Fw: Secondary book fairs (long.. but lots to say!)

[W & S Koontz <koontzs@HORIZON.HIT.NET>]

koontzs@horizon.hit.net  (home)
koontzs@usd286.hit.net  (school)
Sharon Koontz, K-12 LMS
U.S.D. 286
Sedan KS 67361
"Never judge a book by its movie."- J.W. Eagan
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> From: W & S Koontz <koontzs@horizon.hit.net>
> To: Koontz/Home <koontzs@horizon.hit.net>
> Subject: HIT: Secondary book fairs (long.. but lots to say!)
> Date: Sunday, January 11, 1998 8:12 PM
>
> My hit follows this brief update.
>
> I am going to inquire with a small bookstore that gives
> teachers 20% off, maybe they'll do better for this project.
>
> I really wanted to do as I do in the elem. school (Yes, I'm a K-12
> librarian) We are *Very* actively involved in Accelerated Reader and I
have
> two book fairs per year, in which I allow students to by a book using
their
> AR points.  The 50% profit  taken in books easily covers that and I
usually
> have $200-300 left over for library books.   I want to do the same at the
> high school level, but would have to have a hefty profit to be able to do
> that.  Because of AR, I have pretty advanced, mature readers and
need/want
> something more than the books I already have in the library, which
> eliminates Scholastic, I feel.
>
> If I should need to pick out my own books, are there any suggestions out
> there about good picks?? I know I'll get every Grisham, Whitney, M.H.
Clark
> (even though 90% of my h.s. students have read them all!) etc. etc.  I
> prefer to avoid profanity, sexuality (at least anything *weird*, and
> violence.)
>
> Here are the suggestions/ advise I received:
>
> We used Walden once, and it was awful. The problem is,you have to go and
> pick out and pick up the books yourself, they inventory what you take,
and
> if you get any stolen, you still have to pay for them, which is a big big
> problem, especially in our school.
>
> We use Scholastic, and we do their 1/2 price or two for the price of one.
> We don't get money, but we get a certain percentage back in books. They
do
> a pretty good job of giving us young adult titles, and the students at
our
> school have been really happy with what they get. We do it around
> Christmas time, then the kids can buy books for presents. We took in
about
> 1,000 dollars, so we got to pick out quite a few free books, plus we
> bought a bunch more at 1/2 price for our collection.
>
> I've used Scholastic for the past 3 years and have been very happy with
> the service, etc.  They have quite a bit of stuff for Hight school age.
> They are the only ones that come close to an age-appropriate book fair
> that I have found.
>
> I've done Waldenbooks fairs as a special event during Nat. Education Week
> (which included parent visitation);  I didn't make much profit, but it
was
> good for drawing students into the library.  I've been told by book fair
> companies that the variety of interests at high school level makes it
> difficult for them to provide a selection on which they can make a
profit,
> which does fit with my experience with the Waldenbooks fairs.  I have
found
> that humor books are big with the kids, and SAT/ACT and college guides
sell
> fairly well with parents.  Since my fairs were fairly close to Christmas,
I
> included some books for younger children that high school students could
> purchase as gifts for younger siblings (or teachers for their children).
>
>
>  At one time Palmer News (long
> out of bs. I think) at Topeka would allow you to pull at their warehouse
> and
> I think they gave more than 20% discount.  I would be interested if you
> locate anyone. Has any one out there done a book fair in the high school.
> I've used both Pages & Scholastic.
>
> We have run a book fair for the past 10 years using a local book
> distributor, and have had  a 30% discount. You need to find one that
> will allow you to send back the books that are not sold. We have found
> that bookstores aren't usually too excited by that prospect. We have our
> fair to sell students their summer reading requirements and it is run by
> the reading specialists (I was one until this year). I know there is a
> distributor up in Massachusetts that is similar to ours, but I don't
> know of one in Kansas. Hopefully you can find a local one. Ours is
> active in the RIF program--and that is how we found it despite being a
> high school.
>
> My high school does a Scholastic book fair each
> year around the holidays.  We use their Junior high pack of book (their
> highest level).  Although there are some adult and some decent YA books,
> are sales are dreadful because there is not enough selection to please
> our students.  Most of our sales are for family members (mostly younger
> brothers and sisters) for the holidays.
>
> Ingram gives a good discount for paperbacks.  Their web page
> is:http://www.ingrambook.com/
>
> I used to do bookfairs in our high school when I was new and
> inexperienced. I gave them up because I had too many books stolen and
> never made much money. A candy sle doesn't promote reading but it is a
> much easier way to raise money.
>
> When I did high school book fairs I contacted the local paperback
> wholesaler who filled orders in stores all over the area.  They allowed
me
> to go to the warehouse and pick the books I wanted.  If we ran out, they
> delivered more the next day.  I think we got a 30+ percent discount.  It
> worked well, but did take some extra time on my part selecting the books.
> However, because I could select based on my student's reading interests,
I
> think we sold more.  They also carried posters (Argus).  Those went
really
> well.
>
> Have you tried a non-chain?  We did a long time ago and I don't remember
> the
> profits, but she was willing to tailor it for us.  Good luck.
>
>  When I moved from elementary to high school, I thought I might have high
> school book fairs.  I talked to the distributor I'd used for about ten
> years
> at elem., with excellent sales figures.  He said a high school book fair
> just wouldn't go--he didn't think he'd make enough money to pay for the
> gasoline to deliver the books.  I figured he knew more about it than I
did,
> and gave up the idea.  I sure miss the big boost our grade school book
> fairs
> brought to our budget!
>
> koontzs@horizon.hit.net  (home)
> koontzs@usd286.hit.net  (school)
> Sharon Koontz, K-12 LMS
> U.S.D. 286
> Sedan KS 67361
> "Never judge a book by its movie."- J.W. Eagan
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>

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