites.

Non-IndieCommerce and non-IndieLite stores can also e-mail [email protected] to receive a folder containing all of the assets necessary to host the catalog. Booksellers can share that folder with their website host, who can integrate the catalog into the store’s site without purchasing options. To connect the catalog to an e-commerce platform, booksellers will need to work with a website developer to create code that will point the titles to their e-commerce site.

Booksellers who are interested in exploring the contents of the digital catalog can access a folder on Bookweb.org that contains a low-resolution PDF of the 2018 ABC Best Books for Young Readers catalog, a PDF of the customer title order form, and a spreadsheet of the 2018 titles and ISBNs. Booksellers can also visit Edelweiss to browse the titles.

The annual catalog is a full-color, 20-page consumer circular featuring more than 200 frontlist and backlist titles for children and teens, all suggested by ABA member booksellers. The catalog also carries no fourth-quarter/holiday branding so booksellers can use it throughout the year. This year’s catalog cover features new art from Ryan T. Higgins, the author of Mother Bruce, Hotel Bruce, and We Don’t Eat Our Classmates (all Disney-Hyperion).

Members of the ABC Children’s Group at ABA were automatically shipped 250 free print catalogs with no imprinting, and non-ABC stores that have opted to receive the Children’s White Box mailing will automatically receive 20 free catalogs with no imprinting in the Winter White Box. Stores can join the ABC Children’s Group at ABA here.

Booksellers have the option to supplement their supplies with extra stock by placing an order via the 2018 online order form, while supplies last. Additional catalogs are packaged in quantities of 200 per carton. The per-carton price is $10 for members of the ABC Children’s Group and $14 for all other ABA member stores; shipping is included. Questions about catalog orders can be addressed to ABC Group Manager Gen de Botton.