Marketing

Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C., doesn't limit its book-club topics to, well, politics and prose. According to buyer Mark LaFramboise, the store's 16 clubs include Fascinating History, Spirituality, Spanish Language, and Knitting Circle. There's also a group with a proclamation-as-name: Still Feminist After All These Years.

While it would be nearly impossible for an author to make appearances at over 50 bookstores in five days to promote a new novel, the new Out of the Book film project is providing bestselling novelist Ian McEwan and his publisher -- not to mention participating independent bookstores -- with the next best thing. A film featuring McEwan and promoting his new book On Chesil Beach (Nan A.

"The New Rules of Marketing and PR for Retailers" was presented at BookExpo America on Saturday morning by David Meerman Scott. The hour-long session was based on Scott's new book of the same name subtitled, "How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly."

Does your town love its Main Street? Starting May 2, Scholastic Inc. and the American Booksellers Association will offer a way for your town to prove it -- and a chance for participants to win a Main Street spending spree. Scholastic and ABA are partnering to bring the Main Street Contest -- an essay contest for children -- to Book Sense bookstores.

Downloadable, customizable generic staff pick shelf-talkers were recently added to the marketing materials available to ABA member booksellers via the association's trade website, BookWeb.org. The shelf-talker is available in PDF and Word formats.

Miami's Books & Books is renowned for a wide-ranging events calendar that has included readings by Hillary and Bill Clinton and Elie Wiesel, cooking demonstrations by Rachael Ray and Anthony Bourdain, and weekly lectures and discussions on a broad list of topics.

Melissa Lion By Melissa Lion Diesel, A Bookstore is known in both its communities -- Malibu and Oakland, California -- as a great store to visit for reliable, well-suited recommendations. Here are the rules that I, one of Diesel's enthusiastic handsellers, follow:

Generating buzz about literature and literary events over radio airwaves has become a key part of the branding and marketing efforts of more than a few independent bookstores. For some, this may be through participation in a program such as The Spoken Word, and for others, through a seasonal appearance on National Public Radio's Morning Edition with Susan Stamberg.

Collette Morgan of Minneapolis' Wild Rumpus is a master at creating authorless events that not only draw crowds, but that also ensure that her young customers continue to return to the store through high school and beyond. Morgan recently shared some of these memorable events at the ABA panel "Creating Killer Events" at BookExpo America. This week, BTW talks with the events guru herself about some of her store's unusual, crowd-pleasing activities.

Booksellers attending the panel on "Creating Killer Events" on Thursday, May 18, at BookExpo America heard from experienced booksellers about the importance of making an independent bookstore the community center for great author (and "authorless") events, to sell books, to garner free publicity, and to strengthen ties with customers and other key community institutions.