Retailers such as grocery stores use small signs attached to shelves to promote specific products. These signs are called "shelf-talkers."
Bookstores use shelf-talkers to promote specific titles. "Staff recommends" signs are the most common shelf-talkers in bookstores.
- Green Apple Bookstore in San Francisco produces shelf-talkers adorned with whimsical decorations and cartoons: Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3
- Each month American Booksellers Association provides shelf-talkers promoting specific titles.
- Scholastic has shelf-talker blank templates.
- Ingram has category shelf-talkers.
- Novelist's "Author Read-alikes" is a great resource for short descriptions of authors' writing styles, as opposed to descriptions of specific titles.
- The Ottawa (Ontario - Canada) Public Library uses shelf-talkers to promote specific titles. Their shelf talker project guidelines recommend buying several copies of the books promoted by shelf talkers. Alexandra Yarrow generously provided two sets of guidelines describing how they implement shelf-talkers.
- Guidelines for branch staff writing shelf-talkers
- Guidelines for branch project coordinators implementing the shelf-talker project
- Ottawa Public Library shelf-talker template pdf
- Rogers (Arkansas - USA) Public Library shelf talkers promote specific lesser-known authors, authors who have written a number of books so that when one book is selected other boos are still available. The Rogers Library shelf-talkers shown below are in special devices called Shelfwiz.
