The BA Group Annual Review
The Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom & Ireland Limited
Minster House, 272 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 1BA
Telephone: 020 7802 0802
Fax: 020 7802 0803
Email: mail@booksellers.org.uk
Website: www.booksellers.org.uk
Booksellers Association Group Board of Directors
President
Graham Rand
Officers
Sharon Murray – Blackwell’s
Jane Streeter – The Bookcase, Lowdham
Chief Executive
Tim Godfray
Chairman of Book Tokens Limited
Willie Anderson – John Smith’s Group
Chairman of batch.co.uk
Philip Wicks – Yorkshire Books
Managing Director of Book Tokens Ltd
Stuart Mathews
Managing Director of batch.co.uk
Fraser Tanner
Finance Director
Tim Trigg
Booksellers Association Advisory Council
President
Graham Rand
Officers
Sharon Murray – Blackwell’s
Jane Streeter – The Bookcase, Lowdham
Chief Executive
Tim Godfray
Elected to serve until 2011
Jacqui Gadd – Marylebone Books
Ron Johns – Mabecron Books, Plymouth
John McNamee – Eason, Portlaoise
Patrick Neale – Jaffé & Neale Bookshop
and Café, Chipping Norton
Lynne O’Neill – John Smith’s Group
Trevor Proctor – Eason & Son (NI) Limited
Elected to serve until 2010
David Cooke – Tesco Stores Limited
Peter Donaldson – Red Lion Books, Colchester
Gerry Johnson – Waterstone’s
Sheryl Shurville – Chorleywood Bookshop
Elected to serve until 2009
Philip Downer – Borders (UK) Ltd
Christine Hanson – Bookmark, Spalding
Rachel Russell – WH Smith
Tim Godfray
BA CEO
Graham Rand
BA President
Graham Rand is in
his final year as BA
President and has
covered an eventful
term. Graham is a
passionate supporter
of the BA and is
determined to
ensure that the BA
continues to deliver
the widest and best
value range of
services for its
members.
Dear Member
Details of the BA's
work during 2008
can be found within
this Annual
Report.
The only thing that economists can agree on is that this recession is, and will continue to be,
different from previous ones. So far, the book trade seems to be weathering the storm
reasonably well. Total book sales in 2008 were down just 0.2% and 2007 was a Harry Potter year.
This bald statement hides the fact that sales were well up in the first six months but down
during the second, so the more recent trend is not so good. Further challenges to a difficult
Christmas trading period were felt by some members due to the demise of the Woolworths
Group. Supermarkets had to find alternative supply arrangements when EUK stopped trading,
and bookshops were unable to enjoy the normal Bertram’s service as their supply
arrangements were affected by the uncertainty about their future, now happily resolved.
Are books likely to continue to buck wider retail trends? There is certainly anecdotal evidence
that people are going out less and spending more time at home, and that they are looking for
better value ways to spend their money. It is also true that, generally, creative industries are
doing better than other trades. It may be a myth that books stand up well in tough times but it
might be true that in this recession books will do less badly than other industries.
The BA has two principle roles to fulfil in this economic climate. It must seek to help members
in these difficult times by providing valuable services that reduce the costs of running a
business, and secondly it must work with the whole book industry in promoting the sale of
books. The introduction of www.batchconnect.com and the streamlining of the software behind
batch payments are good examples of the first, along with the development of the Independent
Booksellers Forum (IBF). The support for World Book Day, Independent Booksellers Week,
Electronic Book Tokens and the BA/PA Forum trade marketing campaign to promote books are
good examples of the latter. There are many more examples in both camps and they are detailed
in this report.
We are in the midst of an information revolution as the digitisation of content moves into the
consumer market. Waterstone's was highly successful in selling the Sony Reader at Christmas,
but there are many other developments happening now, not least the Google US settlement and
the implications that this will have on the UK market. The BA is doing everything it can to help
ensure that booksellers develop alongside these opportunities and not be locked out from them.
These are difficult times and the BA is committed to help in each and every way we can.
Good luck for 2009.
Graham Rand
President The Booksellers Association
Promoting Books and Increasing
Contents
Promoting Books and Increasing Sales..... 4
The Book Industry Conference...................8
Working with Booksellers..........................9
Book Market Research.............................14
Partnerships.............................................15
Legislation & Representation...................16
Products and Services..............................18
E-Commerce and EDI...............................20
Bookselling in the Digital Age..................22
The Environment......................................23
Index
Academic, Professional & Specialist
Booksellers Group (APSBG) .............................9
BA Affinity Deals .............................................19
BA Forums for Specialist Booksellers .............9
BA Loss Prevention Consortium .....................17
batch ...............................................................20
batchconnect.....................................................6
BIC e4books ....................................................21
BIC – IRI Policy Group .....................................22
Book Industry Communication (BIC) ..............20
Book Industry Conference ................................8
Bookselling Essentials ...................................19
Bookselling: International Market
Comparisons – A Benchmark Study
of Profitability .................................................14
bookstart...........................................................6
Business Support Helpline .............................18
Children’s Bookselling Group...........................9
Christian Booksellers Group...........................10
Christmas Books...............................................7
Costa Book Awards ...........................................6
Digitisation......................................................22
Directory of Members .....................................19
Directory of UK & Irish Book Publishers ........18
Environmental Action Group...........................23
European Booksellers Federation ..................18
Firm Sale on Backlist......................................16
Gerry Davies 2008 Award..................................8
Google .............................................................22
Independent Booksellers Forum ....................12
Independent Booksellers Week......................12
Introduction to Bookselling Course ................19
Legislation ......................................................16
National Book Tokens .......................................4
National Year of Reading ..................................6
New Bookseller of the Year Award .................15
Open University Set Books Scheme................15
School Suppliers Group ..................................11
Starting & Running a Bookshop......................19
The London Book Fair.....................................15
VAT and books.................................................17
World Book Day ................................................5
4
National Book Tokens
National Book Tokens (NBTs) are a unique book trade asset.
One of the UK and Ireland’s leading multi-retailer voucher
schemes, they are sold and exchanged in thousands of
bookshops with a retail sales value of £29 million. They are
chosen as a gift by two million consumers every year. A vital
part of the product mix of all good booksellers and a key
benefit of Bookseller Association membership, they deliver
both profitable sales and footfall.
Sales
Trading in 2008 was tough, with consumer confidence at a
low for much of the year and recessionary forces impacting
on the book trade. Online bookselling continues to attract a
growing share of consumer spend and discounting remains
a key driver. In addition, a number of book retailers
launched own-brand gift cards, merchandising them
attractively and competing harder than ever with the NBT
voucher. Sales of National Book Tokens in the financial
year ending 31 October fell by 7%.
Electronic Gift Cards
Electronic Gift Cards (EGCs) are the modern version of
the traditional paper voucher. Looking just like a debit
card, an EGC has higher perceived value than a paper
voucher, can be topped-up by consumers and also used
online. Over the past few years, Electronic Gift Cards have
become the high street norm, delivering increased sales.
The NBT EGC is designed to ensure that National
Book Tokens remains a relevant consumer brand that
continues to deliver profitable sales to UK and Irish
Booksellers.
The NBT EGC has been designed to ensure that, just like
the traditional NBT voucher, it can be sold and
exchanged in every bookshop in the UK and Ireland.
Significant funds have been invested by Book Tokens
Limited to provide the IT infrastructure to ensure that all
booksellers can take part in the new scheme, integrating
with large EPOS systems, working with third parties and
delivering a system that provides access for even the
smallest BA member.
Hundreds of booksellers have been contacted and views
fed back to ensure that the new product is as customerfriendly as possible.
The UK NBT EGC launches in 2009. The Irish NBT EGC
is likely to launch in 2010.
National Book Tokens Marketing
Each year, National Book Tokens delivers high-profile
marketing both in support of the NBT brand and in support
of books and the book trade.
In 2008 NBT marketing included:
A strong UK press and online advertising campaign
(from late November through Christmas) targeting
female heavy book readers. This was supported by
sponsorship of the Classic FM book review.
Sales
In Ireland, a promotional campaign on RTE Radio 1 in
the run-up to Christmas.
Sponsorship of World Book Day and its new initiatives,
Spread the Word and Quick Reads.
Sponsorship of the Irish Book Awards for the second time
and continued support of the Galaxy British Book Awards.
Direct mail and online campaigns targeting schools and
parents for prize-giving and back to college.
Book-related events and activities such as the
Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Guardian
Young Writers Award.
The introduction of new and attractive PoS and card
ranges to support the brand in store.
World Book Day
1
World Book Day is the
UK and Ireland’s annual
celebration of books
and reading.
3
The aims of World Book Day
are to encourage children
to a lifetime of reading; to
celebrate reading; to gain
media coverage for World
Book Day and the book
trade; and to increase
footfall in bookshops.
Key points
National Book Tokens remains the main sponsor of
World Book Day, paying for the production and
distribution of over 14 million £1 (and €1.50) tokens to
schoolchildren throughout the UK and Ireland.
For today’s schoolchildren, World Book Day has become
an annual fixture in the school calendar.
2
In 2008, Spread the Word
was launched as a major
consumer campaign aimed at
heavy book buyers.
The aim of the campaign was to unearth hidden gems –
or Books to Talk About – of recently published fiction.
The public vote chose Boy A (Serpent’s Tail) by Jonathan
Trigell as the winning Book to Talk About.
4
1. National Book Tokens
advertising campaign
2. National Book Tokens
dispenser
World Book Day continues to support Quick Reads, a
major publishing initiative designed to help introduce
emergent readers to books and to encourage confidence
in reading.
3. National Book Tokens
Electronic Gift Card
The World Book Day Chair for 2008 was Philippa
Dickinson of Random House Children’s Books. Vice-Chair
Neil Jewsbury of Waterstone’s succeeded her in 2009.
4. World Book Day ‘Spread the
Word’ campaign 2008
5. World Book Day illustrations
2008 © Emily Gravett
5
5
Promoting Books and Increasing Sales
The five category winners were:
batchconnect
batchconnect is a new web-based service designed to
connect booksellers, publishers and authors. It is
completely free to BA members.
Biography – Somewhere Towards the End (Granta) by
Diana Athill.
Novel – The Secret Scripture (Faber) by Sebastian Barry.
First Novel – The Outcast (Chatto) by Sadie Jones.
Poetry – The Broken Word (Cape) by Adam Foulds.
Children’s – Just Henry (Egmont) by Michelle Magorian.
The Costa Book of the Year was The Secret Scripture.
Booksellers can use it to manage preferences in order to
obtain the promotions they want; receive email alerts only
about the types of promotions they wish to see; order
books; search for authors who have registered to promote
their books; set up author events.
Key points
bookstart
It enables publishers to promote books to booksellers and
to organise author events.
bookstart promotes books and reading to parents/carers of
babies and toddlers across the UK.
A publisher decides which book, or books, they want to
promote:
They type in the ISBN and all key bibliographical details
will appear on screen from the Nielsen Book database.
They add a marketing message and an offer to
booksellers, plus any supporting material they would
like booksellers to receive.
The message then goes to those booksellers who have
indicated a wish to receive information about that
particular book.
It helps to promote authors and books to booksellers
nationwide:
Authors and publishers can see which bookshops have
run successful author events.
They can see which bookshops are planning
forthcoming events and festivals.
They can arrange bookshop visits and events.
See www.batchconnect.com for more information.
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards are among the most high-profile
UK book prizes and they are unique in that they recognise
books from different genres – Biography, Novel, First
Novel, Poetry and Children’s – and so reflect the range and
diversity of bookshops’ stock-holding. Booksellers are
involved in the judging process.
The Costa Awards celebrate the best books of the year and
create a media opportunity for the book trade.
The BA has for many years successfully administered
these Awards and continues to do so.
6
Bookseller judges for the 2008 awards included Chris
Rushby of Bertrams THE, John Newman of the Newham
Bookshop, Dan Fenton of John Sandoe and Peter Saxton
of Waterstone’s.
Key points
Free bookstart packs for babies, toddlers and threeyear-olds are given to parents or carers at regular
health-check appointments.
A £1 bookstart/National Book Token is included in the
bookstart+ for toddlers pack and My bookstart Treasure
Chest for three-year olds. These can be exchanged at
participating bookshops.
Almost 1,200 BA member outlets participate in the
bookstart scheme.
Parents/carers can find their nearest bookstart
supporter on the BA website.
bookstart distributes over 1,300,000 books a year to
670,000 children.
More information can be found at www.bookstart.co.uk
The National Year of Reading
The National Year of Reading (NYR) was a governmentbacked, year-long celebration of reading, in all its forms.
It aimed to encourage people to read in businesses,
homes, and communities around the country, providing
new opportunities to read. The NYR also helped people
access support through schools and libraries.
The initiative was managed by a consortium of
organisations committed to the promotion of reading, led
by the National Literacy Trust and The Reading Agency on
behalf of the government's Department of Children,
Schools and Families (DCSF).
The aim was to increase awareness of the many values
of reading – anything, anytime, anywhere – for children,
families and adult learners alike.
1. Christmas Books
2008
Key points
The NYR project team put together an excellent website,
www.yearofreading.org.uk, which offered ideas to
promote reading, events news, competitions, and
support to libraries and bookshops.
2. National bookstart
Day 2008
3. Sebastian Barry,
winner of the 2008
Costa Book Award
The BA was represented on the book trade’s NYR
Advisory Working Group and it informed members of
the NYR monthly themes and activities from April
through December 2008, in order that booksellers had
the opportunity to adopt those themes into their own
promotional initiatives.
The BA promoted the NYR logo on its own printed
material.
The BA encouraged all its members to include the NYR
logo within their own PoS and other promotional material.
Members were encouraged by the BA to post details of
any appropriate events they were organizing on the
NYR website.
1
Christmas Books
Christmas Books is the leading marketing tool for
independent booksellers at Christmas.
Produced for the Independent Booksellers Forum by the
Booksellers Association with Publishing News Limited,
Christmas Books is designed to raise the profile of
independent booksellers with local consumers and to
increase footfall and sales in their bookshops.
Key points
Christmas Books remains the market leader among
Christmas catalogues with the highest design and
production values.
The 2008 cover was designed to give maximum
prominence to each individual bookseller’s details.
Titles in Christmas Books are selected by a panel of
independent booksellers.
2
The aim of the selection is to feature a range of titles
appropriate for independent booksellers and their
customers beyond the obvious – and much-discounted –
bestsellers but still featuring some major titles.
The BA provides a comprehensive support package for
booksellers taking Christmas Books, including free PoS;
subsidised door-to-door distribution; subsidised local
newspaper advertising and professionally designed
artwork; customisation as standard at no additional cost.
The 2008 catalogue included an introduction from
P D James.
Christmas Books is the only Christmas catalogue to
feature backlist titles, with prominence given to the
Adult and Children’s shortlists for the Independent
Booksellers Forum Book Prize.
3
7
The Book Industry Conference
1
The Book Industry Conference
The BA hosts the Annual Book Industry Conference for the
entire UK Book Trade.
It brings booksellers, publishers and other book trade
organisations together to look at the book trade
holistically; to consider recent, current and future trends;
to hear from key trade and non-trade speakers; and, of
course, to network.
The Book Industry Conference 2008 took place at the
Grand Hotel in Brighton.
Heavyweight industry and non-trade speakers
addressed delegates.
Consumer Trends
Book Marketing Ltd presented current book market
data. Henley Headlight Vision presented cutting-edge
research and looked ahead to what the future might
bring for both the consumer and the trade.
Reaching Consumers and their Communities
Ian Hudson, Deputy CEO of Random House and PA
President, urged delegates to embrace the challenge
of digitisation. Genevieve Shore, Head of Global Digital
at Penguin, and Meg Pickard, Head of Communities for
Guardian Online, echoed Hudson with their examples
of how digital technology can transform and enhance
community and interaction.
2
1. The Book Industry
Conference held in
Brighton, May 2008
2. Willie Anderson, winner
of the Gerry Davies Award
Re-modelling/Re-invention:
Speakers Mark Harrison of the BBC and Andrew
Marsden, former Britvic Marketing Director, offered
insights into how other sectors have capitalised on
existing product. Jeweller Gerald Ratner gave a unique,
entertaining and uplifting presentation on how he reinvented himself.
The importance of the three-way relationship between
libraries, booksellers and publishers was addressed by
Amanda Ridout, Harper Collins MD, Karen Cunningham,
Head of Libraries in Glasgow, and author Tracy
Chevalier.
Greening, and Growing, the Trade
Trade perspectives from Gerry Johnson, MD of
Waterstone’s, and Ashley Lodge, Head of CRM for
HarperCollins, followed a macro vision from author
and former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government,
Sir David King.
The Next Big Thing?
Booksellers and publishers put forward ideas for the
trade’s Next Big Campaign. Those pitching included
Emma Barnes, founder and MD of Snowbooks, with her
proposal for “bookbackers”, Keiron Smith, founder of
BookRabbitt.com, Mark Rusher, Orion Group Marketing
Director, and David Kohn, Commercial Director Borders
UK, who suggested “Book Relief”.
Authors appearing at the Conference included
Rory McGrath, Gavin Esler, Sir Michael Parkinson,
Denis Norden, Adèle Parks.
