Fall Regionals
Selling Sidelines
One opportunity booksellers across the country are seeing to
maximize revenue is through sidelines, and Ingram is adding
more board games, reading glasses, and plushies to its inventory.
“What is important when it comes to indies is we have now
made it possible to order just one or two units of a sideline,
rather than requiring a store to buy a case,” Everson says. “This
should make it easier for a store to try a broader range of new
products.”
Regionals are benefitting from the boom in sideline sales, as
well, and have seen more and more interest in sideline vendors
buying booth space. BookExpo added UnBound, its exhibition
for sideline vendors, and placed it on the main show floor; the
result is that many vendors have developed relationships that
translate to the regional shows. “I met several sideline vendors
at BookExpo and went after them aggressively,” says SIBA’s
Jewell, who reports having sold out the show-floor exhibition
area for the first time in years as a result of sideline vendors
taking additional space. The media has also helped, with its
constant stream of bad news about the state of retail and posi-
tive stories about the independent bookstore resurgence.
“Independent bookstores are seen as one of the few vital forms
of bricks-and-mortar retail,” Jewell says.
Romance Rising
In the wake of the popularity of the first Indie Bookstore
Romance Day in August, booksellers have placed a renewed
emphasis on stocking romance titles, something reflected in the
agendas of several regional shows. At SCIBA’s regional, JulieLOCALIZE YOUR STORE
FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The nation’s leading publisher of books of local history and local interestVisit Arcadia & The History Press at all the regional shows this fall to find out how!
http://www.arcadiapublishing.com | 888-313-2665Elizabeth Ahlquist (l.), owner, and LeeAnna Callon, general manager, of
Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans browsing the HMH booth at the
2018 SIBA Discovery Show in Stirling, Fla.p h o t ob y
e d w a r dn a w o t k a