FACE OUT

Just this morning, I received an e-mail from a prospective client who had recently visited our website. The book chain selling his books was complaining that his books had “no spine” and could not be identified when placed on the bookshelf. In actuality, the books were saddle stitched and there was no room for copy on the spine, thus the lack of identification. He wanted to know what he could do to solve the problem, or better yet, what we could do for him. “That’s easy,” we said. A stock counter display would show the book cover, which would give it the best chance to be seen and hopefully picked up. Since his problem was immediate it was also helpful to have the solution readily available. Showing a book FACE OUT is the single biggest advantage of a book display. You have all seen book displays. They can vary from a simple counter top display with either a printed or unprinted header to a sophisticated floor display.

Remember, many people go to a bookstore just to purchase a specific book that they have read about or been told about. On the way to the cash register, however, another title catches their eye. We’re not quite sure if it’s the title, the jacket art, the subject matter or the author’s name that’s alluring. Studies have been made for years, to try to figure out which of these things have the biggest influence on book buyers. Whatever it is, you have to see it to be influenced by it. Why do you think publishers spend so much money on jacket design? They want to give the book the best chance to be noticed and picked up. I used to marvel at the logic that went into jacket meetings in publishing. If the book was a potential bestseller, they had to spend big money on the jacket because it was expected and they shouldn’t skimp. If the book was at the middle or the bottom of the list they had to spend a lot of money on the jacket because the book needed every advantage to help its sales along. Ergo, all titles should have large jacket budgets, but many of these books are placed on the shelf spine out and no one can see how all that design money was spent. Only those books that are displayed FACE OUT are able show off their big budget. Exposure is what everyone strives for. Displays can help, even when a book does not have a huge promotional budget.

Book displays give a title the chance to put its best face forward. If it’s in a counter display, chances are the book is closer to eye level and easier to see. If it’s in a floor display it’s probably smack in your path to the cash register and you have to walk around it to get out of the store. Either way, it is much more visible than on a shelf, spine out, and it is much more likely that someone will pick it up.

Once you’ve decided that your book needs a display, what’s next? Often, available space, store policy, quantity, size of and number of titles to be exhibited dictate the choice of either a counter or floor display. Once that’s determined there are three additional considerations- appearance, construction and ease of assembly. If any one of these is sub-par there’s a good chance you’ve spent your money for nothing.

The display is an extension of the book jacket or cover and is a strong marketing tool. It is often the buyer’s first impression of the book and should never be thought of as a DUMP (like those at the end of the supermarket aisle housing the week’s tuna special). It should enhance the presentation of the book, not just provide storage. The header card, which is part of the display, needs to catch the eye of the passerby and should be designed so that the eye moves down to the book jacket.

If the display is torn, scuffed, bent or marred in any way it detracts from the book itself and bookstore managers will probably not keep it in the store. So how the display is packed and cartoned is almost as important as how it is designed and constructed. Look for double walls, smooth evenly printed finishes with a protective coating, interlocking components and stable bases that don’t tip or collapse.

There are many ways a display can arrive at a bookstore. And that decision can have a major impact on the sales of the book. It can be unassembled and empty in which case statistics show it has a 50% chance of being assembled at all. A display can be shipped fully assembled without books inside. This method is usually chosen when more than one title goes into the display, such as a series of books. Or it could be that the books themselves are so heavy that something will get damaged in transit. Here again, packing and construction are important. Be aware, however, that if the books and assembled displays come in separately there is only a 70% chance of having them come together (this statistic assumes you have not paid the bookstore for the floor space, in which case your odds go up significantly). Sending your books pre-packed in a display increases your odds of FACE OUT exposure to 90%. Upon arrival, the clerk opening the package will simply slide out the assembled, loaded display, attach the header card and put the books out for sale. Remember what I said about appearance earlier. An ugly, poorly constructed or dog eared display runs the risk of being discarded. If you haven’t noticed, the overall appearance of bookstores around the country has changed. No longer do we have the musty smell, cramped aisles and creaky floors with books piled everywhere. Bookstore ambience has greatly improved. No retailer wants an ugly display in his beautiful store.

Finally, we have to address the issue of cost versus budget. Remember the client who had the books with” no spine”? He had no budget left because displays were not part of his marketing plan. The temptation is to buy the least expensive display possible, to get his book covers noticed in the bookstores. But as we just explained, buying the cheapest display does not always result in maximum exposure at the bookstore. If you can purchase an attractive display with sturdy construction and ease of assembly, you’ve increased your buying power and actually reduced the unit cost of the displays that actually make it on to the bookstore floor.

We’ve helped in this segment of book marketing by instituting a program where we stock most popular sizes and configurations to give you all the advantages of FACE OUT exposure. And you can do it for modest print runs without incurring many of the “up front” costs normally associated with book displays. And when you need a significant quantity of displays the unit prices drop to the same level incurred by the largest publishers, thus giving you the best of both worlds.

For more info on book displays please feel free to visit us at http://www.citydie.com/stockdisplays/. If you happen to be at Book Expo in Chicago, you can see samples of our standard displays at the BooksJustBooks.com booth, located at SP4270

Or feel free to give me a call at ( 973) – 736-1224