8
Gerry Davies 2008 Award
Given annually at the Book Industry Conference, the Gerry
Davies Award recognises an individual who, in the opinion
of the BA Council, has given outstanding service to the
book trade.
Key points
The 2008 Award went to Willie Anderson of John Smith
& Son Group, a passionate bookman, who has given a
huge amount back to the trade over the years.
Willie Anderson was President of the Booksellers
Association when the Net Book Agreement fell in 1995
and he did a magnificent job of guiding the membership
through a period of great change.
He was also the first ever bookseller Chairman of
World Book Day.
He is currently Chairman of Book Tokens Limited at a
time when the BA is developing its biggest ever project,
the introduction of the new Electronic Gift Card.
Gerry Davies, Director of the Booksellers Association
until 1984, died five years ago. In his memory, the BA
Council decided to award a trophy each year in
recognition of the contribution by an individual to the
book trade.
Working with Booksellers
The Group’s Annual Conference, a significant and
established event for booksellers, publishers and others
in the academic world, moved to a new venue near
Grantham in March 2008.
BA Forums for Specialist Booksellers
The BA’s specialist groups represent the interests of those
selling within each sector, particularly in their relations
with publishers, suppliers and other key organizations.
Key addresses were delivered by Vince Gunn, CEO
Blackwell UK, Maarten Asscher, Athenaeum
Booksellers, Amsterdam, and Oliver Gadsby, CEO
Continuum Publishing Group.
They also act as sounding boards and knowledge centres
for both booksellers and the wider trade.
Academic, Professional & Specialist
Booksellers Group (APSBG)
David Prescott, Blackwell, Group Chair
“
Although not immune to events on the high street, the
Academic, Professional and Specialist Booksellers
Group reported sales in the autumn period which were
above expectations. Sales of core texts were solid, if
unspectacular, with the expansion of custom-published
titles taking an increasing market share.
Book sales have been supported by the continued
diversification of non-book ranges, with university
apparel, own-brand stationery and food lines
underpinning sales growth.
The Group noted a marked improvement in title
availability, and fewer distribution problems than in
previous Back to University campaigns, delivering the
benefits of the more collaborative approach between
booksellers and publishers that the BA APSBG has
fostered in recent years.
”
Parental prepayment of money for students to buy books
has been a success where a system was established.
Publishers’ over-reaction to the general economic
situation was a downside to the autumn and led to tight
credit control – unnecessary given the long-established
relationships with their bookseller customers.
Custom publishing continued to grow, with Pearson
dominating the market. The Group met Pearson in
February to address concerns for autumn 2008.
The Group supported the BA in its November 2008
statement of concern at Google’s plans to become an
online bookseller in the US.
The Group was relieved that Hachette Livre and Penguin
did not attempt to impose restrictions such as firm sale
on backlist titles.
Each autumn, Colin Marshall (Leicester University
Bookshop) collects, collates and distributes to members
hotline information from publishers and distributors;
the spring hotline has been discontinued as it is no
longer necessary.
Using feedback about service during the autumn, Colin
Marshall runs the Academic Distributor of the Year
Award, which was won for the fourth year running by
Oxford University Press. For the third year running, OUP
also won the Academic Publisher of the Year Award,
coordinated and presented by David Prescott (Blackwell).
Tim Mahar of Hodder Education, with the help of BML,
presented the Academic Bookseller of the Year Award,
won for the third year running by Blackwell, Broad Street.
Children’s Bookselling Group
John Newman, Newham Bookshop, Group Chair
“
These are challenging times and we are suffering the
consequences of some short sighted decision-making.
Try telling booksellers whose supply chain has been
disrupted amid the Christmas rush that merging two
wholesalers was the right and sensible thing to do.
The introduction of age banding on books caused a
furore, but it has had no impact on what we sell or who
we sell it to. I believe we’ve sold some lovely books
this year – books made saleable by the quality of the
writing, illustration, design and production and owing
nothing to any numbers on the back cover. Isn’t that
what we should be celebrating and cherishing? Instead,
we have endured a protracted debate which remains
unresolved and there’s still no clear indication of how
the exercise can and will be evaluated.
As a reader and a book-lover I am dismayed at the bad
economics which continues to undermine and devalue
books through reckless discounting and an unhealthy
belief that only those books that sell quickly and in
sufficient quantity should remain in print.
I want to celebrate the work that has gone into the
National Year of Reading, which has seen a huge
increase in library users. What a pity, then, that this
comes at a time when libraries are under-funded and
at risk as never before. Meanwhile colleagues continue
to find ever more creative ways to sell books through
an ever widening pool of community partners in
schools, children’s centres, theatres and libraries.
I know they remain passionate about helping to create
and sustain readers and in so doing to sell more books
in 2009 – economic circumstances and the whims of
the trade allowing.
”
Hand-selling the right books to the right person is the
vocation of children’s booksellers. Advice to parents,
teachers and children themselves are key in this.
The market was steady throughout the year; there was
no spectacular growth.
There was controversy over age guidance, the phrase
“age ranging” soon being abandoned. Chain and
supermarket booksellers, together with some
journalists, were in favour of printing age suitability
guidance on children’s fiction, but many authors,
librarians and specialist children’s booksellers opposed
the move. Several prominent children’s publishers
decided to label children’s fiction from autumn 2008
onwards. Only a sales increase will prove whether it
was the right decision.
9
Working with Booksellers
1
2
1. The Guardian
Children’s Book
Supplement,
April 2008
2. Cover to Cover,
Christian
Reference
Book of the
Year 2008
The Children’s Bookselling Group continues to meet
with publishers and other interested parties.
The Group’s now annual Children’s Book Seminar, held
in May, provided an opportunity for booksellers to meet
publishers and authors. Under the chairmanship of Julia
Eccleshare, publisher Jane Nissen, author Anne Fine and
illustrator Martin Salisbury discussed the topic of “What
makes a children’s classic? Is what sells what survives?”
Following a number of autumn publications, Group
members appreciated “the best ever” Guardian
Children’s Book Supplement, published with the paper
on Saturday 5 April. In a new initiative, this one was
given free to booksellers, with Book Tokens sponsoring
distribution and the extra costs incurred by a reprint
when orders outstripped supply.
World Book Day, 6 March, was the focus for raising the
profile of books to children and schools with the help of
the £1-off book token which prompted increased sales.
Christian Booksellers Group
Mark Clifford, Sarum Books, Salisbury, Group Chair
“
2008, like 2007, was a difficult year for the religious book
trade, and bricks-and-mortar shops struggled to cope
with the economic downturn and the trends towards
e-commerce. However, as in other trading sectors,
there are fresh opportunities for Christian bookshops
which forge a place at the heart of their local church
communities, offering specialist knowledge, a quick
response to customers and a lively meeting-place where
staff can build strong relationships with their customer
base. Further encouragement has come from developing
co-operation with the Christian Suppliers Group.
The challenge to greater professionalism remains a
must for us all.
”
Trade was tough, and booksellers had to run just to
stand still. Costs rose, and only so much can be done to
contain them. October brought the challenge of changes
to STL Distribution’s system, which caused severe
problems for which STL has apologised.
Outside events and conferences bring rewards, though
not without hard work, while sales of gifts, cards and
fair trade goods provide ballast.
10
Internet sales are there for those able to offer them.
The Group believes booksellers should embrace the web
while at the same time offering the personal service
only a local bookshop can offer.
The Group is discussing the possibility of members
taking part in a bench-marking exercise to compare
their business figures with those from similar shops.
Christian Marketplace magazine continues to offer the
Group a page of editorial every month. Subjects have
included managing stock, loyalty schemes, green issues
and preparing for Lent.
More than 30 members attended the Music Training day
held in January at the BA’s London office. The aim is for
more such days.
Committee members have individual responsibilities,
among them:
David Landricombe of the Christian Literature Centre,
Plymouth, reports on forthcoming music and
multimedia.
Phil Groom of the London School of Theology Books &
Resources reports on internet developments and on the
progress of the Christian Bookshops Directory website
he has set up for the trade. His new trade blog is
christianbookshopsblog.org.uk
Joy Dean (Soham Books) and Melanie Tucker (Church
House Bookshop, Westminster) alert members to new
gift, card and stationery suppliers.
The Group keeps in touch with suppliers through the
Christian Suppliers Group.
The Group has long had close connections with the
Christian Booksellers Convention. At the Telford event in
March 2008, it organized the training day which included
sessions on increasing footfall, customer service,
display and on using the media to get the message
across. The Committee is also active in the process of
assembling both the long and the shortlist, and in the
final voting for the CBC Book and Album Awards.
Nominations are open to the entire Christian
bookselling trade.
