World Poetry Day

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Held every year on 21 March, World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity. Practiced throughout history – in every culture and on every continent – poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace.

UNESCO first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.

World Poetry Day is the occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster.

Poetry for Life has a wonderful list of South African poets and poems that will inspire this international poetry day.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

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Book Sales in the General Trade in December 2016

Although mercifully free of the load-shedding woes and Nenegate crashes of the previous two seasons, retail sales took a pummelling this Christmas in the slow wake of these events. Consumers under pressure from sky-high food prices, petrol price increases, expensive data and fewer bonuses were careful to part with their pennies. According to Statistics SA, inflation peaked at 6.8% in December, with food prices up by 11.7% in the past year. Retail sales figures are expected to show a negative for the month, despite the 3.8% growth seen in November. Black Friday accounted for 3.5% of this growth, and is likely to have had an impact on December sales.

In the light of all this, the general book trade came off lightly, showing flat unit sales in December and value growth of 5%.

Considering that most bricks-and mortar bookshops reported a decline in sales, this growth was likely driven by online sales. The challenges for traditional bookshops were manifold:

    Booksite Africa’s supply chain was slower than usual as they dealt with backlogs and technical issues stemming from the warehouse move into the old On The Dot premises. Bookshops reportedly waited 2 weeks or longer for some deliveries, with all chains and independents affected.
    The closure of Trinity, Wild Dog and PSD left some publishing lists in limbo, with booksellers reporting a significant drop in range sales in the categories they specialised in.
    The Disney list moved from Pearson to Penguin Random House last year, but was left unrepresented from October to December. The trade was left with no supply chain for tie-ins of films such as Moana, resulting in lost sales.
    The colouring book trend slowed down significantly, with seemingly no trend to replace it. The millions of rands that poured in over the previous December left a noticeable gap in bookshop pockets.
    Brexit, and the ensuing decline in the strength of the British Pound, resulted in fewer UK tourists visiting South Africa in December. This had a visible effect on sales in Cape Town and airport bookshops.
    The UKZN region’s economic decline resulted in a marked drop in book sales there, as reported by the majority of booksellers trading in the province.

Range booksellers reported a shift towards bestsellers and smaller basket sizes, indicating perhaps that customers chose obvious gifts but fewer books for themselves. Exclusive Books saw a pronounced shift toward paperback fiction with a corresponding drop in trade paperback fiction sales, pointing towards increased price sensitivity. All booksellers reported a decline in cookery sales. At first glance this seems to be due to the strong sales of Real Meal Revolution the previous year, but closer analysis show an overall drop in range sales. This could perhaps be due to a lack of good titles, unless the current food prices have robbed customers of their appetite. One area of growth was in Afrikaans books: most SABA members reported growth of between 4% and 6%.

For most booksellers, the number one bestseller over Christmas was Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime, which sold 20 213 copies through the Nielsen Panel from its release date in November to the end of December. The surprise of the season was The Book of Joy, which sold 10 984 copies.
Joy was indeed hard to find as we battled with the ghosts of the past in a climate where a mango can cost you as much as a beach read.

South Africa three-year overview:

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For the period: week’s 1 – 52 (2014, 2015 and 2016) Excluding School and Academic

Years 2014 to 2016 were extremely challenging years in the South African book trade. We experienced closure of businesses, take overs and amalgamations but what is left at 2016 shows us resilient management and the ability to endure in difficult times. Herewith a brief summary of the past three years in the general book trade.

Market Share Top 5 publishing houses by value
Our top 5 Publishing Houses are Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd, Jonathan Ball Publishers SA, Christian Art Distributors, Pan Macmillan South Africa and NB Publishers.

The total market share of these top 5 publishing houses over the past three years is as follows:

    2014: 64.22%;
    2015: 63.92%;
    2016: 63.72%

There was an increase in the number of unique ISBNs sold, but also a decrease in the total quantities sold, as well as an increase in the overall average selling price over the past three years.

Top 5 Authors per Category Combining years 2016, 2015 and 2014 Excluding School and Academic

Adult Fiction:
Deon Meyer is our bestselling author in this genre leading with 154,891 copies sold at a value of R37, 107,068 followed by Wilbur Smith very close to him with 151,540 copies sold at a value of R32, 842,400. The third position is taken by James Patterson, 142,651 copies sold, value R23,491,298 ; fourth position Danielle Steel, 108,487 copies sold, value R17,598,101; fifth position Nora Roberts 108,253 copies sold, value R17,501,402.

