Despite the heat of this summer, Book Sense has been a snowball gaining size each week," Carl Lennertz, the ABA's senior marketing consultant, told PW. This week, that snowball of independent bookstores banding together under the Book Sense branding logo reached 1100 members, surpassing the ABA's initial goal of 500 stores. Most booksellers polled by PW were enthusiastic about the program, but the four new programs being introduced next month provoked both cheers and jeers.

After a deliberate period of owner-focused local branding, Book Sense is about to kick into high-visibility mode with the introduction of four new components, designed to be economically measurable. The four upcoming Book Sense campaigns are:

  • a national gift certificate exchange;

  • individual Book Sense Web sites;

  • Book Sense 76, a compilation of booksellers' frontlist favorites;

  • a national Book Sense bestseller list

Book Sense enrollment began in March (Bookselling, March 29), picking up new members as the ABA held Book Sense forums in almost two dozen cities. "It really gained momentum at BEA," said Lennertz. "That's where owners got to see demonstrations and by talking among themselves, built excitement."

Most owners and managers ech d Fran Keilty, general manager of Atticus Bookstore, Middletown, Conn., who applauded the concept while stressing the importance of stores becoming vocal members of Book Sense. "Booksellers' participation is very important," said the NEBA president. "The way Book Sense will work is by all independents working on it together and participating to develop it further."

The majority of booksellers were aware that this initial stage of branding the Book Sense logo was both a slow and local activity. Although Terry Whittaker of Viewpoint Books, Columbus, Ohio, claimed he was "not doing anything earthshaking," he did manage to convince his local newspapers to run two articles on Book Sense and independent bookstores.

"I personally think it's a very good product and something that we've needed. We need to get behind it," said Rick Warren of Around the Corner Books and More in Eldora, Iowa. "But I think it could have been handled better. I wish we had a better marketing kit, with sample newspaper ads we could use. We tried to order imprinted bookmarks, but were told that they'd run out. I think they were unprepared for booksellers' response."

There was general agreement among those interviewed that creating and coordinating a national branding campaign was a massive task, and that the initial stage of increasing local visibility was as necessary as it was unglamorous. "Branding takes time," said John Barringer of Little Professor Book Center, Charlotte, N.C., "I'm chagrined that no customer has mentioned the very good ads that were in the New York Times and the New Yorker, but it's still early." The TV ads pleased Rick Warren, who noted, "They're very on-target and say what we want to say, but unfortunately I haven't seen any of them aired in the Midwest."

Some owners not only missed the commercials but also the point of the program. "My sense is that Book Sense is too little too late," said an unenthusiastic Michael Sullivan, owner of Reprint Book Shop, Washington, D.C. "I don't grasp the thrust of it. Is it bags and stickers? Marketing independent bookstores is fine, but most independents have to stand on their own merits. Consumers don't shop at a bookstore because it's an independent. I don't think most people know the difference between a chain and an independent. I think they shop out of convenience."

"I understand booksellers wanting more to happen more quickly," said Carl Lennertz. "But the most economically measurable aspects of the campaign are about to begin."

Three of the four new components will be introduced in September: Book Sense gift certificates, which will allow customers to purchase certificates that can be redeemed in all Book Sense stores in all 50 states; personalized Web sites for those who want to belong to Booksense.com; a hand-selling in-store marketing campaign promoting the best new titles nominated by members; and, further down the line, the creation of a Book Sense national bestseller list based on polled members.

The bestseller list is still in the early stages of planning, but considering the logistics that the ABA has already handled to implement the gift certificate program and the ability for booksellers to create Web sites that are both individual and uniform, it seems that polling participating stores for a national bestseller list should be fairly simple.

Gift Certificate Exchange

The gift certificate exchange program was seen as an opportunity to encourage customers across the country to visit local independents. "I'm tremendously enthused about being able to offer customers the kind of national service that the gift certificate program will allow," said John Barringer.

Book Sense stores must agree to honor gift certificates from other participating bookstores. Each store has a credit card number on file with the ABA. When a gift certificate is sold, the seller holds on to the money until it is redeemed at another location. (Gift certificates will expire after two years and will have the selling store's ABA membership number imprinted on it for easy identification.) The ABA will act as a clearing house for the certificates, debiting the selling store's account once the certificate has been redeemed and then crediting the redeeming store's account (minus a 5% fee that the ABA will take for administration costs and to create a reserve for bad debts).