2008 Book Award Winners were:
Children’s Book of the Year: Big Bible Story by Maggie
Barfield (Scripture Union).
Reference Book of the Year: Cover to Cover Complete by
Selwyn Hughes and Trevor J Partridge (CWR).
Book of the Year: The Dawkins Delusion? by Alister
McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath (SPCK).
Trade in 2008 was steady but not outstanding. Changes
in AS level curricula went well enough, but those in Key
Stage 3 made little impression.
School Suppliers Group
Richard Heath, Heath Educational Book Supplies,
Group Chair
“
2008 has been a rather traumatic one for many parts
of the book trade, and a time for the school suppliers
amongst us to face varying sorts of increasing
competition.
Most school suppliers are also booksellers and few,
therefore, will have been unaffected by the trials and
tribulations of the high street. In these times, school
supply provides a certain amount of stability but also
brings concern about the changes on the supply side of
the fence. Whilst our customers remain largely the same,
we have seen this year not only the integration of
Heinemann and Longman gathering pace but big changes
in wholesale, and in the influence of the internet.
The demise of THE and the transfer of their business to
Bertrams did not please school suppliers in general and
the alarming growth of Gardners with their ownership of
Books for Students, Holt Jackson and Askews means
that they have financial clout that makes even the
largest of school suppliers nervous of their ability to
compete. In addition, the lopsided nature of internet
pricing is putting pressure on the very slim margins on
which we operate – being squeezed for silly prices or
simply losing the business to online operators distorts
the economics of school supply. My fear is that school
suppliers are responding by trying to buy their customers
with excessive discounting. It will end in tears.
But we should be positive – we have largely loyal
customers who appreciate our hard work, knowledge
and expertise in providing a specialist market with a
special service. Let’s hope that the schools continue to
receive budgets that allow them to resource
themselves adequately with the thing that remains ITresistant and key to all their teaching – the book.
”
Has secondary school business been holding its breath
ready for the changes in all GCSE curricula (except
maths and science) in 2009? It may be that publishers,
anxious to get their own titles adopted, will be keen to
supply direct, leaving booksellers to wait until later for a
slice of the action.
The market was increasingly polarized by the three
English examining boards increasingly endorsing,
sometimes exclusively, the textbooks of a particular
publisher for specific courses.
Technology has been slow to come to the educational
trade but times are now changing. The all-important
matter of bibliographic information is a constant
concern. Nielsen BookData has improved somewhat this
year, but is still not completely reliable on price
changes, especially around 1 January.
PubEasy’s information, especially regarding availability,
and wholesalers’ databases, proved reliable.
Cambridge University Press hosted the Group’s April
Annual General Meeting. Pearson UK Schools and
Colleges hosted its November meeting at Penguin
Books’ London HQ and gave members an update on the
imminent integration of the Pearson and Harcourt/
Heinemann operations, offering Group members
customer support for the future.
The Group liaised with the Government’s Department
for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), which
announced at the beginning of 2008 that its Educational
Procurement Centre was developing OPEN, an eprocurement solution for schools. This was intended to
provide schools with an electronic marketplace, making
purchases quicker and cheaper by offering price
comparisons and an electronic ordering system.
Discussions with the DCSF made it clear there was no
question of local education authorities or schools being
forced to use the site.
The DCSF acknowledged the Group’s point that price
comparisons for books and resources are less
appropriate than for pencils because buying decisions
are dictated by the need to deliver on the curriculum.
Thus, price is far from the only consideration.
11
Working with Booksellers
Independent Booksellers Forum
Independent Booksellers Week
The IBF – (originally named the Small Business Forum) is
run by and for booksellers.
A celebration of independent bookshops that provides a
framework to promote independent bookshops locally and
nationally.
It exists to provide events and resources to enable
independent booksellers to learn from each other and
from other industry experts, with a view to improving
business efficiency, exchanging best practice and sharing
experience and ideas. Its primary purpose is to create a
nourishing peer group in the independent sector.
Key points
The IBF held a series of events in 2008:
SBF Conference – Innovation and Inspiration, Warwick
University (September). The biggest IBF with more than
120 delegates. Speakers, including US bookseller Joel
Sheldon, Colin Telford of the Hayling Island Bookshop,
and Andrew Cant and Sue Steel of Simply Books,
addressed topical issues for booksellers.
The combination of a trade show, sponsored by
Gardners, and a dinner, sponsored by HarperCollins and
featuring five of their authors, made for a successful
and inspiring event.
Online and Active, Birmingham (June) – launching,
developing, maintaining and maximising a website.
Speakers: Mark Thornton, Mostly Books, Abingdon;
Emma Barnes, Snowbooks; Linda Bennett, Goldleaf;
Chris Conway, TBP; Paul Williams, Lightning Source;
Sridhar Gowda, countrybookshop.co.uk.
SBF@BA Conference, Brighton (May): Unlocking Your
Business Potential – Assessing Your Business
Objectively and Making a Difference. The speakers were
Jo Howard, management consultant, Matthew Clark of
the Torbay Bookshop, and Douglas Schatz, Managing
Director of Stanfords.
London Book Fair Seminars (April): Marketing Your
Bookshop Online; Love Your Local Bookshop Campaign
Update – Independent Booksellers Week; How to Be a
Better Bookseller in 59 Minutes; Electronic Trading –
Saving Time, Money and the Planet; Effective Window
Display; Booksellers Guide to Planning and Running a
Book Festival.
Irish Branch Conference, Galway (March). The speakers
were Damian Horner, Marketing Consultant; Tom Dixon,
Old Hall Bookshop, Brackley; and Nic Bottomley, Mr B’s
Emporium of Reading Delights, Bath.
The SBF Annual Review, held in Cambridge in February,
was sponsored by Bertrams; Pan Macmillan sponsored
the dinner.
The e4books Technology Forum (February), organised
with the Independent Publishers Guild and BIC, brought
e-commerce to booksellers in a well-attended event
in Bristol.
12
Key points
Independent Booksellers Week (IBW) was kick-started in
late 2007 with the inaugural Independent Booksellers
Book of the Year Award, won by Alone On a Wide Wide
Sea (HarperCollins) by Michael Morpurgo (Children’s)
and Suite Française (Vintage) by Irène Nemirovsky
(Adult).
The 2008 Independent Booksellers Book of the Year
Prize was brought forward from the immediate
Christmas period, and the winners were Notes From
an Exhibition by Patrick Gale (HarperCollins) and
The Sleepwalker by Robert Muchamore (Hodder).
Having consolidated the Prize, the SBF launched
Independent Booksellers Week which ran from
1-8 July 2008.
IBW is run by a working party of booksellers and
wholesalers.
Funding provided to 350 participating booksellers
in 2008.
IBW 2008 achieved £268k-worth of media coverage.
The IBW 2008 media partner was The Times.
Strictly Come Bookselling brought authors into
bookshops to meet readers face-to-face, creating
media photo opportunities.
84% of booksellers felt IBW met or exceeded their
expectations.
88% of booksellers were satisfied with IBW.
57% of booksellers organized special IBW events
in store.
54% of booksellers secured local media coverage of
their shop during the Week.
64% of booksellers thought that publishers were aware
of IBW in 2008.
94% of booksellers would like more publishers to be
involved in IBW in 2009.
75% of booksellers would like to see titles published
especially for Independent Booksellers Week.
4. Little Green Dragon
Bookshop, Alton
Alan Titchmarsh Strictly
Come Bookselling
5. IBF Prize 2008 Children’s
Book of the Year poster
6. Robert Muchamore wins the
Children’s IBF Book Prize
1
4
2
5
3
1. Simply Books Pocklington
in-store display
2. Graham Rand presenting
Tim Walker with the IBF
Outstanding Contribution
award
6
3. Patrick Gale wins the
Adult IBF Book Prize
13
Book Market Research
Bookselling: International Market
Comparisons – A Benchmark
Study of Profitability
The purpose of the study was to analyse how other
bookselling markets operate and compare them to that in
the UK. The report was carried out by independent retail
market analyst Sarah Charles.
The report provided insight to UK booksellers on causes
of differences between their profitability and that of
booksellers in the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Finland
and the US. It specifically considered the changes in
market volume and value growth, industry and bookshop
profitability, and key profit drivers such as competition,
pricing, promotions, discounts and costs. The report also
briefly explored the related UK retail markets for CDs,
DVDs and stationery.
What did the Study establish?
Total UK market growth appears to be one of the
slowest in the sample Although volume in consumer
books has grown at around 2.1% per annum between
2004 and 2007, the value of books in the UK has grown
by 2.3% per annum at current prices. All the markets for
which estimates were produced appear to have grown in
value, with the exception of the Swedish academic
market, where volumes have been flat and prices
declined slightly.
