I attended a Spring “Mini-meeting” hosted by The Bookworm of Edwards on April 23 for stores in the Colorado mountains that are members of the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association (MPIBA). The day-long session was kicked off by a presentation from Kate Jacobs who talked about Comfort Food and its companion titles, The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two. She’s an excellent presenter; very personable and was well-received by the 30-odd booksellers who were there. She had signed copies of Comfort Food which were eagerly snapped up. She was on the run quickly, heading for Albuquerque and an event at Bookworks, followed by an appearance at Garcia Street Books in Santa Fe, both stores she had not visited before. We were able to have a few words before she left and I assured her that both stores were good promoters and mounted excellent events. She is a very busy author, a fact that warms the heart of the rep selling her books.

A number of general sessions and round-table discussions followed touching on subjects of interest to the generally small independent booksellers in attendance. Issues relating to the difficulty of marketing and promoting a store were addressed, and it became clear that internet/web opportunities were by far the most cost-effective and wide-reaching. As booksellers everywhere are dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming into the cyber-age, they are becoming aware that they need to make this change or be satisfied with a shrinking market share. One might think they had already gotten this message, but there are still some holdouts. Creation of “store bestseller lists” within an online community were brought up. The use of high school and/or college classes on marketing and website design to create programs for bookstores as class projects was an idea that emerged as a low-cost or free way to get needed help for small-town operations. The talks were lively and participation was good.

Quite a few good ideas that I’d never heard came out of an “Ideas and Opportunities” discussion, perhaps the most intriguing of which came from a store close to a large resort hotel, a situation that mirrored that of many of those present. What it boils down to is a “Room Service for Books” offered by the hotel and the bookstore in tandem. The guest calls down to the desk and is put in contact with the bookstore, who take  their order and delivers it to the room. The offer of sidelines as gifts for the guest who needs to take something back to a spouse, child or co-worker, an up-selling technique employed by the store with the idea struck a note with everyone. Most mountain towns depend on tourist trade and this is a way to tap into a previously untouched portion of those passing through these vacation destinations. This could work just about everywhere. Mid-town stores in big cities with boutique or luxury hotels in close proximity could make this work, as could any store who will take the time to make the connections with hotels in their neighborhoods.

Another idea I liked was the creation of bookmarks with a 10% discount coupon for the customer’s next purchase to be given out with each book sold. Not a radical notion, I agree, but one that seems a good candidate to produce repeat business. The Bookworm staff recounted one of their more successful promotions, a “Trunk Show” for local businesses. They closed the store one evening for the last hour of operation and invited local business owners to join them for cocktails and presentations of books in various areas relevant to their products and services. Real estate, money management, fashion, beauty products and kitchen/food-related titles were among those featured. Stations were set up around the store with displays of the books available, all culled from existing stock, and around $700 worth of books were sold with another $2500 ordered. Smart, relatively inexpensive and effective.

HearthFire Books of Evergreen told about several ongoing bookstore promotions they were pursuing with some success. A “Wine at Five” event each Friday brought customers for a small glass of wine and a presentation from a local author on their title, or in the absence of an author, a bookseller pitch about one of their favorite books had resulted in increased sales. Janet Rhodes, the manager of the store told us that after having accepted a glass of wine, almost everyone felt compelled to buy at least one book. Guilt works. The other idea they have been using is a forum for discussing issues of the day which have so far been pretty well attended. It’s called “Let’s Talk About Things That Matter” and a topic is furnished such as the changes in government attitudes to torture, the financial meltdown, teen sex/drug usage, and religious influence in secular society.

One other idea of note came from Explore Booksellers and Bistro in Aspen. They host a monthly “Book Group Mixer” where members of various reading groups are invited to come in for cocktails and spend a few hours schmoozing each other about title choices, group purposes and other issues of interest.

A lively and sometimes contentious discussion of e-books and their impact on traditional booksellers was of great interest. Unfortunately, it broke down to the old-school/new-school issues we’ve all been through so many times before, but I sense an increasing (if marginal) inclination towards making something happen for old-fashioned brick-and-mortar stores with this puzzling and often frightening development.

It was a useful and surprisingly productive meeting. I frankly admit I did not anticipate as much participation and openness to embracing new ideas and programs as I witnessed. It was gratifying to see the serious and innovative attitude these folks are adopting to keeping their businesses and the trade in general relevant and vital. Very nice.

Absolute credit goes to Nicole Magistro of The Bookworm of Edwards who put together this well-organized, efficiently run meeting of a disparate group of mavericks who have made their way in life by doing as they please, not as the program dictates. She walked the tightwire between wrangling this herd of cats and allowing them to probe into every corner that aroused curiosity with a grace and aplomb that, to those of us who know her, was not surprising, but was to all, amazing. Congratulations certainly are due to her and her astonishingly competent staff and partners. Would that every bookstore in the world had a Nicole.