Hey guys, I'm a bit late
Are there still any sandwiches left
There had better be sandwiches
I thought the trip to Barnes & Noble was great. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect before arriving. I figured the 90 minutes would be filled with normal book stuff I already knew. Since prior to this, I’ve only really thought about bookstores as a consumer, not the producer, I was surprised by a number of things that were discussed – like B&N’s process of ordering new books. I thought having the Community Relations Manager speaker was a great idea – it’s an area of public relations I’ve never thought about.
When thinking about Barnes and Noble, i just think "books," but after visiting the store i've realized that is not all that is there. After our B & N visit, i knew it wasn't just about books. According to the management and employees, there is much more to it being just another bookstore. I learned that they recieve 2 to 3 pallets of books a day which is about 195 boxes of books and go through about 1500 transactions at the registers throughout one day. There is a cafe inside where you can get starbucks products while your children sit in on story time.
Prior to our class visit to Barnes & Noble, I was unaware of the amount of time and effort associated with satisfying the wide range of needs for the company’s customers. Over the years I have gone into B& N almost weekly, but never took the time to understand exactly how the company kept the stores in such pristine condition. Following the presentation given by Barnes and Noble employee Terri Walsh, my perspective on the organization altered tremendously.
The Barnes and Noble Store was everything I expected it to be, but the people who worked with and for Barnes and Noble were more interesting. I was surprised that the employees have story time three times a week. It was fascinating to hear the breakdown of a book and that approximately fifty percent of the book’s price is from the retailer. It puts a lot of the prices in perspective, because I did not expect a lot of mark-up for books. Although from working in retail store, Aeropostale where the jewelry mark-up is over two-hundred percent I should have known.
I found the field trip to Barnes and Noble informative and interesting. I was really able to learn a lot from what Terri, Jonathan and the CRM had to say. Before this trip, I had no idea that so much went into running a bookstore. As a lead bookseller, Terri has many responsibilities to fulfill including making the decision as to whether a book gets sent back to the publisher or not. Also, I had seen people like Terri using the PDTs in other stores, but I never knew what they did. I found it fascinating that such a little device gave them so much information about each book.
In order to be honest I’d have to admit right away that I didn’t have very high expectations for the class trip to the Deptford Barnes and Noble. I couldn’t have been more wrong though. I thought that both presentations were very interesting and insightful in their own rights. I especially enjoyed the content of Jonathan Mayberry’s lecture. As a prospective writer (I’m interested in sports journalism which is like novel writing on a much, much smaller scale) I was very surprised by the core notion of Mr. Mayberry’s presentation: writing may be an art, but being a writer requires business savvy and the ability to treat one’s art like a commodity. I definitely was intrigued by this drastically different, insider’s perspective of the writing industry, especially coming from an author with a laundry list of works and many years of experience. I also was fascinated when Mr. Mayberry told us about the arduous, kicking and screaming process behind the scenes of getting a book to the shelves. I was shocked by some of the quirks and eccentricities of the business, like how editors and publishers are most often responsible for picking the title of a book, or how the end cap position in the book store is purchased by the publisher with the aim to boost book sales. The point about being able to revise work on an editor’s whim was one that hit home for me. When I become invested in something I’m writing I find it incredibly difficult to have to make changes, so I can’t even imagine having to rewrite an entire plot line or ending like Mr. Mayberry talked about.
Labels: Barnes and Noble Trip
Going to Barnes and Noble is always a treat for me. I must admit I was excited when I found out we had a trip there. I arrived early so I could check out the store, since I was unfamiliar with this Deptford store.
Barnes&Noble is one of my favorite stores and it was great to learn about the inner workings that keep it running. The employees who spoke to us really seemed to enjoy their jobs and happily answered all of our questions. Even though I shop at Barnes&Noble quite often, I never browsed the way I did last week; and I was surprised at all the different genres of books that the store offers.
I have worked in retail before, so some of what the first speaker, the girl who works for Barnes and Noble, said wasn’t news to me, but there were a few things she mentioned that I had not known before. The most interesting things I learned from her were the cost breakdown of a book and the shelf life of a new book. I knew that new books weren’t faced on the shelves for very long, but I didn’t know it was that short of a period of time.