The use of promotions and discounts creates a vicious
circle for UK booksellers The US and the UK make
significant use of promotions and discounts but this
does not translate into higher growth in volumes when
compared to other markets studied. The UK has the
lowest growth in market value, while the US has
managed to achieve higher value growth, reflecting its
ability to increase average prices despite the use of
promotions and discounts. UK industry profitability is
the lowest of the markets studied, on a par with Sweden
which is also a high user of promotions and discounts.
On-line and supermarkets have a significant influence
on booksellers in the UK The UK has higher per capita
book purchases than all markets except the US but the
lowest profitability along with Sweden. The study
estimates that the volume of books sold through UK
bookshops declined by about 10% over the period
between 2004 and 2007 as loss of market share to other
channels outstripped market growth. UK booksellers
identified a nearly even balance between on-line
retailers and supermarkets as the key influencers of
bookseller profitability through their impact on pricing.
Low prices and low gross margins in the UK combine to
drive the lowest gross profit per book in the sample
Even with 0% VAT on books in the UK and Ireland, the
average gross profit per book is lower than all other
markets due to low margins in both countries as well as
to low prices in the UK. At the other end of the
spectrum, the Netherlands benefits from higher prices
and better margins, despite 6% VAT on books.
14
However, the fixed price agreement in the Netherlands
means that books cannot be sold at a discount until a
year after release.
UK bookshops offer a narrower product range with a
lower weighted average gross margin than most other
markets It is estimated that on average across UK
independent bookshops and book chains, approximately
25% of revenue is generated from sales of goods other
than books, personal stationery, gift cards, newspapers
and magazines. In other markets studied, non-book
sales account for 30-35% of revenue.
Booksellers in the UK do not cooperate as much as
those in other markets in buying and marketing
initiatives In the Netherlands, booksellers support an
independent foundation which organises high-profile
marketing campaigns. Independent booksellers in
Finland and Sweden collaborate in buying and
marketing. Although wholesalers in the UK facilitate
buying groups, there is greater benefit to the
independents in other markets.
Some Recommendations
Profit protection
Think before discounting While these are difficult times
for all sectors, booksellers are having a particularly
tough time given the already thin margins under which
they operate. Knee-jerk discounting is not a solution.
Careful strategies have to be devised. Is discounting
giving the retailer the desired result? Or is it merely
throwing away precious margin?
Labour costs The study reveals that many staff are
more heavily involved in back-office duties rather than
customer-facing transactions. A review of staffing and
how staff operates is never wasted.
Supply chain Is e-commerce being used to best effect?
Multi-channel retailing There is evidence that, while
larger booksellers are taking advantage of the on-line
retail environment, smaller retailers could still do much
more in this area.
Product mix An analysis of individual markets could
yield higher-margin non-book product mixes
(stationery, cards, gifts), an area in which the UK is still
lagging behind compared to international markets.
Enhancing sales and gross profit per square foot
through a change in product mix can have significant
bottom line impact.
Cash management for the credit crunch Booksellers
could usefully analyse working capital requirements,
be brutal about volume and variety of frontlist titles,
negotiate higher discounts for higher volumes if
necessary. Suppliers should help retailers through
these difficult times.
Marketing collaboration The Netherlands book
industry, for example, collaborates to deliver a number
of nationwide thematic promotions to promote book
buying. Although the UK already has some book events
(World Book Day, National Reading Week), there is still
room for a grass-roots collaboration to promote
different genres. For example, in The Netherlands a
whole month is devoted to bookshop events and a PR
effort to promote Crime and Thrillers.
Partnerships
1. Bookseller
Centre, London
Book Fair 2008
2. Mark and
Nicki Thornton,
Mostly Books,
Abingdon
won the New
Bookseller Award
at the British
Retail Awards
1
2
The London Book Fair
The London Book Fair brings together publishers and
booksellers from across the world to exhibit for three
days in April.
Its primary purpose is to showcase UK publishers
and other book-related suppliers to international and
domestic customers, including booksellers, as well as
international publishers and librarians.
The BA is a formal sponsor of the event, and the LBF
an official supporter of the BA, a mutually beneficial
relationship designed to help the Fair meet UK
booksellers’ needs and to deliver increased numbers
of UK booksellers to the LBF.
Key points
The BA hosts the Bookseller Centre at the Fair each
year, providing a meeting place for booksellers and a
showcase of BA products and services.
The BA and IBF organises a series of bookseller
seminars each year. In 2008, these comprised Marketing
Your Bookshop Online; Love Your Local Bookshop
Campaign Update – Independent Booksellers Week;
How To Be a Better Bookseller in 59 Minutes; Electronic
Trading – Saving Time, Money and the Planet; Effective
Window Display; Booksellers Guide to Planning and
Running a Book Festival.
2008 saw the first series of Publisher Presentations,
bringing the leading publishers’ into a dedicated space
to present their autumn highlights to, and to meet,
independent booksellers. Publishers who participated
in this well-received initiative included Hodder, Random
House, Penguin, Bloomsbury, Pan Macmillan, Orion,
HarperCollins, Little,Brown, Macmillan, Headline,
the Independent Alliance and PA Children’s Book
Group members.
Open University Set Books Scheme
The scheme promotes participating booksellers to 150,000
undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate
students who generate in excess of £2 million in book sales.
Registration is free to all participating booksellers and
more than 800 Recommended Stockists are listed on the
BA website.
A link from the BA’s website to the OU ensures that up-todate information on all set books is instantly available.
New Bookseller of the Year Award
This new award was presented at the British Book Industry
Awards (BBIA) and was sponsored by the Booksellers
Association.
The aim was to celebrate excellence in new bookselling
and to enable winners and shortlisted booksellers to gain
recognition by their peers and throughout the wider trade,
helping them achieve local media coverage and promote
their businesses.
Key points
The Award was open to bookshops opening between
January 2005 and September 2006.
Bookshops were asked to submit detailed submissions.
The shortlisted bookshops were mystery shopped by
independent experts, Store Checkers.
At the Fair, the BA acted as the distribution point for
LBF catalogues and bookseller bags.
All shortlisted booksellers received Store Checkers’
responses.
The BA co-hosted a Literary Breakfast with English
PEN. This was very popular and brought booksellers
and authors together.
Shortlisted and winning bookshops were given local
media support by the BBIAs.
The BA markets and promotes the LBF to its members
throughout the year in Bookselling Essentials, email
bulletins, on the BA website and at the BA Conference
and IBFs.
The shortlisted bookshops were Bookstor, Kinsale;
Mostly Books, Abingdon; Mr B’s Emporium of Reading
Delights, Bath; and Seven Stories, Newcastle.
The winning bookshop was Mostly Books, Abingdon.
15
Legislation & Representation
Firm Sale on Backlist
During the year, two leading consumer book publishers
announced their intention to impose on booksellers firm
sale conditions on backlist titles.
Key points
The BA:
Made members aware of the development.
Asked members for their views on what the publishers
were proposing.
Advised members as to what both they and the
BA could do within the law.
Relayed to the publishers concerned members’ deep
unease over the proposals.
The Chief Executive and Managing Director of the
companies concerned came to the BA to meet the
Council and discuss the issues, the outcome of which
was that both publishers agreed not to continue with
their plans.
Legislation
The BA scrutinizes potential or actual legislation that may
affect our members. The aim is to inform members about
the introduction of new regulations and, where necessary,
to lobby for changes to proposed legislation.
Key points
In the last year, the BA brought to Council's attention the
following:
Basic Skills – development of employees.
Business Rate Supplement.
Business Rates.
Carbon Reduction Commitment.
Christmas Day and New Year’s Day in Scotland.
Climate Change Bill.
Commercial Property Rents - impact of business rates.
Consumer Contractual Rights.
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.
Contractual Obligations in Commercial and Civil Matters
(Rome 1).
Copyright Review: progressing the Gowers proposals
Cost of collection (BRC Survey); Creative Content
On-line.
Creative Industries – DCMS Action Plan.
Crime – how best to tackle crime in communities.
Crime – Tackling the Causes.
Culture in a Globalising World – report from the
European Parliament’s Culture Committee.
Distance Selling – EU Review.
Distance Selling Directive (Europe).
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
Education and Skills Bill.
Education and Training 2010 – European work
programme.
Empty Property Rate Relief.
16
Environmental Labelling.
EU Sustainable Production and Consumption Plan.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
High Street Shops (Planning) – Commons debate
26 March.
Internet Selling – OFT Review.
Local Booksellers – Early Day Motion.
Local Income Tax in Scotland.
Maestro replaced with Visa debit cards.
MasterCard Interchange fees – European
Commission Ruling.
MasterCard and Visa – the Interchange fees increase.
National Minimum Wage.
