Videotaping events

Here's a question for the masses:

We're interested in taping our author events, but would like to cover all of our bases in terms of any potential legal issues up front. Anyone out there with experience in such matters? Have you had any publishers or authors opposed to taping? Has taping been successful in terms of website traffic?

Please sound off down there in the comments.

And thanks for stopping by the Emerging Leaders blog!

JAY PETERSON
MAGERS AND QUINN BOOKSELLERS

Twitter as Newspaper: Emily's Front Page

This morning, I realized that I've been using Twitter as sort of a newspaper substitute. I check out my feeds, open links to interesting articles in new tabs, go make coffee, and then sit and absorb the articles. Am I contributing to the death of the newspaper? It's like I'm the content editor of articles that my "friends" have submitted to me.

This would be my above-the-fold Front Page today:

From NPR, a story on the demise of Reading Rainbow. Oh, this one makes me sad. We were nearly the same age... Butterfly in the Sky 4-evah...
'Reading Rainbow' Reaches Its Final Chapter

From slate.com, a look at how Sony and others might challenge the monopoly of Amazon and the Kindle.
How To Beat the Kindle

From the Christian Science Monitor, a particularly eloquent homage to all that books are and the Kindle is not.
I shall not be Kindled
"But I immediately sized up the device and knew that, while it is "neat" and convenient, it is not, nor will it ever be, a replacement for the book in the way that transistors replaced vacuum tubes or electronic calculators, the slide rule."

From Wired Magazine, a fascinating discussion on how technology is affecting the quality, content, and frequency of our writing.
Clive Thompson on the New Literacy

A few quick links (late) on a Friday...

Greetings Emerging Leaders and Fans!

Here are some tidbits that I found interesting this week:

#AskIndies is live! A great way to show off our collective knowledge!

Richard Nash, as always, has pointed the way to an interesting perspective on Twitter from performer/composer/director Amanda Palmer: "i started making the music in the first place not because i wanted music, but because i wanted human connection. music was the bridge there... connection = primary. music/art = secondary. twitter = realtime connection."

At the very end of a reading by Dave Eggers at my store last night, he said to expect a McSweeney's newspaper. Does that mean there's hope?


I've written a couple of pieces lately on the development of digital technology and its perception as either a format or a medium: one on this ABA Emerging Leaders Blog and a second one on the Two Dollar Radio Blog. Admittedly some heady stuff. But I discovered an amazing example of using digital as a literary medium on the JayIsGames blog: a game called Silent Conversation. This thing is totally mind-blowing. It creates a digital landscape using words, and it is interactive. You have to do something to continue reading the text. The text often visually illustrates what it is doing, like concrete poetry. It is soothing and challenging and beautiful and thought-provoking. Just go play it already!

The Perks of Being a Bookseller

We've had some luck (and a whole lot of fun) putting on authorless events here at Magers and Quinn Booksellers and I'm curious what other booksellers have done in their stores. Please chime in down there in the comments and share your ideas and success stories.

This month we're doing two big off site events in conjunction with an exhibit at the Soap Factory gallery (yes, it's in an old Soap Factory!)called Common Room. Common Room will be a temporary curated gathering space within The Soap Factory designed to facilitate interactivity and the blurring of the boundaries between curators, performers and audience, all within in a casual, living room-esque environment.

We were invited to curate some community gatherings around the subject of books.
And here's what we have on tap:

During our book club discussion of Time Traveler's Wife, we're having our attendees (circa 100 people) each create a paper sculpture (Clare's profession/hobby in the book). And, in honor of Henry the time-traveling librarian, we're building a card catalog of information on the reading habits of our book club regulars.

Afterwards, once the beer and wine have been flowing for a while, we'll do:

Competitive one-on-one writing contests (sort of like Balderdash, but trying to write a cover blurb for a book you've never read) and Giant Mad Libs on a 1970s projection screen that looks a little like Wall-E.

We're also hosting a release party for the new issue of Granta Magazine, which will feature:

5-minute book reports (think Reading Rainbow for adults)
A presentation on literary hoaxes, which may or may not include slides.
An interactive book report (requiring audience participating to act out various scenes)
A presentation by author Eric Hanson titled "When Ted met Sylvia." The working subtitle is "excerpts from Eric Hanson's birthday miscellany on crossed paths and bypaths of literary and historical figures."
A literary trivia challenge with author Brad Zellar taking on the crowd.
An Exquisite Corpse writing game using a vintage typewriter


Jay D. Peterson
Magers and Quinn Booksellers
Minneapolis, MN

September Sales Drivers

(Part 1 of a 12-part series)

The whole purpose behind the Emerging Leaders project is to make us all better booksellers. To do that we compare notes, use each other as a resource when we have ideas to bounce or issues to overcome, and learn from our successes and failures. The advantage of doing this via social media is that the knowledge pool is so much bigger than at an EL gathering at any one regional trade show.

