Book Fairs are still a big part of Scholastic's marketing efforts

The Wall Street Journal reports that Scholastic's book fairs are still working for them. The fairs have been critical for launching several popular series, including "Goosebumps," "The Baby-sitter's Club" and "Captain Underpants." Book fair revenue increased 3% to $288.1 million for the first nine months of the current fiscal year, and rose 10% from 2007 to 2011. Al Greco (not to be confused with El Greco,) a professor at Fordham University, said that even though Scholastic has had great success with series such as "The Hunger Games" and "Twilight," the company's book fair business faces challenges from eBooks and brick & mortar booksellers such as Barnes & Noble, along with rising shipping and delivery costs. To that end, Scholastic is heavily promoting its new Storia eReader at book fairs, such as the recent one at the Nest, a K-12 school in Manhattan, whose PTA hosts a Scholastic book fair twice a year.