Monday, January 15, 2007
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday?
So what are you doing this Monday?
Chances are, you're at work. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an officially recognized federal holiday, many – if not most – businesses do not treat it as such. You’re not receiving mail and your children aren’t going to school, but in two out of three cases, you’re at work.
An odd holiday, that.
Even odder, points out Sarah Mahoney in MediaPost’s Marketing Daily, is the lack of commercial activity that surrounds many such holidays in the United States. There are Presidents’ Day sales, Memorial Day sales, Labor Day sales. Americans celebrate most major holidays with trips to the mall or to the car dealership. But not this one. “Stores,” writes Mahoney, “are loath to appear disrespectful or insensitive about the only holiday commemorating an African-American, and one with such a solemn legacy.”
Which leaves it even more of a non-holiday than ever.
What would happen if we embraced the third Monday in January with the same commercial zeal we exhibit the rest of the year? What if it were another sales opportunity, but with a twist: merchants could, for example, donate a percentage of their proceeds from the weekend to a worthy cause? What if for every 10 widgets sold, another inner-city child could go to summer camp?
Everyone would be happy. The post-Christmas sales slump would arc back up. The first cars of the year could be on the road. The American people would feel relieved that we could treat this holiday like any other.
And your boss might even give you the day off.
Chances are, you're at work. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an officially recognized federal holiday, many – if not most – businesses do not treat it as such. You’re not receiving mail and your children aren’t going to school, but in two out of three cases, you’re at work.
An odd holiday, that.
Even odder, points out Sarah Mahoney in MediaPost’s Marketing Daily, is the lack of commercial activity that surrounds many such holidays in the United States. There are Presidents’ Day sales, Memorial Day sales, Labor Day sales. Americans celebrate most major holidays with trips to the mall or to the car dealership. But not this one. “Stores,” writes Mahoney, “are loath to appear disrespectful or insensitive about the only holiday commemorating an African-American, and one with such a solemn legacy.”
Which leaves it even more of a non-holiday than ever.
What would happen if we embraced the third Monday in January with the same commercial zeal we exhibit the rest of the year? What if it were another sales opportunity, but with a twist: merchants could, for example, donate a percentage of their proceeds from the weekend to a worthy cause? What if for every 10 widgets sold, another inner-city child could go to summer camp?
Everyone would be happy. The post-Christmas sales slump would arc back up. The first cars of the year could be on the road. The American people would feel relieved that we could treat this holiday like any other.
And your boss might even give you the day off.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Is Illiteracy Next?
Well, apparently (as if we needed to hear this from yet another quarter) America doesn’t read anymore. Two of the three big book chains reported bad sales for the nine-week stretch through December 30: Barnes & Noble termed it "somewhat disappointing sales for the season in a highly promotional and competitive environment," with comparable store sales slipping 0.1 percent at the superstores at $1.1 billion overall (putting them down 0.3 percent on a comp basis for the 48-week period, at $4.1 billion). BN.com sales rose 2.7 percent to $108.5 million for the holidays, but are still down 2.4 percent from a year ago for 48 weeks, at $376 million.
Sales suffered even more at Books-a-Million, down 2.1 percent, at $124.5 million for the holidays. CEO Sandra Cochran says in a press release that "(s)ales for the holiday season were below expectations as we confronted a quiet media environment and strong comparable sales in the prior year. The absence of a major movie tie-in affected both traffic and sales."
As a wordsmith, I’m obviously both disappointed and concerned. Books didn’t do well because there was no movie tie-in? Some publishers are confronting the competition from television directly: Court TV now offers a program hosted by a rotating group of mystery writers that include Michael Connelly, Lisa Scottoline, and Patricia Cornwell, in which the writers talk about the crime in question and how they would handle it in fiction. Sounds a little too close to the Judith Regan/O.J. fiasco of last December that everyone would just as soon forget.
More and more, authors need to find innovative ways to market their books, and that innovation must be part of any marketing plan that you offer a potential literary agent or publisher. As I said in n earlier blog, the mills are closing. We need to find ways to keep our craft alive.
And perhaps eventually the pendulum will swing the other way and people will begin picking up books again. That will be… way beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
Sales suffered even more at Books-a-Million, down 2.1 percent, at $124.5 million for the holidays. CEO Sandra Cochran says in a press release that "(s)ales for the holiday season were below expectations as we confronted a quiet media environment and strong comparable sales in the prior year. The absence of a major movie tie-in affected both traffic and sales."
As a wordsmith, I’m obviously both disappointed and concerned. Books didn’t do well because there was no movie tie-in? Some publishers are confronting the competition from television directly: Court TV now offers a program hosted by a rotating group of mystery writers that include Michael Connelly, Lisa Scottoline, and Patricia Cornwell, in which the writers talk about the crime in question and how they would handle it in fiction. Sounds a little too close to the Judith Regan/O.J. fiasco of last December that everyone would just as soon forget.
More and more, authors need to find innovative ways to market their books, and that innovation must be part of any marketing plan that you offer a potential literary agent or publisher. As I said in n earlier blog, the mills are closing. We need to find ways to keep our craft alive.
And perhaps eventually the pendulum will swing the other way and people will begin picking up books again. That will be… way beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
