I used to do Scholastic Book Fairs when we were at our old school. I had a
great rep who helped me through my first couple of fairs, when I had no idea
what I was doing. However, the fall we moved into our new school building, I
had a scholastic fair and it was awful. A pitiful selection of books and
over 30 posters (which I was dumb enough to put out). I also had a new rep
who was no where near as good as the old one. My princiapal had had concerns
about the quality of the books we had received, she felt many of them were
junk. After I'd switched book fair companies, the rep called me and seemed
shocked that anyone would think anything scholastic provided was junk.
For my spring fair that same school year, I switched to Panorama Book Fairs
(I believe they're in Canada only) a division of Vanwell Publishing, they
sort of took over Troll, I think. I had been sent some info on them and I
talked to another LT in our board who had held a couple of their fairs and
she was impressed with them. They hold what they call a "no frills" book
fair--no fluffy diaries, or funky pens or posters. They also don't provide
flyers to send home, but I make my own up--it's worth it. I get a much
larger selection of books and the prices are what really impressed me. The
average price of books is $3 or $5--and the most expensive book I think I've
come from them is $15.00. All the prices are in even dollars and they even
send a nice selection of one dollar books which is so nice. They have pens,
pencils, and bookmarks but none of the really junky stuff you get with
Scholastic. I live in an economically depressed area and have a small school
population but I still manage to hit the 50% mark on profit returns (I take
my profit in books only)--and iirc $1600 in sales gives you 60%. I've heard
rumours that to get 60% from Scholastic you have to do over $2000. One thing
that might be a drawback for some people is that they discourage massive
reorders, although they WILL do it. Personally, not doing reorders is bonus
for me, I always found that a time consuming job. They provide 4-6 copies of
most books and if you request more of some they will send it to you. I also
find that 9 times out of 10 if a book that a child wants is gone, they will
find something else.
I also have to give heaps of praise to my rep at Panorama--her name is Penny
and she's fabulous; any problems or concerns I've had she's always been
quick to answer them or help me out. I can't say enough good about
her--she's always pleasant when I call and it makes Book Fair that much
easier when you have a rep you can rely on. In the next year or two I am
considering booking one Scholastic--if only to get a few different books in
the library...and to see how they've changed, if they have. I haven't made a
firm decision yet.
Later
Stacy
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Stacy L.A. Bugden
Library Technician
Champlain Elementary School
Granville Ferry, NS
Canada
libces.ces@staff.ednet.ns.ca
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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