What the Winter Institute Drove One Bookseller to Do

Less than two weeks after attending this year's Winter Institute, Becky Milner, the owner of Vintage Books in Vancouver, Washington, wrote to ABA staff to share some of the many changes the two-day education program, and her networking colleagues, inspired her to make in the store's operations. What she created was the beginnings of a great marketing checklist for any independent bookseller.

February 13, 2007

Thank you to each and every one of you at ABA who put so much into the Winter Institute. Three of us attended from Vintage, and we came back full of ideas and inspiration. We each meant to write immediately, but in the past week and a half, in addition to our everyday bookselling life, we've:

• created a new series of bookmarks, incorporating Book Sense and the Shop Local information from the Northern California booksellers;
• created a brochure about the store: our procedures, our history, and a bit of Shop Local information, to give new customers. (Two more shops have closed in our community, and we want to promote the "local and professional" image of our shop);
• made a new "closed" sign, with our website listed, to replace the laminated sign we've been using;
• really ramped up our use of shelf-talkers -- and this is working;
• installed a color printer to make better use of ABA shelf-talkers and signs;
• put our cassette books on sale and plan to use the space to shift things around so we can increase our children's section -- with lots of shelf-talkers and signs to assist grandparents and parents (an idea that came from the comments made by several booksellers at the institute);
• made plans to also increase our "recommended section";
• begun to change-out and refresh our cases of "special" books;
• started "handselling" newsletter signups, rather than depending on the clipboard that was on the front counter -- and our subscriptions are up dramatically already;
• stocked and gave a review in our newsletter last week to Daniel Pink's book [A Whole New Mind (Riverhead)]
• and, we've each a list of projects and ideas to still work on, separately or together.

When there is time, we'll sit down and go thru the ABACUS report together. I was writing percentages, as I could remember, when Avin [ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz] was talking, and both wanted to know more and see what we can do.

You've given us so much to work with. The sponsors were very generous! We're doing a new Boku order to get some of the journals (the mini-books are an easy counter self-seller, but we each loved our notebook at the institute); we're ordering books we saw at the Reps' Picks, and, lastly, we are each reading books the publishers shared.

Thanks again to you at ABA, the ABA Board, and all the panel members. We'll be using the tools and ideas to help us focus. We'll be implementing the public relations ideas (thinking public relations, not advertising).

Becky Milner
Vintage Books
Vancouver, Washington
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