BookFix is a book subscription service we are providing to our community during St. Ignatius College Prep's campus closure. We hope to continue a modified version once our library doors open.
Students, faculty, administration and staff take our style quiz on the BookFix site and get books sent directly to their home mailbox.
Advanced Planning
BookFix was conceived with three goals in mind: find an alternative way to continue to build a reading culture in our school during the closure of the physical building; create a sense of joy and fun in our community during a difficult time; and get to know our patrons' reading interests better.
The planning for BookFix began a month before the program was launched.
These are the initial steps we took:
- Created a Google Site using Stitch Fix clothing subscription site as a model.
- Created the Personal Book Style Form and Feedback Form.
- Ordered boxes and labels. Created branding for the program using Canva.
- Promoted the program to our community (continues).
- Set up a postage account.
Marketing
The BookFix marketing rollout is currently in full swing. We shared it in our parent newsletter and have been promoting it at presentations to department heads, as well as in a schoolwide email video announcement. It will also be included in SITV, a student produced tv show that highlights school events and happenings.
One of the biggest impacts in driving subscriptions involved a collaboration with the English department to have freshman English students visit the site, among other library resources. We saw an immediate jump in subscriptions.
Our Library Advisory Board students are going to get the word out on social media, train to become "book stylists" and weigh in on book selections. We just launched and so far the results have been exciting with six faculty and 15 students subscribing, happily forcing us to up our projected subscriptions from 15 per month to 30.
Here are the BookFix email templates we use, which mimic the look and feel of other popular subscription based services.
Budgeting
So far, we have spent approximately $50 for program set-up costs. If the program is successful, we anticipate it will cost approximately $1,000 for six months of this service.
The program costs could be reduced dramatically if the books were not shipped. If they had more time available, school librarians could deliver the BookFixs to subscribers.
Day-of-event Activity
So far, we have had a 100% positive response from our community members, who uniformly seem to love the program!
Over the next six months we will see how many people take advantage of the service. Our Feedback Form is built into the BookFix site and is designed to assess whether our book selections were well received. This will also help us refine future selections for users.
Whether we get return subscribers will provide the data we need to know if the service resonated with our users.
Program Execution
To participate in Book Fix, a patron takes our Personal Style Quiz on the BookFix site. A Librarian then handpicks three books and sends them directly to the patron's home mailbox. Patrons also have the option to pick up on campus.
When done (whether the books have been read or not), the patron can drop the books in the mail with the included return label.
No commitment is necessary; participants can start and stop as they like.
Advice
The only way to include a prepaid return label with each shipment is to use a shipping service like shipping.com. We are using media mail to ship which is very reasonably priced. There is a risk of waste, if the patron doesn't use the non-refundable, prepaid return label. Other libraries considering this program may decide not to include a return shipping label to reduce costs.
Supporting Materials
- Feedback (Coming Soon!)
- Programming Librarian Facebook Group
More Programs
Fit Lit Book Discussion
Audiences:
