Selling Books Outside of Bookstores

Posted on November 2, 2006

The New York Times reports on the growing trend of selling books in places other than bookstores. Faced with declining book sales, publishers are placing books in a variety of unusual places, hoping to reach an audience other than the one at the bookstores. The plan appears to be working.

What began as a trickle of cookbooks in kitchen shops and do-it-yourself titles in hardware stores has become, in recent months, the fastest growing component in many major publishers' retail strategies. "It's a way for the book business to stay alive," said Abby Hoffman, the vice president of sales and marketing for Chronicle Books in San Francisco, which sells most of its 350 offbeat titles each year to places like high-end grocery stores, children�s clothing stores and wineries. "Anyplace that sells merchandise is a place to sell books."
When Starbucks got into the book business last month, it hitched its brand to Mitch Albom's latest inevitable best seller, For One More Day, helping propel it to the top of the lists. But the shift in the business can more clearly be seen in the sale of lower-profile authors in lower-profile settings, where the right title in the right location can make all the difference for a book that might otherwise sink without a trace.
Mike's Deli in the Bronx, for instance, has sold more than 4,500 copies of Ann Volkwein's Arthur Avenue Cookbook at $25 each. That book otherwise sold only 8,000 copies nationwide, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks sales at major book chains, independent bookstores and online retailers, but not at places like Mike's. But it sold so well at Mike's that David Greco, the deli's owner, began stocking more titles, including The Italian American Cookbook by John Mariani and Con Amore: A Daughter-in-Law's Story of Growing Up Italian-American in Bushwick by Bea Tusiani.
Mr. Greco says he must factor in at least one expense that bookstores don't: "When you deal with salami and mozzarella, it's a little greasy. So we keep the books in plastic bags."

Urban Outfitters has done very well selling books, as has Restoration Hardware, according to the article. It makes sense: some people don't visit bookstores regularly, but that doesn't mean that they won't pick up a relevant book on an impulse if they see it while they're shopping at their normal haunts.