Posted by cara delia on October 13, 2010 at 12:56pm
Well, I am in the midst of my very first scholastic bookfair, I was wondering who of you have used other bookfairs. I have heard bedfordfalls mentioned a couple of times, but scholastic makes things sooooo easy. Do any of the other fairs offer the easy scan machine? I'll tell you it's worth its weight in gold. Also, how many of you have chosen to keep the scholastic dollars? I totaly see the benefits of both, but what I really need isn't in the catalog (or online). However if I cash out I won't have that much to play with that would matter. Thanks for your input. Also one more question to throw at yall, How many of you keep open checkout during BF? I stopped it after 8:30, but I'm thinking the next fair I won't have it at all. It has been a very very hectic 3 days!
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I love the idea of a table top display case. Each year I borrow artifacts from a local museum. I would love to have a display case for them. Was it exspensive? Where did you purchase?
This year, my principal decided to cancel my second bookfair due to economic concerns. My second fair does not sell as much as my fall fair. But the kids will miss the second fair.
cara delia > Deborah FagnanOctober 26, 2010 at 10:05am
I am also hosting a gently used book fair around Christmas. I have already started collecting donations from the community. I will sell the books for 1.00-3.00 and it will be all profit (not charging taxes) I think this will be a great way for children (and teachers) to clean out their library and swap out for some great "new" books. A lot of times we have parents who's children have grown out of a certain genre and they are just sitting around, so I think this will be a success. Maybe you could try to do this instead of the Scholastic? You could call it a "Spring Cleaning" book fair. It wont be nearly as much profit, but then it is something?
Hi,
We have been using Scholastic for a number of years. We mostly take our profits in cash because it affords more flexibility. We also have improved the quality of what we get by being very specific about what we need and do not want. We often leave some boxes unopened and do not display any little toys etc. They have been very responsive over the years. Some of the Scholastic dollar profits have made it possible to purchase books for classrooms and special education staff whose budgets are smaller than ours. Basically, speak up and the reps will do their best for you. They are so much better than they use to be.
Deborah Fagnan > Elisabeth LeBrisOctober 25, 2010 at 2:17pm
I am really happy with the decrease of toys in the bookfair this year. Usually the "toys" could cover an 8 ft table with no problem. This year, it covered 2 foot and mostly were audio-type books. I also appreciated that they added many more soft cover books in lieu of these toys. They also provided us the abiltiy to pre-order the new Wimpy Book at $6.99. In will be sold in stores for 13.00. They also had a display of award winning books (Newbery, Seuss etc.)
I am currently running my fall Scholastic Bookfair. The select of books is great this year. I keep mostly scholastic dollars. Great resource catalog! My fair runs six days and we gross about 11,000 to 13,000. Sunday 10 to 2 and Monday - Friday 8am to 3:30. Hope this info helps! The event truly promotes my library as well as the importance of reading!
cara delia > Deborah FagnanOctober 25, 2010 at 10:45am
wow! i couldn't imagine grossing 13,000!! I thought I was doin great with my 4200! LOL! You must have a gigantic school! Thanks for the tips!
One thing our rep let's us do with our bookfair money is to order anything from their warehouses, not just what's in the catalogs. I'm a high school library and what's in the catalog doesn't really apply to our library. So I order from the warehouse and get all of our current Readers Choice Award program books that way (I order six copies of each). Maybe talk to your rep about spending your dollars that way.
Replies
I love the idea of a table top display case. Each year I borrow artifacts from a local museum. I would love to have a display case for them. Was it exspensive? Where did you purchase?
This year, my principal decided to cancel my second bookfair due to economic concerns. My second fair does not sell as much as my fall fair. But the kids will miss the second fair.
We have been using Scholastic for a number of years. We mostly take our profits in cash because it affords more flexibility. We also have improved the quality of what we get by being very specific about what we need and do not want. We often leave some boxes unopened and do not display any little toys etc. They have been very responsive over the years. Some of the Scholastic dollar profits have made it possible to purchase books for classrooms and special education staff whose budgets are smaller than ours. Basically, speak up and the reps will do their best for you. They are so much better than they use to be.
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