Submitted this week on Edelweiss+ using the "send to SIBA" option. Thanks to Avid Bookshop, Bookmarks, Books & Books, Fiction Addiction, Flyleaf Books, Fountain Bookstore, Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, One More Page, Oxford Exchange, Page & Palette, The Country Bookshop, Underground Books, Union Ave. Books.

9781250200587 When All Is Said 3/5/2019
"was repeatedly surprised that this novel was not actually written by an crotchety, old Irishman."

9780525514022 The Orphan of Salt Winds 1/15/2019
"The setting is almost a character in itself. Eerie and atmospheric, this novel is the perfect winter read."

9780385544030 The Grief Keeper 6/11/2019
"an incredibly unique and powerful debut novel; my heart is still in my throat even a day after finishing it."

9781328919021 Auntie Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna 3/5/2019
"a fun departure from stodgy cozy mysteries yet not too grisly when it comes to the inevitable dead bodies"

9780062863324 In Another Time 3/5/2019
"My heart broke several times over the course of this book"

9780735225299 A Woman of No Importance 4/9/2019
"Purnell has penned another spectacular history of another outstanding woman"

9780525520610 Lost Children Archive 2/12/2019
"one of the most timely and important books of 2019."

More bookseller reviews

If your store does not have an Edelweiss+ account and need help setting one up, contact Linda-Marie

Letter from Dan Simon, Founder & Publisher, Seven Stories Press

In May 2018, Seven Stories Press launched an online Pride Month special collection. Eileen Dengler, executive director of NAIBA, emailed with a request: Couldn’t we find a way for booksellers to participate, and not compete, in what we were doing online? I loved the question, and wrote to our sales and distribution partners at Penguin Random House. They, too, loved the idea and were willing to make the titles we selected for themed collections available to booksellers through a special promotion. Together with NAIBA, we launched periodic themed collections:  “Women in Translation” and “For Human Rights, Against War.” Seven Stories included a prize for the best in-store display, juried by NAIBA, based on photographs the booksellers sent in, with half the prize money going to the store and the other half going to the individual staff person who designed the display.

We’ve learned that the right answers come if you continue asking the right questions. We don’t think we have all the answers; we’re experimenting. But we are also listening. And we enjoyed the conversations over the course of those months. There was a lot that the president of NAIBA, Todd Dickinson, and Eileen were saying that made all kinds of sense to us. The initiative succeeded well enough for us all to want to continue it. 

After a few months, we decided to expand, inviting a small group of independent publishers to participate in 2019.  Eileen has reached out to all the regional bookseller associations to participate. We’ve chosen three months for the collections: March, June and October. The upshot will be that not only will a bond be strengthened between independent publishers and independent booksellers, but also that within stores there will be a special place for readers to find an “Indie Playlist.” 

Out of that ongoing conversation, we’ve now altered our online profile. In solidarity with our friends at independent bookstores across the nation, we are excluding from any discount all new books and all frontlist titles, meaning anything published in the past year, and our top twenty all-time best-selling titles. Consumers will find these at their local indie bookseller, along with the other discoveries that physical independent stores are all about. We still have our annual sale for the holidays, and other online initiatives. But we no longer automatically discount all the books on our site. Consumers can still come to our website for deep discovery. Physical stores may find the right book for you, but they can’t carry in their limited space the thousand or so political and literary titles on our backlist. We’ll continue to send the ebook version (gratis) of any book with an email copy of a receipt showing the purchase from an indie bookstore. 

Make a New Year’s Resolution to read more Okra! Southern Independent booksellers have chosen the 2019 Winter Okra Picks – a collection of the best forthcoming Southern books of the season. Each of the 18 books selected have a couple things in common: They are Southern in nature, they are coming out sometime in the next three months (January, February, March), and they have a following among Southern indie booksellers, who can’t wait to introduce them to new readers.

Add a bit of tasty reading to your literary diet. Serve yourself a helping of Okra Picks.

