In Depth
Behind the changing Borders
12.06.08 Graeme Neill
When asking people about how they got into the book trade, most talk of a long-held desire to work with books. Caroline Mileham, Borders’ personable books category manager, says her entry wasn’t as calculated. “I applied for loads [of jobs] and I got one at Waterstone’s. There was no real ‘I want to work in books’ plan,” she laughs. She only studied English because she didn’t get into art college—her first choice.
But to suggest that Mileham lacks enthusiasm for books would be wrong: “[This job] makes me happy, and all I am bothered about in life is that.” She quickly rose through the ranks at Waterstone’s, where she went from bookseller to assistant manager to David Roche and Scott Pack’s head office product department within five years. Despite this department attracting a considerable reputation within the industry, Mileham describes its inauspicious beginnings as “two desks in a corridor”.
When three-for-two offers first hit the market, the effect was dramatic. “We were doing things that Waterstone’s and the trade hadn’t done before,” she recalls. “Extending the number of titles we promoted as three-for-two—to hundreds instead of a small number to encourage people to buy into it—was really exciting. You could take a great backlist title that would tick over in single figures and it could sell many thousands. The uplift was unbelievable.”
The contrast with when, as a bookseller in Bury, she had to run a six-for-five promotion themed on the seven deadly sins is marked.
Bombs away
Mileham says an increased commercial focus is easily the biggest change she has seen in the market in her 15-year career. She emphasises the importance of a balance between enthusiasm for books and the need for commercial nous. “Certainly my buyers have that passion but they are a lot more aware of the commercial impact and business side of it than I needed to be when I first started out.
“One of the big realisations you have as a buyer or bookseller is that the books you personally love are not necessarily the books that sell,” she continues. “What you like invariably bombs.”
Waterstone’s product department swiftly disintegrated following Pack’s abrupt departure in the summer of 2006. So when David Roche, newly at Borders, offered her a job as books category manager, Mileham jumped at the chance.
Her time at Borders has been tumultuous (for the company): after being put up for sale by US parent Borders Group, Luke Johnson’s Risk Capital Partners took it over, and then Roche and commercial director David Kohn departed.
Mileham is too shrewd to comment on why Roche and Kohn left so suddenly. “Ever since I have worked in a head office there has been a continual wave of change,” is all she says. “Nothing is ever stable for a long period of time. I was very sad when Roche left but working closely with Philip [Downer, Borders’ new c.e.o.] has been absolutely fine.”
No faffing
It is practically impossible to describe Mileham’s typical week at work. Because of the changing nature of the UK business—it is switching supply chain methods this year and installing new IT systems (Mileham describes the existing systems as “state of the art when they came in, way back when, and they haven’t changed”)—there is a multitude of duties to sift through before it comes to buying and meeting publishers, let alone co-ordinating a team of buyers.
However, Mileham hints that she can work quickly and decisively, confessing to a short attention span and the fact it took her just one week to sort out last year’s Christmas campaign. “I’m very straightforward and don’t faff around,” she says, when asked to describe her negotiation methods. After many years in retail, she says, “you do get a bit of a gut feeling” when it comes to buying decisions.
She describes Borders’ typical market as “trendy urban stuff”, which incorporates the likes of manga, sci-fi, film and television tie-ins, as well as a major push behind children’s, which she describes as performing “phenomenally”. Each store carries a “Discover” bay, which stocks a range of small publisher titles. “The whole discovery ethos is really core to Borders,” she says. One of the chain’s strengths is the titles bubbling below the surface, as well as selling the big hitters. “One of the first things I did when I came over was reduce our rate card [the co-operative marketing fees charged to publishers],” she says. “I didn’t want anything to restrict us getting behind the books we really wanted to get behind.”
She light-heartedly says her spare time is mostly spent “sleeping”, but then confesses that her love of art never left her. “I still paint, but not as much as I’d like. I like doing portraits, although I’m not a fan of watercolours—I prefer acrylics, where there are nice big splodges. It’s great—you can stand in front of a canvas and the next time you look up, three hours have passed.”
But despite the lack of spare time, after two years in the job Mileham says that she is content. “I have absolutely no desire to move into any other kind of retail. I have no real desire to go and sell shoes. I’m happy enough to buy them.”
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