"Thanks.  I just received my bookmark...LOVE IT!!!"

           -- R. J.  New Haven, CT

"Your bookmarks are a great hit!  Everyone in my Bible study and book club loves them!" 

            -- J. A.  Savannah, GA

PW Daily for Booksellers (July 31, 2003)

Mark This: The Better Bookmark

Unlike the proverbial better mousetrap, the Better Bookmark is a reality--and a

winner of BookExpo America's "best new product" award in Los Angeles.

Congratulations!

Made by Better Ideas, Inc., Barrington, Ill.--president, Kirby Andler was the

designer--the Better Bookmark is an elastic band 2" wide and 22" long that

attaches with velcro and has a nylon pocket for a pen, pencil or highlighter.

Because the bookmark is adjustable, readers can attach it around everything

from mass markets to large notebooks.

"I created it because I like to read whenever and wherever I can--while in a car,

on a plane, at home in comfy chair or bed--but I kept losing my place in my book

and the pen that I used to write notes with in the margins," Andler explains.

A version of the bookmark was introduced in 1999, but it's been on the market in

its current "more durable" form for just a year. So far, the main customers are

general independents, college bookstores and travel bookstores, Andler told PW

Daily.
 

The company was a first-time exhibitor at BEA, where Andler said she received

"lots of orders, which I didn't expect."

The Better Bookmark sells for $3 wholesale and $5.95 retail and is available with

red, blue, gold or purple pen holders (the rest of the bookmark is black). The

company sells the bookmarks in quantities of a dozen with minimum re-orders of

two dozen. Silk screens of company or school names and logos are available. The company offers a hang-card for display.
 

For more information and to order, call 800-382-1445 or check the Web site at www.thebetterbookmark.com. Better Ideas, Inc., is located at 1261 Burr Oak

Lane, Barrington, Ill. 60010; fax 847-382-1447.-- John Mutter