Books & Books Shows Itself Via Digital Media Kit

Miami's Books & Books is renowned for a wide-ranging events calendar that has included readings by Hillary and Bill Clinton and Elie Wiesel, cooking demonstrations by Rachael Ray and Anthony Bourdain, and weekly lectures and discussions on a broad list of topics. Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan discussed how to create such "Killer Events" at this past May's BookExpo America (BEA) where he noted that creating a marketing plan, to not only bring events to the attention of customers, but also to bring the store to the attention of publishers, was essential. Books & Books' latest marketing strategy is a digital media kit -- a PowerPoint presentation, available on disk and online, that features dozens of photos of Books & Books' three locations, additional event venues, and past store author appearances.

"When planning to go to BEA, each year we try to bring something we can leave with publicists and publishers," said Kaplan. "We want to leave something that gives the flavor of the store." To do that, this year, Books & Books' Assistant Events and Marketing Coordinator Emily D'Amour created the digital media kit.

Owner Mitchell Kaplan and Rachael Ray.

The kit includes color photos of the Books & Books stores and shots of Joan Didion, Salman Rushdie, Susan Sontag, and many other authors at store events, as well as digital examples of store ads in local publications and samples of its e- and print newsletters, e-mail blasts, and more. "[The media kit] gives us more of an opportunity to stand out," said Kaplan. "We do lots of different events in lots of different venues. It's hard to get that across in a printed document, and a lot more costly. You can write or talk about the store, but being able to actually see what the space looks like really illustrates wonderfully what we're all about."

D'Amour noted that in addition to showing what the stores look like, the digital kit also highlights its diversity, and the diversity of the many venues available for larger events. "Maybe a publisher wants to send a cookbook author," she said. "They can see that we can do a presentation, a dinner reception, or a cooking demo. It shows the wide variety of what we can do."

When a new venue or events partner is added, Kaplan said, the kit is updated and upgraded easily. "It's kind of living document," he explained. "You can constantly update it and can keep it as current and honed as you want it to be."

D'Amour noted another significant advantage. "It was pretty easy to put together," she said. "Most Microsoft packages have PowerPoint, and it really walks you through it. If you know how to use Microsoft Word, you can do it." The pictures that were used were gathered from a number of past events.

D'Amour added, "It's a great tool that everyone can use. It's a way to show what your store is about, whether you're trying to get an author, encourage in-store sales, or partnering to do a book fair. It speaks for itself."

Books & Books' digital media kit can be viewed here as a PowerPoint slideshow. (If you do not have a PowerPoint viewer, download it here now.) --Karen Schechner