We are going to have a great night tonight. We are honoring literary liens, emma white will be honored, a big night for the Massive National Book Foundation for literature, culture, a big night for all of us. When i have the ability to stand in front of people i mention my mothers name jean christian. She is the reason i like to say about my mother i am the man that i am because she is the woman sheis or was. My mother was my first teacher. My mother graduated from college at the age of 17, the first person in her family to go to college. For me to be a wellknown literary advocate in this nation, a place where only a scant few generations ago it would have been illegal for me to read is no small thing. [applause] literature is the birthrightof every single one of us, no exception and if you can read in at least one language youare in my definition free. That is to say , no one can pull the wall over your eyes. No one can give you a set of what they want to call alternative facts and co
Own books . [laughter] im going to tickle you with this. It was the first book that i ever read. It was called chip the dam builder. [laughter] it was about a beaver. It was really what started me on my journey of reading. I mean, this beaver was so wise, and he made the birchbark seemed so tasty i wanted to eat one myself. But it really sort of got my imagination stimulated, and i read every animal book in the Public Library and that would to the downtown branch. I read all those animal books. Then i started reading about plants and the mr. Reading about rocks because we didnt have a railroad because we lived along the railroad tracks. Presume to identify any rock, how was formed home how a was formed. One day the teacher came in, held at the big rock and sickeningly to do with this is. I never raised my hand. I waited for one of the smart kids to raise their hand. Nobody did. I waited for one of them kids to raise their hand. Nobody celebrities by name. Ground. They couldnt believe,
Especially on facebook. Its harder to find stuff. They have hashtags now which i dont think people really use because they didnt do for so you dont search for things on facebook. You usually find it through french sharing. The more people who are on it sharing your content the more people who will see it. Its a domino effect so i think he has worked well. We do giveaways where people could sign up for letters as well as follow us on social media. When we did a good way of mens book we went on twitter and he retreated agreed tweeted a tweet that we put on. He has millions of followers and its crazy how many tweets he has and how many followers he has. Thats one instance of a author helping a small outlook outlet like us and seeing him so of old wood involved was really great. Who is a good story about something that was an effective . [laughter] well, you know, one of the things that i do think is ineffective is when you do something and people dont understand what its all about, what t
To be smarter to partner with them. We put a lot of money into distribution systems, replenishment, poin tofsale through Business Analytics to determine what should be in our stores and we are not as good as you. I cannot have 10,000 planetariums but they can do some carrying. We invested a long time ago also the returns so again so to give the books back to use in another manner so there is no duplication for retailers so the one that has taken as the of far this is the use of data so there is a lot of arts in the business so it in that schaede retail environment you recognize that buyer immediately they have a passion it is not just batteries and tore the paper they like box so views they analytics fight the battle within their own organization why we want them located so it selfserving helps us keep the space within the retailers but also act as a good steward of the product. We will move on to the second part what is the most innovative programs tries specifically . I think three y
Technology culture to tap into the restaurant scene those are clever and there are a lot of examples across the country of the independents tap begin trying to be relevant in their community. For instance, we are a bookstore in maplewood new jersey all about special needs and too deeply service that particular need for code not only with the great selection of books but Education Opportunities coming employment opportunities. This is how we have to think it is broader than just the mandate to sell books. The books center has made friday mornings of place to be for the for preschoolers. It is where every friday morning and new pitcher book is read to a growing audience then they do activities after words you can go on and on with that. But to take that back is how to be relevant and connected i will now move to a slightly different area. So the data as suggest the shift between physical formats have change. And i asked mike to the us so how has that merchandising mix changed and how doe