They’re calling it the “make” book program and its part of a new strategy implemented by CEO Ron Marshall to bring Borders out of the doldrums (and possible bankruptcy) and into the bookselling limelight.
How it works:
They take a “few works favored by Borders national sales officials and promote them nationwide in the spirit of a local seller, from prominent placement to personally advocating (“hand-selling”) books in the stores.”
So far the four books they have chosen have become bestsellers and “publishers have credited Borders with either being an early factor in the book’s success or a key in turning a hit into a major hit.”
The irony is deafening. Here’s a company that was part of the cabal responsible for the decimation of the independent bookselling community and now, with their backs to the wall, they are adopting the very strategy that is at the core of independent bookselling.
Whether its enough remains to be seen.
AP writer Hillel Itlaie has more in his piece Borders superstore chain looks to ‘make hits’