Meet Joan Klanfer of Main Street Books in White Plains, New York. Joan has a long history in communications and publishing, and loves books of all kinds. It wasn’t surprising then, that she would volunteer to run the book fair at her son’s school. The first fair made twice as much money as ever before. So she did another fair that summer. We didn't ask how many more after that.
It was at one of these school fairs that Joan met Harold Makanoff, who had sold a successful book fair business to Scholastic Books, but soon tired of the cookie-cutter approach to the fairs. As soon as he could, he opened Main Street Books, and Joan joined the crew. She has worked there now for ten years, and does everything including managing staff, selecting and buying books, and attending trade shows.
Maria Mostajo, Little Pickle Press Director of Non-Profit Partnerships, recently met with Joan Klanfer, and here is part of their conversation:
Maria: What makes Main Street Books special?
Joan: The depth and breadth of the books in our warehouse. And the high quality service that we provide each of our clients. We do 250 books fairs in the tri-state (NY, CT and NJ ) area per year and our business has grown by word-of-mouth. We don't do much marketing. What distinguishes us from other book sellers is that I spend time with each client, I walk them through our warehouse, and I customize each and every book fair. We also offer next day re-order so that if there are books that sold out and the client needs more, we will deliver the very next day. We also provide tracking/analysis for the following year's fair/event. We provide promotion ideas for the event and walk the committee chair through every step of the process.
Maria: What is the most challenging part of your job?
Joan: Juggling everything to run the best business that I can since I order and buy the books, I meet with the client, and I customize each fair.
Maria: What do you do to keep up with the industry?
Joan: I attend trade shows and I read a lot. I will attend the ABA (AmericanBooksellers Association) in New York City this May and will also go to RI (Rhode Island Festival of Children’s Books) in the Fall.
Maria: What is your favorite part of the job?
Joan: Working with people: the book fair chairs and getting to know their communities better each year. It allows me to customize and specialize each fair. I also like the relationships I have developed with publishers, as it gives me an edge on what is out there and what I can offer my clients.
Thank you ladies, for sharing with our readers this very special part of the children’s book business – bringing all the wonderful titles to school libraries and children everywhere. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments and Maria and Joan will stop by to answer them.
We love the book that Joan is holding up in the picture above, our very own What Does It Mean To Be Global? It’s just one of the Little Pickle Press books that is part of this month’s earthquake relief effort in Japan. We will donate 20% of sales to Mercy Corps with coupon code LPPJAPAN at checkout. Thank you for your global generosity.
6 comments:
How lovely to see all those children's books, and what a great presentation for schools to pick titles for their book fairs. I always wondered how exactly that worked.
Thank you for being an exemplary children's bookseller, Joan. We applaud and support you. We'll also look forward to seeing you at the RI Festival of Children's Books this fall.
It's so nice to see a business approached with passion and meaning, not just business as usual. Thank you!
Joan's enthusiasm is inspiring.
What a phenomenal gift to give all of these young readers. Joan's stewardship and passion are both so inspiring.
Thank you for this article. When I was a child, book fairs were one of my favorite things. I agree with the comments above, Joan has a wonderful approach to business.
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