The Bookseller.com

7th September 2008

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Wrapping up exclusives

24.10.07 Victoria Arnstein

With this Christmas looking to be a potentially tough one for retailers, booksellers are as keen as ever to differentiate their offering by securing exclusives. These special editions range from slipcased copies to exclusive cover designs, while special promotional activities might also be held in conjunction with only one retailer.

"It's about offering our customers something special and different that can't be found elsewhere," says Caroline Mileham, category manager at Borders. Exclusives can also help draw in consumers who don't usually visit a particular bookshop, and potentially keep them coming back for more, believes Phill Jamieson, head of marketing at Blackwell. "It is also about those customers who don't ordinarily shop with us seeing that we have something different to offer," he says. "They might come only at Christmas, and it is about giving them a reason to come back afterwards."

The other thing about exclusives that retailers love is that fans of a particular author or celebrity will often be prepared to pay a premium for what they perceive as added value, whether this is a signature or a deluxe copy of a title. "The market is fierce in terms of pricing, particularly on new titles and in non-specialist retailers, but although many customers are price-sensitive, it is not the be-all and end-all," Mileham says. "We want to give customers compelling offers in terms of price and range, but we also want to reward those customers who are looking for something different: signed editions, added-value, limited editions etc."

The way deals are done on exclusives very much depends on the title, the bookseller's requirements and the relationship between retailer and supplier. Sometimes the publisher will approach the trade and sometimes it will happen the other way around. In some cases a retailer might print and bind the books themselves, as was the case with the hot pink and blue suede dictionaries being offered by Blackwell this Christmas, retailing at £12.99. "We went to OUP [Oxford University Press] and said we would like to do this product and we would like to use your content, but we will manufacture it and get it printed," Jamieson says. "It just depends on the book." He adds that the dictionaries, which have been in stores for the past few weeks, are fast becoming bestsellers.

Signed and slipcased

The other exclusives offered by Blackwell this year include an exclusively bound, hardcase edition of A Christmas Carol, also from OUP, and a boxed, limited edition of The Rules of Association Football 1863, subtitled The First FA Rule Book, which comes complete with red and yellow booking cards as used by today's Premiership referees. Also exclusive to Blackwell is the self-published Blackwell Guide to Classical Recordings. It has been out since July to test the market, but with a £6 price point dropping to £5 for Christmas, it is very much a gift item.

At Waterstone's there are also plenty of exclusives with what Fiona Kennedy, non-fiction category manager, says is "probably our best ever range of special editions". In children's it has a signed, numbered, slipcased edition of Double or Die by Charlie Higson and a Waterstone's-only cover on Slam by Nick Hornby. It also has an edition of Outcast by Michelle Paver which comes with a free pendant. In fiction it has signed, numbered and slipcased editions of Making Money by Terry Pratchett and the new Clive Barker, Mister B Gone. In sport it has signed, numbered and slipcased editions of the Bobby Charlton and Jackie Stewart autobiographies. It also has a deluxe, signed edition of Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home. "Possibly the most exciting of all is our special edition of Eric Clapton's autobiography, which, as well as being signed, numbered and limited to 1,000 copies, comes in a slipcase styled as a guitar amp," Kennedy adds.

When it comes to the titles Waterstone's looks to offer exclusives on, Kennedy says: "It is not necessarily the biggest sellers that will work in a special edition, but those authors or celebrities with a very dedicated fan base who enjoy the fact that they can get a super-duper version of the book. They'll almost inevitably end up getting the regular version as well."

Other exclusives on the high street this year include Bloomsbury's deal with Waterstone's and Hatchards for 550 slipcased, numbered and signed editions of Sophie Dahl's Playing with the Grown-Ups. Piccadilly Press is also doing an exclusive with W H Smith of 5,000 copies of its Mates, Dates Journal by Cathy Hopkins, which will be shrink-wrapped with the first book in the series, Mates, Dates & Inflatable Bras. One of the exclusives on offer at Borders, meanwhile, is a 1,000-copy collector's edition of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy signed by the author and priced at £75. 

Since consumers are increasingly using the internet to do their Christmas shopping, many of the deals offered this year will also be replicated on retailers' websites. There is also a trend to run exclusive competitions online this Christmas to encourage sales. Lucy Howkins, marketing manager at Bloomsbury, says Beyond Nose to Tail: A Kind of British Cooking Part II by Fergus Henderson is being supported by a competition being promoted solely through the Borders' website to win dinner for two at the chef's restaurant.

