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Still Crazy, After All These Years Margaret Langstaff -- 10/2/00 As CIROBE celebrates its 10th anniversary, attendees are looking forward to a profitable show
Times have changed. No, order has not been imposed on this colorful segment of the publishing industry. But for 10 years now, the chaos has lodged itself inside the Chicago Hilton Towers for a three-day fall weekend during which a good part of the bargain book wholesale business for the year occurs. Marshall Smith, co-founder of the Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book Exposition (CIROBE), admits, "I had some doubts myself at first that the show would work. On the surface, it didn't seem like it would. These were guys who wanted to stay off the radar and who were paranoid about having someone steal their customers. Brad [Jonas] and I had to use whatever clout or carrot we had to convince people to at least try it.
"There had been no unifying place for doing business. Nowhere everyone could get together and buy and sell remainders and promotional books. It's gratifying that the show has become so central to the business. Now I love to stand outside the hall on opening day and watch people flow through the doors like salmon upstream. Everybody comes. If you're a player in this market you can't afford to miss it." "Before CIROBE existed," according to David Schwartz of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, Wis., "this was a very low-profile business. It was dominated by three large companies--Random Value, Smithmark and Book Sales. Remainders and promotional books were sold by only a select number of booksellers. The typical bookstore might have only two remainder selections a year, one in January and one in July. The few retailers like us who sold remainders year 'round couldn't understand why everyone didn't, because the margins were so good and the customers appreciated them so much. But if a remainder company didn't call on your store, you never knew about the books and couldn't take advantage of them." Schwartz continues, "CIROBE was instrumental in making all booksellers aware of the opportunity with bargain books." Unanimously, the many repeat exhibitors and buyers praise CIROBE's effectiveness for them and for the business as a whole. "I have been going for a number of years," says Bob Walker, president of American Book Company, "and it is the premier remainder show." Bill Rinehart, v-p, sales, for Assorted Books, a division of Mazel, says, "We do great business there. The show is growing every year. The CIROBEstaff works very hard and understands the various needs of all the participants." "We've supported CIROBE from the get-go," says J Fortin, v-p, sales, for Book Sales Inc. "Our first year there, we took 39 orders and we've been expanding our display space on the floor ever since." Henry Vander Goot, CEO of Bargain Books Wholesale and the 20 Bargain Books retail stores in the Midwest, says, "There are always a lot of things going on there. It's very rough-and-tumble, very opportunistic. I love it. I sometimes trade books by swapping trailer loads with other dealers, in effect buying product from one another. You have to be there to be in the game." Don Sturtz of Fujii Associates, which represents a number of publishers at the show, including Running Press, Motor Books and Grolier, says "CIROBE is hands down the most productive book show in terms of results. It fits a need and a niche. It's at the right time, well managed and appropriate for the market. There's no flair or frills. People come to buy. All you need to bring are a couple of good pens." Lynn Bond, president and publisher of Random Value, observes, "We keep increasing our display space. It's our favorite show." And Amy Simon, sales director of Thunder Bay Publishing, a division of AMS, says simply, "It's an order-writing show. You get more bang for your buck." Competition's Getting TougherAfter a few years of shakeout, during which wholesalers and retailers could feel the ground moving under their feet, Jeff Press, CEO of World Publications, Inc. observes, "Most of the players--vendors and customers--have stayed the same this year. Lots of good companies who've been around forever: Book Sales, Daedalus and Texas Bookman, and lots of smaller fly-by-nighters that come and go. Most of the major customers have been very stable. There have been few major bankruptcies and few new players." Noting that his company is expanding its sales force and upgrading its computer systems to keep up, Albert Haug of Book Club of America says, "We have experienced tremendous growth over the last three years. We've had no slowdowns. Our goal is to put ourselves in an even stronger position for 2001." Book Club of America will be showcasing remaindered titles for its "distribution clients" Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Rodale at CIROBE. "We've doubled our numbers from last year," says Bonnie Kaufman, CEO of I-Deal Books in Hallandale, Fla. "This has become a year-round business for us--it's not just seasonal any more." According to Kaufman, who specializes in remainders and hurt skids [publisher returns], "There's more competition than there used to be. There seem to be more bidders out there for remainders, and the prices are going higher." She thinks publishers are sending their remainder lists to more companies for bid. To gain an edge, Kaufman has been branching out into sidelines such as stationery, cards and language tapes. Mel Shapiro, something of a sage of the bargain book business, whose Edison, N.J., company Book Sales Inc. has been around nearly 40 years, thinks he is "one of the last full-line promotional people left in the country." That is, a company still dealing in all three facets of the business at once, remainders, packages and value-priced reprints. Business is good, "our inventory is in good shape," he says. "But this is a consolidating business in all sectors--publishing, wholesale and retail. And we're constantly searching for new customers." Shapiro claims to have recently signed a new 1,000-store chain "that pays in 15 days," unheard of in the business, and is optimistic for what this will mean for his customer base. "We're doing satisfactorily," he says. "We're staying ahead."