National Recycling Label.
National Security Strategy.
OFT Report: impact upon productivity of ending resale
price maintenance on books.
Packaging – the Packaging (Reduction) Bill.
Penalty Notices for Disorder.
Planning Policy Statements.
Planning White Paper and PPS6 consultation.
Plastic Bag Ban (London).
Plastic Bag Tax Bill (Scotland).
PPL and increases in music licences.
Rent reviews.
Retail crime.
Retail Development Bill.
RFID Data – Privacy Protection.
Rome Convention – inter–EU selling.
Sentencing Advisory Panel.
Skills for Life Strategy.
Small Shops Commission (Conservative Party) and
the Richards’ Report.
Supplementary Business Note.
Theft & Dishonesty offences.
Town Centres – Planning for the Future.
Town Centres and Road pricing.
Transport (local) and road pricing.
VAT – review of existing legislation on reduced rates.
VAT on audio books.
During the past year, the BA has written the following
submissions:
Commercial leases – DEFRA.
Purchase of THE and Bertrams – OFT and Competition
Commission.
Guidelines for Business and Home Shopping – OFT.
PPL Music Licence increases – Copyright Tribunal.
Plastic bags – DEFRA.
Measuring the Operational Carbon Footprint – devising
a simple web measurement tool – DEFRA.
Sourcing electricity from renewable suppliers – DEC.
BA Loss Prevention Consortium
The BA Loss Prevention Consortium (BALPC) consists of
senior loss prevention managers from all the leading
bookshop chains, plus representation from independents.
The main objective is to drive down losses within bookshops
by focusing on current problem areas affecting all members
and working collectively on long-term measures.
Key Points
It meets to share information and intelligence and to
give feedback to the British Retail Consortium (BRC),
their Heads of Security Committee and the Action
Against Business Crime partnership.
It maintains a dialogue between the BA and the BRC and
the Government on a range of issues, including
BRC’s annual Retail Crime Survey to which BA
members contribute and which this year highlighted the
human cost in terms of violence against staff.
Shoplifting trends in the current economic downturn.
Card Not Present (CNP) fraud, the fastest-growing area
of crime as chip-and-PIN has reduced fraud in-store.
Stolen books being sold on eBay and other websites.
Policing and police reform.
Store detectives and the Security Industry Authority.
The National Staff Dismissal Register.
Printed books remain safe from VAT unless the UK
Government itself decides to end the zero rating and to move
to a reduced or even full rate, or if European Ministers agree
unanimously to end the system of unanimous voting on tax
matters and to move instead to majority arrangement.
The BA, via the European Booksellers Federation (EBF),
works vigorously to ensure that printed books remain VATfree in the UK.
Key points
In the UK, the BA reacted quickly to the Government’s
decision in its Pre-Budget Statement to reduce the
standard rate of VAT from 17.5% to 15% from 1 December
2008 for a temporary period of 13 months.
Within 24 hours of the Statement, the BA offered advice
to its members, explaining that any invoice and receipt
issued after 1 December 2008 carrying a VAT element
would need to show the correct standard VAT rate of 15%.
Furthermore, any order forms, publications, PoS
material, websites and so forth which showed the price
of a product or service carrying a standard VAT rate
would need to refer to the new 15% rate.
Members were advised to check with any software
suppliers (accountancy, EPOS and website) to ensure
that, after 1 December, the VAT rate and any calculations
required were made on the new 15% standard rate; to
check all printed and other promotional material relating
to their businesses to ensure that any standard VAT rate
is also shown as 15% from 1 December 2008; and to read
the Guidance Notes.
The BA worked closely with the PA, Nielsen Book and
Bowker to ensure that publishers adjusted the RRP
records, where appropriate, with the bibliographic
agencies, in order to reflect price changes necessitated
by the pre-Budget statement.
We must accept that, in these difficult economic times,
the Treasury will look for every way possible to replenish its
coffers. Thus, VAT will obviously come under the microscope
in January 2010 as an obvious means of increasing income.
The BA and the PA will be working hard to ensure that, at
the next General Election, the main political parties include
in their manifestos a statement indicating that it is not their
intention to tax books.
VAT and books
We are in a very privileged position within the European
Union – we have no VAT on printed books.
The European Commission is opposed to member states
having any zero rates, but the UK and Ireland’s exception is
on a temporary basis under “transitional arrangements”
agreed many years ago by European Commissioner
Lord Cockfield.
The zero rating can only be changed with the agreement of
all European Finance Ministers. As the UK and Ireland
have always opposed the ending of zero rate, the
Commission has to accept the continuation of these
“transitional arrangements”.
In Europe, three things happened in 2008 which required
the BA’s attention:
A review of the existing legislation on VAT-reduced rates
by the European Commission's Directorate for Taxation
& Customs Union.
The suggestion by some member states that the rate for
audiobooks be reduced to that applying to printed books
in each member state.
The suggestion by a number of member states that
e-books carry the same rate as printed books.
Working through the EBF, a submission was sent to the
Directorate General in May 2008.
The EBF once again stressed to the DG the importance of
not taxing reading throughout the European Union, as books
play a fundamental role in a knowledge-based society.
17
Legislation & Representation
Products and Services
The European Booksellers
Federation
The European Commission is unwilling to listen to
representations from national trade associations but
welcomes dialogue with umbrella organisations that
collectively represent member states.
The European Booksellers Federation (EBF) exists to
represent the views of Booksellers Association
members to the European Commission and to other
European institutions and the BA is represented on
the Board.
Key points
During 2008, EBF has been involved with:
The European Commission's wish to end the
transitional arrangement which allows the UK and
Ireland to exempt books from VAT.
The pressure placed on the Commission by some
member states to reduce VAT rates of e-books to
the same level as printed books.
Google's provisional Settlement with US publishers
and authors.
The European Commission's Green Paper on
Copyright.
The need for improved book trade statistics
throughout the European Union.
Fixed and free price systems for books within EU
member states.
The development of the European Digital Library,
Europeana. http://www.europeana.eu/
Books and the promotion of reading: the EBF has
worked with the Federation of European
Publishers, the European Writers' Congress and
the European Commission to set up a European
Literary Prize.
The Directory of UK & Irish Book
Publishers 2008
The Directory of UK & Irish Publishers is a print and online
reference of UK and Irish publishers, published in
conjunction with Nielsen BookData.
It’s the most comprehensive and detailed directory of book
publishers available.
The data, from the BA and from Nielsen, is wide and deep.
Breadth comes from the thousands of publisher records
held by Nielsen, depth from the rich data held by the BA on
many of those publishers.
Key points
Searchable database of over 6,000 UK and Irish
Publishers (including wholesalers, distributors, sales
and marketing agents and remainder dealers).
Rich information on thousands of publishers: trade
terms; key personnel; payment methods; returns and
distribution arrangements.
Helps to find hard-to-locate publishers.
A4, 300pp print directory.
Easy-to-use website.
Free 30-day trial available.
£52.50 (+VAT) to BA members; £67.50 (+VAT) to
non-members.
Business Support Helpline
The Business Support Helpline is a free legal helpline for
BA members. Run for the BA by CronerConsulting, the
service offers booksellers help on tax, VAT, health and
safety, employment law and HR issues.
The Business Support Helpline provides technical and
legal help for booksellers – indies who don’t have HR of
their own – and chains who want confirmation on their
decisions.
Key points
Unlimited access.
Only available to BA members.
Funded by the BA and free to members.
18
A New Introduction
to Bookselling Course
Organised by the BA and the Independent Booksellers
Forum, the course ran twice in 2008.
It is intended for booksellers who have recently set up
in business and anyone who is considering opening a
bookshop and also for new members of staff.
The course aims to show attendees how to create and
maintain a robust business and to give them practical
understanding of bookshop finance. It also covers the
day-to-day tasks of running a bookshop and deals with
such issues as customer loyalty.
Tutor – Patrick Neale of Jaffé & Neale Bookshop and
Café, Chipping Norton.
Guest speaker – Kate Gunning, Head of Buying, Foyles.
Course feedback: “I found this course really useful.”
“Great, informative talk.” “Interesting and entertaining.”
“It could not have been better prepared or more useful.”
“Fantastically interesting.” “Very enthusiastic and
knowledgeable tutor.”
Starting &
Running a
Bookshop
This textbook overview of
starting and running a
bookshop covers finance,
business planning, location,
buying stock, marketing,
management, pricing,
selling, preparing to open
and IT.
Starting & Running a
Bookshop is an invaluable
publication for prospective
booksellers who want to investigate setting up a
bookselling business or for anyone seeking a reference
book on the fundamentals of bookselling.
Key points
BA Affinity Deals
Affinity deals are negotiated with a range of third-party
suppliers who supply products and services to BA
members. Normally these are discounts or exclusive
deals, for non-book products and services.
