A. These guys are going out of business.
B. They deserve it.

Publisher Henry Rosenbloom and bookseller Mark Rubbo on Late Night Live talked about the fragile state of the industry and blamed the Internet, the Aussie dollar, the GST and the e-book.

And these are real factors. But what has the industry done to re-structure the retail offering to compete in this new environment? Precious little, gentle reader.

I did the bulk of my Christmas shopping in bookshops and it was the same as it was 20 years ago.

I’d add that there are good independent bookshops in Perth that choose their books carefully and are run by knowledgeable and helpful people. Here’s a roll call:

The Lane Bookshop, the Bookcaffe, New Edition and Planet Books.

But follow any of those links to understand why Amazon is doing well. (Particularly the Lane; it’s a pearler).

Maybe unfair to expect much innovation from small, independent booksellers but the bookselling chains do have resources and their lack of innovation is shameful.

I was in Borders. They have an ‘on-line catalogue’ you can use to look up a book. “2 copies in stock”. So I find a guy who helpfully looks in the various possible locations and reports back: out of stock. Get this: the database only updates every 48 hours. If only they had computers! So there’s the first tip for bookshops: implement real time inventory tracking.

I was in Dymocks. The sales person there does the look-up for you. Maybe it’s too complicated for customers … Their database searches every Dymocks store in the state. The title; a popular 2010 book, was out of stock everywhere. What’s meant to happen at this point is the sales person says to you, “we don’t have THAT but have you read THIS?”. Nope. He suggested I try Angus & Robertsons. Tip #2: The customer wants to buy a book NOW. Help the customer to buy a book NOW.

I was in Angus & Robertson’s. That really is a bumhole of a store. Books on the wrong shelves; old titles; the staff going through the motions. But here’s an idea that applies to all three chains: instead of sticking every book in one motherfuckingly huge section, put paper signs in between the books to show where the different letters of the alphabet start. I have thoughtfully illustrated this for you. See above.

But. Why classify by alphabetic order of author anyway? You’re not a bloody library. Tip #4: display books in order of popularity, not by author’s name. I know what you’re thinking. How will I find the book I want if I know the author’s name? See Tip #5.

Tip #5: Put a barcode and a shelf number on every shelf. Scan the book and the shelf barcode when you put it on the shelf so the computer knows exactly where the book is. When people use the catalogue (which could also be an app they download to their phone) it tells you the shelf-number AND shows you a picture of the spine of the book so you can eye-ball it quickly. If it’s out of stock it shows you the location of other books by the same author.

A contemporary book store should be about saving you time, helping you select and delivering a pleasant experience in a physical space. Remaining tips relate to that experience.

New Edition often plays Chopin in the Northbridge shop. Music, atmosphere: here – take my money.

I’d love to see a Recommendation Table. Customers are invited to pull one book off the shelf and put it on the Table. (Yeah I know this screws up the inventory system but it gives the customer a stake). I’d like to see some books OPENED so I can read half a page.

I’d like to do the store’s personality test. 10 multiple choice questions and the store computer generates a reading list which the staff member then turns into a pile of books to peruse.

Or it’s a list of single sentences from the 20 most recent new releases and I pick my favourite three.

If your business is under environmental pressure it doesn’t work to keep doing what you’ve always done. That path leads to extinction. Retail has to aggressively use technology and it has to develop more compelling experiences that differentiate it from online shopping.

Christien Meindertsma spent three years researching the end uses of the range of raw materials that derive from pigs. Then she photographed the products that include a little bit of pig. Paint. Bullets. Beer. Sandpaper. Marshmallows. Beauty masks. To name a few. Her charming talk on the book follows.
I don’t know about you; I often have problems with Vimeo videos. You may have to play it through without volume first to buffer it locally and avoid the stop/starts.

TEDxAmsterdam: Christien Meindertsma from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

A simple book concept beautifully executed. Let me say that another way: the more clearly you define your project the more clearly you will communicate it and the greater your chances of success.

In this case, Christien’s marketing success allows her to powerfully comment on interconnectedness. Ordering the book and can’t wait for her next project.

I was interested to learn about the use of Adwords in testing potential names for books. Tim Ferriss found the name “Four Hour Workweek” the stand-out result in his Adwords testing and had a #1 bestseller. I guess he also tested “You Can Be Rich and Lazy If You Buy My Book”.

To be honest though, I was more impressed with the name Cathryn Jakobson Ramin chose for her book. It’s on the subject of memory loss in middle aged people. Come on! Guess what she called it!

Give up?

“That Memory Book”. Hahahaha. Here’s where you buy it.

I read a book by Seth Godin called the Purple Cow. The Purple Cow being a metaphor for doing something bold in your marketing. It’s a few years old now and I learned some valuable facts (Shaquille O’Neil spent $100,000 on a motor cycle. Boy did he go up in my estimation!) but really, the most important thing I learned was how to sell marketing books.

1. Find out the names of some businesses that are outstandingly successful. This is not tricky; you can look in business magazines. Get lots of names because that way you can keep each article to about two pages. A whole book about one company will be too boring.

2. Invent a magic word. One is best, two is okay but three is probably too many for people to remember. Seth used “Purple Cow”. Put the magic word(s) in the title of the book.

3. Analyse the SUCCESS of the businesses. Note that there is only ever ONE reason for a company being successful. More than one reason would take too long to explain. You need to cover it in two paragraphs. Some examples from the book: Volvo were successful because they deliberately made their cars ugly. Linux was successful because it was hard to use. Buddy Hackett was successful because he swore a lot. The Blair Witch Project was successful because the movie makers deliberately launched it with no promotional budget. A restaurant near Seth hired a CLOWN. “The results were remarkable”.

4. Describe the SUCCESS as coming about because of your magic word. Some examples from the book: The Aeron Chair was a Purple Cow. Curad bandaids with cartoon characters on them were Purple Cows. Bob Dylan is Seth’s favourite Purple Cow. Krispy Kreme understands how to manage the Cow. Starbucks, Linux, MP3s; all Purple Cows. Success only happened because of your magic word. If people use your magic word, they will be successful too.

5. Use your magic word about twelve times on every page. This will help people to remember it. Also use the word “insanely”. It just impresses people a lot.

That just about nails it but here are some other valuable things I learned from Seth. I think he may have sourced these from desk calendars:

“A camel is a horse put together by a committee”
“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle”

But there are a couple that Seth made up himself:

“It’s not an accident that some products catch on and some others don’t”. I made a note about that one.

“Companies with Otaku are the sneezers you seek”. It’s become like a mantra for me.

And how about this for a thought starter: “What if one member of every family in China sent you a nickel?” Goddammit I’d be rich! I’d have BILLIONS of Chinese nickels! This marketing stuff is INSANELY GREAT!