Ellen Meeropol's ARC tour: Innovations in Book Marketing

Reported by Robert Gray in Shelf Awareness, the road trip that Ellen Meeropol took with a car full of ARCs, visiting "58 indie bookstores in 15 days" is remarkable.

A screen shot of the Shelf Awareness article, including a photo of Ellen by her car, which featured signage about her upcoming book release.

While not done for a children's book, the idea is replicable. (Ellen credits the idea to her friend and fellow Red Hen Press author Cai Emmons, who made a similar indie pilgrimage for her novel.)

As Ellen put it,

"So what was I doing in October and November was driving around New England with ARCs and chocolate bars covered in the image of the book jacket, visiting indie bookstores? The plan was to personally introduce my new novel to booksellers, store owners and fiction buyers. I asked them to take look at my novel, to consider stocking it, making an IndieNext nomination, recommending it to book groups and handselling it to customers."

And that personal touch seems impactful — Ellen's a former bookseller herself, so her strategy was thoughtful (and included chocolate.)

"I didn't use a standard pitch. When I handed them the ARC, most booksellers immediately turned to the back and read the short description and the blurbs. I followed their lead, about offering more information or not. Often our conversations were more about bookselling and our favorite current reads than about my book."

The result? When asked, Ellen answered,

"What difference will it make to my novel? I don't know. But in these days of increasing grassroots book promotion, I'm happy to have driven those roads, visited those stores, and met those booksellers."

The article about Ellen's ARC tour of indie bookstores is well worth-reading.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Porter Square Books Writers In Residence Program - What an Amazing Trend To Start!

As reported in Shelf Awareness, Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts has launched a "Writers in Residence Program."

As the store explains on their website:

"In order to make the resources needed to write books more available to the writers and aspiring writers in our community, Porter Square Books will select two writers, one writing for adults and one writing for young readers, to be our 2019 Writers in Residence."

Not only are there perks for the two writers selected (including a staff discount on everything and access to the store office—a quiet space to work—after 5pm and on the weekends) but there are also responsibilities (including three event introductions, three pieces for the store's blog, dibs on the authors' book launch event for the book they worked on during the residency.)

You can find out more and apply here.

It's a great initiative on behalf of this one bookstore, and hopefully an inspiration for other bookstores to follow suit... Imagine the impact if all the 1,100 indiebound bookstores created their own "Writers in Residence" Programs. And then, if every bookstore in the country—no, the world!—participated, too.

And if the selection of these writers is made with an eye to #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #OwnVoices, it could really make an impact—starting one store, one writer, one book, and one reader at a time!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Book Swag: One Bookstore's Perspective

Bookmarks. Buttons. Posters. Book-Branded Lip Balm. Storytime Kits. Kid-Friendly give-aways. Samplers.

Besides an ARC, what do bookstores actually use/want? What swag helps your book succeed—and what might not be worth the expense?

To help us figure it out, Meghan Dietsche Goel, the Children's Book Buyer and Programming Director for BookPeople in Austin, Texas, shared her take in this PW article, "Book Treats Brought by the Postal Service."

It's great to hear from the bookstore's perspective about what has value, and how issues like simplicity of packaging and display space considerations fit in the mix. The article is well-worth reading.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

"There's No Serendipity Online" - Inspiration and Wisdom about Discovering Books from Tom Cheesewright on Shelf Awareness

When thinking about the many roles bookstores can play (including community building, thought-leadership, and offering a safe space for diversity to be celebrated), this insight into serendipitous discovery felt profound and, worth sharing:

"Machines remain really bad at giving us a good discovery experience. The most sophisticated engines of personalization in the world are bad at finding us products that we don't know we want. They're good at helping us find things we absolutely know we want, and we know how to describe, but they're terrible at finding us those serendipitous discoveries, and human beings remain much better at that. It's why browsing a bookshop is so much a nicer experience if you don't know what you want, than browsing an online store. There's no serendipity online."

—Tom Cheesewright, an applied futurist, replying to the Bookseller's question: "If we're all reading e-books, is there still a place for bookshops?"

From the Thursday April 19, 2018 edition of Shelf Awareness.

What I Learned Working At A Bookstore: Guest Post By Mary Ann Fraser

Mary Ann Fraser

About two years ago, while in the midst of a book signing, the owner, who was a friend, asked if I would be interested in working at one of their discount bookstores. When I asked what I would be doing, she replied, “Everything.” With a deep-rooted passion for books and three boys in college, I saw it as a nifty way to help fill the coffers. I accepted. Little did I realize the impact that job would have on my work. (And, as my husband would later point out, on my earnings. After a while, I could hardly afford to work there anymore even with my employee discount!) But as far as lessons, the job couldn’t be beat.

Here are five things I learned working at a bookstore:

1. People buy what they know – I now see why the classics continue to top the indie charts for sales. With so many books to choose from, people (parents in particular) will invariably go with a book they know either through experience or numerous recommendations. And with the current trend of gifting favorite childhood books for baby showers, this is even more the case. Very often the theme for such events is “books from your childhood.”