Affinity deals allow booksellers to source products and
services at rates they would not otherwise be able to
secure. Particularly advantageous to smaller booksellers.
Key points
MemberBenefits by LogBuy – discounts on such
household names as TomTom, BT, Laithwaites Wine,
Radisson Hotels, Apple and Hewlett Packard. Accessed
through www.booksellers.org.uk
Tailored bookshop insurance for UK and Irish
booksellers through Willis UK.
Excellent credit and debit card rates through Lloyds
TSB.
Free professional help and advice from the Business
Support Helpline.
Reduced preferential parcel rates through ANC & DHL.
Reduced rates for utilities through LSI Brokers.
Reduced rate healthcare from PHP Healthcare and
Patient Choice.
Reduced price products – carrier bags, recycled cotton
carrier bags, order forms and stationery, face-out
boxes.
Reduced price office supplies through Corporate
Express.
Reduced price stocktaking through Henderson Valuers.
Professional consultancy on shop design through
Insight Design.
Reduced price display equipment through Pennant
Design.
Mystery Shopping Service from Storecheckers.
Local media search.
Retail review scheme from Retail Workshop.
Bookselling
Essentials
The Directory of Members is the most comprehensive and
detailed directory of book retailers available in the UK.
Bookselling Essentials is the
BA’s quarterly print
newsletter, mailed to all
members in February, May,
August and November. It
carries news about BA
Group company activities
and trade initiatives.
Key points
Key points
£28 from the BA.
Written by an experienced bookseller.
The only publication of its kind.
Directory of Members
Comprehensive information on all BA members.
Contact details.
Subject specialisations.
Free to BA members.
The main communication
channel for BA members.
Published every quarter.
Carries news from BA, Book Tokens and batch.
Includes inserts and offers from affinity partners.
19
E-Commerce and EDI
batch
The batch Financial system
The financial information and payment
service for the book trade continued
to grow in 2008, throughput by 15%,
revenue by 14% and electronic
users by 24%.
batch is a BA service designed to help
booksellers in difficult times. batch is an important tool
for booksellers as it helps remove costs.
“
I am a total convert to the batch system and would
recommend it highly to fellow booksellers – for a
number of reasons. First, the ability to authorise
payment of most of our invoices online in just one place
makes our lives a lot easier. Second, as payment goes
out on the last day of the month, it helps to maximise
our credit and track our cashflow more effectively.
It also helps us keep track of orders and invoices, so
we don’t have to waste our time – and suppliers’
time – chasing up lost paperwork.
batch Returns is also an incredibly useful service.
Instead of calling up a rep or customer service to return
books, we simply enter the book ISBN and quantity into
the system. A response from the publisher arrives
within 24 hours, and then we print out the returns
paperwork and labels, which is a real time-saver.
batch also supplies integration software (BIS) for Sage
50 Accounts, the market leader accounting programme
used by many booksellers. In the past, you needed a
bookkeeper or dedicated bookseller to do the tasks
batch does automatically. I estimate that this service
alone has saved us £1,000 per year.
”
Philip Wicks of the Castle Hill Bookshop in Yorkshire,
Chairman of batch
Electronic data from batch
The majority of booksellers access batch over the internet,
but we are also providing electronic data feeds to more
than 130 businesses. This enables those businesses to
integrate batch into their existing accounting and stock
control systems.
The batch Returns system
The electronic service that enables booksellers large and
small to acquire permission to return stock and manage
the physical return of books. batch Returns continues to
grow and we have now processed over 96,000 returns
requests for booksellers. We expect many more suppliers
to join in the coming year.
“
WHSmith is pleased to announce that the move of
Bookpoint on to the IRI returns system will take
Returns Authorisation applications to 91% within the
business. It is anticipated that by April 2009 with
further suppliers planned to come on line, WHSmith
RA requests through the IRI batch System will move
up to 94% of all applications.
”
Jenny Brownley, Merchandising Development Controller,
WHSmith
20
batch responding to the needs of the book industry
batch has become a business-critical service for the entire
book industry. It has to run 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, and is accessed by booksellers in 56 countries across
many different time zones. In acknowledgment of its
importance, we have undertaken substantial work to ensure
continuity of service and have moved our main system into a
state-of-the-art data centre with a full disaster recovery
programme. The batch system infrastructure has been
modernised to use the latest technology.
Giving something back to the membership
The Booksellers Association is rewarding those
booksellers using the batch Financial service for 75% of
the full calendar year by offering a £40 rebate off next
year’s BA subscription.
batch attends the London and Frankfurt book fairs, the
Independent Booksellers Forum and BIC e4books forums
batch is a BA membership service and it is important that
we meet as many of our users as possible in order to
ensure that the service continues to develop to the benefit
booksellers. Therefore, we have a presence at most events
in the bookselling world.
Book Industry
Communication (BIC)
BIC is an independent organisation set
up and sponsored by the Booksellers
Association, the Publishers
Association, the Chartered Institute of
Library and Information Professionals
and the British Library to promote
supply chain efficiency in all sectors of the book trade
through e-commerce and the application of standard
processes and procedures.
BIC works to help the book industry be more efficient in
the areas of the supply chain, product information and
identification, digital content, e-commerce, technical
standards and accreditation.
Key Points – EDI
Virtually all the revisions to BIC’s EDI documentation
are now complete and the documentation will be
updated on a six-monthly basis, taking into account
changes and decisions agreed at BIC’s technical
implementation clinics.
BIC has now published 10 draft standard message sets
which cover most of the obviously appropriate supply
chain transactions.
Key Points – Digitisation
A discussion paper by Michael Holdsworth on
identifiers for digital product, jointly commissioned by
BIC and the Book Industry Study Group, was published
in early January.
The BIC Digital Supply Chain Group held a successful
workshop in May, attended by around 70 people, in an
attempt to nail down some of the issues being faced
in the supply chain and its standards requirements.
The two primary outcomes were a reaffirmation of
support for the ISBN standard as the basis for
identification of digital products and the emergence of
a consensus that intermediaries of one kind or another
(retailers, aggregators and data agencies) were going
to play a significant role in the supply chain in the future.
Two other initiatives have begun as a result of the supply
chain group workshop: a meeting has been held to
discuss how sales reports and invoicing can be handled
in standard electronic formats; and discussions have
begun about the standardising of publishers’ digital
marketing collateral and how it might be addressed
in existing or new accreditation schemes.
The launch of the Sony e-Reader in the UK, the
widespread adoption of the .epub format, and the
consensus on the unique numbering of each digital
format have all led to a degree of stability in the
marketplace.
Sony e-Reader
Website – www.bic.org.uk
The launching of the e4libraries site has provided the
opportunity to implement some improvements across the
three parts of the site – BIC, e4books and e4libraries.
At the same time, BIC has invested in a content management
system which means the site can be updated much more
effectively and quickly than has been the case so far.
However, sales of digital products remain tiny and
availability patchy. Growth in product output and,
crucially, in the number of channels to market will
provide the real test for the industry.
BIC e4books
e4books is a project initiated by
BIC in 2004 with the aim of
increasing the use of ecommerce in the book industry
supply chain, working towards
1 May 2008 as e-Day, the date by
which trading partners would be
capable of exchanging basic
electronic messages.
Booksellers specialising in library supply will welcome
the following:
BIC’s new e4libraries project has got off to an excellent
start and is providing a good focus for moving library
sector standards forward in EDI, product information
and RFID in both public and academic libraries.
The initial work on scoping the project has been the
subject of presentations at a CILIP seminar at the
London Book Fair and five regional NAG seminars,
where it has been widely welcomed.
The e4libraries subject category headings aimed at the
public library sector have been published and a website
(http://www.e4libraries.org) has been launched.
Key Points – Product Information
The UK ONIX Group, which was previously part of the
Product Metadata Group, has been providing detailed
input to the development of ONIX version 3.0.
Its aims have been to improve the efficiency and accuracy of
the book industry supply chain by the use of e-commerce.
Key Points
In February, a well-attended e4books forum for
booksellers and publishers was held in Bristol, with the
imprimatur of the BA’s Small Business Forum and the
Independent Publishers Guild.
The project was also presented at a Nielsen BookData
open day for Scottish publishers and at the BA Irish
Branch conference.
EDItEUR has commissioned some research into the
possible areas of expansion necessary to enable ONIX to
cope with a proliferation of digital content.
The event provided publishers and booksellers with
the opportunity to gain an understanding of e-commerce
in the supply chain and to talk to systems and service
providers.
There are now 23 accredited publishing groups covered
by the BIC Product Data Excellence Awards, including
almost all the major publishers.