"The universal use of the gift certificate program is a real selling point for getting customers into our store and encouraging them to encourage friends to shop at independent bookstores," said Barbara Hoagland of The King's English in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Rick Warren was also encouraged, although he didn't think that Book Sense has resonated with his customers yet, he said. "That may change when the gift certificate program kicks in. Once we sell a Book Sense gift certificate, that customer will be looking for Book Sense stores. I think it's very tough for the ABA to create a truly nationwide campaign of heavy-duty proportions on the budget they have. A lot of it is grassroots development, which is good for the long haul, but we need the exposure if we want to make a difference. And the gift certificates will create a national exposure."

On August 10, each Book Sense store will get a free initial gift certificate kit containing 150 gift certificates and envelopes, promo decals, a binder for the certificates and a list of Book Sense stores. Each certificate will include Book Sense's toll-free number (888-BOOKSENSE) to enable customers to locate other Book Sense stores by ZIP code. Future packets of gift certificates will cost stores approximately $20 for 150 certificates and envelopes.

Booksense.com

Of all the new programs being introduced, Booksense.com is the one that elicited the most divergent comments. Being represented on the Internet is the dream of many booksellers, and the beginning of a nightmare for others.

"Although we dare not look at Booksense.com as a magic bullet that will solve all our problems, I am enthused that I will have the support to go Internet at a price I can afford," said John Barringer. "One of my customers told me that I was his favorite bookstore until 9 p.m. Now through Booksense.com, I will be able to give 24-hour-a-day service to our customers."

But not all owners are excited. "I signed up for the first part of Book Sense because I like the idea of selling bookstores as an interesting place to go and be with people who enjoy books," said Willard Williams of The Toadstool Bookshop, Petersborough, N.H. "But Booksense.com is, at least initially, being presented as telling customers you don't have to come into the bookstore anymore, you can shop online. The ordered books are sent from a wholesaler, not the bookstore. A bookstore's impact on the community is diminished when the store starts to shrink, rather than grow, because the emphasis is now on mail order."

"Ultimately Booksense.com was created to provide bricks-and-mortar stores an outlet to the Internet and to provide Internet customers with an alternative to what's already out there," explained the ABA's Len Vlahos, director of Booksense.com.

Some owners, like Nicholas Sichterman of Blue Hill Books, Blue Hill, Maine, are worried that the Web site "starts to sever the tie between stores and customers. And I'm not even sure these are the people we should be trying to go after. According to the ABA, this will get customers we lost to Amazon.com. But I contend that those customers are shopping for a different reason. They want books the cheapest and fastest way possible. The bond that is built between a bookseller and customer is established when they come into the store."

According to Vlahos, there will be a stronger connection between stores and customers when the second phase of Booksense.com is put into action after the first of the year. "We're rolling out this first phase in two pieces," he told PW. The first phase of the program will enable stores to create and populate their Web sites by uploading content. The 1.6-million-title searchable database on each site will be supplied by Muze, which rents Muze for Books kiosks to bookstores. The ABA's customer service department will help stores create their own sites, using any of seven templates. The commercial piece of the program -- when customers will be able to visit the site -- will be available "after September but well before the holidays," said Vlahos. "In the second phase, customers will be able to pick up books they've selected online at the store. The idea is to marry the bricks-and-mortar business with the Internet business."

As it is currently set up, online customer orders will bypass the store entirely and go instead to Baker & Taylor, which will ship the books directly to the customer. Vlahos is working on changing this. "This was a very complex undertaking," he said. "But we are hoping to upload each store's database on a daily basis and change the cascade of ordering partners so the customer will first check the store's actual inventory before going to another fulfillment partner to get the book."

This should be good news to Gail Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, Ariz., whose two stores carry a large number of used books that would not be listed in the Muze database. "I hope we'll soon be able to search our own database online," said Shanks. "I've had customers tell me that when they're up late searching for books, they'd like to buy from us but they go to Amazon instead."

Stores participating in Booksense.com will be charged a one-time setup fee of $500; and then will pay $200 per month plus 4.5% of Internet sales. "My fear is that Booksense.com will be promoted as a transaction-focused program rather than a reference tool," said Willard Williams. "If the ABA is making money off Internet purchases, that might slow getting our databases up online."

Even the harshest Booksense.com critics admired the fact that the ABA has undertaken such an ambitious project. Concerns stemmed from fears that programs might be developed in a vacuum and that member input might not be sought. Answering those concerns, Lennertz said, "There will be Book Sense forums at each regional trade show this fall, and calls for feedback appear in each issue of ABA's Bookselling This Week."

A few booksellers were willing to grant the ABA some grace time. "I'm waiting to see how this works before saying, 'Oh, this is terrible!' " said John Barringer. "I'm taking a lot on faith, but these are people I have faith in. They've delivered everything else they've promised me."