Wednesday, October 06, 2004
UMBA - Day 1
From Chicago, I drove back to Madison Thursday night, watched the debate and slept for a few hours, then woke up early to drive to St Paul, MN Friday morning.
Fri, Oct 1 was the first day of the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association trade show.
(My first regional association trade show was in 1996 as a bookselling intern at Robin's Books in Philadelphia. Larry Robin, the store owner, was also the Exec Director of the association (now known as NAIBA). I didn't know much about books, and nothing about bookselling, but Larry slapped a blue "SECURITY" t-shirt on me and gave instructions to check badges on everyone and not to let the Teamsters see me carrying boxes into the show.)
Eight years later and I'm still driving like mad to make it in time for the first educational session. I always love the education days because it's easier to talk with people in between the events and I come away with many more new ideas on the business. Yes, it sounds young and naive, but what can I say?
I missed the provacatively named "first-timers" session, but caught a few "Pick of the Lists" presentations from sales reps. Cole Becker from Random House is a bit of a legend sales rep. He was always warmly received at Canterbury in Madison. Bruce Miller, rep at Miller Trade Marketing and author of the timely Take Them At Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the G.O.P., Their Friends and a Few Others. He wrote this book by jotting down what he heard on the radio while driving around the country repping.
At Noon, I sauntered over to the Retailer Momentum session with Bob Steele. Steele is a consultant who works closely with Ingram on a number of projects. The RM session detailed ways booksellers need to track the business side of bookselling to maintain financially healthy stores. Steele combined financial education, data from the ABA's ABACUS study, and a brief presentation of the new Above the Treeline data system developed by John Rubin. Frankly, Above the Treeline is revolutionary. The gist is it's a software package that plugs into the store's POS system. At the end of the sales day, ABT collects all the sales data from the day and breaks it into reports that show how sales are for the store, by category, by buyer, turn rate, etc.
I was going to try to attend the "Competing With the Giants" session on beating chains, but Steele's data was too compelling. I stuck through the break, but definitely couldn't miss the 2 o'clock session...
Bookseller Ideas Seminar - Picture a room full of booksellers all sharing ideas with each other. I think this seminar needs to be a part of every regional show, and possibly BEA. I'll list all the ideas I can remember from the hour (if you were at the show, email me any that I'm missing):
Peggy Bieber, Little Professor, Aberdeen, SD - Worked with a local high school club to organize a Read Across America event for children. The students did most of the organizing and promotion. They won a grant to provide subsidised books for kids (purchased through Peggy's store). Over 200 showed for the first night of the event, 300 for the second. What I like most about this ideas was involving a high school organization to be a part of the store, and to draw younger kids to books.
Lisa and Kate, Main Street Books, Pella, IA - The store donated The Four Things That Matter Most to a local hospice in honor of a customer. A few days later, the center contacted the bookstore to order one copy for each of their rooms! Now they have a healthy relationship with the hospice center to sell books to the residents. Beautiful!
Chris Livingston, Book Shelf, Winona, MN - Chris does a lot of book fair business. He sets up the fairs to be scattered during the year, but close enough that he can keep any unsold books on-hand for a few weeks to use at the next fair. The overall consensus about book fairs was to hold them in the Fall, when students are just back and more willing to spend money on books. Having a few fairs later in the fall also gives you a boost in cash to spend bringing books in for the holiday season.
Chris wrote a book review column in the local newspaper. It became so popular that other papers asked him to write reviews too. Instead of taking the added jobs, he found a few syndicated book review columnists and made the introductions. Now Chris sponsors small ads below each review in a number of local papers. Win-win situation for Chris, the book reviewers, and the paper.
For a good content source, try Beatrice.com. Lots of author interviews.
Jill and Deane Johnson, Beagle Books, Park Rapids, MN - Given the name of the store, Jill decided to ask all the beagle owners in town to join her in marching in the town parade with the dogs. It became a "Beagle float." They also have a birthday party for the store beagle every year that has become a town tradition.
Glen, Creekside Books, Cedarburg, WI - Glen reads the local paper for recent real estate deals. He writes down the addresses of houses that have just sold and sends a coupon postcard to the new residents inviting them to the town bookstore. He also adds these to his store mailing address.
Zingtrain
The customer service session deserves a full post of its own.
Missippi Riverboat
After the sessions we all trekked down to Harriet Island for a Mississippi River boat cruise (sponsored by Ingram). I enjoyed talking more with Jill and Deane from Beagle Books in Park Rapids, MN. Interesting note: their daughter Chelsea Johnson is a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford's writing program and a graduate of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Look for books from her in the next few years!