During 2008, BIC accredited more than 80 organisations
under the e4book project. All their names are listed on
BIC’s website.
Key Points – Supply Chain
BIC participated at a meeting organised by EDItEUR and
GS1 Global in Frankfurt to discuss standards for RFID
tag structure in the trade. A proposed solution has the
support of the two main implementers so far, BGN/
Central Boekhuis and the Portuguese bookshop Byblos.
Helen Fraser, Chair of the BA/PA’s Environmental Action
Group, presented the work of the EAG to the BIC Supply
Chain Group. BIC is ready to undertake any appropriate
work which the EAG might want progressed.
The future of BIC’s Supply Chain Group is currently under
consideration, pending a review of activities and support.
Companies both large and small gained accreditation,
including many independent booksellers.
The e4books website remains a valuable resource
and accreditation will continue as the benchmark for
e-commerce worthiness.
A free guide, How to Get the Best Out of Bookshop
Systems and e-Commerce, was published under the
e4books banner and distributed to all BA members.
The number of publishers which have migrated to
Nielsen BookData’s website for the collection of
Teleorders exceeds 14,000 – convincing evidence that
e-trading is now part of the landscape.
See www.e4books.org for more information.
21
E-Commerce and EDI
BIC – IRI Policy Group
The standards for the Industry Return’s Initiative process
have now been formally published and a new IRI Policy
Group has been set up by BIC, reporting to the BA/PA
Liaison Group.
Key Points
All the major distributors are now operating under the
IRI rules, with typically over 90% of returns requests
being processed electronically.
This is a major achievement after many years’ hard
work and is unique to the UK book industry.
batch has also agreed to host a new Returns User
Group, open to all interested parties, to address
operational issues, help new implementers and look
towards an extension of electronic returns messaging
to increase the number of players.
All BA members can use the free batch service.
Bookselling in the Digital Age
Digitisation
Key points
Leading consumer book publishers are moving very
quickly to digitise content and wholesalers and digital
aggregators are offering e-books to booksellers.
Amazon and Google are offering consumers the ability
to see the inside of a book from a remote PC.
Booksellers are anxious because
Key points
Last year, the BA felt it most important to
Make it clear to publishers that booksellers have a key
role to play in the digital supply chain.
Encourage booksellers to think seriously about getting
involved in the supply of digital product.
Booksellers may well, in the future, be locked out from
selling millions of in-copyright titles in digital formats.
Booksellers would be left to focus on selling
“traditional” books.
Libraries and universities will find it easy to by-pass
booksellers.
Google will be able to have a huge influence on price (as
with iTunes).
Keep booksellers up to date with digital developments.
Google will dominate the digital book market – especially
for digital works in English controlled from the US.
Ensure that booksellers are able to identify digital
products and obtain them easily.
Society will be culturally disadvantaged – there will be
fewer bookshops to serve communities.
Actions taken by the BA
The BA brought together booksellers, publishers and
BIC to establish how digital products can be identified
and the key standards appropriate for them.
We secured the agreement of the BA/PA Liaison Group
to use a different ISBN for each digital format; also that
strong support should be given to the e.pub format and
the International Standard Text Code (ISTC).
Google
Google announced a proposed agreement in the US on
28 October 2008 to end a court action against them by
the Authors Guild and the Association of American
Publishers (AAP).
The proposed settlement would enable users to browse
or buy books online using Google Book Search and, in the
case of out-of-copyright titles, to read an extract or even
the entire text. Under the provisional terms, US users will
be able to search and preview the 7 million titles already
scanned with the option to buy. A publisher has to give
Google permission to offer these services for its in-print
books, but with out-of-print books Google will continue
to digitise titles unless a publisher specifically opts out.
22
Google is already in a very powerful position to access
consumers.
Although this is a US settlement, it is probable that
whatever is agreed in America will impact on the UK and
Ireland to the possible detriment of the BA’s members.
The BA met representatives of Google on 16 December
2008 and made the following points in addition to
those above
We wish, if possible, to work with Google in order to
bring about a situation whereby BA members can
benefit from the digitisation of books.
Google Book Search already gives users the ability to
search for millions of titles. Under the proposed US
Settlement, this figure would increase substantially
with the inclusion of (i) more out-of-print titles and (ii),
for the first time, so-called orphan works.
Google is an inclusive operation and we hope that where
it holds digital versions of out-of-print and orphan
works those works would be made available to BA
members on trade terms, either as digital copies, or
as PoD. This could significantly increase the number of
saleable titles available to members.
Once the proposed Books Rights Registry is up and
running, we will urge all publishers to register their
titles in order that everyone can find out about them.
We hope also that BA members will have free access to
the Registry so they too may uncover books which are
currently hard to trace.
Further meetings between the BA – including
representatives of the BA Council – and Google will take
place after the Annual Report has gone to press.
The Environment
green4books
The Environmental Action Group
The BA and PA set up the EAG to urge booksellers and
publishers to reduce their carbon emissions; to give
booksellers and publishers practical ideas as to what they
could do within their own businesses to better support the
environment; and to encourage businesses across the
industry to share best practice.
Key points
The EAG's website, www.green4books.org.uk, hosted
by the BA, offers booksellers and publishers practical
advice and ideas as to what can be done within their own
businesses to help protect the environment.
The site gives booksellers advice on carbon footprint;
recycling; packaging; plastic bags; energy; the supply
chain; travel; consumables; and policy within the business.
The EAG is examining four areas in particular:
The use of certified paper in book manufacturing, and an
appropriate symbol/logo for consumers, showing that the
paper has come only from sustainable forests.
What the carbon footprint might be for a typical book.
The need for a simple government-devised web
measurement tool which would enable booksellers and
other businesses to calculate easily their own operational
carbon footprints.
The need for government to carry out a full, independent
review to determine the best approach to carbon reporting
so that, in particular, onsite renewable energy is reported
correctly as zero carbon, allowing end-users to claim
financial subsidies.
Representations on these last two points have been made
in face-to-face meetings with DEFRA.
The BA also supported the national campaign to reduce
substantially the use of plastic bags. PoS stickers were
given to members in order to encourage consumers not to
ask for a bag at the time of purchase. However, the BA
does not support a total ban, believing that in some
situations (a rainy day, a heavy book) a plastic bag is
necessary. Representations to support these points were
made to DEFRA.
This Annual Report
Printed by The Colourhouse using their purprint ®
environmental print and technology. The printing inks are
made from vegetable-based oils and 95% of cleaning solvents
are recycled for further use. The Colourhouse is a carbonneutral company, accredited with environmental management
system ISO 14001 as well as being FSC-accredited.
This document was printed on a revive 75 silk, a recycled
paper containing a minimum 75% recovered waste and
25% mill broke and manufactured at a mill accredited with
ISO 14001 environmental standard. Revive is an FSCaccredited paper.
Pages from
the green4books
website
23
The Booksellers Association wants
to hear from you
There are many ways in which you can communicate
with the BA.
Booksellers Association, Minster House, 272 Vauxhall
Bridge Road, London SW1V 1BA
T 0207 802 0802
F 0207 802 0803
E mail@booksellers.org.uk
www.booksellers.org.uk
www.nationalbooktokens.co.uk
www.batch.co.uk
BA Council – If you wish to raise an issue to be discussed
at the Council meetings, please send your comments to
tim.godfray@booksellers.org.uk or any other member of
BA staff as detailed below.
At Events – BA staff are always available at: the London
Book Fair, the BA Annual Conference, wholesaler trade
shows and at the numerous Independent Booksellers
Forum events organised by the BA.
In person at the BA offices. Just contact the person you
wish to see to arrange a meeting.
BA Group Senior Staff
Tim Godfray Chief Executive, BA Group
tim.godfray@booksellers.org.uk
Stuart Mathews MD, National Book Tokens
stuart.mathews@booktokens.co.uk
Fraser Tanner MD, batch.co.uk
fraser.tanner@batch.co.uk
Tim Trigg Finance Director, BA Group
tim.trigg@booksellers.org.uk
Pimms Banwait IT Director, BA Group
pimms.banwait@booksellers.org.uk
Tom Catton, Financial Controller, BA Group
tom.catton@booksellers.org.uk
Sydney Davies Head of Trade & Industry, BA
sydney.davies@booksellers.org.uk
Alex de Berry Head of Marketing & Sales,
National Book Tokens
alex.deberry@booktokens.co.uk
Meryl Halls Head of Membership Services, BA
meryl.halls@booksellers.org.uk
John Parke Company Secretary and Head of Meetings, BA
john.parke@booksellers.org.uk
Alan Staton Head of Marketing, BA
alan.staton@booksellers.org.uk
Uzo Onuora Customer Relationship Manager
uzo.onuora@booksellers.org.uk
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