[CALIBK12] Book Fairs-Miss Nelson

[Peggy Boyd]

We have done Scholastic Book Fairs at the high school level for several years--and the kids always complain about the lack of books for their level. I figured that if I got a few hundred dollars worth of books for our library that it was worth it--I'd endure the complaints!

Supposedly, Scholastic was piloting high school book fairs in Orange County over the last year or so (so there was relief in sight!), however, I heard they decided high school book fairs were not profitable and ditched the idea. (Too much theft? Not enough profit? I'm not sure why). Does anyone know details on that?  

About 3-4 years ago, when I wanted to set up a book fair with Miss Nelsons (I'd only heard great things about them, and what a nice change from Scholastic!) I was told over the phone we needed to make a minimum profit that was much higher than I thought we could reasonably generate (not sure of amount)--we're pretty small...but larger schools wouldn't have a problem, I think.  

Then--I thought I'd inquire again at CSLA just last Nov, but as I was buying books from Miss Nelson's, their representative told me they were not going to be doing high school book fairs at all.  

ANYway--my experience...interesting to hear others'.

Peggy Boyd
Renaissance High School
Long Beach


>>> Melanie Lewis <lmtmal at yahoo.com> 05/13/08 9:08 AM >>>

I believe they have 2 locations - one in So Cal & one in Fresno.  We tried doing a high school book fair with them last month through the Fresno location.  They seemed rather disorganized.  My calls weren't returned right away and it took quite awhile to get the necessary paperwork and promo materials.  They did deliver to our site, but were late and did not help to set up as promised.  Only book stands were provided with the books.  Our students were not thrilled with the selection.  Nothing is discounted and since we had to charge sales tax a lot of students were discouraged from buying (they figured they could get them cheaper through Amazon).  We did not receive a list of what was provided, so there was no way to account for what was sold or lost.  We received anywhere from 1-5 copies of a title and were told they would restock daily if needed.  I was under the impression they would deliver the restocked items, but it turned out they just mailed them.   Overall, our profit was only about $100 and we have yet to receive our check. 
 
Melanie Lewis 
Teacher Librarian
Liberty High School 
Madera, CA 
559-645-3500 x2014 



----- Original Message ----
From: Darla Brown <dbrown at garces.org>
To: Janie Scott <janiescott at san.rr.com>; "calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu" <calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 8:20:00 AM
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] Book Fairs-Miss Nelson


Hi Janie: Actually, Mrs. N is based in Fresno…quite a distance from La Jolla. As they drive to you for delivery and re-orders—as opposed to FedEx-ing—I  can’t begin to imagine how that would work.

I used Mrs. Nelson in my junior high, and it was a success. I loved the selection of numerous publishers as opposed to only Scholastic, and the bigger selection of hard-covers. But I had much less success with my pre-Christmas high school book fair this year. First, I was told that they “don’t send the rolling cases to high schools.” Trying to fit everything on tables was difficult to say the least. When I told them immediately that this was a problem, they offered to bring me some wire “bookshelves.” They arrived Wed. evening after I’d already gone home (fair was Mon.-Fri.). Though I re-ordered my out-of-stock items daily, only once did I receive a re-order—of harmonicas and hackey-sacks, not books. Mrs. N advertises help w/ set-up, take down, and accounting. None of that occurred. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t get anyone to return my calls on the last day of my fair, so I didn’t know whether to take my “percentage” of books out before taxes or after, and of course I couldn’t begin packing until that was done. It was a bit of a mess.

I have not tried Scholastic at the high school level, but I think I may be forced to give it a go next school year.  

Mrs. Darla Brown, LMT, M.Ed.
Teacher Librarian
Garces Memorial High School
"Home of Athletes and Scholars"
661-327-2578 x133
dbrown at garces.org


From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Janie Scott
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 7:52 PM
To: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Subject: [CALIBK12] Book Fairs-Miss Nelson

While we are on the subject, we just started talking about switching from Scholastic to Miss Nelson next year.  Can anyone give me information about how that has worked for you? Particularly if you are a good distance away (we are in La Jolla and they are LA based, I believe).

Thanks for your wisdom,

Janie Scott
Librarian, 

The Children's School
2225 Torrey Pines Lane
LaJolla,Ca 92037
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