Tamara Stock, co-owner (with Robin Moody) of Daedalus Books, a scholarly/literary bargain book wholesaler in Columbia, Md., says, "Everything is going fine. We've refined the system in our new warehouse and expanded our sales force." The pair are thrilled to have just hired Paul Nuhn, most recently of Random House Value, who is covering the Southeast and part of the Midwest for the company. According to Stock, "He has a long and impressive résumé, both in retail and in working his way up at Random House." She says business has been so healthy that "sometimes recently we've gotten overwhelmed with orders. But we have a night staff now to meet the increase in business." "Business is good," reflects Ed Grossman, CEO of Marketing Resource, a New York City-based closeout firm. "We continue to build our customer base, and books are becoming an increasingly bigger portion of what we do." The company's new, larger warehouse of 220,000 square feet, he adds, "has dramatically increased our ability to service our customers." "Business is excellent," says Walker at American Book Company. "We've seen tremendous growth each of the three years we have been doing business. But you have to be more aggressive and do your homework. The business is highly competitive." "Product" Proves Plentiful"Wholesalers and retailers have a lot of good things to choose from," remarks Robert Wilkie of Texas Bookman. "There is quite a bit of product around. HarperCollins and Penguin Putnam, as usual, are reliable and have a variety, but some publishers like Harcourt Brace and Houghton Mifflin have become spotty and have longer times between remainder lists. However, in some cases, for certain titles with huge quantities inventoried, the lag time between first printing and remaindering has gotten shorter. Publishers have a space problem. They're doing more and moving more books." "The supply side has never been better," says Vander Goot of Bargain Books Wholesale. "But you have to stay on your t s. The lag time to remaindering used to be three years from pub date, but in some instances, it's less than a year." He cites as an example the Cokie Roberts's We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, which is still on sale in Borders at full price, but has been partially remaindered and is in Vander Goot's own retail stores for $6.99. "Product has been plentiful this year, but good product has been tight and expensive," observes Jeff Press of World. "Everybody wants 'A' titles--former bestsellers. Nobody wants the 'C' titles." J Fortin at Book Sales says, "There are more remainders available than ever before, and we'll have more to offer our customers than ever before." Fortin is especially upbeat about Baseball Extra by Eric Karen, due in October, in time for the World Series, from the Book Sales "Extra" line. "At 500 pages for $29.95, this oversized 10½"×14½" history of baseball from 1800-1999 is terrific," he says. "We've just gotten some wonderful books," says Stock at Daedalus. "We got great titles from HarperCollins and Bulfinch [Little, Brown], and will have on display at CIROBE a Rolling Stones book about the images of rock 'n' roll; a couple of Edward Curtis photography titles that are outstanding; a terrific cookbook, Vegetarian Compass; and a William Burroughs biography." Speaking of title availability in general, she tells PW that "early spring was sparse, but since then, we are up 25% from last year in number of titles acquired. We're getting a high percentage of our bids." Simon of Thunder Bay says business is "booming" now that the house has 140 promotional titles in print and ia aggressively courting smaller, independent accounts. "And we're really excited to be offering this year at CIROBE a beautiful and enhanced reprint of Turner Publishing's Bible, a King James Version, 920 pages profusely illustrated with 1,000 color photographs with a suggested retail price of $39.98. The original price had been $100. The other key title we'll have there is a gorgeously illustrated book, Electric Guitars. It's 320 pages with a SRP of $29.98." Publishers as Distribution Clients"Something new in the last few years," says Smith, "is a trend toward publishers awarding exclusive distribution rights to specific wholesalers, rather than opening up their remainder lists for bid to the whole industry." Last year, Book Club of America's Haug announced his exclusive distribution arrangement with Simon & Schuster and Macmillan; this year Rodale Press was added to that lineup. "We will have substantial new lists from all of our distribution clients at CIROBE." "The really big news here is that Penguin Putnam has given American Book Company an exclusive on its hurt skids. This will be huge for them," Smith adds, predicting ABC will become an even larger player in the field. Everybody's Wish ListsCraft books, cookbooks, illustrated lifestyle and art books, and branded children's books continue to be in demand for