In order to help us all more effectively plan our season and drive sale, I'm starting a series of blog posts detailing the major marketing opportunities and sales drivers for each month of the year. As I'm certainly not the fount of all wisdom, I hope these posts will just be an icebreaker, and the real meat of the conversation will come in the comments.

SEPTEMBER 2009

SALES OPPORTUNITIES

Labor Day Weekend – a chance to draw more foot traffic, drive more sales & let people know about your upcoming events. How are you going to capitalize?

Idea: Buy X book(s) get next XX% Off sale – to raise size of average purchase.
--Consider limiting value to a certain set/table of books (i.e. overstock from recent events & aging fiction) and you can reduce your returns as well as drive sales
--Give customers an extra incentive to visit your store (lots of activities vying for people’s time this weekend)

Idea: Consider introducing a new coffee drink or pastry in your café.
--extra incentive to visit store
--incremental sales driver
--adds to the holiday atmosphere (which helps people relax and spend more $)
--cross-merchandise with fall cookbooks (apple doughnuts or pumpkin muffins?)
--bonus interest and utility as a marketing tool if you name it after a literary figure.

Back to School
Surging categories include:
--Sidelines (pens, pencils, notebooks, etc.)
--YA classics & banned books
--Picture books about new school nerves

Idea: Consider a kid’s “Best Book I Read This Summer” poll. Kids can vote in the store (and maybe write a mini-review for use on a shelf-talker or on your blog). Results could be tallied and a display created at end of month.

Fall
Leaves changing, apple picking & canning vegetables.
--plenty of books to pull out and feature on a display table. Does this kind of display need additional value? I think not, because customers naturally think of these seasonal books. However, this might vary by market. The big question is, how best to display and market our seasonal titles?

WHAT'S HOT?

Fiction
Here come the big books. Every year it’s the same, but this year looks even worse/better (are you a glass half-full or half-empty person?) because so many books are being moved early to avoid Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol as much as possible, turning early September into an Aladdin’s cave of literary fiction. How to best capitalize on all these new books?

Idea: Reinvigorate your “New Releases/New Hardcover” section, if you have one.
--Move it if you can (moving a section is always a relatively easy way to goose sales briefly, as your regulars suddenly notice books that have been there for ages). Consider turning your first or last bay (depending on traffic flow) in the fiction section into a New Release section if you don’t already have one. Alternately, add a temporary table at FOS for “New Fiction.”

Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol
There's not much doubt customers will be coming in to buy this book. The question is, what are you doing to capitalize on this interest and the extra foot-traffic it seems likely to generate?

The smart money seems to suggest it’s about the Freemasons. Many publishers are helpfully crashing out new Freemasons books, so it shouldn’t be too hard to cross-merchandise or create a Freemasons display.

Idea: Consider pulling Freemasons books out of history/cults/conspiracy theories/wherever you currently shelve them.

Idea: If discounting, make the discount drive additional business elsewhere in your store. Consider a “Buy X Hardcover(s), Get Additional XX% off” or some other value (like a gift card for $X off a book at a later date) designed to drive additional sales. If the value was offered on the purchase of any hardcover the week The Lost Symbol comes out this would also reward your frequent customers who wouldn’t dream of reading a Dan Brown novel.

Idea: Consider a special bag stuffer/bookmark advertising your upcoming events, upcoming new releases or a special discount (if you don’t routinely do this) to insert into every copy of The Lost Symbol sold. A lot of the customers for this book will be your most-infrequent shoppers – however, they do read books. If you can reach out to this segment and bring them back more often you can capture additional sales dollars.

Strong sections in September
Cooking (preserving especially)
Fiction (because of strong new releases)
Reference (dictionaries, etc.)

Which others surge annually?

HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS IN SEPTEMBER

There are all kinds of celebrations and holidays in September, some legitimate, some a little more dubious. Regardless, many would make fun displays, suggest amusing events or merchandising themes and can at least add to the atmosphere of fun at your store. Pick a couple to “celebrate” and have fun with them.

