The Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association's SpringCon, held May 5-7 in San Antonio, Texas, was a busy, well-run show that attracted 130 engaged, enthusiastic booksellers representing 72 stores. The booksellers came from six MPIBA states, with a strong representation from Texas and Oklahoma. Approximately a third of the stores were founded in the last three years and have children's, romance, genre, and general independent focuses. (Texas in particular has had an explosion of new stores in recent years.) Programming included several sessions focused on sharing ideas and success stories (see below); author presentations; and for the first time, a sidelines exhibit. The SpringCon was held for the fifth year in San Antonio, and for the fourth year in a row at the historic Menger Hotel downtown.
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| Scouting sidelines | |
MPIBA executive director Heather Duncan commented: "When we set out in 2019 to create a spring event in Texas to better serve our fast-growing membership, which started with just 50 attendees, we couldn't have envisioned the thriving event SpringCon has become. Seeing the growth in attendance, the continued and growing support from our publishing partners, and the success of our first-ever Vendor Showcase has been rewarding, and we have exciting plans to continue expanding the show's offerings moving forward."
Success Stories Open Mic: Bookselling Inspiration
This session featured booksellers speaking for a few minutes about events, promotions, display ideas, and more that were successes in their stores.
For example, Off the Beaten Path, Steamboat Springs, Colo., changed its Dungeons & Dragons event from one for all interested people regardless of ability to two editions, one for children and one for adults. (Each version is held monthly.) "The kids night really took off," Jenna Meier-Bilbo said, noting that the sessions, limited to 20, "fill up fast." The kids meet kids from other schools they would likely not meet otherwise--a way of building community bridges--and the kids improve public speaking, creative thinking, and basic math skills.
Dara Landry of CLASS Bookstore, Houston, Texas, offered two stories about successful events. One is Conspiracy Theory Night, held monthly, at which participants present their conspiracy theories. There's a tin foil roll with which people can make hats. The password for entrance is "9/11 was an inside job." And there's Kool-Aid that people are encouraged to drink. "The community really gets into," Landry said.
The other event Landry discussed is Ask a Grandma, which she characterized as "a sleeper that really works." The last Saturday of every month, a grandmother is available for people who don't have a grandmother to talk with. They often talk about getting a job, missing their grandmothers, and more. "We encourage folks to come in and get a hug from grandma," Landry said.
Last summer, Buy the Book, Woodlands, Texas, held a social event for the heads of many interest groups, including its horror book club, a painting class, the trivia club, a tarot group, and more. After-hours at the store, they and people from local businesses met and exchanged information for a bingo card. (The store gave away prizes for completed bingo cards.) Close to 150 people came. "It was packed and we ran out of everything," Abby Fletcher said. "And afterwards attendance for all groups skyrocketed."
Although the idea isn't new, Fletcher said, the Book Burrow also held a boozy book fair, partnering with a local bar. The fair had books, knickknacks, journals, and bookish things for sale and included authors and local vendors. Some 350 people came, and "We sold almost all the books we brought," Fletcher said. Vendors also loved the event. "If you can find local vendors when you have big event, those people will be invested in it," she added.
The Book Burrow, Pflugerville, Texas, has had a strikingly successful time with its quarterly Crow Party/Trinket Swap. Participants dress in all black and bring trinkets, stickers, key chains, bones, rocks--anything that crows are attracted to. The store has a bucket of such trinkets. "People love it," Kelsey Black said, "They bring friends from as far as 50 miles away to pick through the trinkets."
The Power of Discovery
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| MPIBA executive director Heather Duncan and David Landry, CLASS Bookstore, Houston, Tex. | |
Tim Smith of Schuler Books, with stores in Grand Rapids, Okemos, Ann Arbor, and West Bloomfield, Mich., led a session on The Power of Discovery that covered a variety of merchandising and marketing principles and, like Success Stories Open Mic, included many contributions from booksellers in attendance about approaches and ideas that have worked in their stores.
Among the tips from both Smith and audience members:
Chalkboards outside the store are "a clever way to get people to stop and look inside," Smith said.
"The landing zone" is an important concept for a store's entry. "Generally people don't stop and look around until about 15 feet inside the store," Smith noted. At Schuler stores, new release tables are close to the entry "to get people to interact with products sooner."
The question of what to put on low shelves by the floor drew a lot of suggestions. Among them: expensive sidelines shouldn't be in low shelves because children can easily reach and damage them. Books for adults don't sell as well on shelves by the floor. One solution is to take low shelves out. Smith noted that Franklin Fixtures has shelving with lower shelves slanted out and up to make titles on them more visible. One store makes sure titles on low shelves are visible by putting pool noodles behind them to make sure they stay at the front edge of the shelves.
On Schuler display tables, books are often grouped by color, are mixed with related sidelines, and are on color-coordinated, layered tablecloths. Smith said he particularly likes displays that are off center and have diagonal patterns. "Everything in our stores is in straight line," he said. "So anything different will catch the eye."
As for how to arrange books in shelves, children prefer books ordered by subject since "kids who want books about dinosaurs don't care about authors."
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| The entertaining, informative Romance Author Speed Round featured (from l.) Andrea Eames, A Tangled Magic (Erewhon); Taylor Esposito, Boots Beneath Her Bed (Berkley); R.S. Gray, Our Secret Summer (Requited); Sierra Simone, Devil (Bloom Books); Emily Rath, Devour Me (Morrow); Andrea Bracken (behind), Immortal Rose (Avon); Rebecca Zanetti, One Shattered Crown (Kensington); Melissa K. Roehrich, Storm of Secrets and Sorrow (Kensington); Kayla Olson (behind), The Great Outdoors (Atria); Gabriella Gamez, Second First Dates (Forever); Jennifer K. Lamert, Among the Thorns (Bramble); and (front center) moderator James Wade, Hollow Out the Dark (Blackstone). | |
Topical displays are very important at some stores, and customers often comment about not knowing the store stocked titles that appear occasionally in special displays. Some stores make sure to have several copies of displayed books on hand since some customers are reluctant to take books from a display.
Smith and others recommended shelf talkers, which don't have to be "a treatise" and should be fun. One bookseller's favorite shelf talker read, "I threw this book across the room I was so mad. And I picked it up again and read it last week."
Smith recommended bookstores supply shopping baskets, adding that most people who take a basket buy something and usually buy more than they intended to.
Authors & Sidelines
Author events included a panel of romance writers who discussed their books, romance writing in general, attitudes about romance, and more. One breakfast program featured fiction writers, including yours truly talking about his upcoming novel, Fortune and Glass, and a lunch program featured nonfiction writers.
The vendor showcase focused on sidelines and was comprised of companies that are well-established in bookstores as well as companies that are new to the book world. The vendor area was busy, with many suppliers writing up orders from booksellers.
SpringCon will return to San Antonio next year. --John Mutter