Tesco is also running a number of online competitions in conjunction with publishers with prominent Christmas releases. To promote Alan Shearer's autobiography, My Illustrated Career, there is the chance to win a shirt signed by the footballer and a tour of the Newcastle United stadium, while to draw attention to Richard Hammond's autobiography, On the Edge: My Story, it is offering the chance to win Hammond's leather jacket. Other promotions include the opportunity to win a meal for two at Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen—a promotion for his sommelier Matt Skinner's book, The Juice 2008, and the chance to win a set of signed Tess Gerritsen novels when customers pre-order her new title, The Bone Garden.

Independent editions

When it comes to exclusives, it is larger booksellers that generally have the clout to negotiate them with the bigger publishing houses, although some independent publishers also see the benefit of exclusive editions and the premium they can attract. With the Christmas gift market in mind, Julian Rothenstein, publisher at Redstone, has produced a 100-copy limited edition version of Ants Have Sex in Your Beer by artist David Shrigley, which is being sold through Shrigley's and the Redstone website. Each book is signed and has an original drawing dry-mounted on the front cover. "It is £250 and I have sold well over half the edition in a very short time and expect to sell out completely by mid-November," Rothenstein says. "It [has] generated more money than the whole of my 7,000-copy trade edition, which has helped me overcome my aversion to limited editions somewhat."

When it comes to independent retailers, there have been moves within the trade recently to make more signed copies available—something they value and can attach an "exclusive" tag to, especially at Christmas. Maia Bristol, sales manager at Faber and co-ordinator for the Independent Alliance, says the nine publishers that form the group have a selection of signed Christmas titles that will be offered to independents only. Two of those available are The Carhullan Army, a Faber title by Sarah Hall, and The Uncommon Reader, a joint Profile and Faber title by Alan Bennett. "We don't do specific volumes or anything for independent bookshops—we haven't quite got to that stage yet, but it is something we might consider in the future," Bristol explains. "It is something we'd be happy to do if the market was there."

Sarah Clarke, joint-owner of the Torbay Bookshop, says she appreciates moves such as these by the Independent Alliance and other publishers to help independents: "Every part of the retail trade is looking for something that is exclusive and special at Christmas and to be able to put 'limited signed editions' [on titles] is brilliant." However, she adds: "Of course, it is not quite so special if we have it and W H Smith is also selling limited, signed, editions."

One of the great things about signed copies, in Clarke's opinion, is that they are unlikely to have to be discounted in order to sell because consumers see the exclusivity of the product as adding value.

Eye for a special

Signed copies aside, exclusive editions are typically only negotiated by those with the cash to support the deal. However, Tim Godfray, chief executive of the Booksellers Association, says that none of the association's members have recently raised the issue of exclusive editions as something they have concerns about in terms of competition. It has, however, been a topic that has arisen in the past, leading the BA to incorporate advice for sales reps into its Life Cycle of a New Title: Best Practice Guidelines document, which is available on its website and has been agreed by the Publishers Association. "The BA came to the conclusion that information is key so that booksellers are in possession of the facts when placing orders," Godfray says. As a result, the guidelines state: "Publishers should provide information on which titles have been licensed for cheap/exclusive/special editions to key customers and inform them if this changes." The guidelines also state that this should be done well in advance, and that at 20 and 12 weeks before publication there should be notification of licensing of cheap, exclusive or special editions.

Nic Bottomley, manager of Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, says the sales reps that he has good relationships with will always tell him if a chain based near his store has taken a particular title. "The reps that I have a good relationship with would let me know, and that is useful because obviously it helps you make an informed buying decision. You might think: 'Okay, we will steer a path around that because the guys across the road have a special edition of it.' "

On the whole, though, Bottomley is not bothered whether the chains are able to secure special editions because he thinks independents have the ability to find titles that the chains have not picked up and treat these as their exclusives. "There are enough good books out there that I can find that Waterstone's or its head office just simply won't pick up on, and I will find those and let [the chains] have their special editions," he says. Last Christmas, for example, there was a skiing poster-book that was readily available to the trade but wasn't sold by his competitors. "We managed to sell lots of copies of it," Bottomley says.

This year there is another book that he thinks is going to perform well. "It's a photo-montage book that I know Waterstone's will not even notice, and so, for me, that is just like having my own special edition that I haven't negotiated with anyone."

Clive Reynard, director of the publishing company Collectors' Library, doesn't see a problem with the larger booksellers and publishers collaborating on exclusives either. "It seems entirely fair that they should have an exclusive because they are presumably putting their money where their mouth is and taking a commercial risk."

Should any booksellers have a concern with any the deals being done this Christmas, Godfray suggests contacting the supplier or its representative to explain why the promotion may be damaging; seeking recompense from the supplier and/or returning the titles; or raising the matter with the trade press. In a worst-case scenario, booksellers could also contact the Office of Fair Trading.

Whether exclusives are a cause for concern or not, retailers with some to offer will be hoping that they do their job of attracting new customers and pleasing their regulars.

Retail Flagship Feature Christmas Victoria Arnstein