News on Bookselling September 2014 by Robyn Huppert

VOLUME 14 JUNE 2014

NEWS ON BOOKSELLING

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING There is simply no denying how powerful social media can be when used as a way to amplify your existing marketing efforts. Especially for retailers like yourselves who create happy customers (raving fans!) every single day. YVONNE ADELE A Microsoft graduate with a couple of decades of corporate experience, Yvonne created the Ms Megabyte brand/ persona in the mid 90’s leading to a national media profile Based on the outstanding feedback following the Social Media Marketing presentation at this year’s conference, we’ve engaged Yvonne to provide a webinar series in October and a special consulting offer.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

The word ‘social’ has often put business-people off – it sounds like something which should be left to after-hours. It can sometimes be more relevant to call it Connected-Media-Marketing. It’s all about EXTENDING your relationship with your customers and potential customers using the platforms they inhabit the most. Of course, not all customers are created equal so you’ve got to have a presence on all of the popular social platforms to make sure you’re part of their conversation. This is a great way to see how social media, otherwise described as ‘EARNED’ media fits into your existing platforms: In my work as a Social Media Speaker and Consultant, the most common frustrations I see are where businesses have created their social media profiles and taken an ad-hoc approach from there. The only way to win at the social media game of life is to undertake social media ON PURPOSE.

02 03 05 06

CEO’s Report President’s Report ILF Report Social Media Marketing con’t

Find out where they live First, you need to know where your customers live online. In the case of book buying customers, I can pretty much guarantee their most commonly visited platform will be Facebook

CONTINUED ON PAGE 06

09 10 12 16

Commonwealth Bank Marketing - the sale Management Committee Bookshop Profile

You can judge a bookshop by its cover.

Insurance: for most of us it’s a subject buried in the Business Reading section. But in these times of increasing claims, often due to wild weather or vandalism, making sure we have the right cover is becoming a priority.

They understand that a ‘closed’ sign on the door means lost sales and lost customers. So if a brick comes through the window or a pipe bursts, Guild’s first priority will always be to get you up and running as soon as possible.

The Australian Booksellers Association has recently been through a comprehensive assessment of the insurance options available and has chosen Guild Insurance as the best partner for our members.

There’s also financial benefits: no broker fees, no standard excess for liability claims, and no additional charge to pay-bythe-month.

Protection for your livelihood and reputation.

For more information or to take out a policy simply call 1800 810 213 or visit guildinsurance.com.au

Guild is a refreshingly different insurer. You’ll be treated as a business partner not a policy number, with cover tailored to the specific needs of your bookshop.

You’ve made the right choice. Insurance issued by Guild Insurance Ltd, ABN 55 004 538 863, AFSL 233791 and subject to terms, conditions and exclusions. Guild Insurance supports your association through the payment of referral fees. This information is of a general nature only. Please refer to the policy for details. For more information call 1800 810 213. GLD2810

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Dear Members, Last month I was privileged to join the 2014 ILF (Indigenous Literacy Foundation) Ambassadors trip to the Tiwi Islands. It was an unexpected week of joy and hard work. Let me paint you some pictures: The team –new friends and old –

after the dancing and celebrations.

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Juliet Rogers -President of the ILF Board

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Karen Williams and Tina Raye, Executive Director and Project Manager at ILF,

Taking home a lovely piece of Tiwi art to hang on my study wall.

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PATRICIA GENAT

Samuel Wagan Watson – wonderful poet and all round interesting guy with an endless pocketful of lollies and dried fruit which he relabelled as monster teeth & brains

Stopping and getting out of the troopie after 45 minutes of bone shaking corrugations between schools. Enjoying a full briefing about Tiwi history and culture, and lovely hospitality from Tiwi College principal Ian Smith and wife, Annie.

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Alison Lester – I don’t think I’ve ever met an author/illustrator with such a heart for working with children and the amazing stamina and skill required to keep going every day.

Being able to spend a day with the teacher in charge of the Library at Tiwi College – helping her with sorting, mending, deleting and generally using some of my old teacher librarian skills.

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David Lawrence – he made us laugh and we’re all quite sure that Fox Swift really does live with him in his little house which is walking distance to the MCG.

The Disappointments:

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Dub Leffler – he made us cry and he made everyone feel good about love stories.

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Nick Bowditch – ILF Board Member and smart as a whip during our after dinner debates.

