We went to a provincial branch of a chain bookstore that carried more school and office supplies than actual books, since those were what sold quicker, and because in this country "bookstore" is synonymous with school supplies. It was a two-floor shop, almost like a department store with stationery, Halloween costumes, UN Day props, blank trophies and medals, face towels and hand sanitizer, basically everything you'd need to survive a school year. The bookshelves were tucked away on the second floor, with two shelves of secondhand books nearest to the staircase, followed by brand-new bestsellers, classics and other required academic reading, and then children's books at the very back. After a quick tour, we sat down to talk with the owner, who'd arranged the visit and was asking for suggestions on how to sell more books to his customers. He said he wanted to improve his customers' literacy, particularly for the schoolchildren. School partnerships were mentioned, blogger partnerships, book clubs, stuff like that. And yet I felt like we were going about it all wrong.
Firstly, as I mentioned above, the books were tucked away on the second floor. Since it's like a small department store, I guess most shoppers only browse the first floor and make their way to the second floor only for specific items. A small display of interesting books on the first floor could generate a little interest. You could put spooky books (Goosebumps and the like) near the Halloween costumes, and change the display with each holiday/season. Second, the secondhand books were the bulk-purchased kind, a mix of familiar titles, more obscure overruns, and strange nonfiction. I feel like secondhand children's books would sell more easily, or at least be a welcome addition. Third, they talked about book clubs - that there probably wouldn't be much interest in those, that it would be hard to organize those in each community. I think a flier near the cashier, or an equivalent photo on their social media page, could be enough to get one or two locals interested, and those locals could assist in getting in touch with other interested people.
I think the bookstore already works closely with local schools near their branches, so they immediately thought of school-partnered book clubs. But I think here the perception of reading is that it's like additional schoolwork, not something you'd do for leisure. And telling people that reading is good for them, that it'd make them smarter - that wouldn't help, either. It sounds prescriptive and condescending, and just adds to the perception that reading for leisure is... not exactly elite/elitist, but people who read for leisure have a sort of exclusive club feeling. So personally, that approach doesn't work for me.
I'd love to push the "reading is fun" approach. Sell the cartoon novelizations, the books adapted as movies, with movie poster covers, sell those hard. If you feel like you didn't get enough of this, here's a book, it has more of the same, only with the character's inner thoughts. Sell character-driven book series, especially for children. Feature a different genre/theme each month, even just a tiny display. Hold storytelling sessions in whatever free space you have. And, this is my strangest suggestion yet, use cosplay. Get people to dress up as their favorite book characters, for a discount or something. Or someone dressed as a quirky book character could promote that book. I don't know. Make reading fun. They said they did arts and crafts activities for those communities; if you brought similarly-themed books to each event I bet someone would be interested in buying them.
Most of these suggestions are for selling/pushing fiction, mostly to children. And this is just my word vomit, typed into a notepad file. I don't know. I kind of want to quit my research and just apply for a job at one of the bookshop branches. I want everyone, especially children, to love reading the way I do, to get to know the characters and worlds I love so much.
