There's no Grisham, King or Wolfe to be found in "The New England Reader" catalogue . . .

There's no Grisham, King or Wolfe to be found in "The New England Reader" catalogue launched by the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) in late January. Instead, the 36-page, four-color catalogue focuses on midlist fiction and nonfiction, ranging from business books to gardening, alternative healing and NEBA Discovery Titles. It features book descriptions and reviews, as well as author interviews, which break up the text and make the catalogue less a display of book ads and more of a handselling tool.

According to Robert Palmer, owner of Resource Marketing in Norwalk, Conn., which produces the "Reader" (or "The Independent Reader" as it is called in upstate New York) in conjunction with NEBA, the idea behind the catalogue was "to find an inexpensive way for booksellers to handsell books."

Palmer, who also produces single-subject "Readers Choice" catalogues on literary criticism and science and technology for college bookstores, approached the ABA last year about creating a catalogue for independents. The organization in turn referred him to NEBA, which embraced the concept of a catalogue that would appear three times a year to supplement its own holiday catalogue and add money to its coffers. The association receives a royalty based on the number of catalogues printed for NEBA bookstores.

"When we developed the catalogue," said Palmer, "we spent a lot of time with the NEBA Advisory Council, and booksellers had a lot of input into the look and feel." That advance help translated into 55 bookstores signing up for a total of 350,000 catalogues at NEBA's fall '98 convention.

The low cost of "The New England Reader" -- free for orders of 500 copies or more -- gave it immediate store appeal. Free personalization is available for orders of 1200 to 4000 copies. Bookstore owners ordering more than 4000 copies are charged nothing to use the inside front cover for owner greetings, coupons or store-specific events calendars. Some bookstores, such as Tatnuck Bookseller &Sons in Worcester, Mass., which took 40,000 copies, used them as newspaper inserts. The UConn Co-op, in Storrs, Conn., mailed the catalogue to its customer list. But however a store chooses to use the catalogue -- as an insert, self-mailer, bag stuffer or through drop-off agreements with restaurants, doctors' offices and bed &breakfasts -- it must agree to distribute its copies and to stock every book listed in the catalogue.

"We do all the creative work, because we want the catalogues to have a certain look to them," said Palmer, whose company also takes care of shipping, distribution and, with NEBA, title selection. "Another component that's crucial is that we made a deal with K n Book Distributors to be our official wholesalers for the catalogue. There's an order form on top of every box for every book in the catalogue, and K n gives dated billing with 30 extra days for payment."

Although it's too soon to tell how the "Reader" has done, Palmer has great expectations. "The plan is to have a little over one million circulation to go to NEBA and two or three other regional associations." With a boost from orders from 38 university stores, the second issue (due out in early May, timed to promote books for Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation) is already halfway toward his goal, with a circulation of 500,000 copies. "Once this second issue is released" Palmer told PW, "we will contact all the stores and find out how the catalogues were distributed and how many books were sold."

The second issue demonstrates the range of titles offered with four author interviews: Tim Flannery, author of Throwim Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds -- On the Track of Unknown Mammals in Wildest New Guinea (Atlantic Monthly); Joanna Trollope, author of Other People's Children (Viking); Michael Lee West, author of Consuming Passions (HarperCollins); and Dennis LeHane, author of Prayers for Rain (Morrow)