Meet Miss Fancy by Irene Latham ; John Holyfield
G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers | Hardcover | 9780399546686 | 01/08/2019 | $17.99

Sugar Run by Mesha Maren
Algonquin Books | Hardcover | 9781616206215 | 01/08/2019 | $26.95

The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America by Tommy Tomlinson
Simon & Schuster | Hardcover | 9781501111617 | 01/15/2019 | $27.00

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
Wednesday Books | Hardcover | 9781250144546 | 01/15/2019 | $18.99

The Current by Tim Johnston
Algonquin Books | Hardcover | 9781616206772 | 01/22/2019 | $27.95

Miraculum by Steph Post
Polis Books | Hardcover | 9781947993419 | 01/22/2019 | $26.00

Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories by Sarah Lerner
Crown Books for Young Readers | Paperback | 9781984849991 | 01/22/2019 | $17.99

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
One World | Hardcover | 9780525509066 | 01/29/2019 | $27.00

American Pop by Snowden Wright
William Morrow & Company | Hardcover | 9780062697745 | 02/05/2019 | $26.99

The Atlas of Reds and Blues by Devi S. Laskar
Counterpoint LLC | Hardcover | 9781640091535 | 02/05/2019 | $25.00

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
Knopf Publishing Group | Hardcover | 9780525520610 | 02/12/2019 | $27.95

A-List by D. P. Lyle
Oceanview Publishing | Paperback | 9781608093335 | 02/19/2019 | $16.00

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
Berkley Books | Hardcover | 9781984802439 | 02/19/2019 | $26.00

Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner
Crown Books for Young Readers | Hardcover | 9781524720209 | 02/26/2019 | $17.99

A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself by William Boyle
Pegasus Books | Hardcover | 9781643130583 | 03/05/2019 | $25.95

Solitary by Albert Woodfox
Grove Press | Hardcover | 9780802129086 | 03/05/2019 | $26.00

The Good Detective by John McMahon
G.P. Putnam's Sons | Hardcover | 9780525535539 | 03/19/2019 | $27.00

Poetree by Shauna Lavoy Reynolds ; Shahrzad Maydani
Dial Books | Hardcover | 9780399539121 | 03/19/2019 | $17.99

Find more information about the Okra Picks at AuthorsRoundtheSouth.com/okra

Southern indie booksellers: We grow good books!

B3! Webinar with Bryan E. Robinson: #Chill for Booksellers: Integrating a Healthy Work/Life Balance

Wednesday, February 6, 2019⋅2:00 – 3:00pm

The cycle of 24/7 work addiction can be difficult to break, but according to Bryan E. Robinson, Ph. D., a licensed psychotherapist and mindfulness expert, it’s only a matter of reframing priorities and practicing mindfulness. Chilling is not something you do. It’s a mindset, a way of being in the world.

Bryan E. Robinson is the author of #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life. In our webinar, he'll present his philosophy and some tools and exercises to reframe priorities, practice mindfulness, and break a cycle of work addiction. He'll also take your questions about challenges that come up for you and your workplace. Please RSVP lindamarie@sibaweb.com to attend.

SIBA Booksellers praise Robinson's # Chill:

• "Robinson's approach to workaholism comes from his own experience, so it is a compassionate and knowing approach to a subject that could otherwise get thorny. Still, you'll want to give it to your boss and your boss's boss, and anyone else whose own workaholism keeps you at your desk after hours."--Melanie McNair, former Director of Marketing and Events and Assistant Manager of Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe

• "Bryan has combined best practices from psychology, meditation, and mindfulness to  create a guidebook for those struggling with work/life balance. Nearly every business owner I know could benefit from this book." --Jill Hendrix, owner of Fiction Addiction

A Year of Education with SIBA

SIBA kicked off 2018 with EUREKAsiba in Atlanta. Modeled on TED-talks, this daylong series of presentations by booksellers, industry experts, musicians, and writers offered booksellers insights on a range of topics including “Taking Your Social Media to the Next Level” (Sarah Benoit, JB Media Institute), “Is Profit a Dirty Word?”(Jill Hendrix, owner of Fiction Addiction), “A Self-Published Author Walks into Your Store...What Do You Do?” (Gordon McClellan, DartFrog),  “Sensual Marketing: Creating Intimacy Through Storytelling” (Gwyn Ridenhour, Matchbook Marketing), and “Big Mouth: Big Marketing” (Kelly Justice, Owner of Fountain Bookstore). Over 50 SIBA booksellers attended the inaugural EUREKAsiba. Registration for EUREKAsiba in 2019 opens on January 1st. Mark your calendar and save the date for March 18-20 in Atlanta!

SIBA enlisted Maribeth Pelly, event planner at Booktowne and independent marketing consultant, to present in two extremely popular webinars: “How to Pitch Your Store to Publishers” and “How to Prepare a Press Kit for Your Store.” As a bonus, Maribeth coached attendees at Book Expo, before their Publicist Speeddating events.

SIBA partnered with Sarah Benoit of JB Media Institute, who offered a three-month course “Social Media and Content Marketing” to SIBA booksellers. Those who attended, including SIBA staff,  raved about how it improved their social media efforts. We’ll keep you posted when another course opens.

In 2018 SIBA offered the following webinars:

• Creating Community: Developing and Maintaining an Authors in School Program

• Inventory Activism

• Non-Traditional Bookstores: Hybrids, Pop-ups, and Non-Profits

• Getting your Staff on Edelweiss

• Bridging the Divide and The Open Discussion Project

• Creating and Managing a Successful Online Sales Campaign

• Avid Bookshop's Favorite Bookstore Forms, Documents, and Procedures

• Partner with IngramSpark to Enhance Your Publishing and Marketing Services to Authors.

• Priya Parker on the Art of Gathering for Booksellers.

• The Art of the Pitch: Handselling Books & Sidelines to Customers

Many of these webinars were recorded. You can watch Maribeth Pelly’s webinars, and see some handy checklists for press kits here. Recordings of our other webinars are here, at the bottom of the page. We’re looking forward to presenting more webinars in 2019, beginning with Book Subscription Services on January 9, 2019. If you’re interested in attending, please email lindamarie@sibaweb.com to reserve your spot. Attendance at any SIBA event-online or in person-gets you B3! points, which translate into $$ you can use towards future SIBA programming, to pay for tickets, registration fees, and more.

Much of our educational programming is made possible by SIBA booksellers, who present their best practices, tips, and great ideas to other booksellers. Thank you to everyone who presented in 2018. You offered so much and we really value and appreciate your time and effort. We’d love to hear from booksellers about any topics they’d like us to address in 2019. Please share your ideas by emailing lindamarie@sibaweb.com.

THE BOOKS YOUR COLLEAGUES ARE TALKING ABOUT

Submitted this week on Edelweiss+ using the "send to SIBA" option. Thanks to Avid Bookshop, Bookmiser, Fiction Addiction, Flyleaf Books, Fountain Bookstore, Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Page & Palette, Page 158 Books, Parnassus, and The Country Bookshop.

9780385544030 Look How Happy I'm Making You 3/19/2019
"These stories . . .are funny, and sad, and filled with the little truths of daily life."

9781101887127 The Liar's Child 3/12/2019
"There are stories within stories in this powerhouse drama of family, children, guilt, remorse and the trusting innocence of a child."

9781593763091 King of Joy 3/5/2019
"Saturated colors and sounds; a surreal world of drugs, luxury, hippos, sex, violence, and sadness; and ultimately, the modern dread of how video seems to unravel time itself."

9781250316776 Red, White & Royal Blue 5/14/2019
"a hilarious, swoon-worthy book that deals with the struggles of coming out, falling in love, and grief"

9781982109110 Sing to It 3/26/2019
"Amy Hempel has mastered the short story, and Sing to It is no letdown, brimming with the kind of simple, glorious humanity one comes to expect from her writing"

9781683319443 The Psychology of Time Travel 2/12/2019
"Her writing is lovely, her characters fascinating, and it is just so satisfying to get a novel of this depth featuring almost exclusively women. . .I have a lingering wistfulness to return to this world."

9780062674951 The Gown 12/31/2018
"Author Jennifer Robson deftly leads the reader back and forth through time in the desolation of post-war London through the eyes of a working girl and a French Holocaust survivor."

More bookseller reviews

If your store does not have an Edelweiss+ account and need help setting one up, contact Linda-Marie

Southern Book Prize Drawings for December 17: Kate Beasley & Rick Bragg

To help bookstores promote the Southern Book Prize and get their customers involved in voting, SIBA is running a drawing for one of the Finalists every weekend between now and the voting deadline on February 1st. All stores need to do is promote the Southern Book Prize ballot. Every ballot submitted that lists your store earns you $.30 in B3! credit.

12/17/2018 Drawing: Lions & Liars by Kate Beasley and The Best Cook in the World by Rick Bragg

Congratulations to last weekend's drawing recipients:

• Bobbie, a customer of Poetic Justice Books & Arts, will receive a copy of A Well Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler
• Ashley, who shops at Scuppernong Books, will get a copy of Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

The ballot: www.southernbookprize.com

Some graphics you can use on social media. Be sure to tag your posts with the #VoiceYourChoice hashtag Click on an image to download a full size version:

Facebook

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What’s on the Shelf at Lady Banks during January?

SIBA promotes six new books every month to consumers in our Lady Banks Bookshelf promotion.These titles appear at the top of our weekly Lady Banks Commonplace Book newsletter, which has a circulation of over 60k.  We also feature them above the fold on the homepage of Authors ‘Round the South and on the cover image of the ARTS Facebook page with buy links promoted to our 15,000 Facebook friends. A different member store is featured with the titles every week. 

Since SIBA redesigned Lady Banks Bookshelf in the spring, this promotion experienced a 23% increase in audience reach(from 17K to 22.5K), and a 16% jump in engagement (from 585 to 700) in on social media, and a 10% rise in impressions, 14% rise in click throughs via email. SIBA attributes the success to a more strongly focused target audience, more active engagement with member bookstores, and a fresh, more visually appealing presence that also appeals to the reader's sense of adventure and individuality.

By promoting through Lady Banks, publishers are making an investment in SIBA member bookstores’ attention and market. SIBA works with them to select titles your customers are looking for, and then we drive those customers to your stores.  It’s very worth your while to bring Lady Banks Bookshelf titles in before the month begins, and put up a display.

What’s up for January:

• Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More by Elizabeth F. Emens

• Woke Baby by Mahogany L. Browne, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

• The Undiscovered Country by Mike Nemeth

• The Shallows: Poems by Stacey Lynn Brown

• Any Other Place: Stories by Michael Croley

• The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Frank Morrison

  
  

Here's a link to the collection on Edelweiss: 

Book Subscription Services B3! Webinar with Jamie Rogers Southern and Julie Jarema on Wednesday, January 9 at 2PM

Want to launch a subscription service at your store, or improve an existing one? Two booksellers with successful subscription services will share their approaches and offer advice to attendees.  

Jamie Rogers Southern is the Operations Director of Bookmarks, a literary arts nonprofit organization in Winston-Salem, NC. Bookmarks offers a Signed First Editions Club and a Young Reader Subscription Service. Customers can choose between a six-month or yearly subscription and have the option of receiving the books by mail or picking them up in-store.

Julie Jarema is a Bookseller and the Book Subscriptions Manager at Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA.  Avid’s subscription service includes all reading levels and  is tailored to suit each customer’s individual tastes. It  is available in six-month and twelve-month options.

Please rsvp lindamarie@sibaweb.com to attend.

Southern Book Prize Drawings

To help bookstores promote the Southern Book Prize and get their customers involved in voting, SIBA is running a drawing for one of the Finalists every weekend between now and the voting deadline on February 1st. This weekend, anyone who submits a ballot by 12/10 will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of either Kate DiCamillo's Louisiana's Way Home, or Therese Anne Fowler's A Well Behaved Woman.

All stores need to do is promote the Southern Book Prize ballot. Every ballot submitted that lists your store earns you $.30 in B3! credit.

The ballot: www.southernbookprize.com

Some graphics you can use on social media. Be sure to tag your posts with the #VoiceYourChoice hashtag Click on an image to download a full size version:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram