Roadies: Lonely Planet RV to Visit 116 Indies
by Edward Nawotka, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 5/10/2004
Starting tomorrow, travel publisher Lonely Planet will begin an ambitious campaign to visit more than 100 independent booksellers during the month of May. The company has rented a 32-ft. RV, which it will drive more than 5,500 miles through 26 states on the East Coast, in the South and throughout the Midwest. Officially dubbed the 2004 Lonely Planet "Everywhere You Are" Independent Bookstore Road Trip, the 27-day journey begins in New York City and ends at BEA in Chicago.
Stores on the tour include many of the country's best-known independents, such as Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C., Book & Books in Miami, Fla., Prairie Lights Bookstore and Café in Iowa City, Iowa, and Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, Wis., this year's PW Bookseller of the Year.
Bookstore visits will typically last from 30 minutes to an hour, and will mostly likely include meet-and-greets with Lonely Planet staffers, photos ops and giveaways of Road Trip T-shirts.
Lonely Planet trade sales director Gary Todoroff conceived the road trip in part to promote the company's new-and-improved line of U.S. travel guides and road trip books. Though the company, which has headquarters in Australia, is well known outside of the U.S., its past emphasis on destinations abroad has resulted in a lower profile here. "If we can do a good job of stating our mission as a company--if they understand what we're all about--I know booksellers will want to support us," Todoroff commented.
The road trip dovetails nicely with the company's philosophy, Todoroff said: "The essence of Lonely Planet means taking risks, leaving behind the everyday, experiencing a culture first hand, and discovering the people, the history and the land. What we truly believe here is that when you travel, you make connections. Having one-to-one experiences is invaluable. Jumping on a plane and getting to every city to see our customers was not feasible, but driving cross-country made sense."
The RV will be piloted by Todoroff's step son, and Todoroff will make the entire trip. Various Lonely Planet staff will "parachute in and out," including v-p of marketing and business development Robin Goldberg and president and general manager for the Americas Todd Sotkiewicz. Reporters from Publishers Weekly, the American Booksellers Association and CNN are expected to join the company for segments along the way.
"In some ways, it's a dream come true for me," Todoroff continued. "I can count a lot of indie booksellers around the country as friends. I love their missionary zeal: they don't do it to get wealthy and work short hours. They do it because feel they're doing something. It's wonderful to be able to go out to see them an thank them."
Other than missing his family and the probability of eating too much fast food, "The only major drawback is I won't see my vegetable garden for five weeks," he said. If this trip is a success, there may be a second trip to visit stores in the western U.S.
Check back with us at PublishersWeekly.com for upcoming reports from the road.
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