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James Kellow – CEO of Harper Collins – ask him about the baby possum;)

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And me, the least experienced and newest team member, happy to take photos and be a teacher’s assistant and chop veggies and enjoy every beautiful sunrise.

The Delights: Arriving to the heat of Darwin after a cold foggy day in Adelaide and making my way to the tiny tiny plane which was to carry us all over the Beagle Gulf to Pickertarmoor and our campsite at Tiwi College (www.tiwicollege. com). The Children and the teachers at the three schools in which we took programs – Tiwi College, Independent Boarding School and our home for the week, and NT schools at Garden Point and Millikapiti.

Only one really – I didn’t see a buffalo anywhere, or a dugong close up. Maybe next time, everyone tells me they are everywhere. What we did: For the three working days – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the authors and illustrators took classes and the rest of us were the support crew – food provision, paint and paper monitors, crowd control. Out of hours, we met with local identities, the teachers, and each other. We took photos, made a lot of food, drank a lot of water (it was a dry camp), and enjoyed writing, sketching and talking. On 3rd September, I attended the party at the Opera House to celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day. It was great to meet up again with some of the team and Tiwi students who came down for the occasion. Many of you will have assisted with events or cracked open your Orange ILF Dumbells which hopefully hold lots of gold and silver coins. Thank you from each of the children who carefully and oh-so-happily took home their very own book from the selection after each ILF visit or delivery to a remote school. It’s wonderful to be reminded again that a book and the ability to read it can be such a powerful gift.

Joining the Birthday celebrations at Millikapiti Gallery and flipping 200 buffalo burgers with Sam Wagan Watson for the hungry partygoers NEWS ON BOOKSELLING

CEO’S REPORT

There is much afoot in the ABA offices, and this is a great opportunity to let you know about some things that you can reap the benefits of over the coming months. Some of this is outlined in detail through other parts of News on Bookselling or you may have read about it in our eNews, but sometimes an ‘executive’ summary is useful. ABA Conference and Trade Exhibition 2015

JOEL BECKER

The 2015 ABA Conference & Trade Exhibition location has been determined, and we believe this is one right out of the (specially giftwrapped) box. It will be at the State Library of Victoria (SLV) in Melbourne on 17th and 18th May, with the Trade Exhibition to be held jointly with Leading Edge on the afternoon of the 17th in the beautiful and historically significant Queens Hall at the Library. Our dinner is planned for the Cowen Gallery in the Library, and the plenary sessions will be held in the purpose-built Village Roadshow Theatrette in the SLV Conference Centre. Options will be provided for hotel accommodation within an easy walk of the State Library. We’ve taken on the feedback from this year’s Conference, and will be delivering a program that should challenge, stimulate, educate and entertain. A couple of teasers: The sensational social media expert, Yvonne Adele, will be returning to build on her presentation from last year. Yvonne is also going to be running a Webinar for us in October. This is a fantastic opportunity to get all your social media ducks in a row for the Christmas selling season.

From a Library to Libraries While we are on the subject of libraries, you may have heard that the ABA is in conversation with ALIA and the State Library of South Australia about trialling a Buy it Now button. The idea is that when a ‘borrower’ decides that he or she wants to buy a book – perhaps it is not available from the library; maybe they liked the book and want to purchase it for themselves or a friend – there will be an option to buy the book from a bookshop. We are involved to explore whether it is possible to develop a system that would connect the potential customer to ABA member shops – initially a local shop – then perhaps other ABA member shops, and what the minimum technical requirements and costs are to deliver this capability. The initial trial will take place in several libraries (Councils) in South Australia.

Kids’ Reading Guide Robyn has been working furiously to produce another splendid Kids’ Reading Guide. Whether you are taking a ‘start-up’ pack or more substantial quantities, this is a fantastic opportunity to promote the best of the best of kid’s books for the holiday season, with recommendations from some of the best kids’ booksellers in the country. The illustrator this year is the fabulous Terry Denton, inspired by the ever-growing (now) 52-Storey Treehouse. There is still the possibility of getting in with an order. Contact Robyn, rhuppert@aba.org.au

The Very New Website These things always take longer than you like, but we wanted to make sure we got it right before we launched the new ABA website – www. booksellers.org.au. It is more than a new look and a new domain name. There are two distinct areas to the website. The public facing entry point identifies (if the user has their location turned on) the nearest ABA member bookshop when they enter the site, and has consumer-friendly information about shop events, National Bookshop Day, Book Vouchers etc. ABA members log into the members only section, which is more cleverly designed to ensure easy access to the information you need. Importantly we have an improved shopping cart – both for members and for the general public. It also has the capacity for you to update your shop details online. Take a few minutes to browse.

