What a strange time for booksellers: as customers have never been more eager to read, it's increasingly challenging to get books into their socially-distanced hands. Authors 'Round the South (ARTS) wants to help. ARTS has a wealth of engaging, reader-focused, bookseller-friendly content and we are working hard on ways to make it more accessible, useful, and shareable for your store. And oh yeah, it's all free.

We're most excited about our treasure-trove of SIBA member bookseller reviews and recommendations. Have you wondered exactly what happens to the reviews and recommendations your store submits via Edelweiss? In addition to being regularly featured in the SIBA newsletter and blog,  SIBA's reader-focused site Authors 'Round the South (ARTS) also runs store reviews on or near the publication date of the book.

But wait...there's more!

The newest reviews appear on the ARTS home page and on the main Read This! page, but even better, every single review is tagged and sorted into the ARTS bookseller review database, making each review accessible not just at publication but for the future. At present, there are hundreds and hundreds of books (actually 985, and counting--by the time you read this we will be closing in on 1000!) in the review database. Each review links directly to the reviewer's store's online retail (if available) and regardless of whether a store has ecommerce, the review links to the reviewer store's website.

SIBA wants to make ARTS even more of a resource for our members and their customers. Your store is welcome and encouraged to make use of any and all existing and future ARTS content (you don't need to ask permission) in any way you think might be helpful. To that end: 

• We have expanded the number of reviews featured on the home page, and are updating it much more frequently. Our goal is to feature as many as we possibly can. Individual reviews can be linked to and shared.
• The Read This! database is now featured directly on the home page as well as on the main Read This page. Every category can be linked to and/or shared directly via social media or email.
• We make an effort to feature as many SIBA stores as possible, and as mentioned above, ARTS does not limit the featured reviews to stores with ecommerce.
• All SIBA stores that participated in the 2019 Holiday Catalog program--including stores without ecommerce--have a customized, white-label page that's still accessible: https://authorsroundthesouth.com/read-this/holiday-catalog.

In addition to bookseller recommendations on ARTS, SIBA also features the weekly Southern indie bestseller list (usually updated on Wednesday afternoons subject to when the ABA releases the information), and creates a list of titles special to Southern indies, with the current list also displayed on the home page. Each week, ARTS features a different member store with ecommerce on its "Special to Southern" list. We also create a "white-label" list with no SIBA or ARTS branding list available on sibaweb.com, and provide the code (automatically updated weekly at this same link) for stores to use on their own sites and link titles to their own ecommerce platform.

In the works:

• The existing Read This! page on ARTS will be converted to a weekly update of recent reviews, plus a featured database category that can be easily shared via social media.
• We're converting the PDF Southern bestseller lists flyers into a "white label" HTML format, similar to the "special to Southern" bestseller list for stores to share to their email lists and link to on their sites, and making that code available for stores to add their own ecommerce links if desired.

We're brainstorming ways to make all ARTS content even more useful, adaptable, and accessible to SIBA member stores. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know!

SP Rankin / sp@sibaweb.com
Authors 'Round the South