On Bookfairs and Online Bookselling

Casa Malaprop wrote a report on the disappointing Portland, Maine, bookfair (thanks to Bibliophile Bullpen for the link). As he rightly points out, dealers have been complaining about fairs for as long as there have been fairs. But as they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't actually following you, and just because dealers always complain about fairs, doesn't mean that many of them aren't dwindling.

Casa Malaprop makes several good suggestions about better promotion of the fairs and things dealers can do. I'll add one more to his list: Bring Fresh Stock! My experience is that most dealers mainly bring books that they have listed on the various online marketplaces. As a book customer, why would I go to a fair to look at books I could buy from my office computer?

But that's not the problem with book fairs. Antiquarian bookfairs need to be reevaluated from the customer's perspective. Book fairs need to draw new customers, not the same group of collectors who spend less at fairs now that they can buy online. Most fairs are not enticing places for new collectors or the kind of person who would go to a antiques or art fair and buy a vase or a small painting just because they liked it. There are a lot of those people out there, and some of them would start collecting books if they had good experiences with it.

As a customer of fairs, here's my wish list:

1. Clean Up the Place! I have been to too many fairs held in dark buildings, with crumbling tables of flaking particle board with mismatched or non-existant coverings. The books are often dusty or cobwebby from sitting in a box since the last fair. The folding bookcases are old and have never been cleaned. My wife loves books but not enough to set foot inside a grimy building to look at a lot of grimy books. Of course, not all dealers fit this description, but even a few bring down the atmosphere of everyone else.

2. Clean Up the Dealers! This is your big weekend. Wear nice clothes. Get a haircut. Trim the beard. Wash your hands.

3. Stop Expecting $500 or $5,000 Books to Sell Themselves. Collectors walk in knowning what they want and they buy accordingly. They know what the merchandise is and don't need much explanation. And if that's the only market dealers care about, fine, just don't go complaining about lack of sales when most dealers make no attempt to sell anything. It's the blame the buyer syndrome. "I brought all this great stuff, and no one bought any of it. People are just too stupid these days." Booksellers have been lucky that for centuries they could sit around and buyers would come to them. There's a lot more competition for attention and dollars these days, and booksellers are going to have to start acting more like retailers if they want fairs to thrive.

4. Figure Out a Way for Casual Buyers to Find Books. Here's a real example from a fair I recently attended. An obviously well-off customer walks up to a dealer and says, "I'd really like to get my nephew a nice edition of The Three Musketeers for graduation. Do you have one?"
Dealer: I don't have one but so-and-so had a first edition in English recently. I think it was $20,000.
Customer: That's not really what I had in mind. I was looking for something leather bound?
Dealer (trying to be helpful): I really can't help you. Try so-and-so, he may still have that first edition.

End result: Loss of a $250 sale of a nice, leatherbound edition of The Three Musketeers and quite possibly that customer will never go to another book fair. Total loss to the book trade? Potentially thousands of dollars over the lifetime of that customer who would like to give nice books as gifts but doesn't know how. Bookfairs are great fun for collectors and very difficult for casual buyers.

[Photo courtesy of Ed Smith]

Comments

[don lindgren]

I completely agree with you Scott.
All too often we act as if the books are king when it's really the customers. This doesn't mean we should only carry what everyman seeks, but rather that we need to put our stock, be it bauhaus bucherei or books on barbed wire, in the best possible light for the new customer.

You imply (correctly) that we have one shot to convert a one-time book fair visitor to a repeat customer. We need to acknowledge that that the ball is in our court and that we can do better.

[RE Bartlett]

Very good comments, I would like to add a couple more as someone who collects and goes to fairs regularly:

- Don't jack up your prices just for the fair. Yes you have a booth fee to cover, but that's no different than the commissions you pay online when you sell a book.

- Make books more accessible. Bring books in a wider range of prices. Sure the real collectors are looking for firsts, but a lot of people would be happy to walk out of the fair with something that a) they can be proud of having bought and b) that they feel they paid a fair price for.

- Make yourself more accessible. Don't snub someone because they appear clueless and only chat with other dealers and your regulars - ask questions, show them books, take an interest.

- Pay attention to lighting. Most fairs are held in too dark buildings and the dealers are left to fend for themselves when it comes to lighting.
Promoters should make it a point to ensure that everyone has adequate lighting. Hot, high-glare clip on lights are not really a help either. Not being able to see the books or read the titles, etc. does not contribute to sales.

[jgodsey]

I know this is futile suggestion...but books fairs may appear to customers as just a booksale. perhaps if take a page out of the sci-fi conventioners books and combine'other activities' with our 'vendor room', like author signings, demonstrations, christ even a slide show. etc... the big fairs have other activities, but the small fairs can be kinda boring. I am usually in and out of the VT or NH ones in less than an hour.