Despite amazing prices that help the bottom line and
interesting titles that can spice up a store, the
remainder market remains an often murky phenomenon for many independent
booksellers. Last October, at the biggest U.S. remainder book fair,
CIROBE (the Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book
Exposition), Shelf Awareness talked with four independent booksellers
with years of experience buying and selling remainders. Here they offer
their observations and tips about this quirky but rewarding part of the
business.
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First, the logical reasons for stocking remainders. "Remainders are a
way for a store to set itself apart from competitors," Mark Mouser,
general books manager at the University Book Store, Seattle, Wash., told
Shelf Awareness. "Remainders give the customer a great deal, but have
the latitude to pay the bills."
With frontlist titles, most stores "are all basically representing the
same titles and following the publishers' marketing campaigns," Mouser
continued. "With bargain books, there is a huge difference in what
customers see at the chains and independents. For example, most of Barnes &
Noble's offerings in this area are promotional and proprietary
publishing. There are very few true remainders, and if they do them,
they're very commercial."
Some booksellers believe remainders "devalue the integrity of new
books," Mouser noted. "But that definitely is not our experience."
Gayle Shanks, co-owner of Changing Hands, Tempe, Ariz., emphasized that
certain genres "are difficult to sell at full price but work as
remainders." Like Mouser, she appreciates remainders' margins. Because
of their economics, "gifts and remainders are no brainers," she said.
Remainders can be a fun challenge, too. Carole Horne, general manager
of the Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass., noted that at many
remainder booths she sorts through a thousand books "to find the 15
that work for us. It's always so great when you find one. It's like
Filene's Basement!"
In addition, "there's nothing you have to have," Horne said. "You can
focus on what will sell the best, not how it's promoted or whether it's
on the New York Times bestseller list."
The Art, Science and Hard Work of Buying
Bob Sommer, co-owner of Changing Hands, cautioned that "it takes a couple of seasons for a bookseller to understand the market."
Horne agreed, calling remainder buying "its own special category of
buying. It requires a funny combination of gut sense of what will sell
as a remainder and being willing to beat the bushes to find the odd
things that no one is finding. You have to stay on top of what's available and get
them before they're gone. It's a combination of science and art and
hard work."
She added that the best remainder buyers "develop an instinct for books
that may do O.K. as new hardcovers but will be special as remainders.
Sometimes you remember or check stock and see how they did in their
earlier incarnations."
At Changing Hands, some of the categories that work best as remainders
are cookbooks, art books, fiction hardcover and children's hardcover.
For example, Shanks said, "I can no longer buy more than two or three
copies of a new art book. They're in the $50-$75 range. But as
remainders priced at $20-$30, they work."
The Harvard Book Store does really well, Horne said, with art,
architecture and photography books, which as remainders "can have a pretty high price
but are a great deal compared to the list price." Other strong
categories are literary fiction, history, biography, essays--"a lot of
the same stuff we sell well as new books." The store also sells
remainder children's books and cookbooks, but not many craft titles.
The store sells very few promotional books.
Display
Gayle Shanks lamented the misperception that remainders are
"great disaster books" about such topics as hurricanes and the
Hindenburg explosion. As Bob Sommer pointed out, remainder titles vary
widely in terms of quality and allow a bookseller "to distinguish the
store. There is such a selection that you don't have to buy crap."
University Book Store in Seattle displays remainders "in the
front" and makes them an impulse item, Mouser said. "We like to stack
them up and blow the stacks out." He adds that he does not like to
treat remainders as "second-class citizens. When you do that, customers
pick up on it. I like customers who look on remainders as a good
opportunity to build a fine library on a budget."
Harvard Book Store stocks some remainders on its main floor, "on the
right and wrapping around the windows," Horne said, with newest arrivals featured.
Some 45% of the basement is remainders; the rest of the stock in the basement is used.
Remainder trends
Among changes that the booksellers have noticed in recent years, sometimes chains or remainder dealers buy a
complete lot of remainders, so that "we're fighting over midlist rather
than frontlist," as Bob Sommer put it.
Mark Mouser lamented that some
major publishers would rather pulp overruns than sell them as
remainders. Books destined for pulping often make it to the
market anyway. "It would be better to make sure that everything [involving
these titles] is done aboveboard and all get a fair shot," he said.
Another change: remainders are sold online, too, of course. Several
booksellers said this has made their work easier, but others said that
they need to see many of the books before buying them. Also some
purchasers of online bargain books are consumers, further adding to the
buying competition.
Mouser begins stocking up partway through the year for the holiday
season. At CIROBE, which is always in late October, "I'm hoping to find great coffee table book gifts. I'm
looking for true remainders and great titles with general appeal."
Buying has become "more subtle than it used to be," Mouser continued.
"We're not buying 300 copies of a hot title." And he buys more
promotional gift titles than he used to. CIROBE remains important for
us "to get enough stock to get through December."
One of the joys--and difficulties--of remainders is the sense of the
hunt. By definition, remainders are not going back to press soon. Good
material can disappear quickly. As Mark Mouser put it, "You snooze, you
lose."
As a result, booksellers need to adopt what Bob Sommer called
"the zen of remainder buying." He explained: "You can't focus on what
you missed. You have to remember that there is always more to find."--John Mutter
CIROBE, held this year October 26-28 at the Hilton Chicago, is the
largest remainder show in the country and draws a range of American and
international dealers and booksellers. There are also two remainder
shows in Atlanta, Ga., the Spring Book Show,
which will be held March 28-30 at the Georgia World Congress Center,
and the Great American Bargain Book Show, to be held next August at the
same site. This year for the first time, BookExpo America had an extra early day for bargain book buyers and sellers. The next BEA will be held in Los Angeles May 29-June 1.
A tip about CIROBE: for many buyers and sellers, the show starts when dealers begin selling in
hotel breakout rooms a few
days earlier than the show's official opening.