The Cape Town Book Sale

A great success.

At the Cape Town Book Sale (CTBS) in June this year a number of local bookshops gathered to sell a huge selection of multilingual, multi-cultural books to book lovers at the lowest prices available in Cape Town.

Run under the auspices of The South African Booksellers Association, participants Bargain Books, Wordsworth Books, Books 24/7, Wilstan Books, Hargraves Library Suppliers and Caxton Books reported good sales and are excited to part of what the Association plans on making an annual event.

The V&A Waterfront Head Office promoted the event across all its platforms and the Aquarium promoted the event to its 13000 members, put on a puppet show and sold their book series too.

Just under 3,000 people attended the event, which for a first-time consumer event with a limited marketing budget, was very good.

“We had a good Book Sale. There were some teething problems. The venue was on two levels, which proved unexpectedly problematic for some who never discovered the upper level in spite of huge signs. The Friday of the sale was chaotically busy and the Saturday less busy. The Fathers day promotion together with the sale specials made for a busy Sunday. We will definitely participate again. It was good for books and good for us,” commented Andrew Majoribanks from Wordsworth Books.

“I found the event very pleasant. It was good to interact with my peers and directly with customers,” said Peter Wilstan of Wilstan Book Supplies.

“I walked away with a profit. I met two potential government contacts and potential clients with whom I registered. I also partnered with an author to distribute her book. I will definitely participate next year although I do think we need a more centralised area in the Waterfront even if we have to pay more for a display stand.”

Jonathan Ferreira from Caxton Books approached the CTBS wanting to learn how ‘book sales’ work and what sells on these sales.

”We enjoyed ourselves and learnt a great deal,” he enthused.

“There is still a challenge to make the finances of the event work without making it too expensive for small bookshops to sell at the CTBS or too expensive for consumers who want to attend the event. Ideally we should find a sponsor, charge a low entry fee and donate most of the entry fee to literacy initiatives.”

Dusanka Stojakovic from New Africa Books also enjoyed the Book Sale.

“I felt part of a community. The participation of book people at all levels was inspiring. We did not move all the stock we wanted at the sale, but made some useful contacts. An order for multiple copies of our children’s books in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa made it particularly worthwhile.”

“The first day was very busy, the next two days less so. I loved the venue. However would have limited the hours to between 10h00 and 18h00 and perhaps had some authors present.

“The event was extremely well organised – thank you to the organisers. I look forward to the sale next year.

Bargain Books also participated at the fair and Managing Director John O’Sullivan said “It was great getting close to the coalface for a few days. It was also great to see the sheer delight on customers faces after they have found a book at a knock down price. “

“We decided to clear stock below cost on the Sunday rather than take it back to the warehouse so we met our targets. We thought it was very well attended considering it was just a sale without any other events to attract customers.“

All participants have indicated that they are interested in participating next year and being experienced hand-selling booksellers, they enjoyed the interaction and participation most of all.