Go on … Just another committee?
Not just a talking shop - there’s more to the BA-CBG Committee than you might think, as Mark Clifford explains
Admit it – you applauded when you read that the new Coalition government was set to abolish a number of quangos that you and I, the taxpayers, have been funding. Talking shops … never do anything … waste of time and money. Anything that means more committee meetings is anathema to hardworking and hard-pressed booksellers struggling to make ends meet and serve their local church communities. So what about BA-CBG – the Christian Booksellers Group of the Booksellers Association? Just another quango/committee? A talking-shop for the trade? Or something more practical and effective? I’d like to hope that it’s the latter and that BA-
CBG does indeed serve an effective purpose in the UK Christian retail industry. Meryl Halls at the BA, who is very much involved with the group, certainly thinks so, regarding BA-CBG as the most focused and most active of all of the BA’s special interest bookselling groups. The minutes many of you receive every few months following on from the committee meetings that take place in London can seem dry – you may be tempted to think ‘so what? What does this have to do with me?’ – but you’d be wrong if you think that the group isn’t dealing with issues that affect every single one of us. We are. Borne out of years of literally hundreds of years of experience between us, and with perspectives coming from the different sides of the trade, we have much to offer. So here’s a snapshot of us and of what we do.
What we do When we meet every few months, we discuss
a wide range of issues raised both from our own experience and from within the wider trade. Current trading conditions are shared around the table, giving us a snapshot of what is happening in the high street – this is crucial to future plans. It is also highly encouraging to know that, as individual booksellers, we are not alone. It is the norm for trading across the UK to reflect the same patterns over a set period. Each member of the committee has a portfolio,
an area over which they keep a watching brief and report back at each meeting – for example, Geoff Wallace of Maranatha Books in Uxbridge is responsible for reporting on Batch and on Book Tokens; if concerns have been raised in these areas, they will be discussed and taken up with the relevant bodies, on behalf of all of us. Deborah Reynolds of Mustard Seed in Marlborough keeps a watching brief over benchmarking and issues
relating to small businesses, working closely with Meryl Halls and others at the Booksellers Association. This allows us to benefit from professional advice and experience and to tap into what is going on in general bookselling as well. Other briefs include the environment and social networking; internet developments; and music/software products. We aim to be a pro-active committee – if
issues have been raised by members in relation to, say, online pricing, these will be taken up, constructively, with suppliers and publishers. Employment legislation is regularly checked and information and advice passed on to the trade. Marketing initiatives planned for the general trade, such as World Book Day, have been adapted for Christian retailers and ideas such as Indiebound have proved very useful – certainly in my experience.
Traid Liaison One of the other main areas in which we work
is in liasing with the Christian Suppliers Group and with Christian Resources Exhibition. This has been a particularly fruitful relationship in recent times, with joint planning taking place to set up the trade conference at High Leigh. It is vital that this partnership continues to flourish and develop – we need to stand together in these difficult times. So the message is: if you want to raise anything
for discussion or air any issues that are troubling you in the running of your shops, get in touch with us. The committee represents retailers and will function most effectively if individual retailers participate in it. We would love to hear from any of you – you may well find that your experiences are being matched by retailers on the committee. Again, we need to work together. On a wider note,
the Booksellers Association has an amazing amount of resources and experience to place at our disposal, so let’s make use of it. Next time you receive the minutes from a CBG meeting, read them and make use of them. You may be surprised!
BA CBG EQUIPPING
www.christianmarketplace.org.uk October 2010 15
Mark Clifford is owner/manager of Sarum Books in Salisbury and current Chairman of the executive committee of the Christian Booksellers Group of the Booksellers Association
“If you want to raise anything for discussion or air any issues that are troubling you in the running of your shops, get in touch with us.”
by Mark Clifford
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