Upon entering the Barnes and Noble bookstore, I was not sure what to expect. I had interest in publishing but I was not sure of the exact process of publishing. Since I was a young girl, I have always had intentions to become a successful writer. I can honestly say I thought I had it all figured out. I was wrong. The trip to Barnes and Noble not only gave me a greater knowledge on the subject matter of Publishing, but it also allowed me to realize how perfect this job may ultimately be for me in the future.
The visit to the Barnes and Noble bookstore was very rewarding. I was unaware that only 10% of a book’s price will actually land in the hands of the author. I was surprised that 50% of the profits are received by the actual bookstore. Also shocking, classics, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, make up 80% of the books sold at Barnes and Noble.
Dear Diary,
Reaction to Barnes and Noble Visit
After our visit to Barnes and Noble I’ve developed a new respect for its employees. I have never worked in any type of retail but I can imagine that the customers that treat the store like their own personal office space or kiddie daycare center can make a job more stressful than it has to be.
The Barnes and Noble visit shed a whole new light from the behind the scenes of the bookstore business. A fascinating fact I learned was that about 8% of sales are from backlist titles. I think its great that famous books are still being sold.
When you first step into a Barnes and Noble a mist of lattes and sophistication is felt in the air. The smell of freshly ground coffee and newly printed pages amerce every one your senses. Some people think of it as a second home, a place to gather and discuss the topics of the day. While others enjoy browsing through the pages, sipping their cappuccino and feeling their mind grow by every turn of the page. Underneath this illusion of a mellow, laid back setting is a capitalistic machine churning its engines along with McDonalds and Microsoft.
Prior to our class visit to Barnes & Noble, I was unaware of the amount of time and effort associated with satisfying the wide range of needs for the company’s customers. Over the years I have gone into B& N almost weekly, but never took the time to understand exactly how the company kept the stores in such pristine condition. Following the presentation given by Barnes and Noble employee Terri Walsh, my perspective on the organization altered tremendously.
I’ve been to Barnes and Noble many times, but it wasn’t till the latest visit on Tuesday that I actually took everything in; the environment and all the people around me.
Sweet, now we have a blog. Hopefully this will not be as addicting as facebook or myspace.
When I first heard that we would be taking a trip to Barnes & Noble, I immediately was excited. Reading has always been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a young child. Due to my intellectual hobby, I have found myself in many Barnes & Nobles throughout the nineteen years of my life. Barnes & Noble to me is apart of who I am thus the excitement regarding our little class trip.
The trip to Barnes & Noble was such an overwhelmingly positive experience that two-hundred words could scarcely capture my feelings. Particularly enlightening was speaker Jonathon Maberry, who detailed his life as a published author. He spoke of the relationship between author and agent, author and editor, and, the combative union of art and commercialism. I thought it was interesting that Maberry made artistic concessions to maintain a fruitful relationship with his editor. And although Maberry claimed to have vented frustrations to his agent, he showed no ill will toward the editor. Clearly this man’s business instincts are as sharp as his literary chops.
The thing that surprised me the most about Barnes & Noble was that they were selling advertising space. Selling prime shelf space to publishers seems counter-productive. I thought that Barnes & Noble chose the books that would be displayed. That way they would be able to push books thy felt would sell the best and make more money. I guess they are generating more revenue by offering good product placement than they would by selling more books.
When thinking about Barnes and Noble, i just think "books," but after visiting the store i've realized that is not all that is there. After our B & N visit, i knew it wasn't just about books. According to the management and employees, there is much more to it being just another bookstore. I learned that they recieve 2 to 3 pallets of books a day which is about 195 boxes of books and go through about 1500 transactions at the registers throughout one day. There is a cafe inside where you can get starbucks products while your children sit in on story time.
I was surprised, after almost two years of employment at Barnes and Noble in Deptford, at the amount of new information that was presented to me about the store and how it is operated. I had heard the terms “frontlist” and “backlist” before, but was not entirely sure what they meant, or how it was determined which category a title would fall under. I was also aware that an “e-shop” was conducted at manager meetings, but did not know what that entailed. I now fully understand the process of receiving and returning retail product within the store.