The Booksellers Association (BA) has today announced an exciting new initiative, the Summer Books catalogue, providing independent booksellers with a bespoke marketing and sales resource for the summer trading season.
 
Following the format of the popular Christmas Books catalogue, the Summer Books catalogue is a joint venture between the Booksellers Association and Nielsen in partnership with Gardners. The catalogue includes an introduction from Nikesh Shukla, editor of bestselling essay collection The Good Immigrant and author of the upcoming memoir Brown Baby, published by Bluebird.

The titles featured in the Summer Books catalogue will be chosen by independent booksellers specifically for indie bookshops and their customers: an important message that is supported and promoted by Books Are My Bag, the BA’s consumer-facing campaign.

The catalogue provides a focused marketing and selling tool, designed specifically for independent booksellers, including subsidies for door-drops courtesy of National Book Tokens and local marketing, a catalogue dispenser, social media assets for online promotions and a free digital edition of the catalogue. Bookshops can also choose to have their Bookshop.org QR code included in their back cover overprint.

Emma Bradshaw, Head of Campaigns at The Booksellers Association said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of the Summer Books catalogue as part of our ongoing support for independent bookshops. It continues to be a challenging time for the industry, and we hope that this resource will help booksellers to navigate the shifting retail landscape this summer. With bookshops hopefully open and trading, and customers seeking holiday reading, the Summer Catalogue will deliver the best of summer titles to bookshop customers.”

Matthew Mansfield, Head of Business Development at Nielsen said: “It is great to announce the launch of the Summer Books Catalogue. On the back of a record-breaking year for the Christmas Catalogue, with 163 indie booksellers participating, we feel it is an ideal time to release a new marketing tool for independent bookshops and publishers. In these testing times, we believe this will drive sales both physical and online, and are confident this will help contribute towards a thriving summer for the book market.”

The Summer Books catalogue will be arriving at bookshops in mid-May, with the deadline for orders being 1^st April 2021. Booksellers interested in an order form, or getting more information, should contact BA Marketing & Groups Manager Sharon Benton at sharon.benton@booksellers.org.uk.