Finally, some welcomes… Last News on Bookselling we announced a new Management Committee member – Kerstin Brown from Collins Booksellers Smithfield (in FNQ to the cognoscenti). This month we’re delighted to also welcome Laura Herft (Dillons Norwood Bookshop, Adelaide) and Jane Seaton (Beaufort Street Books, Perth). There is an extended interview with all three of the ‘newbies’ beginning on Page 12.

INDIGENOUS LITERACY FOUNDATION

This year’s annual Ambassador trip to the Tiwi Islands was such a rich and challenging experience for our group of authors, Board and other industry members. KAREN WILLIAMS

Left: Baby kangaroo and pupil at Milikapiti School. Right: David Lawrence and the middle school girls at Tiwi College

The physical journey from Darwin by light air and then across Melville Island by troopie is a significant part of the experience but the real one is truly spiritual: a two-way learning about life remote and traditional Tiwi culture. Tiwi children are engaging, smart and funny and their stories coaxed by the remarkable team of authors and illustrators who came with us were inspiring. We were fortunate also to meet and share meals with community members and teachers at Milikapti and Tiwi college. During the short time, two books were produced in Alison Lester’s workshops: No Way Yirrikipay! (No Way Crocodile) and Yati Yirrara Yirrajirrima (One, Two, Three…) a Tiwi Counting Book which we may publish in the future. At Pularumpi remote school, located on the Western coast of Melville, Dub Leffler read from Once there was a Boy and got some brilliant drawings of fish, buffalo and turtles from a class of 5-6 year olds. In another classroom, David Lawrence’s students created amazing plots for Fox Swift and his possible Tiwi adventures, illustrating how stories are developed from everyday life and the misadventures that happen along the way. And Sam Wagan Watson’s salty plum and ghost writing workshops really produced some amazing stories.

bookshop that Tina Raye set up. Every young student and teacher got the opportunity of choosing a book.

Indigenous Literacy Day Thank you for your support during this year and for the many donations that you have already given, particularly during National Bookshop Day. Over 80 bookshops have registered their support for Indigenous Literacy Day. Thank you! In addition, over 600 schools, libraries and businesses registered this year to hold a Great Book Swap challenge or other fundraising activity and we have been overwhelmed by their enthusiasm. In Sydney, the day was celebrated at the Sydney Opera House with over 300 students, the Gondwana Choirs, Tiwi College girls, Ambassadors including Sam Wagan Watson, Alison Lester, Andy Griffiths and our esteemed Board members. This year too, over 14 young student ambassadors who have been giving speeches, organising events, raising funds and giving media interviews also joined us. One student at Holy Cross Catholic School at Kincumber created a special poster and we’d like to share it. It said: Reading takes you places and everyone deserves the adventure.

The Tiwi field trip is an important part of building and strengthening our relationships. Hopefully, some of the 200 students who participated in the workshops will be Tiwi’s future writers and illustrators. At each school, we were able to gift new books through a bush NEWS ON BOOKSELLING

SOCIAL MEDIA

Continued from Page 1 To prove it to yourself, just ask every customer at the counter for the next 3 days (and have your staff do the same): “We’re just asking our customers if they’re on Facebook.” Keep a tally behind the counter. If you’ve already got a Facebook page, make sure to tell them about it and ask them to give you a ‘Like’ so they will be first to see your news and offers. I know this activity will make you realise you’ve got to spend some time mapping out your Facebook strategy on purpose. Understand what you’re undertaking You’re not just creating a Facebook page for your store ‘because that’s what everyone’s doing’. If you take a moment to clarify and thoughtfully state your purpose to yourself and staff, it will really go miles to ensuring you have success. Creating a broadcasting medium to get our marketing messages out quickly to our biggest fans. (Facebook users love to ‘find out first’). Providing a platform for our customers to spread the word about us to their friends/ family. (It is very common for someone to ‘brag’ about a brand new purchase by posting a picture of it or a review on their social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. If the customer knows about your Facebook page, they will ‘tag’ you, giving their friends a quick way to get to your page). Giving a platform for customer support. (83% of people in a recent survey backed out of an intended online purchase due to poor online customer service).

