Overview
We know indies
Bookmanager has been a part of the independent bookselling industry for over 30 years. From the “pre-internet” time consuming process of learning about books via CD, telephone and paper, to today’s instant transfer of information via the world’s biggest information tool, we have evolved with the needs of the publisher, distributor and the independent bookseller. With hundreds of registered customers using our different services (in addition to anonymous ones), we can help the indie market learn about you, and you learn about them.
Data for indies
We compile various types of data from publishers, distributors and sales agencies from all over North America. We organize all of that data in different ways so that independent booksellers can find books and related items, learn more about them, decide how many to buy and where to buy them.
Indies know us
Our reputation in the independent bookselling industry is second to none. Our longevity and ability to serve the ever changing needs of many, leads stores to seek us out. Bookmanager is where independent stores look to help them run their businesses better. They rely on the data we provide them and are confident that we can give them what they need.
Data for you
We use all of that data, along with statistics collected from stores to give you tools that will help you improve the quality of data you send out, as well as determine how your titles perform in the independent marketplace.
Metadata
Meta who? What does it mean?
Why is it important? Simply put, metadata is information about your books that allows people to find and learn about them online.
Good data makes you look good
The internet is the number one research tool that people use to find or learn about anything. If the item cannot be found on a website, or is not shown in a good light, it is likely that the item does not sell very well, if at all. Search results for any given book done on any website are based on the metadata provided to that website’s creator. All of the information shown with regards to that book is also based on that metadata. If the metadata you send to anyone is poor, it is likely that sales of that book will be the same.
If your metadata is weak, so is everyone’s knowledge of your titles. Less knowledge means less exposure and less interest. If you only let people know the title and author of a book, they have difficulty finding it, and care less about it than if you provided descriptions, reviews, images, etc...
Metadata is knowledge. Knowledge is power
A book made powerful through good metadata can be marketed and sold more easily.
The more info you can send about any given title, the better!
The more titles you send data for, the better! The farther in advance you can send that data, the better! This helps your titles travel down the supply chain, even to the consumer, by allowing it to be visible and generate forthcoming buzz.
That is a lot of info going to a lot of places
What if you want to let a store learn about a title before you want the end consumer to know about it? Like a secret, you can tell one person, but not another. That metadata can stop at the store level, and never be passed to the consumer until you are ready.
Pubstock
Availability is key
In addition to good metadata, a very important bit of data to pass on to booksellers is a title’s current price and availability information. This is not simply an answer to the question of the title being active or not, or what the last known price according to the metadata you sent out. A bookseller constantly needs to know (many times outside of office hours) if they can get a book, where they can get it, and at what price. Pubstock gives them the answers to those questions with a single click of the mouse.
Stores rely on it to make better buying decisions
By simply viewing it on our website or having it integrated into their software, they can check price/availability of a single title. And they can build various customized lists of any participating vendor’s titles to build bigger orders from.
Hundreds of eyes on you
Hundreds of independent bookstores from across North America use Pubstock on a daily basis. They can check Pubstock for any title on our website, or see it integrated within their inventory point-of-sale software.
Up-to-date information
Any vendor (publisher/distributor/wholesaler) participating in Pubstock is advertising the current price/availability of their titles. They are also advertising lists of all the titles they currently have available. Over 140 companies are listed and benefit from the effects of stores finding their titles more easily.
Participation is very easy
A simple text file sent to us on a daily basis (or as regularly as possible) is all that is required. The format and method of transfer can be done a number of ways, but is simple as well. Once the file feed is sorted out, there is a semi-annual fee to list your titles in PubStock. That fee is based on the number of ISBNs listed.
Trade Market Trends
Not just for bookstores
Bookmanager doesn’t just collect data from various types of book and non-book vendors for dissemination to booksellers -- we also collect data from independent trade booksellers and compile it for use by publishers, distributors and reps.
We know how books are sold
Over 250 booksellers send us a weekly sales report, which we use to rank the top 200,000 selling titles. We save the last 12 months of sales data and use the more recent data to update sales demand rankings each week.
We know how books are carried
We also collect a daily onhand and onorder report from those same stores. Along with release dates from your metadata, we build demand rankings on forthcoming titles.
Read all about it
As always, to see any extra data on a title, use the your login credentials provided by Bookmanager, or your personal account that has been linked to your corporate account. This document will walk you through how to read the data and how to export it to .xls /.pdf documents.
Put it all together
Both types of demand rankings (sales and forthcoming) are used to help return bibliographic search results that help stores find important titles; both backlist and frontlist. Those rankings also help PubStock vendors create various types of reports that demonstrate which of your titles are important to indie stores.
Both sales and stock statistics can be viewed in various ways by any store sending data, and by any supplier participating in PubStock. The data is presented anonymously, and can be viewed in an aggregated fashion, broken down by region, or nameless individual stores. Excel reports that include those statistics can be exported for various types of lists as well.
Emailed perks
You may sign up for a weekly newsletter where we send links to view your bestsellers as we compile them. Please contact data@bookmanager.com if you don't receive this email yet, or if you would like one of your colleagues to receive it.
Catalogues
Forthcoming catalogues
Bookstores love using our Catalogues area to look at your forthcoming titles, as it's easy for stores to browse through, make notes on, and create orders from. Catalogues are made by you and your team, and are simple to make, markup and maintain.
All types of lists
Not only do stores love to receive forthcoming lists via our site, but promotional lists, highlights, book awards, and publicity lists have become very popular to bring attention to other titles that you want eyes on.
Tell them what you think
You can comment (markup) on each title and make that comment visible to one store, a grouping of stores, or all stores. Comments can include marketing material, a review, or even just your thoughts on what makes it great. We've had excellent feedback from stores who enjoy this personal touch.
We need A+ data
Metadata needs to be sent to us as soon as it's available, and to be as robust as possible. This is especially important for forthcoming titles. Many times, stores rely solely on this digital information when deciding to place an order for a book they have never seen before. This info is what makes your catalogue really effective! If the metadata isn't as complete or timely, stores are less likely to buy - and may even put off ordering until better info is visible. Cover images should be sent as soon as they are final. If any information should be kept private to stores, and is restricted for wider distribution, talk to us about options that only allow store accounts see various types of info until you see fit.
Export it all
Once you've made any catalogue or list, you can export it to create an .xls file or a .pdf catalogue. You customize the information that is exported and how you would like it to show up. Along with creating documents, you can also email the catalogue directly from the site, create a link to share on your own, or print the catalogue.
Want to learn more?
We created a how-to document to assist you in all things Catalogues, have a look at it here.
Sales Rep Tools
Are you a sales rep?
You'll be very interested to learn that you can link up with your store accounts to share data more freely, giving you access to LOTS of cool features. This includes creating custom lists, making mark up notes, and viewing inventory performance for any of your titles if they choose to share that with you.
More control
Having access to this type of information will help you catch important opportunities that may have been missed when working with your customers. You will see stock and sales trends for your accounts so you can discuss suggestions going forward. As a rep for your company, only you can see this detailed info on the titles your company has listed on Pubstock.
Choose the tools you need
Subscribe to only the services and features you want. For more information about each service and what you get, click here.
Talk to you soon!
We want to help you reach every customer possible by presenting your data and titles in the best possible way. Contact us today to chat with one of our Pubstock administrators, and we can get you on your way.