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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 February 2000 Issue No. 467 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 February 2000 Issue No. 467
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A tough sell
By Tarek Atia
Would it surprise you that 50 per cent of all books sold in the US are not sold in bookstores? Or that 50 per cent of Americans never buy another book after finishing their education? These, and other insightful pieces of information, were presented at a lecture delivered at the Cairo International Book Fair this week by Willard Dickerson, former director of education at the American Booksellers Association. The topic of the lecture was "Marketing books in the United States", and to judge from the sparse turnout at the Lotus Hall, not many people were interested in doing such a thing.
Perhaps that was for the better. For, as it quickly became clear from Dickerson's presentation, the chances of books from Egypt or the Arab world finding a significant audience in the States seemed slim indeed.
Arab authors could pretty much forget about major bookstore chains like Barnes and Nobles. These massive, multi-national corporations with thousands of branches were mainly concerned with profit, and were not willing to take risks with unknown commodities. Too bad, since they account for 28 per cent of all book sales.
There was some hope, however, in the 5,000 or so independent bookstores which represent 22 per cent of book sales. Since some of these independents are located in major cities with diverse populations, Arab authors might have a chance there.
But Dickerson's main suggestion was that an Arabic book club be formed, which could then target a specific market of about 15 million Arabic-speaking people in the United States via direct mail. The "clever entrepreneur" who followed through on this idea would receive plenty of help from consultants like Dickerson.
The third possibility was the Internet, which was rapidly building a market share for book sales. Amazon.com, which tries to stock as many titles as possible, is the giant here, and getting bigger every day.
Dickerson's presentation revealed the seriousness with which the US book trade studies the market. Figures were flung at the audience with stunning regularity: only 16 per cent of Americans can be considered serious book buyers, which means they buy two or more books per year. In fact, those 16 per cent buy an average of 18 books per year.
Thus, the key to successfully marketing books in the US was to carefully target your audience.
Ibrahim El-Mo'allim, head of the Egyptian Publishers Union and moderator of the event, said the union would be sending a delegation to this year's Book Expo America, the major annual book event held in the US, which is scheduled for 31 May-4 June of this year, in the hope of getting some exposure for Arab books.
Actually, Dickerson's lecture was part of the first official US participation in the Cairo Book Fair in five years. The goal of the participation, according to a US Embassy spokesman, was to establish a direct relationship with Egypt's intellectuals, as well as the general public.
The larger goal, however, seemed to be an attempt to pave the way for a future increase in US book sales to Egypt. Clearly, one way to do this would be to improve the over-all book-selling climate in Egypt.
During his trip, Dickerson said, he visited several bookstores in Cairo and talked with book-sellers large and small. He found that, most of all, the 250-300 bookstores in Egypt need employee training programmes, which, he said, could easily be arranged.
Dickerson also pointed out that even though there was a Writer's Union and a Publisher's Union in Egypt, there was no Booksellers' Union. If booksellers got together and met, as they do regularly in the US, they might learn from each other, and improve sales.
The important point to remember, Dickerson said, was that research had proven that 65 per cent of book buyers in the US make the decision to buy a certain book only after they have entered the store. The same would probably be true here.
With this in mind, he went through ways in which stores might improve their ambiance, and thus increase their sales. His slide-enhanced presentation showed the audience what works and what doesn't. Exteriors and signs, layout and design, fixtures, props and merchandising, must all be carefully attuned to the buyer's needs. As anyone who shops for books in Egypt knows, we're still a long way from such carefully-considered techniques. It seems that globalisation, however, which was clearly the sub-text of this presentation, may change all that sooner than we think.