Adult Non-Fiction:
Nobody else than prof Tim Noakes is taking the number one bestseller position here, 193,054 copies sold at a value of R55,193,981. There is a big leap in value from the number one position to the second position with Joyce Meyer in position two, copies sold 165,719, value R 26,007,746. The third position is
taken by Zelda la Grange, copies sold 89,622, value R23,421,715; fourth position Stormie Omartien, copies sold 129,245, value R14,676,061; fifth position Ine Reynierse, copies sold 60,502, value R12,060,459

Children’s Fiction:
Jeff Kinney leads the pack with his Diary of a Wimpy kid series, selling 181,307 copies, totaling R32,192,228, fifty percent more than Roald Dahl in second position with a quantity of 72,831 for a total of R14,240,577. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books come in 3rd position with 59,861 copies at R13, 673,058. Fourth position with only 1 ISBN sold is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling, in collaboration with others, selling 46,002 copies at a total of R13, 419,920. Rick Riordan takes 5th position selling 67,403 copies at a value of R12, 289,479

Children’s Non Fiction:
Roger Priddy takes the first position selling a quantity of 151,306 copies at R12, 032,141. Short on his heels, due to a higher average selling price, is Julia Donaldson selling 87,275 copies at a value of R11, 971,546. Third position belongs to Dr Suess with 40,361 copies sold worth R5, 828,351. Carolyn Larsen takes 4th position with a quantity of 36,843 at a total value of R3, 066,415. Ab Mojang is in fifth position with 16,504 copies sold at a value of R2, 603,585.

Market share of unique ISBNs selling through the panel
In the combined measured period, 512,152 unique ISBNs were sold through the total panel. Although there is a great emphasis on bestsellers in the market the total top 100 represents only 8.54% of total value of R4, 232,690,912 for the combined measured period. However, the biggest percentage sales happened from position 1001–5000, namely 22.78%. Position 1–50,000 delivered 82.89% of value for the combined measured period.

Impact of seasonal sales (Christmas period)
In 2014 the November and December sales represented 24.40% of total quantity of books sold through the panel (8 932 619 units sold ).
In 2015 the November and December sales represented 22.24% of total quantity of books sold through the panel (10,555,369 units sold), against 23.68% of total quantity of books sold through the panel (9 848 549units sold) in 2016.

The total value of books sold in November and December 2014 was R315 784 264 (25.19%) out of a total value for the measured period of R1 253 487 853.
The total value of books sold in November and December 2015 was R367, 847,551 (24.85%) out of the total value for the measured period of R1, 480,203,463. The total value of books sold in 2016 measured period was R1,498,999,597 of which R379,110,839 was sold in November and December (25.29%).

In conclusion. Although there was an uptake in overall revenue for 2016, fewer titles were sold at higher recommended retail prices. The question is whether, in our current economical climate, the public is seeing books as a luxury item or whether they are simply finding books elsewhere. We look forward to providing you with continued statistical insights that will help your business excel in 2017.

Freda van Wyk
CEO: SAPnet

Comparing the UK and the US Book Markets:

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Does one lead and the other follow?

The international book trade is a rich and varied creature with each territory influenced – more or less so – by cultural and local influences: priests-turned-chefs in Brazil, economics and business titles in India and home-grown fiction authors in Italy for example. But there are also trends that ricochet around the world. In the last few years we’ve observed the global popularity of adult colouring, a grown-up Harry Potter (of course) and dystopian fiction (initially targeted at the emerging adult), to name but a few.
How do you predict what will translate, literally and culturally? How do you take a punt and find you have the next Elena Ferrante? The next Millie Marotta? The next Jeff Kinney?
I’m afraid I’m not about to reveal the secret here and now, but what we can show is a direct comparison of two heavy-weight markets and compare and contrast successes in the UK and the US according to Nielsen Book figures.
Starting with the UK’s print book market – worth £1.6bn in 2016 with a growth of nearly 5%. That’s 5% in a year which saw huge economic uncertainty and fluctuations in the GBP. A year where retailers continue to be under stress from the restructuring needed to co-exist in an online world, where the National Living Wage was introduced resulting in added costs for retailers and where poor weather once again adversely impacted book sales.
Yet people did buy books. Buy them in droves, with volume sales up 2.3% to 195.1m overall and year on year growth seen for healthy eating cookbooks, children’s fiction, crime, thriller & adventure fiction and humour titles. Ebooks account for 28% of all volume sales according to Books & Consumers data, although sales were down 5% year on year.
Compare now the US print book market in 2016. With 623m books sold in 2016 it’s 130m bigger than all the other territories in the Nielsen global BookScan measure combined and growing with year on year growth of 3.3%. Although fiction has taken a hit, the children’s and non-fiction categories are in long term growth and both up on 2015. There is strength in Religious, Crafting and self-help areas. Ebook sales are down -16% according to PubTrack Digital US.
Now to look at specific titles. In 2016 there were 206 common fiction titles between the US and the UK, 117 Trade Non-Fiction titles and 127 Children’s fiction titles.
Of the fiction titles, approximately half were published in the UK first. One of the best-selling authors in both countries is Jojo Moyes. This British author has clearly been exported internationally to great success. There are 10 of her titles in both the UK and the US top bestsellers of 2016. Of the (unique) titles, six appeared on UK shelves first, which makes sense her being a home-grown talent. But if we look at total sales from 2014 onward we see an interesting pattern.
We observe a greater upturn in sales in the US in June 2014, ahead of a peak in the UK in late July. So this recent wave of popularity was seen earlier in the US than the UK. Of course back in 2012 she had achieved weekly sales in excess of 11k in the UK, but here we are looking at recent popularity. The pattern of sales in the two territories then follow on closely until 2016 when there is a huge increase at the end of April in the US while the uplift in the UK doesn’t come until the start of June, slightly offset from the ‘Me Before You’ film release dates (see vertical lines on graph) which were only separated by a week. The US consumers were clearly reacting to the buzz around the film faster than in the UK.
Looking at other fiction titles common to both territories, we observe that the uplift in sales of titles from the hugely popular Italian author Elena Ferrante started in the US before the UK.
The trend for adult colouring books started in Brazil and was seen in early 2015 in the UK. Yet it did not appear in the US until later.
The Little Book of Mindfulness, one of the best-selling titles from this increasingly- popular genre saw success in the UK long before sales picked up in the US despite the titles being introduced to the markets at the same time.
Finally , looking to children’s, there are no clear indicators that either territory leads the other. Considering the examples of Theodore Boone: The Fugitive from John Grisham or Jeff Kinney titles.
So for these examples we would conclude that fiction has a tendency to succeed in the US before the UK while for the Non-Fiction examples used here it took some time for them to gain traction in the US compared with the UK. In children’s there is no clear leader. Of course these are for specific case studies and trends may appear should we expand the study. However, these markets tend to coincide for the bestsellers, cultural nuances aside.

Hazel Kenyon – Head of Publisher Account Management, Nielsen Book Research, UK

Lunch at the social kitchen

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I recently had lunch at Exclusive Books’ Social Kitchen & Bar with a black entrepreneur whom I have known for some years. The Social Kitchen is a mix of fine dining tagged onto a fabulous bookshop and, as you might imagine, the attention to detail in the bookshop spills over into the restaurant so that there is a great feeling of cutting edge design in a post-industrial environment.

The entrepreneur told me that he felt very comfortable in the restaurant and I asked him why. He has a Ph.D but has struck me as a fairly functional operator without any real literary flights of fancy. His reply rather surprised me. He said, firstly, that whether I liked it or not (and despite his urbanity), he really felt at home in a space that was at once European and African. I took a closer look at my surroundings for the first time and I noted, that indeed, he was right: more than half the customers were black. Still more noticeably, however, they did not look or behave or resemble the popular image we have for the new rich in our country. In other words, there was no bling around. These were just people coming for a good meal. And this brought me to the topic that I had really wanted to discuss with him: what do we need to do to be more attractive, more accessible to black readers. There is no question in my mind that black people are reading more. I also see, on weekends when I visit our stores, that black families shop for books with a kind of unspoken message that everyone should get a book. So I see more and more black children lying on our banquettes or bean-bags reading and being read to. This has to be one of the best things for me in our business. A new generation of readers.

But this is not the only pleasing aspect: we are also seeing increasing numbers of young people, black and white, using our new design stores and the seating that we provide to come and work on their laptops or simply to hang out. This gets to the very essence of what we want to be: a destination not a bookshop.

Interestingly, it is our new look stores, the ones where we have tried to be ahead of the envelope, that most attract the young and, what is for us, a new and exciting market. When there were disruptions at the Universities last year, we noticed a huge influx of young people coming into our stores to sit and work. That is really what Exclusive Books should be: a refuge, an oasis of peace. However, it is also worth noting that whether the store is brand new or it is an older outlet, one thing is for certain: when someone in a Mall feels unsafe or insecure, where is the first place they go: the Exclusive Books bookshop, if there is one in the Mall. Bookshops, I think worldwide, are seen as sanctuaries and it pleases me enormously. There is no question that in developing our appeal for new consumers and new markets, we need to make sure that we curate our inventory accordingly. This means that our sections on African fiction and non-fiction need to be constantly extended and remodelled to offer the range and accessibility that this market wants.

