University Times

Browsers may have been pleasantly surprised last month when they strolled into The Book Center and found free copies of Book Page, a New York Times Review of Books-size publication containing reports on new books, author interviews and features.

The Book Center staff feels it is a better way to advertise books than mass mailings. They decided to offer the publication because it provides extensive descriptions of new books.

"If you see a book in there, you are not going to get just one person's opinion, good or bad," notes Russell Kierzkowski, general book buyer. "You get information about the book itself. I think that makes a really big difference. It tells people what a book is about and lets them make their own decision if they want to read it." Book Page is the latest in a series of steps The Book Center has taken over the past couple of years to boost its non-textbook sales, better serve its customers and remain a vital source for books despite growing numbers of so-called "super bookstores." Other moves have included discounts on popular titles, more book signings, a newsletter, "book tastings" during which publishers provide information on upcoming titles, and a semi-annual 20 percent off sale on its stock of general books. The next sale will be Nov. 25-30.

In addition, the store has teamed with other departments to set up events with visiting authors, including renowned Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Pennsylvania Poet Laureate Samuel Hazo and Fred Rogers.

While promising that The Book Center will not try to compete with Borders and Barnes & Noble by packing its shelves with mass market romances and mysteries, store manager Rosemarie Slezak feels changes are required if the store is to meet the needs of the University community.

"That's why we try to have a very good selection of books. Our new twist on all this is that we are really trying to gear into who our customers are and service them, our faculty, staff and students." Although Slezak says The Book Center is not competing against the super bookstores, the marketing moves it has made over the past few years have kept it from losing large numbers of customers to the private chains.

In some cities where the super stores have set up shop, local booksellers have seen their business drop 30-40 percent. Last year, according to Slezak, The Book Center's non-textbook sales fell only about 2 percent.

The store also has been able to sustain itself by creating a niche in the area of hard-to-find books from small publishers. Driven by the profit motive, chain bookstores cannot afford to stem their cash flow by keeping traditionally slow-moving stock on hand, such as releases from university presses.

As part of the University, though, The Book Center stocks small press books because it has an academic mission to fulfill, and also because it services the campus community.

A recent example of a book that has sold well is "The Atlas of Eastern Europe." At $75 a copy and with a limited audience, it is the type of book that no chain would touch except to special order. Following the suggestion of the publisher, however, The Book Center stocked 100 copies to coincide with the appearance of the author on campus and sold about 75 of them.

So important a source has The Book Center become in the Pittsburgh area for hard-to-find books that the super stores have even begun to call and send over customers in search of obscure titles, according to Slezak.

"We offer an awful lot of titles and publishers that aren't available in other stores because we have that academic mission behind us," Slezak says. "All the university presses, the small publishers, the very scholarly, technical books that aren't real profitable for other bookstores to carry, we carry." What can the University community expect from The Book Center as far as promotions are concerned in the coming months? According to book buyer Kierzkowski, the store will continue to discount selected books as long as there is a market. The November issue of Book Page offers discounts on "Desperation" by Stephen King, "Executive Order" by Tom Clancy, "Servant of the Bones" by Ann Rice and "The West," which is the accompanying volume to the public television series by the same name.

A small marketing item that has worked very well and customers can expect to see more of are "shelf-talkers," pieces of reviews and other favorable recommendations attached to the shelf below a book. Slezak actually wants to expand the shelf-talkers to include comments from customers.

"If our customers have read something they thought was wonderful and everybody's grandmother would love this book, we want to know, because it helps to sell things," Slezak says.

One of the problems in marketing a university bookstore are federal tax laws. Although The Book Center pays taxes on sales not directly linked to University business, Slezak says the store still is considered a nonprofit operation because of its ties to Pitt. If it would begin advertising off campus, private booksellers would complain, so it refrains from doing so. She compares the situation to the YMCA competing with private health clubs. "The business community would feel we have an unfair advantage if we started to promote outside of the University," Slezak says.

The Book Center's limits on outside advertising create a problem when it comes to author appearances. Publishers understandably only want to send their authors to stores that will widely advertise them.

To counter the advertising problem, The Book Center over the past couple of years has begun working with other University departments to set up book signings for authors on campus for a lecture or a meeting.

While it is impossible to set up a book signing for every author who visits the Pitt campus, The Book Center is very interested in working with departments throughout the University who have authors coming in. Departments sponsoring such events should contact the center to discuss the possibility of a signing.

"It is rare that we say something is not worthwhile doing," Kierzkowski added.

In conjunction with the University Library System and the Honors College, The Book Center also plans to continue its "Readers, Writers and Ideas" series that includes a reading, reception and book signing.

More book signings also should be expected with Pitt authors and other local authors. The Book Center this month plans to bring in Pittsburgh author Barry Paris, who has just written a new biography of Audrey Hepburn. No date has as yet been set for his appearance.

The book "tasting" conducted on Oct. 17 drew about 350 people interested in learning about upcoming titles. Representatives of publishers were on hand to talk about forthcoming books and hand out bound gallery proofs. Kierzkowski estimates that 600-800 proof copies were given away, as well as numerous posters, calendars, novelties and publishers' catalogs.

The Book Center plans to conduct another book "tasting" next year and expand it into a book fair of sorts with University authors and more publishers' representatives on hand. It also expects to use the event to launch a new "Think Read" program.

Developed by the National Association of College Stores, "Think Read" seeks suggestions from members of the University community about books that have been special to them. From the list of suggestions, 48 titles will be chosen, one for each month of a four-year undergraduate program. The Book Center will then promote those books by giving away copies from publishers, discounting one book a month, posting shelf-talkers, setting up window displays and running ads. The store expects to have the list ready for in-coming freshmen in fall 1997.

"It will help to enhance the uniqueness of the University community," Kierzkowski says. "We will have our own list of books by our own faculty and staff." On the non-book end of the business, Book Center offices soon will be moved into space vacated by Student Health Services in Brackenridge Hall. The move, which is expected to be completed in the spring, will open up additional sales space for clothing and other supplies now displayed in The Book Center's basement.

"The chains are very nice and serve a wonderful purpose because the more reading that can be put into the hands of people, the better this whole world is," says Slezak. "But we feel we're different from them in the types of books we carry and our customers, our community, is different than the average public. We want to cater to what they want. "

–Mike Sajna