<div dir="ltr">It's interesting to see the concerns about Follett Book Fairs. I hosted one in October and was assured that my concerns were unusual, that others did not experience the same issues.<div><br></div><div>My biggest issue was the arrival of books. My delivery slot was missed three times. The books ended up being delivered at 5:15 PM on the night before the book fair started. I was already at home and in the process of having a heated conversation with my reps. I ended up setting up in the morning when my book fair was supposed to open. There was very little concern shown for the fact that my books hadn't arrived on time, and only a quick apology after the fact. There was no financial apology through additional books, percentage discounts, etc. I made sure to express my concern about them breaking their promise to deliver also impacts my relationship with my teachers. While teachers are understanding, it's not worth it to me to damage my trust with them if I can't deliver the event I promise and it puts them in a position to scramble their plans.</div><div><br></div><div>I think at last count, 18 of the books that were supposed to arrive per the schematic never came- many of them were in the preview flyers we sent out and students asked for them. On on occasion, the preview flyer price didn't match the price on the book so we honored the lower price.</div><div><br></div><div>The drop ship orders took over a week to arrive. One came damaged so we waited another week.</div><div><br></div><div>Middle school selection can be tricky, but I would expect a book vendor to be better able to manage this, especially since there's almost no say in the books that arrive. I felt the majority of titles were too high school, and the ones that weren't were very elementary. I expected to see a lot more 5-8 level titles and they just weren't there. There's was a large amount of fantasy, sci fi, and gaming related titles.</div><div><br></div><div>PROS: easy register, easy set-up and take-down</div><div><br></div><div>I have to wonder if there have been some shifts in Follett in general. Last year, I had amazing customer service and was able to get my orders quickly and done correctly. This year, my orders sit for weeks, nobody contacts me when there's a hold on an order, and my spine labels were a mess. Hoping that's fixed now, but I still haven't seen any titles from my order placed on October 15, so I can't say for sure.</div><div><br></div><div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:12.8000001907349px" color="#000000" face="garamond, serif">Mrs. Katie Contreras</font><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><font color="#000000" face="garamond, serif">School Librarian</font></div><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><font color="#000000" face="garamond, serif">Emerson Middle School </font></div><div style="font-size:12.8000001907349px"><font color="#000000" face="garamond, serif">Park Ridge-Niles SD 64</font></div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:12.8000001907349px"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 8:39 AM Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators <<a href="mailto:aisle@list.railslibraries.info">aisle@list.railslibraries.info</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">I am new to my school, and the Follett Book Fair contract was signed last year by the previous librarian. So this is first experience with Follett Book Fairs. My fair is December 10-14. I agree with everything that was said here in regard to too many reps. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Right from the start I was frustrated because I contacted them in October and requested they add my Battle of the Books titles to our book inventory. They flatly refused-- wouldn't even TRY -- because I didn't give them 12 weeks notice. Twelve weeks! In addition, they don't supply high school books. I'm a PreK-12 grade school. This is a big hole in the fair for me.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">In the past I have always worked with <b>Anderson's Book Fairs</b>, and LOVE them! They accommodated all our requests the best they could. Sometimes they couldn't get a title, but they tried. Follett just said no. They were professional and I worked with only one person, Laura Evans. Their books are amazing and they have a huge selection, including YA/high school titles.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Follett will not tell me when the books will arrive! They maintain it's too close to tell me, despite my fair beginning on December 10. They obviously don't understand that I need to organize volunteers well in advance of set-up. Now that I've read this last email about the books arriving a day late, I'm worried!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">I just received the Follett Book Fair promotion box which has some nice posters, classroom wish lists, teacher wish lists, flyers, etc. That's helpful.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Until I see the inventory, I'm feeling unimpressed and will most likely contract with Anderson's next year. Perhaps the selection of books will knock my socks off and I'll feel differently. But the refusal to even try and get my Battle of the Books books really cranked me.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Last thing -- I believe that the profits from the Follett Book Fair are generous -- 50% off books and you can take them right off the shelves before you return the books, I think. I was able to spend remaining money from last year's fair at the beginning of this school year. I logged onto Follett Titlewave and simply ordered the books I wanted and used a code that charged those books back to the book fair. Easy peasy. With Anderson's, I would go out to the warehouse and shop till I dropped. It literally was one of the best days of the year for me! I would often have $6,500 in profits to spend and would spend about $4,000 at the warehouse. If memory serves me I was charged full price for the books. The remaining money came to me in cash but at a lower percentage. I can't remember what the percentage equals. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">That's all I have!</div><div><div dir="ltr" class="m_8370675793589402790gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="georgia, serif">Happily Ever After,</font><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif">Karrie Fisher</font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif">Media Center Specialist</font></div><div><br></div><div><font color="#ff0000" size="4"><b>Connect to the Roycemore Library Card Catalog: </b></font></div><div><font color="#ff0000" size="4"><b><a href="http://roycemorelibrary.follettdestiny.com" target="_blank">roycemorelibrary.follettdestiny.com</a></b></font></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 8:53 PM Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators <<a href="mailto:aisle@list.railslibraries.info" target="_blank">aisle@list.railslibraries.info</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">We are in the process of having our first Follett fair now, and we have always used Scholastic in the past.<div><div>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. </div><div>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. </div><div> 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. </div><div>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. </div><div> I haven't decided what to do next fall yet.</div><div>Hope that helps.</div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 8:36 PM Email list for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators <<a href="mailto:aisle@list.railslibraries.info" target="_blank">aisle@list.railslibraries.info</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div>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?</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks!</div><div class="m_8370675793589402790m_-3227479311324469341m_427648498299756447ydp34040e59yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"></div><p>_______________________________________________<br>AISLE-Share mailing list<br><a href="mailto:aisle@list.railslibraries.info" target="_blank">aisle@list.railslibraries.info</a><br>For list archives and subscription options, visit:<br><a href="http://list.railslibraries.info/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aisle" target="_blank">http://list.railslibraries.info/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aisle</a><br>To unsubscribe, send a message to:<br><a href="mailto:aisle-leave@list.railslibraries.info" target="_blank">aisle-leave@list.railslibraries.info</a></p>
</div></blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="m_8370675793589402790m_-3227479311324469341gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Betsy Yager<div>Library Media Specialist</div><div>Anne Sullivan School</div><div>Prospect Heights Dist. 23</div><div>(847) 870-5591</div></div></div>
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