We are hard at work doing this.

Benjamin Trisk,
CEO Exclusive Books

Diversity in literature

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Creating a vibrant ecosystem

Diversity. Representation. Fair representation of the demographic in publishing and bookselling and literature in general world over is a topic that is very current. It is current because there are many initiatives to bring a more diverse voice to the reading public at the moment.
We briefly mentioned the Seeing in Colour series that the Bookseller and Harper Collins launched last year in the December edition of Bookmark. This is an initiative to grow a more representative publishing community in the UK.
More recently, the Bookseller reported Stephen Lotinga, the chief executive of the Publishers Association (PA), as saying that diversity is a “big priority” for UK book publishing. Lotinga promised targets for houses to aspire to would be forthcoming within the next few months “so that we’re not having the same conversations in 10 years’ time”.
“We must do much, much more, to ensure that our workforce properly reflects society, to open ourselves up to writers of all backgrounds and to reach out to new audiences,” Lotinga said. “That comes from a growing acceptance that if the people who are making decisions aren’t diverse enough, then neither will the books they publish be.”
What we need perhaps are more publishing houses like Rosarium. An eclectic publishing house based in Maryland in the United Sates. They recently bought the North American rights for the South African-born writer Nikhil Singh’s Taty Went West. The acquisition of Singh’s book is the latest in Rosarium’s growing list of international authors ranging from Singapore to Malaysia, Isreal, Canada and Nigeria. They also represent South African Vincent Sammy.
Porter Anderson of Publishing Perspectives did a piece on Rosarium recently and said that Rosariums’ offerings are even more eclectic in nature than its authors’ geographical backgrounds. “The publishing house’s blurbs tout “afrofuturism” anthologies, Rastafarian sci-fi, Southeast Asian steampunk, hip-hop time-traveling fantasy, and tattoo artist vampires.”
Founded in 2013 by Bill Campbell, the company terms itself “a fledgling publisher specializing in speculative fiction, comics, and a touch of crime fiction—all with a multicultural flair.”
Campbell cultivates his audience at comic conventions and literary festivals in the US the UK and Europe. The advantage of attending festivals are great as it give his authors a platform to engage with readers, and through this engagement, he says he is able to circumvent what he sees as the inaccurate expectations of the trade.
In South Africa, we have a growing number of Literary Festivals where publishers and authors can engage with the reading public. However there has been much in the media about the fact that the bulk of the festivals cater to a white reading public, which has made many black authors uncomfortable. Hence the launch of the Abantu Book festival in Soweto late last year. The festival celebrated black writers, readers, pan-African book stores, and online platforms that celebrate African literature and narratives. It also gave them a safe space to speak freely about the issues they face in their struggle to liberate themselves.
Bookslive reported it to be a roaring success:
“The festival, which was themed “Imagining ourselves into existence”, came as a result of Thando Mgqolozana’s decision early last year to renounce white colonial literary festivals. In an interview with The Daily Vox in May last year, Mgqolozana told Theresa Mallinson that his decision to reject these festivals came from a discomfort with literary festivals where the audience was 80 percent white. “It’s in a white suburb in a white city. I feel that I’m there to perform for an audience that does not treat me as a literary talent, but as an anthropological subject,” he said.
“The three-day festival took place at two venues: the Eyethu Lifestyle Centre which hosted free events during the day, and the Soweto Theatre, which hosted events in the evening for R20 per person. Over 50 poets, novelists, essayists, playwrights, literary scholars, screenwriters, performing artists and children’s writers from across Africa and the diaspora partook in the event. Some of the writers and artists who were present at the festival included Niq Mhlongo, Unathi Magubeni, Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, Thandiswa Mazwai, Pumla Dineo Gqola, Lebogang Mashile and Chika Unigwe, among many others.
“Dr Gcina Mhlophe gave the keynote address at the festival’s opening night, which was preceded by the singing of the decolonised national anthem and a rendition of the poem “Water” by poet Koleka Putuma. Mhlophe reminded the audience that, while it is important for us to celebrate young and upcoming artists, it is also important to remember and celebrate those that came before them. She sang and told stories about people like Mariam Tladi and Nokutela Dube and spoke about their role in the development of the arts. Dube was the first wife of Reverend John Langalibalele Dube who was the first President General of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) which was later renamed the African National Congress (ANC).”
The UK has another diversity issue with regards to the retail of e-books and the lack of representation in the market by anyone else other than Amazon. Lotinga, speaking at the Westminster Media Forum on ‘Book Publishing and the Wider Creative Market’ in London on the 24th January this year said it was “one of the fundamental responsibilities” of a government and regulator in a capitalist system to ensure that market dominant positons are not abused.
“In the case of e-books we now have a situation in the UK where one company reportedly has up to 90% of market share. I refer of course to Amazon,” said Lotinga. “When a business reaches such scale, if left unchecked, it is almost inevitable that they will use their dominance in such a way to ensure the status quo does not change and thereby prevent real competition in the market place.
He added: “In the world of books there remain some fundamental questions about how we ensure a healthy market, with bookstores on our high streets, and choice for the consumer. The UK authorities cannot continue to shy away from tackling the issues at hand.”
A Diverse population must be served by diverse authors who must be recognised and rewarded for their work. Publishers who invest and support them also need to be incentivised and given the means to find new talent. Booksellers must have space to operate and serve a reading public. Diversity in life is vital for a vibrant and productive ecosystem.
http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2016/12/20/imagining-ourselves-into-existence-first-ever-abantu-book-festival-in-soweto-a-roaring-success/
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/pa-invites-stronger-uk-stance-against-amazon-post-brexit-473941

