[AISLE-Share] Book Fairs

Thu Nov 15 09:10:01 CST 2018

What about promotional materials? Do they have videos? Flyers? Promo posters?

Sincerely,

Alan, Librarian serving Brooks Middle School

"What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it thinks about education."
- Harold Howe, former U.S. Commissioner of Education

From: aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info [mailto:aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info] On Behalf Of Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2018 8:55 AM
To: aisle at list.railslibraries.info
Subject: Re: [AISLE-Share] Book Fairs

We just wrapped up our first Follett Book Fair.  We are a 5-8 building.  I sold more books than ever before!  AND I got to keep books from the fair that were quality books!  Here are my impressions:

Delivery/Set-up:  Easiest ever!  Open cases, take tabletops out of boxes.  DONE!  Hardest part was the cash register and that was simple too as Follett sends you everything you need to connect to internet.

Content:  I agree that I wish I could’ve had more options for tabletops but I feel like even though the fair appeared smaller we actually had more books!  I didn’t have the tables full of pillows, water bottles, and old books students did not want.  YES – the books are more expensive and a lot are hardcover.  This is because they are newly released.  In the past, the 8th graders in my building wouldn’t even look at the Scholastic books.  This year they looked, discussed and bought!  We had more graphic novels than ever before – almost all paperback.

Cash Register:   I can’t say enough how easy this is to use – once you understand all the buttons and functions!  Credit card sales were soooooo smooth and fast!

Customer Service:  Just like a new restaurant opening, Follett is experiencing growing pains with everyone trying to switch over from Scholastic to Follett.  If you are patient and understanding, I believe it will be worth it!  If I didn’t get an answer I needed in time, I just called them up on the phone.  They were very easy to work with and tried hard to find answers!

Profits:  I earned 50% profit off books taken from the book fair.  As I stated above, these are books that students actually want to read as they were new books!  The rest I took in the form of a Follett gift card.  I already redeemed it with a saved list I had on Titlewave.  Books are coming processed and shelf ready!  Easy peasy!

I am so excited for my spring book fair with Follett!  In my opinion this will be the test to see if the books are actually different and updated.  I can tell you that Follett is working hard to listen to any and all suggestions.  I have made a few and my rep said they are already being put into place for the spring fairs!

Good luck with your decision!

Anne Ciaccio
Teacher Librarian/Reading Specialist
Thurgood Marshall School
4664 N. Rockton Avenue
Rockford, IL 61103
anne.ciaccio at rps205.com<mailto:anne.ciaccio at rps205.com>
815-490-5400 l 34009

From: aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info> [mailto:aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info] On Behalf Of Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2018 8:15 AM
To: aisle at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:aisle at list.railslibraries.info>
Subject: Re: [AISLE-Share] Book Fairs

NOTICE: This message originated outside of RPS. Please do not provide personal information unless you know the sender.
Does Scholastic offer a BOGO fair in the Spring without having a fall fair? I was under the impression you can only get that if you have a Fall fair.

On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 8:54 PM Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators <aisle at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:aisle at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:
We are in the process of having our first Follett fair now, and we have always used Scholastic in the past.
We got off to a bad start with Follett.  All three schools did not get their order delivered until Thursday around1:30.  We were supposed to get it Wednesday since conferences were Thursday.  Luckily the set up was super easy unlike Scholastic which seems to take forever.  Follett had 4 cases which are super nice looking, and the table displays come in wire racks already set up and you just plunk them on the table.  The cash register is super easy too.  I like the clean looking set up and the only "junk" they have is pens and erasers which went super quick but they don't replenish.  I don't like the fact that the books are mostly hardcover and definitely more expensive as a whole than Scholastic. But they are nice looking and not bent or open or ratty looking like some of Scholastics are.  The overall appearance of the fair is nicer and everyone has commented on that - kids, teachers and parents.
Something that worries me is that I have a day and a half left of the fair and I am barely half of what I made last year with Scholastic.  So I am still a bit mixed - Scholastic reps seem better - more personal contact as opposed to email. Also, I feel like there are 3 or 4 different people emailing me from Follett, so I am not 100% sure who to contact with an issue.
 I felt like I could get what I wanted with Scholastic, Follett limits your choices (they pick the # of cases based on your past sales, you can only pick a certain amount of categories like State award winners, bargain books, etc.)  I do like that Follett automatically sends you stuff based on your sales, so you don't have to think what you think will go fast and things can be drop shipped.
I am having a Scholastic Buy One Get One in the spring because Follett doesn't offer one and I like to do that so the kids have books for the summer.
  I haven't decided what to do next fall yet.
Hope that helps.

On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 8:36 PM Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators <aisle at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:aisle at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:
This may already have been discussed in the past, but has anyone had a Follett Book Fair this year? If you have always used Scholastic and then made the switch to Follett, what are the pros and cons?

Thanks!

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Betsy Yager
Library Media Specialist
Anne Sullivan School
Prospect Heights Dist. 23
(847) 870-5591

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ksimpson at sd60c.org<mailto:ksimpson at sd60c.org>
815-416-1724
Saratoga School
4040 N. Division St
Morris, IL 60450

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