People who complain online simply want one main thing: TO BE HEARD. If you show you are listening and are willing to assist in every way (as you would if they came into the store to complain), you’ve got a very good chance of converting that negative person into another raving fan. If I’m a separate customer observing a negative comment on your Facebook wall and your response to it, I’m just as happy to see you responding well to a difficult comment as I am to see you posting raving reviews. On rare occasions you will have someone unreasonable or nasty posting on your wall and it’s important to remember it is YOUR space. You have control and can very quickly take a 2 step process to deal with it: Click the ‘x’ in the top right corner of the nasty comment. You can then select ‘hide’. This will cleverly hide the comment from everyone except the person who made it and their friends. The person still feels heard but you don’t have to expose your general Fans to it. Click the ‘x’ again if you want to completely Delete the comment.

Spread the word Once you’ve created your social media platforms of choice, make sure you let the world know! Put icons on the home page of your website (top right corner is the most effective) which link directly to each social platform. Take it a step further and EMBED a box on your website which allows visitors to Like your Facebook page or Follow your Twitter account directly from your website without even leaving.

FACEBOOK: Here’s an example where Better Read Than Dead Books have a link to their Facebook page on their website:

It is not JUST about how many ‘Likes’ you can gain. Facebook is an extraordinary way to reach your target market regardless of whether they are a page Fan or not (more below).

Don’t bury your head in the sand So many businesses are scared of social media because of the open and public forum. They are worried about receiving negative comments or complaints and what can be done about them. But shouldn’t every complaint be seen as a gift in a gold box, tied up in a red ribbon? If a customer has a bad experience and wants to make a negative comment, they are more than likely going to tell at least a handful of their mates in conversations you cannot hear. Isn’t it better for them to have this conversation online where you have a chance to address it and illustrate your exceptional customer service skills?

But could consider replacing this with a Facebook Box showing the website visitor a bit of what is happening on the Facebook page and allowing them to LIKE it without leaving the website:

CONT...

How to do it: https://developers.facebook.com/ docs/plugins/like-box-for-pages

Are you mobile-ready? A recent survey showed that 70% of mobile searches led to action within 1 hour. Have you tried to view your website on a mobile device like a phone or tablet? If you don’t have one handy, just view your website on your computer and grab the bottom right hand corner of the window with your mouse and drag it into a smaller size. If your website does not flip into the format you’re changing to, it isn’t ‘RESPONSIVE’ and that should be an action item you add to your to-do list for your web developer. It can be expensive, but you’re already behind the 8-ball if you haven’t started working on this.

Video

TWITTER:

Here’s an example where Boffins Books have a link to their Twitter account:

I visited a tonne of ABA member websites. One of the awesome things you were all doing well was book reviews. You have staff and customers and authors doing reviews and I was most impressed! The only suggestion I’d urge you to consider is doing a portion of these as videos. In 2016, 80% of the world’s internet traffic is predicted to be video. Have one staff member a week do a book review video simply into their iphone or computer webcam. Just give it a go and watch the response rate soar.

Leverage your existing database

But could consider having an actual Twitter box there instead which allows the visitor to see a bit of what is happening on Twitter as well as Follow from the website without leaving:

In Facebook, there are some powerful tools behind the scenes starting with the Power Editor. You can load up your customer email database and Facebook will find the matching Facebook accounts then tell you whether they have ‘Liked’ your Facebook page or not. You can then create a cost-effective ad to send to those customers (a Facebook ‘custom audience’) who have not yet ‘Liked’ your page and invite them to do so. Make sure you give them a reason though, something like: ‘Find out first about our special offers’ or ‘Facebook fan events coming soon’ etc. The next step you can take is to create a ‘Lookalike audience’ – Facebook will take the profiles it found that matched your customer email addresses and now go and find another 1000 (you choose the number based on how much you want to pay) Facebook profiles with a similar demographic, interests etc to your customers. You can now advertise to them too.

Follow your customer around the web And lastly, you can generate a small piece of code (called a ‘pixel tracking code’) from Facebook which you put onto your own website. When someone visits your website and then Facebook, you can have an ad appear just to them. It’s called re-marketing and it’s something we’ll cover off in one of the upcoming webinars. How to do it: http://en.support.wordpress.com/ widgets/twitter-timeline-widget/ Please don’t be put-off by the technical nature of those two examples. Your website tech will know exactly what to do.

