Booksellers > Marketing Programs > Seasonal Catalogs
SIBA Seasonal Catalogs
indie-focused summer and winter reading guides
SIBA partners with three other regional associations (NAIBA, GLIBA, and CALIBA) to form the Regional Association Marketing and Promotions (RAMP) in a seasonal catalog program to offer a significant membership benefit to stores. The summer catalog (print and online) is a perfect kick-off to the summer selling season. The winter holiday catalog is tailored to each association's membership base and offers a full-fledged distribution program, including custom cover imprinting, marketing resources, newspaper insertions, custom online catalogs, and direct mail options. All proceeds from catalog orders and ad sales provide crucial revenue to support SIBA programs and events.
Winter Catalog Orders are Open
Now re-branded as "Gifts for Readers," The Winter Catalog is a 16-page, professionally designed, full-color piece featuring 100+ books (and other things!). It is easy to slip into a customer's bag and to use as a newspaper insert. SIBA member booksellers receive the first 5000 catalogs absolutely free of charge, with the option to order more at cost.
Included in the catalog program:
- Up to 5000 catalogs free
- Extra boxes of 500 catalogs available at cost
- Free shipping to stores or drop shipping to newspapers
- Optional store imprinting, at a discounted cost for SIBA Bookstores
- Opt in for direct mailing to your chosen zip code/mail routes (order by June 1)
- Free online digital catalog for store websites
- Professionally-designed digital and downloadable marketing assets and store signage
Important dates:
June 1: Deadline to start direct mail orders
June 15: Deadline for Winter Catalog orders and payments
October 1: Winter Catalogs ship to stores and newspapers
November 1: Winter Catalogs direct mailed to consumers
In the store
- Use the catalogs to choose upcoming book club picks. Prepare your staff to hand-sell catalog titles by reading DRCs provided in our Edelweiss collection.
- Build a store display with catalog titles. Carry this throughout the store with mini displays in different sections. If you’re a pop-up, bookmobile, small store, or other type of location-independent store, choose a couple of titles you know you can hand-sell and create mini displays of those titles at your events/in your smaller space.
- Hand out catalogs in-store and at events.
- Include a catalog with all special orders, shipments, and/or subscription boxes.
- Have staffers choose a title they think will do well and have a competition to see which title sells the most copies; the winning bookseller gets a prize!
- Add your personal review to the provided shelf-talkers.
Creating sales
- Mail catalogs to your top 50 customers with a handwritten thank-you note.
- Specifically target your Bookshop.org customers and mail them all catalogs to encourage them to shop in-store. You can use your imprint area to include a coupon they can use in-store.
- Send a digital catalog link to everyone who has ordered from you online (including Bookshop.org customers) and encourage them to come into the shop.
- Send a physical catalog to everyone who has ordered from you online and had something shipped to them (including Bookshop.org customers).
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Use the catalogs to choose upcoming book club picks.
- Use as a book list for summer/winter reading contests.
- Use the imprint area on the catalogs to promote your Libro and/or Bookshop.org pages. You could even make a specific list of your favorite catalog titles on your affiliate sites and link to those lists.
Reaching new customers
- If your store does pop-ups, offsite events, or bookmobile routes, seed places on your upcoming routes with catalogs and info to purchase books online from the digital version, or info to order and pick up when you are in the area.
- If your store does pop-ups, offsite events, or bookmobile routes, you can use saturation mail to target areas you’ll be servicing during holiday season. Put a QR code in your imprint area that links to your location schedule online.
- Use newspaper insertions to target new communities you want to reach.
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Bring catalogs to local independent/assisted living communities and take orders.
- Make a trade with compatible local businesses. Hand out their coupons in exchange for them giving out your catalog. Work with your local business alliance or Main Street organization and make your catalog a part of their Shop Local campaigns.
- Use the catalog to promote your store as a vital business to your local government officials. Add it to the promotional packet you create to give to city council members, school board officials, or chamber of commerce representatives. Send copies to all your local elected officials.
- Integrate the catalog into your fundraising efforts. If your store normally raises money or collects donations for a local cause during the holidays, the imprint area on the catalog can be used to promote these efforts. The organization you are working with can also distribute catalogs on your behalf as part of the campaign.
- Use the catalog to bring people to your social media community. By including your Instagram or TikTok handle with a note to find online sales, gifts, fun and games you can cross-promote between your catalogs, in-store displays, and online social media, and generate excitement about your store in both the real and the virtual world.
- Send to school librarians with a handwritten appreciation note and invitation to order.
- If you’re in a tourist location, make sure to imprint your catalogs with your store info, website, and/or Bookshop.org and Libro sites, and hand them out to tourists to promote ordering from you online when they get back home.
