Abrams Promo Helps Indies Focus on the Art of Selling

The Art of Selling Books [1], a new promotion from Abrams that offers 90-days dating, free freight, and extra discounts on 20 curated assortments of front and backlist titles for adults and children, is getting an enthusiastic reception from indie booksellers around the country. With adult assortments ranging from romance to baking to beer, and kids’ assortments including comics, the otherworldly, and the Wimpy, “Abrams’ The Art of Selling Books is exactly the kind of promotion we’ve been looking for” said Lisa Sullivan of Bartleby’s Books [2] in Wilmington, Vermont. “A combination of front and backlist organized around a common theme makes easy displays.”

“Our new Abrams – The Art of Selling Books program is our way of offering independent booksellers a fresh and unique opportunity to sell more of what we publish best,” said Abrams President and CEO Michael Jacobs. “Enthusiastic early reactions from around the country already indicate that we have a program that works for some of our best customers — independent booksellers. We’re offering carefully curated assortments of new and backlist titles, boxed and shipped together, ready to take advantage of publicity and marketing buzz for the new book. We think we have a program that will continue to evolve to fit our shared mutual desire to bring the best books — frontlist and backlist both — to readers.”

 “It’s heartening to see that Abrams has created a publishing initiative that responds to the needs of its customers and succeeds in helping to achieve the shared goal of booksellers and publishers — to sell a greater number of frontlist and backlist titles,” said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. “We applaud their willingness to try something new and creative.”

The Art of Selling Books assortments include from three to nine titles each in varying quantities, and kids’ assortments feature titles from several popular series, including Babar, the Wimpy Kid, the Popularity Papers, and Library Mouse.

Abrams is offering an additional 4 percent discount on orders of 1 to 3 assortments; an extra 5 percent on 4 to 5 assortments; and an extra 6 percent on 6 or more assortments. Children’s assortments also ship with marketing materials, including posters and shelf-talkers.

“I love that the themed box includes backlist as well as a new book… Backlist drives sales for me,” said Scott Meyer of  Merritt Bookstore [3] & Toys of Merritt in Millbrook, New York.  “This is a wonderful and artful way to help us sell books … real books … ones that you have to take out of the special box and share with your customers.”

Mary Alice Garber of Washington D.C.’s Politics and Prose Bookstore [4] said the program“provides bookstores with a great incentive by offering assortments of frontlist and backlist titles with the bonus of extra discounts,” along with marketing materials that work well as giveaways for young readers, teachers, and librarians.

Stan Hynds of Northshire Bookstore [5] in Manchester Center, Vermont, likes the selection of saleable titles, the reasonable minimums, and attractive terms.“They made it easy to say yes,” he said. “What a concept.”

Abrams’ Art of Selling Books promotion ends June 1. For additional details, booksellers should contact their Abrams rep or call (212) 229-8869.