• Labor Day - First Monday of month. Party! Official end of summer comes with a 3-day weekend to sweeten the blow.
• Hispanic Heritage Month (from September 15 to October 15)
• Oktoberfest – begins mid-Sept. runs through mid-October. Get those brewing books on an endcap & call your local micro-brewer about a cross-promotion
• Fall Hat Month
• International Square Dancing Month
• National Blueberry Popsicle Month
• National Courtesy Month
• National Piano Month
• Chicken Month
• Baby Safety Month
• Little League Month
• Honey Month
• Self Improvement Month
• Better Breakfast Month
• National Chicken Month
• National Honey Month
• National Bowling Month
• Classical Music Month

Celebrations by the date:
1 National Guitar Day
2 VJ Day
5 Be Late for Something Day – On a Saturday in 2009. Good theme for a kid’s storytime.
6 Read a Book Day – Not sure if this is legit, but still a perfect theme for bookstores. This year “Read a Book Day” falls on a Sunday. Maybe host a “Read-in” if you have the space?
7 Labor Day
8 International Literacy Day
9 Teddy Bear Day – Unfortunately, a Wednesday this year. “Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work” Day?
13 Grandparent's Day - First Sunday after Labor Day. Consider free coffee for grandparents, or “Buy a book for yourself, get one for your grandkid XX%-off”?
13 National Peanut Day
13 Positive Thinking Day
13 Uncle Sam Day - his image was first used in 1813
14 National Cream-Filled Donut Day
15 Make a Hat Day
15 Felt Hat Day - On this day, men traditionally put away their felt hats, or so I read on the Internet.
16 Collect Rocks Day
16 Mexican Independence Day
16 Mayflower Day – probably of most interest in New England.
17 Citizenship Day
17 Constitution Day
18 POW/MIA Recognition Day - Third Friday of September
19 International Talk Like A Pirate Day – On a Saturday. Huge potential for a fun-filled day of kid’s events and general hilarity among the staff. “Come in Costume and get a free coffee” (or whatever).
21 International Peace Day
21 World Gratitude Day
22 Business Women's Day
22 Elephant Appreciation Day
23 Checkers Day
24 National Cherries Jubilee Day
25 National Comic Book Day
26 Johnny Appleseed's Day – A Saturday. There are plenty of kid’s books on Johnny Appleseed. Potential for cooking events, snacks from your local bakery, etc.
28 Ask a Stupid Question Day
28 National Good Neighbor Day

These are the highlights of September's marketing themes and sales drivers. What else is happening that bookstores should take advantage of, and what other categories are hot in September?

[Please bear antitrust laws in mind when commenting. I've deliberately avoided suggesting actual numbers in my suggestions for value offers because each store has to do what's best for them on their own. I'm moderating the comments, and will close them after any initial interest has passed.]

Rich Rennicks
Emerging Leaders Council SIBA Rep.
Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, NC

Link Roundup

The folks at Green Apple do hilarious videos. This one cracked me up - BOOK v KINDLE SMACKDOWN!

According to a UK study, "Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels by more than two thirds or 68%" -- so an hour is like a day at the spa, without the expense or weird mud wraps. (Thanks PW)

If you are an Indie bookseller, please consider filling out the ABA's IndieNext Survey. "Data gathered from the survey will help ABA ensure that the Next Lists remain relevant for booksellers and customers alike." Deadline is Aug 5.

Finally, four months after a gigantic big-rig truck plowed through the store, killing two and almost destroying the building - Flintridge Books in La Canada, California is reopening. This store is fairly new but a wonderful part of the La Canada and Pasadena community. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by on August 1st and help them celebrate! (Thanks Publisher's Mktplace).

What would a digital translation of The Grapes of Wrath look like?

Reading Jenn and Emily's post a couple weeks ago made me wonder: what if Emily is right, and the future of the book is digital not just in terms of format, but also in terms of medium? In other words, much like we moved from oral storytelling to books hundreds of years ago, what if over the next few decades we move to a new digital medium in which the hypertext, notes, reader comments, and so become just as much a part of the book as the original story?

I'm not sure how comfortable I am with this idea, but it seems to be popping up in a lot of online conversations. And perhaps it would be foolish to use the potential of digital books for nothing more than, as Emily aptly calls the current e-readers, storage devices. For non-fiction this might be as straight-forward as linking to sources in the text (hell, even most online newspapers do this already). For fiction the implications are broader and almost overwhelming.

Some modern books seem like they'd fit well into this format. I, for one, would be more likely to tackle Infinite Jest if I knew I could touch the screen at each footnote and have it pop up over the main text. But here's what I can't stop thinking about: if digital reading, with its attendant whatever-we-add-to-it, becomes the primary way we read, would we need to translate today's books to this new medium? Much like you're now more likely to read Beowulf instead of hear a traveling bard read it in the original, and similar to the way that many classics have been given a graphic novel edition, would it be necessary for the books we read now to be changed to fit the digital reading experience?

And if so, which books would we choose? I imagine that the process of making a book a digital book would be like a translation in many ways---not all books make the cut. Beowulf was not, after all, the only epic poem of its time, but it's the only one you'll read in tenth-grade English. Which, of all the books I've read, of all the books we have before us, might we choose for this new digital formatting for hapless fifteen-year-olds to read on their retinal-book-implant in 2100?

As you can tell, I have a long walk to work, and sometimes I take my wondering a bit too far. But as you ponder which books you love enough to work on their digital translation, check out this list of favorites, new and old, from the EL council: