While the deadline to order your Holiday Catalogs is June 15, if you want to take advantage of the direct or saturation mail options, you have to start your order by June 1. These are hard deadlines, and no extra catalogs will be printed, so if you don't place your order in time, you will have missed the opportunity for this year.
Bookstores usually think of the catalogs as things to be stuffed into bags at the counter, or sent out to the store mailing list, or perhaps put into the newspaper that goes out for Thanksgiving weekend. But there are many other creative ways to use the catalog to increase store visibility, traffic, and sales.
Five things to try:
Stores with bookmobiles or who do pop up locations can use saturation mail to target the areas they will be servicing. Put a QR code in your imprint area* that links to your location schedule online.
Make a trade with compatible local businesses. Hand out their coffee shop 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 more Web-exclusive 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.
Orders are now open for the Holiday Catalog -- a key element in maximizing 4th quarter sales for SIBA bookstores. Stores that have placed their order can be part of the Holiday Catalog Cover contest. Pick your top choices from about 30 possible catalog covers submitted by publishers. The contest ends June 1st, and only stores that have placed their orders can participate.
Posted By Nicki Leone,
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Updated: Thursday, September 22, 2022
The SIBA/RAMP Winter Catalog Bookseller Resource Page is now live. The page is a veritable
treasure chest of materials for stores to use to help promote their catalogs and maximize sales.
Among the many things available are links to the Edelweiss collections, downloadable lists of titles for each catalog, plus a link to a Dropbox folder to download catalog PDFs, art, and other assets as they're being created.
The marketing graphics based on the catalog's cover art are especially great. Stores can find posters, flyers and bookmarks, as well as pull out artwork stores can plug into their own Canva accounts to create beautiful signage and social media graphics.
Bookstores already know that they must place their 2022 Holiday Catalog orders by May 15th. But if your store is planning on using the direct mail option to send catalogs to your customers or to targeted zip codes and postal routes in your area, you have to start your order by May 1. That is only 2 weeks away.
Stores that used direct and saturation mailing last year can use your 2021 orders as a starting point for placing your orders for 2022. Start the process now. People from RAMP will walk you through selecting your targeted areas and determining how many catalogs you will need to cover everyone you want to reach. Click below to watch the handy slideshow:
The RAMP Winter Catalog (also known as the SIBA Holiday Catalog) is by far the most popular and effective resource SIBA provides for its bookstores. It has become a key part of bookstores' holiday sales plans. Last year's catalog was so well received that stores requested a summer edition for the other major shopping season on their calendars.
Now there are twice as many ways to promote year-round reading across print and digital formats, indie-style! Visit RAMPBooks.com for more info and to sign up! The deadline to place store orders is March 15.
Attend the Information Session on February 17th! REGISTER
In response to strong bookseller interest, RAMP -- the partnership of SIBA, NAIBA, and GLIBA responsible for the holiday catalog -- is now creating a "Summer Reads" piece scheduled to land on doorsteps May 9th. An indie-designed, indie-spirited Summer Catalog joins our ever-popular Holiday Catalogs. Both are FREE for member stores and are professionally designed, eye-catching, print and digital promotional pieces intended to grow sales.
Now there are twice as many ways to promote year-round reading across print and digital formats, indie-style! Visit RAMPBooks.com for more info and to sign up! The deadline to place store orders is March 15.
The Holiday Catalog landing on doorsteps this week is one of the most beautiful SIBA has ever produced. It is also the most diverse in terms of representing books by and about under-represented groups. Fully 42% of the books in the Winter Catalog feature BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors, characters, or subjects.
Diversity representation was a priority for SIBA in creating this year's catalog. Suzanne Shroger, the head of RAMP, which produces the holiday catalog for several regional associations, noted that "The 2021 SIBA holiday catalog features the most diverse collection of titles in the catalog’s history. SIBA bookstores, board members, and staff recommended and lobbied hard for a wide array of title options that publishers were excited to promote. From BIPOC authors to LGBTQ+ main characters to books featuring other forms of diversity, we couldn’t be happier to say “all are welcome” in the SIBA holiday catalog this year."
For stores participating in the holiday catalog program, catalogs will be landing on your customers' doorsteps in just a few weeks. And for those of you who signed up for the winter catalog emails, those will be going out in four separate emails over the season, encouraging momentum on catalog titles.
RAMP has developed a beautiful series of resources and graphics for stores to use in promoting the catalog books to their customers. Here are links to assets available to SIBA stores.
Reach more readers in new ways! Ordering is now open for the Winter Catalog
In the remarkable year that was 2020, five regional independent booksellers’ associations joined forces to produce consumer print and digital catalogs, leveraging a combined 150 years of winter and holiday catalog production and distribution. Bookstores across the Mid-Atlantic (NAIBA), Great Lakes (GLIBA), New England (NEIBA), Midwest (MIBA), and South (SIBA) reached 10 MILLION CONSUMERS with new title recommendations during the holiday season.
Winter Catalog: Saturation Mail & Info Session
Jul 9, 2021 1:00 PM Eastern, 12:00 PM in Central
This session will focus on our annual winter catalog and saturation mailing. In 2020 we added direct and saturation mailing options for stores to send the winter catalog to their customers. Many stores had great success with saturation mailing. As a result we are offering this session to refresh, answer questions and highlight the process of saturation mailing and the winter catalog.
We will be joined by Kathy Lund of Postal Solutions at Quad Printing and RAMP Director of Marketing and Promotion, Suzanne Shoger.
At this point, the holiday catalog is about to land, or has already landed at your shops. Here is a list of the resources available to stores to help promote the catalog titles.
IndieCommerce IndieLite:
Holiday catalogs have been enabled for your website. Use the following guide to link to them:
https://yourstore.com/holiday/SIBA/holidaycatalog.html
https://yourstore.indielite.org/holiday/SIBA/holidaycatalog.html
Bookshop Stores: Contact Sarah High for your affiliate link to your catalog
Other eCommerce Platforms:
SIBA can create an ecommerce-enabled catalog for your store if you are 1) not a Bookshop or IndieCommerce store and 2) all the catalog books can be ordered from your website. Email sp@sibaweb.com for information. See a sample.
Posted By Nicki Leone,
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
The Holiday Catalog is now available for most store websites. And while IndieCommerce and Bookshop each have pages created for stores using those platforms, that isn't the only way bookstores can promote catalog titles on their websites. Take a look at what Dragonfly Books in Decorah, IA did using the graphics resources provided to every store!
Posted By Nicki Leone,
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
The SIBA Holiday Catalog is on the printing press and on track to ship to land in stores and on doorsteps the first week of November (exact dates depend on your direct mail and saturation mail specifications).
Also in development are the digital catalogs for stores that use IndieCommerce, IndieLite, or Bookshop.org for their e-commerce. Bookshop and the ABA are in the process of adding them to their servers.
For stores that use other ecommerce platforms, a generic digital catalog that can be customized with your own links is being created and should be ready before the end of the month.
RAMP has also created an extensive collection of social media graphics, cover art, printable downloads, and spot art from the catalog cover artist, Maria Scrivan:
Watch the Q&A session between with Susan Shoger and Ashley Vogelmeier about the 2020 SIBA Holiday Catalog. The catalog will be an important tool for stores in the upcoming uncertain holiday season.
SIBA has its preliminary list of titles that will be featured in the 2020 Winter Catalog. Books are still being added, so this list will grow over the next couple weeks:
If you haven't placed your catalog orders, don't delay. The deadline is August 7, and as is usual no extra catalogs will be printed so if you don't order now, you won't be able to later.
Catalogs and shipping are free for the first 12,500 catalogs.
The minimum order to receive imprinting is 2000.
Imprinting costs $150, but SIBA is paying $40 of that fee, so your imprinting cost is only $110.
New this year: Direct Mail Options
In the past SIBA has always shipped catalogs to your store, but left it up to you to get them out to your customers. This year, you can have RAMP handle mailing for you via either Direct Mail, or Saturation Mail, or a combination of both. Postage rates
are competitive and the reduced back and forth shipping means less waste and a more environmentally-friendly process.
Direct Mail: Upload your mailing list and let RAMP handle all the mailing.
Saturation Mail: Send catalogues to all the mailing addresses within a zipcode range.
SIBA recognizes that the future is very uncertain, and stores are asking themselves how they can reinvent their business to meet the challenges they face. But one thing that has not changes is the importance of the relationship of a small business with
its local community. Active websites and busy social media accounts are great for keeping your customers informed and up to date, but the odds are there are people right in your immediate area that you aren't reaching.
Saturation mail can help with that. Your store catalog in the mailing box of every resident in a nearby neighborhood, or along every postal route, could bring your store to the attention hundreds of new customers.
RAMP is offering a webinar on the ins and outs and benefits of Saturation Mail on Thursday, July 23 at 2pm. It is well worth attending just to learn more about how Saturation Mail works and can be a tool for your business.
Ordering is now open for the SIBA Holiday Catalog!
This year SIBA has joined four other regional associations: NEIBA, GLIBA, MIBA, and NAIBA in RAMP -the regional association marketing partnership -- to produce our 2020 SIBA Holiday Catalog. By joining in with the collective bargaining power of other regional associations, SIBA has been able to create a robust catalog featuring many new publishing partners. There has been a strong commitment to including diverse titles by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color authors, and an active attempt to include books that are receiving strong bookseller support and buzz. (Much of the latter comes from the reviews booksellers post in Edelweiss, so if you aren't doing that, start now!)
Deadline to place your orders is August 7!
The Target date for Catalog delivery is November 1
Questions: Suzanne Shoger suzanneshoger@gmail.com
1) Your first 12,500 Catalogs are completely free. Anything more than that can be purchased in boxes of 500 for $55/box. (or 11 cents per catalog for direct mail, see below)
2) Shipping for your order is free whether you are shipping to your store or to a newspaper for insertion, or both.
3) Your catalogs can be imprinted with a minimum order of 2000. That is down from last year's minimum order of 5000 and better reflects the needs of our smaller stores and more environmentally responsible ordering. There is a $150 imprinting cost, but SIBA will pay for $40 of the price, so the charge for you is $110.
4) Free html catalogs will be available to all stores. IndieCommerce, IndieLite, and Bookshop.org stores will have URLs available to link directly to their shopping carts. A template html page will also be available for stores that use other e-commerce platforms.
WHAT IS NEW
1) Direct Mail Option. Stores can choose to upload their mailing list and have their order direct-mailed to their customers.
2) Saturation Mail Option. Reach potential customers in your area that may not know about your store. Stores can opt to have their catalogs delivered to mailing addresses within a targeted area or zip code.
Mailing costs are competitive at 20 cents per catalog.
The holiday catalog has always been one of the major and most popular benefits of SIBA membership. This year, the ability to reach regular and potential customers is more important than ever. No matter what the situation looks like in the fall, the catalog can be a vital way to generate sales. Don't miss the opportunity.
Posted By Nicki Leone,
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
The SIBA Holiday Catalog: What you need to know
Stores that are participating in SIBA's Holiday Catalog program should be receiving their catalogs within the next couple weeks. Here are the next steps you should take to make the most of the catalog and maximize your holiday sales:
Ingram is also offering a promotion on catalog title orders: Get +3% OFF any title in the Regional Holiday Catalogs No promo code needed. Plus, get FREE freight for qualifying orders. Order Now! Offer valid from October 2 – December 14.
2) Upload your email newsletter materials
All stores participating in the catalog also get email catalog newsletters sent to your customer list. The newsletters, which are created and powered by Shelf Awareness, will be sent in four seperate emails, once a week, between November 8 and December 12. Ecommerce cabability is not required.
SIBA stores who do not use IndieCommerce can request the web-version of the catalog for their stores from SIBA. Email nicki@sibaweb.com.
SIBA stores without ecommerce-capable websites can request a "no click" version of the catalog for their website. Email nicki@sibaweb.com
4) Plan your in-store displays
While the catalog itself is an invaluable tool for capturing holiday sales, you can boost your sales with in-store catalog displays and signage. Here is a slit card/shelf talker for use in your displays and to highlight catalog titles wherever they are found on the shelf:
UPDATE: Deadline to order imprinted holiday catalogs has been extended to August 29
Sell even more books this holiday season with the store-branded email newsletter. SIBA is partnering with Shelf-Awareness to provide members with an email-newsletter edition of its holiday catalog. Now the breadth of gift-worthy titles selected for the SIBA Holiday Catalog can land directly in the inbox of each of your book-loving customers with the Shelf Awareness powered e-newsletter.
Each e-newsletter issue links to your bookstore site and social media pages. The wide selection of adult and children’s titles from your regional holiday print catalog can be linked directly to your e-commerce for easy on-line purchasing.
Shelf Awareness is serious about security and privacy and protects customer information, using industry best practices to help ensure confidentiality, availability, and integrity of that information. Shelf Awareness has taken measures to become GDPR compliant, the strict privacy and data handling requirements established by the European Union and will not use subscriber lists for any purpose other than delivering the agreed upon "Powered by Shelf Awareness" mailings developed with your regional association.
August 29: Deadline to order Imprinted Catalogs September 19: Deadline to order non-imprinted catalogs
“We’ve seen very, very impressive growth, with significant sales increases in certain titles featured on the Indie Next List. The unsubscribe rate is virtually nonexistent. Those consumers are hearing about titles that indie booksellers are recommending, and it is having a clear impact on sales”–Oren Teicher, ABA CEO praise for the Indie Next List e-newsletter,powered by Shelf Awareness
“A customer came in yesterday and pointed to her smart phone which had a specific book from the Shelf Awareness email catalog pulled up. She bought the book as a Christmas gift for her nephew & then found another book from the shelves. Success!!
Thanks to everyone at Shelf Awareness for the new idea and sharing it with our customers. We look forward to the subsequent emailed catalogs & similar success.”– Peter Schertz, Owner Maria’s Bookshop, Durango, Colorado Praise for the MPIBA Holiday E-newsletter, Powered by Shelf Awareness
“The response we get from the SIBA catalog is overwhelming! We have customers coming into the store even after the holidays with copies of the catalog marked with their notes and wishes!” John Cavalier, Cavalier House Books, Denham Springs, Louisiana
Outside of the Discovery Show, the Holiday Catalog is SIBA's most popular member benefit. A gift-giving resource for your customers, it features options for every kind of reader. This great tool for selling books to your customers off-site, virtually, and in-store is beloved by booksellers and customers across the South with a reach of almost a million readers.
The Holiday Catalog has Print, Email, and Web componants, allowing you to mazimize your catalog sales across all your sales platforms: in store, online, and via your store mailing lists.
Don't wait to sign up -- no extra copies are printed, so once the ordering deadline has passed, they will no longer be available
Important Dates:
August 15: Deadline to order Imprinted Catalogs
September 19: Deadline to order non-imprinted catalogs
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While the deadline to order your Holiday Catalogs is June 15, if you want to take advantage of the direct or saturation mail options, you have to start your order by June 1. These are hard deadlines, and no extra catalogs will be printed, so if you don't place your order in time, you will have missed the opportunity for this year.
For stores participating in the holiday catalog program, catalogs will be landing on your customers' doorsteps in just a few weeks. And for those of you who signed up for the winter catalog emails, those will be going out in four separate emails over the season, encouraging momentum on catalog titles. 
The SIBA Holiday Catalog is at the printer! Here are some basic facts for stores using the catalog this fall.
2) Upload your email newsletter materials
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