Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand has formed its first buying group. Books + Publishing reported that, beginning with 26 members, the buying group "provides access to an online ordering portal, which will assist booksellers in negotiating trading terms with Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand publishers." Current members of the organization may opt into the service for an additional NZ$100 (about US$60) monthly fee.
Association manager Renee Rowland said: "The board of Booksellers Aotearoa NZ has wanted a buying group established for a long time, so I'm pleased that I've been able to get it across the line and established this year, although we have a long way to go in optimizing it and growing it to the powerful tool we know it can be for our members."
Rowland added that it was "a priority for me to begin it this year in response to the really difficult--and worsening--trade environment. Operational costs for bookshops have increased and the squeeze on profitability is an iron fist: working together in a collective way to achieve better trading terms on books seems like an obvious move but one that I hope has an immediate impact."
The buying group is based on the model used by BookPeople, the Australian booksellers association. Rowland noted: "I couldn't have gotten this far without the generous support and knowledge sharing of BookPeople, but we are a very different market; not only are we smaller--one tenth of the size--we have very unique supply chain challenges, less domestic editorial publishing by the big international publishers, different parallel import rules and a lot more agency representation."
Mary Wadsworth, co-owner and manager of Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop in the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby, told the Post that the trade was "very excited" about the buying group as part of a concerted effort to keep costs down in the current environment. Her shop was already working hard with suppliers "to maximize our margins, and they are very aware margins are tight with prices going up, but the association-wide initiative would help with a renewed focus on keeping costs down."
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| Simon Armstrong | |
The Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland has appointed Simon Armstrong as press and public relations manager, a newly created role that was previously overseen by Midas PR, the Bookseller reported. This marks the first time press and PR has been handled in-house for the BA.
Armstrong will take on press relations responsibility across the Booksellers Association Group, which includes National Book Tokens and Batch. He will focus mainly on consumer and corporate PR for the BA, and will work with the senior management team to create and maintain PR work across all activities, including corporate, policy-based, consumer and trade-facing.
Armstrong begins the role effective November 20, reporting to Emma Bradshaw, head of campaigns; and Laura McCormack, head of policy and public affairs. Crotty Communications will continue to handle media outreach in Ireland and its committee of booksellers based in Ireland (Bookselling Ireland).
Armstrong has a decade of experience in publishing, having worked on the publicity teams of both children's and adult divisions of Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and Walker Books.
Bradshaw said: "We are delighted to welcome Simon to the Booksellers Association team. With the growing success of our Books Are My Bag campaigns and a slew of legislation on the horizon which will directly impact booksellers, the appointment couldn't be timelier. We can't wait to work with him to amplify our members’ voices in the media and Parliament."
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The first episode of RISE Bookselling's new podcast series, dedicated to the 2024 RISE conference in Lisbon, is out. Curious how some bookshops have become community favorites? The episode explores the topic with Jan Smedh of the English Bookshop in Sweden; Tom Rowley of Backstory in the U.K.; and Pasi Vainio of Vinhan Kirjakauppa in Finland. They share strategies that have helped them connect with readers in unusual ways. Bookselling Ireland's Sheila O'Reilly moderates. --Robert Gray