One of the great features of Circlesoft is the ability to apply any number of secondary categories, which makes it easier to find special interest books. It does require a little additional work during the [Load Stock] process, but over time, it will give your online database (and website) a great deal of depth and flexibility.
Let's use the book Possession by A.S. Byatt as an example.
Titlepage classes this book as a Romance (using the Thema* category FR).
However, unless you have a highly specialised or large Romance section, this is a book that is commonly found in General Fiction.
Possession also won the Booker Prize in 1990, which means it can also be categorised as a 'Prize-Winner' or 'Literary Fiction'.
The romance elements of the novel involve the uncovering of secret correspondence between two Victorian poets, so you might also consider it to have elements of Historical Fiction.
As an extra confusing side-note, even though it is printed by Vintage Classics, the book is generally not considered Classic Fiction.
But here's the good news; by using the Secondary Categories feature, you can list the book under *all* of these descriptors without having to create special shelves or sections in your bookstore.
Just add as many Secondary Categories as you feel will be helpful to either your staff or for customers using the website to look for books.
Other useful Secondary Categories you might want to try could highlight special events such as Christmas, Father's or Mother's Day etc.
Secondary Categories can also be used to differentiate between local/regional authors, writers of different faiths, LGBTQIA+ etc.
Secondary Categories can also be highlighted on the Home Page, making it easy to instantly create holiday or special interest sales.
A lot of booksellers do already know everything about the books they stock, but the use of Secondary Categories can make searching your stock easier for new staff and most importantly, it's about what your customers will find useful when they're looking for ideas.
It can be as simple or as complicated as you like.