If you’d like to consider having Yvonne and team consult directly to your bookstore please visit her website www.yvonneadele.com or send an email ya@yvonneadele.com

NEWS ON BOOKSELLING

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Stay Connected:

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MEMBER SERVICES COMMONWEALTH BANK

Good customer service is integral to fostering brand loyalty. Almost a quarter of customers will seek out repeat business for two or more years following a good customer service experience, whilst 39% will avoid a business for two or more years after they have had a bad experience with them1. In this competitive market, customer service built on a foundation of technology could be the key differentiator your business needs. You will have a clear advantage over competitors if your business is responsive to customer queries, complaints and preferences. Here are a few ways you can use technology to build a better relationship with your customer. Increasing customer satisfaction with online communication Voice calls are still the primary method of customer service communication across all demographics, but adoption of self-service and digital channels like social media and live chat is increasing rapidly2. Consumers want instantaneous service and digital interaction can provide this by negating the need for lengthy phone hold time, ultimately reducing customer frustration and boosting satisfaction. â&#x20AC;˘74%2 of customers will interact with a retailer via social media so this is a great place to start. Be sure to respond to customer queries in a timely manner. When dealing with negative comments, it is best to direct the customer to a private forum such as a phone number or email rather than simply deleting the comment. â&#x20AC;˘Online live chat is a cost-effective alternative to call centers. In 2012 there was a 24%3 rise in business live chat usage amongst consumers, indicating that customers are increasingly turning to digital platforms to communicate with

businesses. Platforms like LiveChat Inc or Olark allow you to chat instantly with a customer during the engagement process. You can also have users rate customer service at the end of a live chat to highlight areas needing improvement. â&#x20AC;˘Implementing contactless payments to minimise queues. Long queues at your point of sale (POS) can often hinder a good customer experience. Contactless card payment systems are a great way to ensure you offer good customer service, and negate the need for signatures, pin entry and cash handling. With fewer steps required at your POS, contactless card payments reduce tender time and eliminate queues. According to MasterCard, 30% of transactions are already made using contactless technology3. With advancements like this, the Australian landscape is heading towards an increasingly digital wallet and now is the time to start making these technological changes within your business. Find out more about contactless payments >> https://www.commbank.com.au/business/ merchant-services/eftpos-options/contactless-payments.html To take advantage of the partnership between CommBank and the Australian Booksellers Association please call the membership team on: (03) 9859 7322 or memberservices@aba.org.au Disclaimer: The advice contained in these articles is for general information purposes only. It has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should, before acting on the advice, consider its appropriateness to your circumstances.

1 http://cdn.zendesk.com/resources/whitepapers/Ze-

ndesk_WP_Customer_Service_and_Business_Results. pdf

2 http://blogs.forrester.com/kate_leggett/13-01-14-for-

3 http://www.afr.com/p/technology/cba_joins_westpac_ to_launch_smartphone_28YZSTZ7flTsuiuFMKTX8J

resters_top_15_trends_for_customer_service_in_2013 NEWS ON BOOKSELLING

MARKETING THE BOOK SALE

Every six months major department stores invite keen bargain hunters to line up at 2am to grab a bargain or two at their clearance sales. Why do these retailers invest so much time and money discounting their wares? It’s not because they don’t want to count everything during stocktake, and most of the time it’s not because their stock inventory is too high. Stocktake sales are hugely profitable! Most of the goods are discounted in conjunction with the supplier, sharing the margin loss. Any new stock ordered in has been done so with a discount in mind. So Myer and David Jones often make more money during their stocktake sale than at Christmas. But how do they do it with all those discounts?

STEVE JONES

It’s all in the maths. They can discount a frying pan as long as they sell 100-200-300% more. Once the volume drops they start getting shaky. So while margins on discounted stock are generally lower, most clearance sales make a larger amount of profit because their sales are significantly higher. A mentor once told me that you don’t bank percentages, you bank dollars. Cash rules, and percentages are just used for planning and marketing. So your shop has some dead stock, those books you may have forgotten to return, or you did a firm sale deal with a supplier and not all the books sold. You can keep your cash locked up in dead stock, or you can have a sale to shift it, freeing up money to buy new books.

Planning Percentage Discounts It is very easy to have a discount sale across the whole shop, or genre. But do you know the financial implications? If you were to discount everything in your shop by 20% you would need to double your sales to make the same profit as not discounting. Don’t even think of getting in extra staff or using paid advertising – you will be going backwards once your expenses increase. However, it is a different story if you discount for marketing reasons i.e. get new customers, steal customers away from the local cinema etc. You can use the discount as a marketing expense – in lieu of placing an ad in the paper. But be warned, once you discount a few times your customers will expect it. And more often than not, all your good stock will sell and you will just have to order it back in.

Tips: Many customers have trouble processing percentage discounts in their head. To maximise the impact you may need a chart near the display to help. Ordering Stock In You may not have enough clearance books to make a full impact. Why not contact a remainder distributor and arrange a selection of titles SOR? You might even be able to return the items before the invoice needs paying! With the right traffic flow the old saying ‘Stack it high and watch it fly’ can come true.

If the book was a bad seller at $20 what makes you think selling it at $15 will make a difference? Be bold with your pricing on remainders. Think like a customer in bargain mode and price accordingly.

Marketing Ideas Signage It goes without saying that posters and other forms of POS have to be visible. There is no point having a sign promoting a children’s book sale only in the children’s book section. At the very least you need signage in a location that will attract people into your shop. Obviously your shop window is ideal. As part of the’ Shop Local’ campaign the ABA has produced some book specific posters that can be download free of charge to its members. You can either produce them in A4 with a home/office colour printer or by taking the file to Officeworks. A large poster can be produced for under $20. If you are producing specific signage for discount tables etc ensure you are not perceived as being deceitful. For example: a sign with ‘Áll books from $5’ needs to have a nice number of books at $5. If your sign is worded wrongly you could lose a customer, or worse, have a visit

from the ACCC. Should an issue arise where your sign could have been ambiguous and a customer points this out, it is advisable to give the customer the deal they think it is – why lose a customer over pride or a couple of dollars? Of course fix the problem after they leave the shop.

more likely to be interested in your sale than anonymous people reading a newspaper. So tell everyone about what is for sale, when, etc.

Paid Advertising

Email – you have legally been collecting your customer’s email addresses. Send a simple email to your customers inviting them to save, watch out for words that spam filters block.

The general rule in marketing is to never use paid advertising when you are selling at a loss. In fact I would advise never using paid advertising unless it would be a major drawcard i.e. ‘the latest Murakami at a fantastic price’. Typically 1-2% of people who see a print ad act on it. And that is with a well designed ad with a good placement, with a great offer. Ads typically start at $500 in a major local newspaper. With normal margins and taking out all your expenses you would need to sell 416 $20 books to recoup that cost. Do your maths before you place an ad – you may be doing more harm than good.

Gumtree – You may not know it but Gumtree consistently comes up as one of the most visited sites in Australia. And an ad is free!

Tell your friends – they may have other friends too. Put a sign in the community services window – check to make sure it is OK. Use online event websites. Spruik it out the front of your shop. If yoga books are on sale, contact the yoga studio down the road. Free advertising is limitless because you have nothing to lose. Tip: And before you invite new customers into your shop ensure you will be giving them the ultimate experience. You don’t want them to visit for the first time and see messy displays, staff talking amongst themselves, and the best books missing from the shelves. So in summary... The bigger the discount, the greater the sales required - with no extra expenses. Advertising is about maths, not marketing. Ideas for free advertising are limitless because you have nothing to lose.

Likewise do your maths if you plan to advertise with Facebook. Ads using Facebook are typically much cheaper than print, but you must make sure you are advertising to the correct market. Most grandparents aren’t into Urban Slam Poetry. The percentage of people acting on Facebook ads is a little higher than with newspapers. Tip: If the ad isn’t clean, or the offer isn’t easy, and you only have limited stock STOP. Don’t advertise to disappoint customers.

Free Advertising If you can’t afford an ad, like almost every small business, you need to start getting creative to spread the word. Social media – this is why you have been uploading photos of cats hugging books with a silly hat on them. People who follow you are NEWS ON BOOKSELLING

ABA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

We are delighted to have three new members joining the Management Committee this year– Jane Seaton (Beaufort Street Books, Perth), Laura Herft (Dillons Norwood Bookshop, Adelaide) and Kerstin Brown (Collins Booksellers Smithfield – outside of Cairns). ABA CEO Joel Becker chatted with them recently.

JOEL BECKER

Tell us a bit about yourselves. Jane Seaton: Having been a nurse when I left school many struggle to see the link to being a bookstore owner; however, as a nurse you think on your feet, you need to be a good listener, to be able to multitask and work strange hours. I am sure many of you now can see the comparison. After nursing for 11 years, I became a sales rep for medical devices and soon was back studying, as well. l then completed a post graduate degree in Marketing which led me to a position as National Marketing Manager for medical devices, one I held for 7 years. In 2008, I resigned my position to fulfill a dream of having my own business and almost 2 years later Beaufort Street Books opened its doors. Laura Herft: When I was still in school, working as a bookseller never occurred to me. I was obsessed with reading from the time I was very young. I would keep my school lunch money, and use it to lay-by books at my local bookshop, Matilda’s – preferring to go hungry and read. I was even hit by a car at the age of twelve, reading and not looking where I was going. After high school I hadn’t really made up my mind about what I wanted to do and saw a full time job at the University text book store. While text books weren’t exactly my ideal, there was a large enough literary fiction section to keep me interested for two years. I left Unibooks to work for Ross Dillon, at what was then A & R, and loved it so much I am still working for Ross today. Kerstin Brown: We came into the book industry partly as a young family making a lifestyle choice. All facilities were close to the little shopping centre in the middle of cane fields and the first shop was a small independent book hub called AB BOOKS. In the late 80s there were few sales reps and we devoured catalogues as late night reading. Cairns and surroundings grew in the 90s and by 1996 Collins Booksellers were coming into the expanded Smithfield shopping centre. With our demographics and diversity of activities we felt there was not enough space for two bookshops in a small centre so decided that we join the group.

After many changes in the group and a place on the Collins board being made available I decided to put my hand up and have been on the

Laura Herft, Dillons Norwood Bookshop

CB board since 2009. One of my main reasons was that there was no female director -maybe a Scandinavian trait!!- and in our industry there are so many females employed at all levels.

What particular interests are you bringing to the Committee? Laura: My real passion is children’s books. Over the years I have worked every area of the bookshop, from customer service to running events, marketing, buying, processing, even being the shop IT person – not my favourite part of the job! Jane: I believe that as an industry, we need to work together, regardless of whether you are an independent bookshop or part of a chain and as such, hope to be able to set up regular meetings of WA booksellers. We live in an extremely large state which can have its difficulties but hopefully with regular meetings and communication we can benefit by each other’s challenges and successes.

I understand you were mentored prior to opening the shop. Can you tell us a little bit about that experience, and how it prepared you? Jane: Prior to deciding to open a bookstore, I attended a weekend course run by the ABA on bookselling and opening a bookstore which was something extremely useful as I had never worked in a bookshop before. Once I left work and had decided a bookstore was the path I was taking, I spent a week with Fiona Stager

Left: Kerstin Brown, Collins Booksellers Smithfield Right: Jane Seaton, Beaufort Street Books

at Avid Reader in Queensland, and then 3 days with Derek Dryden at Better Read than Dead in Newtown, NSW. I had met them both at the weekend course in Melbourne and had kept in touch. They both were incredibly helpful and I don’t think I could have pulled it all together without their assistance.

Do you think that there are unique requirements to having a bookshop where you are located? Jane: I have a particular love for food and cooking and considered opening a café or salad bar prior to deciding on opening a bookstore. Opening a book café was also on Employ the right type of person before experience; it is far easier to teach them the role than change their attitude. Spend time working in the business not just on the business.

Over deliver on the customers’ expectations and they will do the advertising for you and your business. It is easier and cheaper to look after the customers you have rather than seek out new customers Laura: eBooks have been such a big topic for a long time now. The impact hasn’t been as strong as we thought it would be, but I think the uptake hasn’t reached its peak yet. I would

say that for our store we haven’t completely lost any of our customers to it, but maybe as many as half of our customers use a reading device as well as shopping with us. The bigger impact on our business in recent years has been people buying books from overseas and the growing increase in awareness of internet shopping. While this is a growing trend we are now seeing some customer backlash to buying from overseas. So many retail businesses have closed it has become almost impossible for customers to ignore what their digital lifestyles do to local business and culture. Your customers should know that the local area would be a less interesting place without your bookstore. It’s important that people understand that you contribute to local culture and community and that they can be a part of it. It might be through events and book club. It can be as simple as talking to people and making recommendations. It’s all part of the experience they won’t get online.

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Continued from Page 13 In spite of your 10+ years of bookselling, you are relatively young in a profession where succession plans are a vexed issue. What do you think are the challenges and opportunities in engaging younger booksellers in making a career choice to stay in bookselling? Laura: Things are so different now for young people starting in bookselling from what the industry was like ten years ago! Just the number of stores that were around compared to now made it feel like there were a lot more opportunities and possibilities out there. I believe that the most important thing to keep young booksellers interested and engaged is making them feel that they have an important role in the business, with opportunity for growth and development. People lose interest quickly if they feel like they have reached a peak and canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t achieve further.Â There are so many great opportunities for younger booksellers in this industry today; we are always talking about the changing world of social media, digital books, and online bookselling. With so many new ideas and new technologies new blood in this industry is more important than ever.