2. Characters, especially licensed characters, are tough to beat. This is even more the case for easy reads. If those characters appear in a series, so much the better. And so often humorous traits trump super powers.

3. To my surprise, seasonal books are not as big a seller as you would expect. Who buys the ground hog and valentine books? Predominantly teachers and grandparents.

4. Book signings have lost their novelty. These days a book event has to be extremely well-planned and offer something unusual to be a success. And although you might expect a panel of authors to bring in more people, often that is not the case. If you’re planning a store event, it’s best to figure that you’ll have to bring in the bodies. And nothing is more annoying than a pushy author or a prima donna. Remember, a book signing should be of mutual benefit.

5. Never underestimate the power of hand-selling. So often people come into a bookstore unsure what to buy and will go with the recommendation of a knowledgeable bookstore employee. All the more reason to get to know your local booksellers—not as an author, but as a customer. What more can you do to introduce yourself to the staff? Offer to do a reading. Many stores feature a regular storytime. Come up with a simple craft and offer to read your book along with a couple others. The store will love you.

BONUS: And if you are looking to buy a children’s book and need a recommendation, it’s the ex-librarian, or moon-lighting author who will be your best bet. They will be the person tucked back in the kids’ section waffling over which books to buy with their next paycheck. And yes, that was me.

Mary Ann Fraser is the author/illustrator of over sixty fiction and non-fiction books for children, including her latest picture book, NO YETI YET (Peter Pauper Press). Other titles include HEEBIE-JEEBIE JAMBOREE (Boyds Mills Press), the OGG & BOB books (Two Lions) TEN MILE DAY (Henry Holt), and WHERE ARE THE NIGHT ANIMALS (HarperCollins). Her books have received a Junior Library Guild Selection, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Book Links Book of the Year, IRA Young Readers Choice Award, and American Booksellers "Pick of the List." She is a regional advisor for SCBWI, and a member of the California Readers Association, Children’s Authors Network, and the Children’s Literature Council, and when she is not writing, illustrating, or giving school presentations, she is painting murals, playing her hammered dulcimer, or in her garden talking to her turtles. To learn more visit www.MaryAnnFraser.com.

SCBWI's INSIDE STORY is this weekend, Nov 2 and 3, 2013!

SCBWI, in conjunction with First Book, is launching its first international "Inside Story" event at select independent bookstores this November.

The pilot program will launch in ten cities. It has two purposes: to provide an opportunity for young readers, teachers, librarians, and children's book lovers to become acquainted with new releases, and to build traffic and sales for independent bookstores. A group of authors and illustrators will have a brief time to share the "inside story" behind their 2012 or 2013 publications and support independent bookstores.

SCBWI will provide publicity, volunteers for the day of the event, and special prizes to help bring in patrons, including a drawing to win a phone call from a famous author and a grand prize drawing across all bookstores to have a character in a new Almost Identical book by Lin Oliver named after them. In addition, First Book will donate a book to a child in need for every book purchased at an SCBWI Inside Story event.

SCBWI President Stephen Mooser and Executive Director Lin Oliver say,

“We are delighted that the SCBWI is partnering with First Book to call attention to the great books our illustrator and author members have created. We hope that by next year independent bookstores around the world will be a part of this very special day.”

If you're lucky enough to be geographically close to one of the participating bookstores, make sure to check out Inside Story this weekend!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Have You Heard Of The Independent E-Book Stores?

Disclaimer: The following history of book selling in physical stores is super-simplified to share my thought process.

In the "golden age" of Independent Book Stores, that's where you went to buy books.

Then Barnes & Noble and Borders kind of took over the selling of books, and then Amazon took over from them.

Independent bookstores still exist, though they're fewer in number. And they still serve an important function - curating selections is becoming more and more crucial as self-published work ups the amount of books available.

However you look at it, things have changed dramatically.

In the much newer realm of e-bookstores, We've pretty much started with the big platforms: iBooks, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

And now it looks like indie e-bookstores are the next evolution. A recent post at Cassandra Daily highlighted these three Indie E-Bookstores:


Libiro: Fantasy author/self-publishing consultant Ben Galley and designer Teague Fullick want to help all writers get their books on the digital bookstore shelves, not just those with the backing of big publishing houses. Not only offering underdogs a better shot at exposure, Libiro also offers an 80% royalty as standard.

Tomely: New Australian e-book store Tomely provides independent authors and small presses with a DRM-free distribution platform. Tomely sees itself as sort of the Etsy of digital books, and all their titles can be sent to social reading tool Readmill in just one click, especially appealing to readers who prefer to digest their books in groups.

Kobo: When Kobo’s former primary retail partner, Borders, shuttered in 2011, the Canadian e-reader company was forced to change strategy, focusing on forging partnerships with independent booksellers. They see themselves as "the true bookworm’s e-reader." Users of the Kobo eReader, Kobo Arc tablet, or the Kobo eReading app can opt to purchase titles from their favorite local bookstores through the Kobo eBookstore. Among the long list of participating shops are Book Soup (West Hollywood, LA), Greenlight Bookstore (Brooklyn), and City Lit Books (Chicago).

It will be fascinating to see what happens in the future with indie e-bookstores and e-book sales.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee