The annual membership meeting at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association held last Thursday at the start of the association’s annual meeting was a rather somber affair, with executive director Thom Chambliss reporting that PNBA will suffer a loss of between $40,000 and $50,000 in 2011 largely due to a significant decrease in titles in the holiday catalogue and the disappointing advertising revenue from the Northwest Booklovers site, which launched a year ago. He noted that with the exception of an increase in authors and librarians this year, the other numbers were down: registration at the show itself and the number of members in PNBA overall.
“I have to present a balanced budget to the board,” said Chambliss, “and in order to do that we’ll need to cut $100,000 from the budget.” Besides eliminating a number of programs, it’s likely that there will be PNBA staff cuts starting with Chambliss himself. “I’ll probably have to work two-thirds time, and we might have to eliminate a couple of part-time staff positions. Everything is on the table, and the board will decide what’s best for the organization.” In recent years publishers have cut back on both exhibitor space and advertising.
Despite the difficult economic conditions, several panels were well-attended including Thursday’s “The Nuts and Bolts of Selling Google e-Books,” moderated by Green Apple’s Pete Mulvihill with panelists Paul Hanson of Village Books in Bellingham, WA and Jenny Cohen of Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River, OR. The panel kicked off with a screening of Green Apple’s humorous instructional video that walks customers through the steps to get signed up for Google e-Books and how to download titles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJfcl7LlqCw). Mulvihill then asked for a show of hands from the bookseller attendees who are currently using the IndieCommerce e-books function; fewer than half did so.
The panelists then provided an overview of what they consider the optimal ways to market digital books in their stores. Cohen recommended featuring titles that are under $5 as a means to introduce e-books. “I regularly check the B&N and Amazon sites for cheap titles, and then highlight them on our Web site,” she said. “Also, our best sales have been with the books from Unbridled that sell for 99 cents.”
Village Books’ Web site has a feature that emphasizes e-book specials which changes every month. “We feature them at various prices, including a category called ‘cheap, cheap, cheap,’ and also send out the ‘E-book Epistle’ newsletter to our e customers,” said Hanson. “We play around with the genres, but so far mysteries and science fiction titles sell the best for us.” The panelists all agreed that children’s and YA titles are barely selling in the digital format. Village Books also held a community conversation in which their customers met reps from B&N, Adobe, and other device manufacturers. In addition, the store offers e-therapy groups and one-on-one sessions with customers to help them get acclimated to digital books. “They walk out happy and buy lots of e-books from us.”
A few booksellers raised the issue of how Google compensates stores for participating in its program. Mulvihill explained that booksellers receive a commission on the sales, and that a report from Google is generated bi-monthly that includes a check. When asked about the commission rate, Mulvihill said that after Google and the publishers take their portions of a sale, stores receive about 22 cents on the dollar. “Look,” he told the audience, “we’re not in this for the money. The real reason to sell e-books is that we don’t want to give our existing customers the opportunity to shop elsewhere.” When he asked if there were any success stories to share about Google e-books, no one in the room raised a hand.
Afterwards Susan Richmond of Inklings Bookshop in Yakima, WA said she is finally considering making e-books available in her store after thinking about it for five years. “Previously the Kindle made it an eight-track moment, but now there are enough choices of devices that e-books might make sense for us,” she said.
The tradeshow floor was bustling with people, and booksellers actively took advantage of the many special stock offers from publishers. “I haven’t stopped talking or taking orders since 9:30 this morning,” said Penguin’s Diana Van Vleck after lunch. “This is the most steady stream of customers I’ve seen at a trade show in a long time.” At the Little Brown booth marketing manager Amanda Tobier dubbed the show “really upbeat and healthy. The stores are trying to create new experiences for reading for their customers, and that’s good.”
Michael Coy, manager of Third Place Books in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood, expects to see healthy sales through the holidays. “We’re blessed with a really supportive neighborhood,” he said. “Our customers are younger, educated, and have the money to keep on buying books.” Among Coy’s picks for holiday bestsellers are the cookbook Plenty, 1Q84, Shel Silverstein’s posthumous Every Thing On It, and children’s books I Want My Hat Back, Kimono, and The Wheedle On the Needle.
Taking a breather before the trade show floor closed on Friday, Thom Chambliss had a thoughtful moment. “Remember how a few years ago the booksellers were saying, ‘Down is the new up?’ Today I’ve heard a few people say, ‘Open is the new up.’ This Christmas season is a crucial one for our members.”