Dillons was a franchise shop that became an independent.Laura, what did you learn within the franchise experience that was useful to take with you into the independent sphere and what are the benefits with your current structure? Laura: Before working for an Angus and Robertson store I really had no idea about how franchised businesses worked and the benefits and challenges of being one. The biggest benefit I saw of being a part of a franchise was the buying and advertising power that you can have as a group. Unfortunately, in the case of

the REDgroup, the other side to this is that when things go badly a huge number of people are dragged through it. We were lucky that we had parted ways with Angus and Robertson before the REDgroup collapse. Operating now as an independent shop, we have found similar benefits to being part of a larger group by joining Leading Edge. Benefits of being a Leading Edge store are being part of a buying group. The great part of being independent is having the choice of taking up these offers or not if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that it is beneficial for your business.

Kerstin, your bookshop was originally an independent before becoming a franchise shop. What did you gain by becoming a Collins Bookseller? Kerstin: Joining Collins Booksellers has been a great personal and business experience. With the number of books published today it is sometimes hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. With group buys and better discounts there is an advantage to get help from other buyers. The friends you gain within a group are also a pleasure, and I hope the same will happen with ABA. A very important lesson I learnt from being on boards is to put the right hat on! It is not your business you represent but the group that puts you on the board.

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ABA NEWS & KEY DATES NEW ABA MEMBERS We welcome the following new members: BOOKSELLERS Book N Bits, Annangrove NSW Asian Basis Pty Ltd, Sydney NSW Harry Hartog Bookseller, Woden ACT CMA, North Tamborine QLD Extreme Shopping Online, Wandandian NSW Bookworld, Docklands Vic Angus & Robertson Online, Docklands Vic Logical Unsanity, Bardon QLD Robinsons Bookshop, Greensborough Vic Robinsons Bookshop, Chadstone Vic Robinsons Bookshop, Emporium Melbourne Vic Big B Books, Burleigh Heads QLD NEWS ON BOOKSELLING

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Not Just Books, Burnie TAS KEVIN YOUNG

Burnie is on the Northwest coast of Tasmania, a region renowned for its’ fine produce; cheese, fishing, fruit & vegetables, whisky, beef and dairy. The region also supports forestry, mining and manufacture. It also has a fabulous climate, come down and visit sometime. Sue and I have owned and run our bookshop for a little over 21 years. We opened our business in 1993 as an Angus & Robertson franchise and owe a lot to the times we spent learning from and discussing the industry with other franchisees throughout the country. We made an effort to learn from everyone and have visited bookshops in every state and territory. We weren’t sure that the late nights with wine & beer were part of the industry but were assured that ‘this is how the best people in the book trade learn’. Our business opened in a small (110m2) site in a CBD Arcade. Three years after opening we expanded into the adjoining shop, adding an ABC centre and increasing the floor space to 200m2, more stock, more cleaning and more recovery.

Our business continued to grow, even though our city and region (similar to much of regional Australia) saw a slow but steady population decline. We continued to expand the business further and regularly took up external trading opportunities as diverse as the Lounge Room at the King Island Hotel, The Town Hall in Queenstown on The West Coast, Agricultural Field Days, School Book Fairs and vacant shops in our or adjoining towns. In 2007, we had the opportunity to move from our arcade site to a street frontage site in the prime retail strip in town, this site was 500 m2, larger and more expensive than we wanted but we moved anyway, much more vacuuming and shelf tiding required! In this development, we added board games and puzzles, cards and wrap, an education section and art supply products to our mix. We have since added a small Tea section with emphasis on the ‘T2’ brand product and this is performing well. While we stock these other products we do see ourselves as a bookshop first and foremost and only consider products that complement this. Retail in general and bookselling in particular have faced a fair bit of headwind over recent years. This is even more true in regional locations such as ours. But with careful planning and good service Sue and I are confident that ours and hundreds of other bookshops around the country will continue to provide the link between the written word and readers for generations to come. It is one of our great joys to now be providing good books to a second generation of NW Coast Tassie families.

Not Just Books, Burnie

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