Rosarium’s Faces of Diverse Publishing: ‘Get Out of Our Way’

Jessica Faircliff

Back to School

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Business as usual?

Traditionally, the back-to-school season has been one of the biggest for the educational bookseller. Changes in procurement and delivery of books and Learner Teacher Support materials (LTSM) have taken away much of this business over the past years, but booksellers are ever imaginitive and are still finding ways to supply schools by diversifying their content and also their routes to market.

The 2014 National Policy for the Provision and Management of LTSM is intended to guide the provision and management of LTSM, including textbooks, home economics equipment and science laboratory equipment, and is aimed at all levels in the system, from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to provinces, districts and schools. It affects all government schools in the country.

LTSM is defined as a variety of learning and teaching materials used in classroom. These range from teacher- and learner-created resources to commercially produced classroom resources such as wall charts, workbooks, textbooks, e-books, readers, stationery, science kits, dictionaries, encyclopaedias and more.

Of course each province operates separately. The Gauteng Department of Education has appointed three service providers in the province for the management and distribution of LTSM for the 2017 school year. These companies are Zylec Investments (textbooks), African Paper Products (stationery) and Palm Stationery Manufacturers (stationery). Bongani Rainmaker Logistics will be responsible for placing orders with these service providers.

In Kwa Zulu Natal, the department will supply phase-specific learner packs for use in 2017 to selected schools.

We asked a few of our educational booksellers for feedback on how their back to school season has been.

Hentie Gericke from Books 24/7 said that the season this year was about the same as last year although some schools placed their orders late and a lot of books are in reprint.

Books 24/7 does not supply to the Government. “We supply mostly section 21 schools and private schools. Parents/learners can also buy online from Books 24/7 but first have to pay before we deliver their books,” says Hentie, who adds that their online orders have increased by 68.6 % this year.

“Books 24/7 specialises in text books, prescribed books, dictionaries, atlases and study guides to schools and online orders to individuals.”

Kwa Zulu Natal based bookseller and president of the SA Booksellers Association, Guru Redhi of Redhi Books says that they have had a relatively busy back to school season this year but the buying period gets shorter and shorter.

“Educational Bookselling is a specialised business and it is important that you work on a margin that does not operate a loss. Discounts provided by some booksellers to schools are just too high and because of that service is compromised. I believe you must visit a school at least six times during that delivery period and if high discounts are offered, you cannot achieve that. One must be careful of overbuying and having dead stock on the shelves.”

There have been huge changes to the purchasing and delivery systems. Previously bookshops used to be involved in the supply and delivery of text books to Section 20 schools- that has been taken away from book shops and a single company (not particularly a bookseller) wins the tender for the entire province for LTSM. This year a lot of the Section 21 business has gone to the same company as well and that has disadvantaged book shops greatly. A lot of book shops have experienced reduced turnover due to this factor.”

“We are suppliers to Government but we have had no bulk business from them for a while now due to the Government purchasing model in the regions. Yes, we supply private schools with a list of books given to us in November for the new school year supply. We have a fair percentage of our business done over the counter by scholars and parents. Obviously there is a risk in that the book shop must keep a range of titles for them to hopefully sell it. . Study guides are now the most stocked items in the store.

http://myofficemagazine.co.za/end-back-school/

Learning to read made fun

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Working in the field I do, I often have interested parents asking me how they can help their kids learn to read. Often the child seems ready before the given school going age. I also have many parents ask what they can do to boost their child’s reading. This has led me to think a lot about reading – and what goes into learning to read, and how we can help kids read better.

If reading is a bicycle tyre, then the spokes are all the different strategies that go into being a reader. Think of your child as being the hub at the centre of the wheel. What you want to do is make sure there are many spokes going out to support the tyre. Sensory Perception forms several of these spokes.

Perception is the ability interpret information using our sense. It is also the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.

Perceptual development that is vital for a developing child’s cognitive abilities, for him to be able to socialise, develop a sense of self-awareness, master hand-eye co-ordination and memory skills. Without the ability to perceive, it is impossible for the developing child to have a real sense of who they are and how they fit into the world. This is how your child makes sense of the world.

Although there are many types of perception, the two most common areas are visual and auditory perception. So much information is processed through sight and sound, it is vital for a child to develop good perceptual skills in both visual and auditory perception.

In reading children need to use their visual and auditory perceptive skills. Children need to be able to perceive letters, be aware of the link between letter sounds and characters, blend certain letters together and have knowledge of sight words. There is a lot more to reading that just knowing your alphabet. Once your child is reading, more spokes need to be secured to the tyre – reading with comprehension, accuracy and speed. All this, plus several other things that go into reading.

You can develop the young child’s perception through games like puzzles and brain teasers.

For the Preschooler, I particularly love the Orchard Toys range. They seem to have a good understanding of kids and their games are bright, fun and easy to enjoy. My current favorite’s include Veg Patch Match, Lunch Box Game and Rhyme Robber. Djeco is another developer of kid’s games. Their Topologix is an excellent game for practicing spatial relationships, and where something is in space.

For the Foundation Phase Child, the BrainBox range of games is outstanding. BrainBox is a visual perception game, with each box focusing on a different area of interest – such as Brainbox Dinosaurs, BrainBox Space; BrainBox Sports etc. There are so many titles here, pick the one you think you child would be most interested in. BrainBox abc, and BrainBox English are outstanding.

Another firm favorite is “Spot It”. It is a game of speed, visual perception and reflexes! Even adults will enjoy this game. It’s a simple tin of 55 round playing cards. Each card has on it 8 symbols selected from a possible 50 (heart, bomb, lips, waving hand, car, etc.) Each card shares one, and only one, matching symbol with every other card in the deck. The trick is to spot the matching symbol. “Spot It” is a clever simple perceptual game that can be played with equal enjoyment by any age. Try it! You won’t be disappointed.

For the Intermediate Child, more challenging perceptual games can be introduced. These can be played by the whole family, and often become firm favorites! One of my favorite games is “Swish”. Swish is a visual perception card game that challenges you to be the first to make matches, or “Swishes.” Players create “Swishes” by layering cards together to orient coloured balls inside coloured hoops. The player with the most matches at the end of the game wins. Spatial intelligence is completely flexed and exercised in this game because you’re not allowed to touch the cards. You must flip them and move them in your mind to understand how they would fit. Players are forced to be patient, to look at all possible combinations, and to mentally manipulate the cards. Rotate, flip and stack the cards. It is a thinker’s game as it surely makes players evaluate their decision before calling “Swish” and physically handling the cards. The best part is it is a small, compact game that can be played around the dinner table or in an airport if you are killing time. It is fun for ALL the players and it is amazing how quickly skills develop through this game. It is on my MUST HAVE list!

Developing good auditory perception is another skill children can work on. Much of the learning taking place in a mainstream school requires good auditory perception. For the Preschool child, and the child in the Foundation Phase, much time is spent on phonemic awareness – this is the ability to hear the different letter sounds in a word. Phonemic awareness is a component of auditory perception. Rhyming is a skill that has been strongly linked to early reading success, and is a good way to practice phonemic awareness. “Pop for Rhyming” and “Rhyme Robber” are great games to engage in at this phase.

As children develop through the Intermediate phase into adults, auditory perception games become less common. In this phase I would highly recommend listening to audio books. Kids are constantly tested on their listening ability. Encourage them to practice their listening skills by listening to stories, and even their set work books. Modern technology has made downloading audiobooks easy. Next time you are in traffic, let your kids listen to a story! This is a vital skill for development. Listening to stories in the second language can also benefit second language acquisition.

By: Sarah Ohlson de Fine

Sarah Ohlson de Fine is a qualified Foundation Phase Teacher and the owner of www.learningtools.co.za an online shop that specialises in educational games and resources.

The changing face of academic bookselling

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How to survive

There are many changes occurring in the learning content ecosystem worldwide and although each country has its own unique issues to deal with, digital migration and a growth in open educational resources (OER) are universal.

Learnings from Canada

Tony Ellis, the vice president of industry advancement for the National Association of College Stores (NACS) in the Canada, recently published a study entitled Mapping the Learning Content Ecosystem, which focuses on developing a higher ed course-content strategy, The publication has caused some debate and what is nice about it is that it places the academic bookseller at the very heart of the debate.

“Campus stores offer more than traditional print textbooks – and have for quite some time,” says Ellis in a comment to an article on his research on tonybates.ca

“They have continually adapted to emerging needs, offering a variety of course materials – including printed and digital editions, OER, and courseware – to meet the needs of today’s students while recognizing and investing in the shift to digital. Their ability to evolve and meet the course content needs of their institutions make campus stores a natural collaborator with administrators and other campus colleagues when discussions occur about the future of course materials.”

The crux of his analysis is something that one would hope many institutions will take note of. “Campus store professionals have deep knowledge of all course material formats and delivery mechanisms as well as years of experience managing and sourcing multiple content providers,” he says.

“This is why we believe they should play a key role in making decisions about course materials and related services supporting student success in the future. Their knowledge, and passion for serving students, is a significant institutional asset that should be tapped by administrators when exploring delivery models and options for sourcing and providing course materials – in whatever form.”

The analysis also says that institutions should expect and plan for the shift to digital with content creators, producers and distributors proliferating.

In the distribution channel, conditions will continue to favour giants with pricing negotiation leverage but that there is also space for smaller niche academic booksellers “who can use localized customer, campus and industry knowledge to better serve students.”

“Concierge services” that the traditional bookseller is so good at, can guide students through content options and match those options to a student’s profile. It’s an example of value-added, personal assistance that smaller retailers can provide. This, says Ellis, should also be translated into an online service where possible.

A multidimensional approach will be required by the academic institutions in order for the transition to be successful, says Ellis. “Changes in learning content and services will intersect with academic policy, technology, student privacy, teaching, instructional costs, course materials accessibility, incentives, revenue management, and more. Developing an effective strategy needs to include all relevant campus stakeholders and service providers.”

“In deciding what’s best, administrators, campus store leaders, IT staff, libraries and faculty should work together to come up with recommendations.” Expand Ellis.

Factors that should be considered include:

    The desired level of faculty and other campus-stakeholder involvement in creating learning content
    Copyright, fair use, licensed use and compliance in an increasingly “open” world
    Third-party solutions that may expand options for students and provide scalability but limit an institution’s control over content, pricing, revenues and service
    Students wanting to buy and access course materials through their phones or tablets
    Students’ ability to use financial aid to purchase materials

College stores disrupted in the United States

An article on Publishers Weekly titled College Stores—and the Businesses That Serve Them—in a Time of Change quotes Jonathan Shar, chief marketing officer for Akademos, saying the pace of the transition to digital platforms has begun accelerating. “In the last 18 months, we’ve launched more virtual bookstores than in the entire history of the company,” he said. Academos works with colleges in the US to provide a virtual bookstore and marketplace where students can get their textbooks

The article continues, saying that Barnes & Noble Education, which operates 770 campus stores in the US purchased the assets of digital educational platform LoudCloud Systems in March last year to better position itself in the digital products and services market. Following the acquisition, B&NE shut its own digital platform, Yuzu.

“Amazon has been among the biggest disrupters. It now owns 23% of the college-textbook market according to data from NACS. And ever since it first tested working with a college store, launching a partnership with the UC Davis Bookstore in November 2013, the e-tailer has become an increasingly visible presence on campus.”

By the end of 2016, Amazon will have 18 pickup locations in 17 college communities.

What of South Africa?
Here in South Africa we face similar problems but they sit within unique parameters.

Mohamed Kharwa of Provisions Bookstores which is located just outside of the UNISA campus in Durban, says that “Booksellers are generally an optimistic bunch but there is a great deal of uncertainty. In the last few years, while there has been extensive Fees Must Fall protests, the worst of it focused on the latter part of the year after the peak bookselling period. As a result the impact was a little less than it could have been on most campuses.
The fear is that it will only take 1 institution to initiate a protest at the start of the year for it to become a national problem. So for 1st semester we are very concerned about possible protest action. Also we are not sure if University Staff may or may not have wage negotiation protests.”

