To a kid who likes to read, one of the most exciting days of the month at school is when the Scholastic Book Club fliers are distributed. CM Plus recently chatted with Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic At Home about how the Internet is helping the book club model evolve, why the company welcomes competition and the ongoing allure of the club format.
CM PLUS: This may be a silly question, but is back to school still an important time for Scholastic?
NEWMAN: Yes. We at Scholastic are, of course, all about partnering with parents and teachers and children, so back-to-school is a key moment. It’s a big opportunity for us to celebrate that partnership.
CM PLUS: Are the in-school book clubs still a big part of your business?
NEWMAN: They’re stronger than ever. [The clubs] were launched in 1948, and all these years later they’re still going strong. They’ve evolved from the original days of the teachers placing the orders by mail and phone to being able to place orders online. The business is so resilient and important that it continues to adapt to all the changing technology. The basic business model where the children order the books, that whole basic classroom excitement is still the same.
CM PLUS: Do you find that what parents want from the clubs is changing, given all the places they can now buy books?
NEWMAN: It ebbs and flows. Parents follow to some extent what teachers are looking for in the classroom—skill development and good quality reading materials for kids. And of course what the book clubs bring is editorial expertise. Our editors select new and backlist books from the thousands of books published every year, and we cull those into a list which is age appropriate, which I think is a competitive advantage for us over other booksellers. That monthly selection is age specific and appropriate for the time of year. Parents are looking for things that are relevant—and we offer that.
CM PLUS: How long have you offered online ordering?
NEWMAN: Teacher ordering online has been available now for several years, but the parent component is in its second full year. Parents can use their credit card to place the order online [as part of the teacher’s order], but the books still come to the classroom.
CM PLUS: Is there any worry that because parents are placing the order online themselves, they might shop around and buy the book someplace else?
NEWMAN: No. I feel once we get them there, parents are hard-pressed to find a better editorially curated selection of books and better prices. I’d encourage the comparison, actually. Each month we have 95-cent books—you can’t find that any place else. And, [the orders] help teachers in the classroom by giving them bonus points through which they can get learning materials.
CM PLUS: How many book clubs does Scholastic currently operate?
NEWMAN: We have five core Scholastic book clubs for grades preschool through junior high. Those are the big “mother ship” book clubs – Firefly, SeeSaw, Lucky, Arrow and TAB. Then we supplement those with special offers, like a club for toddlers called Honeybee, science and math offers, and a teen club that are complimentary to the core monthly clubs.
CM PLUS: Do you still do book fairs?
NEWMAN: We do. We serve over 100,000 book fairs a year, and we book fairs and book clubs run hand in hand. [As opposed to the club ordering], he book fair experience is about going into the gym or the library [at school] and buying the books on site.
CM PLUS: I remember them well. I’d drive my mother crazy because I wanted to buy everything in sight.
NEWMAN: And it’s still that way. That’s the timelessness of these programs.
CM PLUS: Do you have any channel conflict between the book clubs and fairs and the online and offline retailers who sell the books Scholastic publishes?
NEWMAN: Not really. We’re obviously a trade publisher [of series like] Harry Potter and Captain Underpants. I always say until the day comes that every child in this country has too many books, I don’t feel like we’re stepping on each other’s toes. I often hear that books get started in the book clubs. We’ll typically be out there with a book in the club for one month and then we’ll hear that kids in the class will go into the store looking for books they saw in the club. [Author] Marc Brown told me that he felt his “Arthur” series was really launched in the book clubs. Many authors feel they get jumpstarted in the book clubs. Once they’re ignited, the kids want to get the books in whatever channel is easiest for them. And of course the book clubs reach kids in hamlets and little towns where there are no bookstores. Or maybe their parents don’t order online. [Clubs and retail] really are complimentary.
