B&N CHAIRMAN RIGGIO PREDICTS

A “TERRIBLE HOLIDAY” SALES SEASON  

Calling the retail picture the worst he has ever seen, Len Riggio told his staff in a memo that the chain was “bracing for a terrible holiday,” adding that he saw the trend continuing well into 2009 and maybe even beyond that.  

Nonetheless, he pointed out that the company expects to post a “decent profit” for the year, particularly after tightening its expense belt. Openings of new units will be curtailed, and discretionary spending cut sharply, Riggio warned.  

That prediction comes even though several consumer surveys predict that books will be the fourth highest choice on the list of preferred gifts for the forthcoming holiday season, as this blog reported in a previous column. 

HERE’S SOME HELP IN PICKING THE

RIGHT MEDIA TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK 

How many times have you struggled to stretch your advertising budget? Tried to determine where your dollars would produce the highest rate of sales? A survey released just last month offers some interesting help. 

Labeled “Retail 2008-Media” by Vertis who commissioned Marshall Marketing and Communications to conduct it, the study tested the media to which consumers turned first when making their purchasing decisions. eMarketer recently publicized the results. 

Advertising circulars and the Internet each topped the chart with 26% of buyers heading there first. Newspaper ads were next in popularity, but substantially down the line at 12%.  

Among other media that might be used by authors and smaller publishers, only 2% of responders stated they would use magazines or radio. E-mail bottomed out at a lowly 1%. 

BUT, those of you who have written books for niche markets will find e-mail quite effective when combined with linking and distributing articles around the Web.  

A solid web site presentation, supported by a strong search position and targeted e-mail, will produce best of all for niche marketing. If you recall the post on search marketing in last week’s edition, it reported that 155 million people in the US used search engines in 2007.