stores' bargain tables. "The industry cycles through books," says Vander Goot. "Anything in short supply eventually results in a glut. Two years ago, craft remainders were scarce. Now we have a lot of them available. But fortunately they always do pretty well." Kaufman at I-Deal Books is doing well with "cookbook series, branded children's books, coffee-table books and gifty, boxed items." She adds that language tapes, too, are moving. Some value publishers and wholesalers are bent on establishing their own niches in what they call variously the religious market or the Christian market. The forays into this product and market are new for most, but many like what they see and some are enjoying good sell-through already. Inspired by Larry Alexander's success at Budget Book Service with value-priced Christian reprints in the Inspirational Library, Lynn Bond at Random Value launched Testament Books. The line contains "reprints of smaller Christian publishing houses' titles," she says. "The books have been very well received. We are very happy with our results so far. We're also doing a special promotional program with the Ingram Christian subsidiary, Spring Arbor, with these titles and it's going well." Grossman of Marketing Resources is finding the Christian market and product rewarding, too. "The Christian book market is potentially very big for us," he says. "We've hit a home run with home-schooling materials in it. There is definitely a move away from public schools to charter schools and home schooling. The books that do the best in this area are for the lower grades. But interest in home schooling is not limited to the religious market, because many parents are trying to help their kids through regular schools." Grossman adds that he "takes a home-schooling section in the Edward R. Hamilton [mail-order bookseller] catalogue," and is pleased with the results. A U.N. of Customers International attendance at CIROBE has ramped up over the years--a development that elates the vendors. Last year 37 countries were represented. "I've been attending the show for five years," says Barry Baird, executive director of remainder sales at Thomas Nelson Publishers. "We now do lots of international business there. In fact, so much that I've decided to go to both CIANA and the London Book Fair this year to extend our international exposure." Sturtz of Fujii Associates agrees: "The international market is huge at CIROBE. And people come ready to buy." "We've seen a dramatic increase in our international business through exhibiting at CIROBE," says Grossman. "I'm startled at the widespread interest in English-language books." He cites a laundry list of countries and regions in which Marketing Resources has established customers, after meeting them originally at the show: China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. "A lot of it has to do with children's books," he says. "But I love the idea of providing books on a global basis." It would be financially prohibitive for many smaller publishers to reach this market without a show like CIROBE. As Jim Denton, marketing manager at University Presses of Florida, puts it, "International customers would be hard for us to deal with in the absence of this meeting.". Indeed, university presses find the show very useful overall, and while they may not attend every year, many have made exhibiting on an as-needed basis an integral part of their inventory control programs. "We have been there virtually from its inception," says Doug Wilcoxen, inventory manager at the University of California Press. "We bring white-sale titles [temporary mark-downs] and bid lists for wholesalers. This is a great opportunity to take white-sale titles to retailers directly." According to Jeff Barkhorn, warehouse supervisor for ABC Clio Publishers, which sells reference works to academic and public libraries ("mainly history, mythology and folklore"), "We use the show to get rid of as much overstock as we can. The show opens the retail segment of the market to us, since we don't deal with it regularly." After talking to CIROBE's many loyalists and supporters, it's hard to imagine a book show with more gusto and productivity. The e-book and online bookselling promise to offer additional opportunities and challenges for everyone in this zany, serendipitous business, but you won't find any whiners or Chicken Littles at CIROBE. "The synergy at this show is just tremendous," observes Marshall Smith. "Everybody has a great time, works hard and helps everyone else out." Kaufman of I-Deal Books sums up the mood of the vendors: "I just love what I do and I love this show. Even though we're working alongside competitors, we really work with each other and build relationships."
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Still Crazy, After All These Years
Oct 02, 2000
A version of this article appeared in the 10/02/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:
