One of the hottest books at BEA won't be sold in retail stores but is a book every bookseller will want to have on his or her private shelf. Wiley's Bookselling for Dummies was developed as a giveaway for booksellers, to create renewed awareness for the publisher's For Dummies series. P.J. Campbell, Wiley's director of events, said, "We had originally talked with the ABA about endorsing the project or being a part of it, and they received it with open arms. The cooperation among everyone was amazing."
The 224-page trade paperback has an impressive lineup of knowledgeable talent behind it. Technical editor Kate Whouley has served as editor for the ABA's Manual on Bookselling (5th edition) and series editor for the ABA's Fundamentals of Bookselling. Contributors include more than two dozen prominent bookstore owners and managers, as well as BookSense.com director Len Vlahos and the ABA's CEO Avin Domnitz and marketing director Michael Hoynes. The book comes with a front-cover endorsement by ABA president Ann Christophersen. In fact, the only one without sterling bookselling credentials is author Tere Stouffer Drenth, who previously penned For Dummies manuals for marathon runners and indoor grillers.
"This book is really written by booksellers from around the country," Drenth told PW. "There's not a thought in this book that comes from my head. I was the channeler of the information. That is the beauty of this book." Written in the same style, size and format as the rest of the For Dummies series, which debuted in 1991 and has more than 100 million books in print, Bookselling for Dummies was created to expand booksellers' knowledge of their profession and also give them a reason to sample the series.
Getting Started
The turnaround time from creation to completion was amazingly fast. "I brought the idea of the book to the table last fall; my director, John Helmus, thought it was a good idea and it was launched," said Campbell. The ABA became involved in the project weeks later, when it decided to throw its support behind this project rather than update its Manual on Bookselling. "The project didn't fully go into motion until after the holidays, when we hired a writer and technical writer. We knew it had to be completed in time for us to hand out at BEA in May," Campbell said.
It was Kate Whouley's idea to talk to booksellers. "We started with a list of 10 and ended up with about 60 names," said Drenth. "Some booksellers were out of town or too busy, but we averaged about three people per chapter. We missed some terrific booksellers around the country, but I think we did very well with the time frame we had. Chapter eight, on marketing, had nine or 10 booksellers involved. "
Because it would be impossible to talk to booksellers during the holiday rush, conversations with contributors and writing began after the holidays. Wiley originally set a February deadline for the book, but after some editing concessions were made, the deadline was extended to mid-March. "We wrote the entire book in five to six weeks," said Drenth. "I was writing chapters and finishing them at midnight and then sending them off to Kate, who would get her changes back to me the next day." Then it was off to the Wiley editors and, after making any changes they suggested, Drenth would send booksellers chapters they were involved in. "They had about 24 hours to give feedback. I wanted them to see as final a product as possible. If they had changes, I'd insert them, which was a headache for the Wiley editors who had already polished it."
The Contributors
More than 40 phone interviews were conducted during the creation of the book. "I don't think there was one interview that lasted less than 20 minutes, and some ran as much as two hours," said Drenth. "People were wonderful about sharing information."
Drenth speaks highly of a number of contributors. "I could have talked to Vivien Jennings [of Rainy Day Books, Fairway, Kans.] for 10 hours and not even scratched the surface of everything she knows. She's probably in every other chapter." She calls Karl Pohrt, owner of Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor, Mich., "one of the bravest people I can imagine," because he opened his academic bookstore one block away from Borders's flagship store 23 years ago, and is still thriving. "We talked for an hour, and I now know more about running an academic bookshop than an apprentice would find out in a year." She was also full of praise for Michelle Lewis, who had just opened a second Afro-American Book Shop in New Orleans: "She's a model of someone who's taken the challenges and make them work. She's been unbelievably successful."
The book's contributors are a who's who of movers and shakers in bookselling: Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Coral Gables and Miami Beach, Fla.; Carole Horne of Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass.; Gayle Shanks and Bobby Sommer of Changing Hands in Tempe, Ariz.; Barbara and Ed Morrow of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vt.; David Bolduc of Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colo.; Dan Chartrand of Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, N.H.; Bob Hugo of the Spirit of '76 in Marblehead, Mass.; Neal Sofman of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, San Francisco; and Sandy Torkildson of A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore in Madison, Wisc.
It was important to the project to have the topics covered from different angles. "For our chapter on managing employees, I spoke to Linda Mileman of Tattered Cover [in Denver], who manages more than 200 employees," said Drenth. "She gave me some absolutely terrific information, but I wasn't sure how relevant it would be for small stores, so I called Barbara Siepker of The Cottage Book Shop in my own backyard of Glen Arbor, Mich. She has two employees and she told me how she was able to take Mileman's information and adapt it to a smaller-scale bookstore's needs."
Given the stiff competition booksellers face today, Drenth didn't want to shy away from dealing with the fact that many businesses don't make it. "The most poignant chapter," according to Drenth, "is on business plans and redefining what kind of a bookstore you want to be. We spoke to Gilda Bruckman, who had to close New Worlds Bookstore in Cambridge, Mass., and is trying to reopen it as a not-for-profit. We mostly spoke to businesses that have thrived, but we also wanted to include people who have not."
BEA Distribution and Beyond
Writing through the weekends, Drenth was able to complete a chapter every three days. "It was an incredibly tight schedule, but we got the book done by the third week of March. It took a total of eight weeks. We stumbled around for the first three weeks, but the final five were much smoother," she said. But the book met its most important deadline: distribution at BEA by Wiley and the ABA. Since that time, according to Dan Cullen, ABA's director of information, "We've sent copies to Book Sense members, and to ABA member bookstores." The ABA will also make the book a part of its initial package to all bookstores joining the association. According to Melissa Duffy, Wiley marketing manager, the publisher will bring copies of the book to the fall regional booksellers association gatherings. "Wiley gets a lot of credit for this project," Cullen told PW. "It was a significant commitment on their part, and we were extremely pleased that they wanted to use Kate Whouley who has such a deep understanding of independent bookselling and a depth of experience."
Duffy is delighted with the reception the book has received from booksellers. "We printed 5,000 copies initially and may print more if there's a need," she told PW. "We think the content is outstanding and by getting booksellers to sample one of our books, we hope they will be able to handsell the For Dummies series with first-hand experience."
