At the beginning of a new calendar year, our customers eagerly await the arrival of their new All About Books catalog. Months of work selecting books, formatting, calculating pricing, proofing, and printing come together each year for the selected mix of customer favorites and new titles. If you have been shopping with us for a while, you might wonder how we come to select books for our catalog, and today we’re going to hopefully satiate some of that curiosity!
Throughout the year, we receive samples from publishers either featuring new releases they believe we may be interested in or samples we specifically request. Our team then reviews the samples to see if they fit with the types of books that we offer and our customers’ needs. We do our best to listen to what our customers are looking for regarding themes, book type, and keeping the cost in mind. When we find titles we like, we then work with the publisher to check availability and price.
Another large portion of the book selection process is looking at what we already offer. We have so many customer favorites and series that are bought month after month and year after year that we plan to keep in the catalog as long as they are popular. Classics like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, the Leo and Lola Books, and nursery staples like Chalk Art and Welcome Little One have remained popular titles for a good reason and we want to make sure that we continue to make space for them. Alternatively, if the sales have dropped on a book or series, we look at why it may not be doing well and either move it to an Online Exclusive or drop the series altogether. If a series you love is no longer featured in the catalog, we recommend checking our website to see if it’s offered as an Online Exclusive.
While looking at the potential adds and drops, we also look at the needs per age range and what is requested throughout the year. We organize our catalog based on the Reach Out and Read Milestones for Early Literacy (adapted from the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures Guidelines) to categorize books into their recommended age ranges. If we find a new series we love, we will examine the milestones and see where it fits. If you want to delve deeper into selecting books based on their recommended age ranges, we invite you to explore our dedicated blog post!
Lastly, we are always happy to hear your feedback on what you are looking to order. Every year, we receive special requests for certain titles, and occasionally decide to offer them as online exclusives to gauge our customers' interest. Some of these titles have proven to be highly popular, prompting us to add them to our catalog thanks to recommendations from our customers. If you have a title in mind that you would like to order, we may have a minimum quantity you’ll need to order, but we do encourage you to reach out to our team to see if we can help you.
Whatever we decide to put in our catalog or on our website, we want to make sure you are confident in your book choices, and we are always available to answer questions. Our team of literacy experts can assist you with finding titles to fit your needs and are within your budget. Check out our 2024 catalog and the website to get started!
