Behind the Scenes: Setting Up a Follett Book eFair

Want to know what goes into setting up a Follett Book eFair before taking the leap and delighting students, parents, and staff with your own? Read on for how to set up this special literacy event for your school community!

But first…what’s a Follett Book eFair?

A Follett Book eFair is an online book fair. A fair for everyone, if you will. It’s a fun and easy way to get the book fair experience without the hassle of setting up and running a physical fair. 

Learn More: Overview

Why should you host a Follett Book eFair?

Follett Book eFairs can help build excitement around reading in your school by providing students with a wide selection of favorite books.

Here are just a few more benefits of hosting a Follett Book eFair:

• Easy setup (5 minutes!)
• No minimum sales requirements
• Open to all PreK-8 schools in the US
• Wide selection of popular (and affordable!) titles
• Effortless distribution
• Free shipping
• Titlewave® rewards

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The Follett Book eFairs Website

You’ll use our website to register, create, organize, and manage your online book fair. This site is also where families and students shop your Book eFair with their unique code.

Registering

Click the Register or Login button to get started on your Follett Book eFair journey.

Enter your school email address.

Enter your first and last name, choose your school/district, enter your job title, create a password, check the box to opt in, and then click the blue button at the bottom to continue/verify your email address. 

Complete the verification process by clicking the link in the email you’ll receive, and you’ll be logged in to the site! You’ll also receive a short Welcome email to confirm your account is all set.

Creating Your Book eFair

When you’re ready to create your event, click the orange Create a New eFair button.

Now, the fun begins! 

Enter your optional title/theme, choose your eFair dates, eFair type (Are you running it for the whole school or just a classroom?), grade range, number of flyers needed, reading level type, staff names (teachers) who’ll be participating/receiving bagged orders (Don’t worry, you can complete this later under Settings.), specify a sales goal you’d like your school to reach (either sales amount or number of books purchased), then click the blue Schedule eFair button.

You’ll receive a “Success!” message and be returned to the screen below confirming all your details along with your shiny new eFair Code to share with your school community!

Beneath your eFair code on the right, you’ll also see buttons for promoting/sharing your Book eFair, viewing books to add, or cancelling your event. You'll also see a button for viewing orders once they start coming in.

Adding Books to Your Book eFair

Click the View Books button to see the various ways to add books from our huge selection to your Book eFair. 

• Browse by category with the drop-down (picture books, beginning readers, chapter books, etc.) or the section headers (Award Winners, Favorite Characters, etc.).
• Narrow your titles by using the Filter button on top right of the screen.
• Search the entire catalog using the search bar found at the top and bottom of the page.
• Set up Staff Recommendations. You know your students best – which books will draw them in? Click Recommend at the bottom of a book’s cover to add the title to the Staff Recommendations section. There’s an option to add a note about why the title is recommended, too.

You can also remove titles from your Book eFair by clicking the red trash icon at the top right corner of each book.

Promoting Your Book eFair/Spreading the Word

We’ll send you a free promotional kit two weeks before the start of your Book eFair to help you generate excitement and spread the word. 

Your kit will include full-color:

• Coordinator Checklist & Guide: Use this to plan, execute, and maximize the benefits of your event.
• Title Highlight Flyers: Send these home with students so they can review them with family and friends.
• Promotional posters: Hang these in the library, classrooms, and main office
• Goals posters: Display these to generate excitement and share the progress made towards your school's Book eFair goal.
• Computer monitor signs: Add these to monitors in your library or classroom to announce the start of your event.

You’ll also have access to additional digital resources through the website, including social media graphics, web banners, family letter templates, and much more! Simply download and print. Click the Promote eFair button to get started. 

A pop-up will display your custom eFair code, links to share with parents, links for your teachers to manage their Wish Lists, and the teacher discount code so they can receive 20% off full-priced items.

More Promo Tips:

• Enter teachers’ names within the “My eFairs” section of your online fair. This lets families select the student’s teacher when purchasing books so we can pack orders by individual student and box them up by classroom teacher for easy distribution.
• Share your 20% discount code with staff to encourage them to make discounted purchases from your online Book eFair.
• Share the Teacher Wish Lists link with teachers and encourage them to create one! Families and community members can then shop the Wish List and make purchases for classrooms.
• Fill out and hang promotional and goal posters around your school for everyone to see.
• Download the School Announcement Messages and incorporate them into social media posts, newsletters, and more.
• Share your direct shopping link (under Promote eFair) with teachers, families, students, and the entire community.
• Ask teachers to send home the provided Title Highlight Flyers and personalized family letter with their students.

That’s It!

Well, you’re on your way to hosting the greatest online Book eFair there ever was! Approximately one week after your fair closes, we’ll send you an email with redemption instructions to use your Titlewave® Credit* to select from more than 5 million books, eBooks, classroom sets, and supplemental guides!

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Learn more about Follett Book eFairs from trusted Teacher Librarian Shannon McClintock Miller who hosted her own event and shares some great insights in her blog post: 

We Kicked Off Our Follett Book eFair This Week! Check Out How We Set This Up For Our Readers and School Community!

We love our online Book eFairs and think you will, too. Here’s to great books, school rewards, and strong, independent readers! Have questions about Follett Book eFairs? Contact us. We’re ready to help.

*Titlewave® Promotional Credits are valid for two years from date issued.