The Summer Reading Guide is a membership service for members of Booksellers Aotearoa NZ, which highlights nearly 200 of the best books to buy across the Christmas and summer season.
In 2023, 50 stores participated, distributing approximately 200,000 catalogues across NZ (through newspapers, letterbox drops, mail-outs and store bag-stuffing).
The format is 24pp full colour quarto with a special Aotearoa section in the central eight pages. Extra copies of the eight-page New Zealand section are printed and inserted into a December issue of the NZ Listener.
There will also be author and celebrity picks and other editorial content to make the guide even better value for customers and readers.
The titles are selected by a subcommittee of booksellers from lists submitted by publishers and selected good value backlist titles.
Stores are not required to stock every single title in the collection.
Each catalogue is personalised to your own bookshop, and you use it to promote summer reads throughout your busiest season. Some stores do letterbox drops, some insert copies in an edition of their local newspaper and some have baskets of copies outside their front door for passers-by.
Exchange card system
The Booksellers Aotearoa Exchange Card system is a sales aid to booksellers for those customers who want to buy a book as a gift but who are unsure whether the book is appropriate or may already have been read.
To work to its full advantage, it is important that all bookshops belonging to Booksellers accept these exchange cards. When a customer wants to exchange a title purchased from another bookseller for one of your own, they must present the book to be exchanged (in mint condition) together with the completed Exchange Card.
Completing a Card: When you complete a card for a customer, the price code reflects the price paid for the book. For example, price $14.95 – the code you enter on the card is 1495. If the price is $7.95 the code will be 0795.
By accepting an exchanged book you have nothing to lose. If your book’s value is greater than the one the customer returns, the customer pays the difference. If the book’s value is less, customers are advised on the Exchange Card that no money will be returned or credit given. The exchanged book can then be added to your sales stock.
Should the book be a title you do not wish to stock, you have the right to return the book to the bookseller who originally sold it with an invoice for the cost of the book: (retail less 35% +10% + freight).
Please note that very few books returned would fall into this category – and please consider phoning the store you intend to invoice in advance of returning the book. All members should offer and honour the Exchange Cards to the value of the original purchase price noted on the card.