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An open letter to the booksellers of Chile.

Dear booksellers,

 The eyes of the world fell to Chile this weekend as we heard of the devastating earthquake that has rocked your country.  As I write this we hear of continued aftershocks all the while rescue worker pull people from the destruction. The pictures we have witnessed speak and pull on our hearts. We see the broken streets, the fallen homes and businesses, the crushed and the deserted.

But, beyond the pictures we know the heart of the Chilean people. You are a strong people and you are the hope of the nation as it even now begins to rebuild. The inspiration and hope that you bring as booksellers for the community are the tools that will help lay the foundation for the local community.

We want you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. We stand with you today with hopes for a greater tomorrow.

Larry

Follow Max Lucado and team as we travel through Brazil

Today, Friday, Max and team (Denalyn Lucado, Steve Green, and Cheryl Green) just landed in Brazil. This will be the start of a 10 day tour through the main cities of Brazil, speaking at over 16 live events. This is all being done through our publishing group Thomas Nelson Brazil under the leadership of Carlo Carenho.

I will fly down Sunday and join them there in Sao Paolo and travel with them through Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. I am very excited about the opportunity to see Max and team love on the folks there.

We are going to try and cover this trip just a little different. Let's call it an experiment. We are going to Twitter the tour. English, Portuguese, and Spanish. (if you use Tweetdeck - try the auto translate tool).

Max and I will be Twittering back as well as Carlo and the rest of the Thomas Nelson Brazil team. We will try and share thoughts, pictures, and videos as much as we can to allow those not traveling with us to share in the excitement of the trip.

You can follow us at any of the following: #MaxBrazil #fearless #maxlucado #larryadowns #lucadonobrasil

Below is a video that Max posted to YouTube via Twitter as he was ready to leave Dallas.

An Update on the Max Lucado Honduras trip April 23 – 25, 2009

This week I returned from a time invested with Max Lucado in Honduras. What a wonderful experience it was with an equally wonderful result. If you will remember, we stated earlier that our goal this year was to get away from trade shows as much as possible and invest that money in key authors travel as well as marketing in various countries. Our desire is to make an impact in a city or country that will in turn have an effect on the consumers of that region for years to come.

 

Max was a joy to travel with. He took the time to greet people, hug on readers, sign a few books, and to hear the heartbeat of the country from the hearts of men and women. Max held several conferences, amongst them was a “Key to Success” conference held at the largest private university in Honduras, UTH (Universidad Technologico de Honduras), a Pastor and Leader’s conference both Friday and Saturday which was held at the Iglesia La Cosecha. But the main event was just that- the main event. He spoke at the Fiesta Catracha on Friday and Saturday evening. This was also televised via the Enlace (TBN) network throughout Honduras and Latin America. On Friday night we had some 65,000 people there, and Saturday was close to 100,000 who packed the field to listen and enjoy the great music as well. It was truly a sight to behold and an evening that I will not soon forget.

 

So there you have our first trip using our new strategy – local impact. I think we are off to a strong start.

Five reasons I am excited about this year new year.

We are weeks away from our new fiscal year. April 1^st is our start fresh day; a new beginning to our year, which just happens springtime here in Nashville.  As we anxiously wait for the new fiscal year, spring reminds us of the new fresh possibilities, and that all the pruning you did in the winter will pay off with fruit and flowers during the year. So you ask me why I am excited about the new year- let me give you a few reasons.

1)      We have already made the tough decisions last year. Last year we took the early lead in cutting back as we saw that the economy was shrinking. We took three important steps that at times caused us to be seen from the outside as cold or as if we were pulling away.

a.       We had to let some good people go. This hurt, but it was the right thing to prepare and survive. Our team now is stronger than ever, all working together in the same direction.

b.      We tightened our belts with trips and spending. We said no to many opportunities that we would have normally attended. We cancelled trips and stayed home- amazing what can be done with a phone call or video chat. I just returned from Miami last week- my first trip in 3 months. We cut out meetings over lunch or dinner as much as we could. A 3pm meeting accomplished as much as a 6pm meeting.

c.       We chose to not attend certain trade shows. We evaluated the tradeshows and the markets they were serving asking ourselves the question “can we spend our money better?”. This proved to be one of the best decisions we have made as a company. It has eliminated unwanted stress and allowed us to break out of the “you have to mold” that so many companies get stuck in.

Grupo Nelson grows again.

Over the last few weeks it has been my privilege to welcome two new members to the Grupo Nelson team. Please join me in welcoming both Ricardo Gomez and Luis Oyola to the sales team.

 

Our aggressive growth has led to needs for deeper penetration in the market still. Our sales team was reaching the limit with the number of accounts where they could stay aggressive learning the needs as well as growing the markets in the respective channels and countries. So we chose to divide territories and shuffle some of the key accounts to allow for yet again another growth jump.

Reporting to Roberto Rivas, Ricardo Gomez comes to us after 8 years as a Sales Director in the publishing industry. His experience in mass market consumer goods and marketing degree will provide a fresh look and new ideas to take us to the next level. He was personally involved and responsible for large volumes laid down for the World Cup Sticker volumes from Panini throughout

Mexico

. In this coming year Ricardo will concentrate on expansion in the marketplace in

Mexico

as well as Central America and the

Caribbean

. Ricardo will be the hands and feet for developing new forms of retail for us in

Latin America

. Ricardo represents fresh, incremental growth for the company.

Reporting to Lluvia Soto, Luis Oyola joins us after more than 15 years working retail in

Puerto Rico

. There he worked with a successful bookstore chain called Mundo Musical Cristiano. His responsibilities during this time ranged from customer service to the opening of new stores. Luis will work in Puerto Rico covering the Caribbean markets as well as some key accounts in

Florida

and the

US

. In this coming year Luis will concentrate on managing and growing the list of the

Caribbean

and US accounts that add to our daily business. Luis will focus in on retail opportunities and in store market share in

Puerto Rico

as he garners multiplied face presence in the stores. This is single handedly the largest growth area for Luis for this year.

Congratulation Ricardo and Luis- welcome aboard, there is much to do.

Guadalajara Book Fair grows again

I received some great news last week that just got me all excited once again about the direction we are taking as Grupo Nelson. In an era where most of the trade shows are either stagnant, maxed out, or shutting down; I received word that one trade show in particular is expanding its exhibition space, planning ahead for growth, and listening to publishers and exhibitors as they grow together. Congratulations to the Feria Internacional del Libro – Guadalajara, Mexico.

Last week Roberto Rivas and Ricardo Gomez, my colleagues from our Mexico City office, went to an event organized by FIL Guadalajara, to present the new layout for 2008. Expo Guadalajara, as you might or might not know, is being remodeled and expanded. It will grow exhibit space by about 30%. The whole Expo Guadalajara is being remodeled; there will be a total of 4 access doors, one of them directly coming to the international area and accesses directly from the parking lots beneath. A new first class restaurant will be open as well. All this will be ready by September 2008. Check this link with more info about Expo Guadalajara. www.expo-guadalajara.com Here you can watch the video of the whole remodeling--- Patience, it takes a little while to load.

Here is some great data:

 

1) FIL appears to be expanding by about 15% for the 2008 extravaganza; FIL will still have significant room for future growth.

2) FIL has expanded in the Children's section, which is now on the main floor, but conveniently located to receive children visiting but not disturbing the rest of the areas during the three professional days (Monday -Wednesday).

3) The whole floor has moved up one level, thus creating open spaces with practically no columns.

4) Will create 7 rest areas complete with restaurant and sitting space in different places around the floor which before was practically non-existent.

5) The International Section is now in front of the main National booths separated by a Services and Rest Area.

6) The guest country will be Italy.

7) The International Rights Center and the Salon del Libro will be located next to the International Area. It is open only for professional days. After that, it will become one more big area for book and author presentations.

8) Cost: The booth package will have an increase of 3.5%, coming to $198 per sq meter. I am fine with the increase as I see they are making an investment to help me sell more as well.

9) I love the fact that FIL always provides great data for a full look at the data including # of publishers, # of professionals, # of kids, and so much more click here.

 

We also saw that our sales from the FIL booth increased in 2007 about 25% by having more display space and concentrating on fewer titles. This year FIL will be the only book fair in which we increase our booth presence directly as Grupo Nelson. In most others we are either maintaining or decreasing our presence.

Congratulations to the FIL- Guadalajara as they attempt to help the publishers and booksellers interact and grow their business better by maximizing the areas and keeping three dedicated professional days. Here is an area that is growing – are you a part of it? 

What did Zuleyka Rivera do just before winning the Miss Universe 2006 crown?

She signed "Universal Beauty" books for Grupo Nelson at both Borders and Sam's Clubs in Puerto Rico.