As we enter the final stretch of 2020, I hope you are healthy, and your businesses are humming along in whatever ways you've adjusted them to address bookselling during a pandemic. I've watched with so much respect and awe as you shifted your models to protect your staff and do your part in preventing the spread of the virus in your communities: putting up sneeze guards and wearing masks, offering curbside pickup and home delivery, expanding your mailing services, scheduling browsing visits, or going, and staying, completely online. You've worked tirelessly for months, building to this holiday retail moment. I think of you every day, and have so enjoyed seeing your faces and hearing your stories during office hours, influencer meetings, webinars, and publisher-sponsored events. You are my daily inspiration; you are my heroes.

I took over as Executive Director in June, a daunting time when many communities were still in lockdown. My priorities were to listen to your needs and provide the education, access, and community you needed to keep going. SIBA waived dues for any bookstore that requested it, and to keep our organization funded and flexible, we reduced pricing on our publisher promotions, working with everyone's pinched budgets, and cut our own expenses by half.

In response to our nation's civil unrest, and after much reflection and discussion, SIBA and the Board of Directors crafted our SIBA Statement Against Racism. The staff of SIBA and the Board undertook diversity, equity, and inclusion training during the summer, and are deeply committed to the antiracist initiatives outlined in our statement. We welcome questions and suggestions from our members as we move forward.

With the dedicated and talented assistance of the other members of Team SIBA, Nicki Leone and SP Rankin, we turned our in-person trade show into a free five-day virtual conference, partnering with NAIBA to create New Voices New Rooms. SIBA's attendance was up 53% over 2019, with 107 bookstores attending (270 individual booksellers). ( Visit this link to view key education sessions). This new partnership with NAIBA will continue under our New Voices New Rooms name into 2021; we're planning Winter Retreats and a March Madness series featuring publicity speed dating, author events, and education.

SIBA joined the Regional Association Marketing & Promotion (RAMP) consortium this year, a partnership of SIBA, NAIBA, NEIBA, MIBA, and GLIBA, to produce our print and digital holiday catalogs. We offered saturation mailing, a first for SIBA members, and enhanced the digital options for SIBA members, to increase opportunities for book sales.

Our team also worked on rebranding our consumer-facing programming: Lady Banks Newsletter, Okra Picks, and Authors Round the South. The result is the The Southern Bookseller Review, a stunning website and newsletter where your reviews of books you love are the heart and soul of this project. We will include profiles of booksellers in upcoming issues. Please email me if you'd like to be featured, or recommend another bookseller. Join us for an orientation session on January 6. Link to register.

Looking ahead to Winter 2021:

• SIBA is discontinuing the B3! Program. If you have accumulated points, SIBA will translate them into credit you can use toward dues and other programming that involves expenses.
• Dues resume at $100/annually (down from $150). If you need dues waived due to financial need, please let us know.
• New Voices New Rooms Winter Retreat (Focus on Social Media) 1/25-28.
• February Racial Equity Challenge.

Please keep in touch and let SIBA know how we can support you and your goals. We are always here for you!

Wishing you a healthy and prosperous season and New Year!

Sincerely,

Linda-Marie