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Booksellers: Adding Value Means More Than You Think

With a little creativity, the everyday doesn’t have to be ordinary. Even a small change can make a big impact. That impact is your opportunity.

Clay Shirky’s a smart guy who brings up some interesting points about what local bookstores need to consider if they expect to survive their competition. The gist is that booksellers need to capitalize on the value they provide to their community. Duh, right? Actually, not so much because value is subjective and that’s where some business models run into problems.

It’s a universal belief that added store value means having a friendly, knowledgeable staff, nicely-displayed books and occasional price incentives (discounts) to entice the peeps. Sadly, this isn’t true and is in fact, mediocre thinking. It’s also quite the mantra from vendors and the public alike that the mere presence of a bookstore adds value to a community. As nostalgic and idealistic as that sounds, this too is not the case. Did anyone see the 2008 documentary Paperback Dreams? One of the indies featured, Cody’s Books in Berkeley, CA, went out of business in poignant and painstaking detail for all to watch. I bring this up because at the end when people went to the store to pick over the remains from the “Everything Must Go” sale, many went up to the owner and regaled him with fond memories of shopping at Cody’s as kids, how tragic it was to lose an icon of the community and how much the store would be missed. The owner graciously accepted all the sympathy and well-wishes, all the while wondering where these stalwart supporters were when he needed them. A post mortem is available for those interested.

Dissing Cody’s is not the point of this article. The idea is to illuminate the plight of all independent businesses, not just bookstores, and it has little to do with the economy. It’s an issue of perception and relevance and one’s ability to communicate with his/her customers. Cody’s believed it was a bustling community center, drawing people inside to discuss ideas and share their love of the written word as it had for the past fifty years, but the community saw it as wallpaper: nice to have, but irrelevant to their daily lives. To this community a trip to Cody’s wasn’t an anticipated treat or the go-to destination for hanging out with friends; it was simply in the background on the way to somewhere else. Wallpaper.

Your bookstore hosts author readings? Whoop dee doo, so does the one down the street. Your store works with writers’ groups and has a coffee bar? What a coincidence, so does the bookstore next door. It’s boring to see the same things everywhere you go because it isn’t remarkable anymore, it’s expected. People like the new, the now, the happening and they like to share such things with their circles. The problem is that our bookstores, by and large, aren’t finding innovative ways to give their communities what they want or don’t yet know they want. Success means standing out and you have to be willing to do that. The trick to adding value is by providing a service that is relevant and scarce. Why not start off with something like this?

Host an “I Just Got Dumped” party. Advertise on Craigslist and Meetup. Use your Twitter. Collect a cover charge when you pre-register your guests. Partner with local businesses to ensure there’s plenty of wine and chocolate and cross promote the event using each other’s mailing lists. Add I Will Survive inspired music and hold a contest where the worst breakup story wins 3-5 theme appropriate books (over-the-top chick lit, You’re Okay, But Your Partner’s a Jerk empowerment, thrillers involving hit men hired to whack the unfaithful): any mix that’s both helpful and funny is good. Set out display tables of the books included in the prize so your guests can buy what they don’t win. Encourage mingling and sharing and send everyone home with goody bags stuffed with coupons from your store and those of your co-sponsors. Give them a reason to come back. Variations on the party can be “I’m Smarter than My Boss” with the best story of saving your boss from embarrassment or being fired getting the prize and “Being a Sports Widow Sucks” which can be held on Big Game days.

Stories bringing people together outside of book clubs? What a concept.

Physical bookstores can’t compete against virtual bookstores on price or selection, even convenience is iffy. All you’ve really got going for you is your location and the pulsating brain matter in your employ. The internet raised the bar: running an average store for average people doesn’t work anymore. You need attention. Your community needs a reason to give you that attention. Shopping online is easy. Shopping in a store can be fun. Play to your strengths and for God’s sake don’t settle for wallpaper.