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Fri, Oct 1 was the first day of the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association trade show.
(My first regional association trade show was in 1996 as a bookselling intern at Robin's Books in Philadelphia. Larry Robin, the store owner, was also the Exec Director of the association (now known as NAIBA). I didn't know much about books, and nothing about bookselling, but Larry slapped a blue "SECURITY" t-shirt on me and gave instructions to check badges on everyone and not to let the Teamsters see me carrying boxes into the show.)
Eight years later and I'm still driving like mad to make it in time for the first educational session. I always love the education days because it's easier to talk with people in between the events and I come away with many more new ideas on the business. Yes, it sounds young and naive, but what can I say?
I missed the provacatively named "first-timers" session, but caught a few "Pick of the Lists" presentations from sales reps. Cole Becker from Random House is a bit of a legend sales rep. He was always warmly received at Canterbury in Madison. Bruce Miller, rep at Miller Trade Marketing and author of the timely Take Them At Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the G.O.P., Their Friends and a Few Others. He wrote this book by jotting down what he heard on the radio while driving around the country repping.
At Noon, I sauntered over to the Retailer Momentum session with Bob Steele. Steele is a consultant who works closely with Ingram on a number of projects. The RM session detailed ways booksellers need to track the business side of bookselling to maintain financially healthy stores. Steele combined financial education, data from the ABA's ABACUS study, and a brief presentation of the new Above the Treeline data system developed by John Rubin. Frankly, Above the Treeline is revolutionary. The gist is it's a software package that plugs into the store's POS system. At the end of the sales day, ABT collects all the sales data from the day and breaks it into reports that show how sales are for the store, by category, by buyer, turn rate, etc.
I was going to try to attend the "Competing With the Giants" session on beating chains, but Steele's data was too compelling. I stuck through the break, but definitely couldn't miss the 2 o'clock session...
Bookseller Ideas Seminar - Picture a room full of booksellers all sharing ideas with each other. I think this seminar needs to be a part of every regional show, and possibly BEA. I'll list all the ideas I can remember from the hour (if you were at the show, email me any that I'm missing):
Peggy Bieber, Little Professor, Aberdeen, SD - Worked with a local high school club to organize a Read Across America event for children. The students did most of the organizing and promotion. They won a grant to provide subsidised books for kids (purchased through Peggy's store). Over 200 showed for the first night of the event, 300 for the second. What I like most about this ideas was involving a high school organization to be a part of the store, and to draw younger kids to books.
Lisa and Kate, Main Street Books, Pella, IA - The store donated The Four Things That Matter Most to a local hospice in honor of a customer. A few days later, the center contacted the bookstore to order one copy for each of their rooms! Now they have a healthy relationship with the hospice center to sell books to the residents. Beautiful!
Chris Livingston, Book Shelf, Winona, MN - Chris does a lot of book fair business. He sets up the fairs to be scattered during the year, but close enough that he can keep any unsold books on-hand for a few weeks to use at the next fair. The overall consensus about book fairs was to hold them in the Fall, when students are just back and more willing to spend money on books. Having a few fairs later in the fall also gives you a boost in cash to spend bringing books in for the holiday season.
Chris wrote a book review column in the local newspaper. It became so popular that other papers asked him to write reviews too. Instead of taking the added jobs, he found a few syndicated book review columnists and made the introductions. Now Chris sponsors small ads below each review in a number of local papers. Win-win situation for Chris, the book reviewers, and the paper.
For a good content source, try Beatrice.com. Lots of author interviews.
Jill and Deane Johnson, Beagle Books, Park Rapids, MN - Given the name of the store, Jill decided to ask all the beagle owners in town to join her in marching in the town parade with the dogs. It became a "Beagle float." They also have a birthday party for the store beagle every year that has become a town tradition.
Glen, Creekside Books, Cedarburg, WI - Glen reads the local paper for recent real estate deals. He writes down the addresses of houses that have just sold and sends a coupon postcard to the new residents inviting them to the town bookstore. He also adds these to his store mailing address.
Zingtrain
The customer service session deserves a full post of its own.
Missippi Riverboat
After the sessions we all trekked down to Harriet Island for a Mississippi River boat cruise (sponsored by Ingram). I enjoyed talking more with Jill and Deane from Beagle Books in Park Rapids, MN. Interesting note: their daughter Chelsea Johnson is a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford's writing program and a graduate of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Look for books from her in the next few years!