When there is protest action on Campus it can be negative as operating costs remain, with no revenue earned during this time. This also excludes any damage to property.

Another unique South African problem, says Mohamed, are suppliers (not booksellers) who pitch up, often without permission, and discount only the most popular titles on/just off campus. “They have a model that does not support a sustainable bookselling environment or any follow up service.”

Pater Adams of Adams Bookstore says that students still like the convenience of shopping on campus.

“They like to see their books and they don’t like the delivery delays associated with online shopping,” he says.

“However, where the price is markedly lower we are sure they would go online so we have to be price competitive. Our online sales are good.”

Van Schaik Bookstore is used to setting the benchmark for excellence in its field, says Stephan Erasmus, MD for Van Schaik Bookstore. “When we repositioned the brand as far back as 2011, we introduced ourselves as a knowledge navigator – somebody that students could partner with on their journey to knowledge and future success. We shifted our focus so that it is all about helping students to get ahead, by growing their knowledge, creating opportunities and leading the way.

“With this in mind, we launched our Rewards Card in 2015 – quite a milestone for an academic textbook supplier and a great way to reward our customers. It has been exceptionally well received, and to date, our Rewards Card membership numbers have grown to over 100 000,” Erasmus explains.

This year, in a bold move, Van Schaik Mobile has launched itself as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), providing cellular services, one would assume mostly to students, throughout South Africa. It provides its own branded SIM card, called the Van Schaik SIM, and offers competitive rates in the local cellular market.

Van Schaik has also started a Media business allowing advertisers to market via the Van Schaik Rewards App. The Van Schaik Rewards App allows users to receive adverts on their cell phone screens every time they unlock the phone. This offers a great opportunity for advertisers to promote products, do surveys and create brand awareness to a targeted group of customers.

“The launch kicked off as part of Van Schaik’s annual first semester campaign. When customers spend R750 or more, they will get a new SIM card with 300MB of free data. Current Rewards Members will be able to qualify as well, but without having to make a purchase first – all they need to do is to go into a bookstore, and swop their old Rewards Card for a new SIM card. The SIM card will function just like a normal SIM card, and students will be able to load airtime and data as they need it.

“Once the SIM is RICA-certified (which customers can do in-store) and activated, users will be prompted to download the free Van Schaik Rewards App onto their android phones via a link. Once downloaded, each customer will register and create a unique, customised profile by selecting different topics of interest that they wish to receive information on. This can range from fashion and beauty, to sport, celeb news, what’s on in their area, and more importantly information relevant to the courses they are studying.

“The new App makes the lock screen on android phones a source to view, and enjoy interesting content, and at the same time, reward the user with points every time they interact with the lock screen, which includes simply unlocking their screen.”

“In the digital age, staying connected is a vital part of life – our aim is to make connectivity accessible to everybody,” says Erasmus.

“We aim to cater to the ‘need for immediate gratification’ intrinsic in the youth culture – ensuring that there’s no waiting around to accumulate tangible credits before you can redeem them. We will be collaborating with a number of partners to make the content, offers, freebies and deals as beneficial and interesting as possible, as well as being able to offer students the ability to immediately reap the rewards of their interactions with the app. What’s more, is that Van Schaik Bookstore will be giving away a 300MB of free data to the first 100 000 students who register.”

The ingenuity behind this particular strategy is that Van Schaik is able to reward students with money obtained from the adverts that they interact with. This earnings is paid into the student’s virtual wallet on the Van Schaik Rewards App and can be spent on Data, Airtime and any other product, such as books, sold in a Van Schaik Bookstore.

Jessica Faircliff.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/72133-the-college-bookstore-disrupted.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=4de8e48ad2-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-4de8e48ad2-305312341

http://www.rnews.co.za/article/12135/van-schaik-rewards-app-to-be-launched-soon

The future of learning content – and campus bookstores

https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/developing-higher-ed-course-content-strategy

https://www.nacs.org/

Focusing on the backlist in the US

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With the introduction of programs such as Indie Next’s Revisit & Rediscover that highlight backlist titles, as well as backlist book swaps at bookseller gatherings, the American Booksellers Association has tried to encourage independent booksellers to carry more backlist titles. Publishers, too, have been pushing for a change. At the start of the year, HarperCollins introduced one of the most innovative programs to date: offering a discount on Harper and Harlequin backlist books for indies.

Publishers Weekly