More on some of the initiatives the reborn Kepler's has taken to improve business.

Working with book clubs has become almost as important as outside sales (Shelf Awareness, June 29) for Kepler's, according to chief marketing officer Anne Banta. Although book clubs often garner discounts, she said that bookstores with programs that "provide value and benefits" to book clubs can help define and differentiate themselves from their competition--and improve sales.

As a result, Kepler's launched a program last month to register 100 book clubs with the store. Among the incentives to the clubs: a 15% discount on all book club choices and quarterly meetings at the store at which booksellers and publishers will make presentations about upcoming books and offer galleys. ("Publishers love these," Banta noted.) Kepler's is also working with publishers that have author call ins and Web casts, and the store plans to hold an annual book club conference. All the store's book clubs would be represented at the conference, where Kepler's would hold "mini salons and exchanges--and maybe a spa for the afternoon so they could have a wonderful day together," Banta added. Kepler's also acted as a co-sponsor of the Book Group Expo held in San Jose last month (Shelf Awareness, June 20). The store publishes a monthly newsletter for book clubs.

Kepler's has created an incentive program with the staff to help sign up the 100 clubs. The store also has displays related to book clubs--spinners with book club reads that include not only Kepler's recommendations but selections of titles that are being read by other book clubs in the Bay Area as well as around the country. "We're contacting other stores and finding out what the No. 1 selling book club books are," Banta said.

Fomenting Fun

With this and other efforts, Kepler's aims to find "ways to have fun with people," Banta continued, and make buying books "not such a serious intellectual pursuit." Recent and planned events reflect this. As part of the celebration of the store's 51st anniversary, it held an "Uncover the Codes at Kepler's" contest related to the opening of the movie The Da Vinci Code, with trivia questions, literature quizzes and brain teasers (Shelf Awareness, April 25).

In June, the store held an event featuring Barry Eisler that offered two prizes: one was a complete signed, first edition set of the author's books; the other was being a character in Eisler's next book.

In the fall, Kepler's plans on holding "a day in the park," to which the "entire community" is invited. Banta hopes to attract "hundreds of hundreds" of people. The event will feature "a giant book swap," with an entire tent devoted to local authors who can sell their books. Another tent will be devoted to Kepler's 40 or so community partners, to whom it donates 10% of their members' store purchases.