What a year! At SIBA's annual meeting in October Executive Director Linda-Marie Barrett called 2022 "a year of transition." As the country slowly moved out of the pandemic, bookstores began opening their doors again, and SIBA, after two years of operating virtually, once again started hosting programs at member stores. Here are some of the things SIBA accomplished this year.

In-Person Events

SIBA hosted two in-person events this year, in Winston-Salem, NC in April, and in New Orleans in September. Both events filled up in record time, 70 people in April, 110 in September. The two events introduced a new model for SIBA's in-person programs by including a tour to showcase bookstores in the community as well as a visit to a place with cultural significance for the area. Booksellers who attended the Winston-Salem event were able to visit the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, located in the Woolworth's Building that was the site of the first of the lunch counter sit-in protests in February, 1960. In New Orleans, the opening reception was held at the Historical New Orleans Collection, and booksellers were able to see the museum's extensive exhibit of early New Orleans culture and history. (When French President Emmanuel Macron visited New Orleans earlier this month, HNOC was one of the places he had to see). SIBA also finally was able to make good on its promise of last year by serving vegetarian fare at both events. SIBA's commitment to prioritizing a vegetarian menu has since been adopted by other organizations, including the ABA.

Several times this year Linda-Marie Barrett visited bookstores to talk with them about their business and their expectations of SIBA. Her most recent trip was to bookstores in the Atlanta area, and she has also made trips to Greenville, SC, New Orleans, and Florida.

Virtual Programs

Virtual events hosted by SIBA this year included the launch of James Lee Burke's new novel Every Cloak Rolled in Blood via the Reader Meet Writer author series. Diane Chamberlain and Mesha Maren also appeared on Reader Meet Writer. SIBA hosted two online bookseller orientation events for new members that also included presentations by the book industry services Edelweiss and Batch.

Bookseller Development

This year SIBA carried out its first-ever Census of SIBA Bookstores. Over half of SIBA's membership participated, providing invaluable data about their store operations post-pandemic.

It was the second year of SIBA's 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge, the self-guided program for bookstores and booksellers designed to help them increase diversity, equity, and inclusivity in their businesses. 50 people from 40 stores signed up to take the challenge. The Keynote event for the challenge this year featured a conversation between Laura Coates, Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness, and Steven Wright, Coyotes of Carthage.

In support of bookseller development, SIBA has adopted a policy of partially reimbursing booksellers who complete a module in the Professional Bookseller Certification Program. And this year, in cooperation with Sarah McCoy Mustique Island, SIBA launched The McCoy Grant for any unpublished Southern women or nonbinary booksellers who harbor ambitions to be published writers. See a list of the many grants and scholarships SIBA provided its booksellers this year.

The Southern Bookseller Review

SIBA's consumer-targeted publication, The Southern Bookseller Review was launched in late 2020 to positive acclaim. In 2022 its reach increased significantly, with subscribers up 15% and website views more than tripling. Among the innovations SIBA added to the SBR program were monthly "special edition" newsletters on a single topic. The most popular special issues were February (Black History), April (Poetry), August (Harvest & Cookbooks) and September (Hispanic Heritage Month). SIBA also added reviews of Graphic Novels and Comics as a regular newsletter feature.

Most importantly, after a beta-testing period the previous year, SIBA has now made it possible for bookstores to embed their SBR reviews on their store websites. The embedded reviews automatically refresh to show the most recent reviews by the store published at SBR. Currently seven bookstores are running these "automatic staff picks" on their websites.

In July, SBR published its 1000th review from SIBA booksellers. As of this week, SBR is approaching 1400 published reviews. 72 SIBA bookstores have submitted reviews to SBR.

New Voices New Rooms

2022 was also a great year for New Voices New Rooms -- the programming partnership created between SIBA and NAIBA. NVNR hosted its regular Publicity Speed Dating event in the spring, giving bookstores a chance to pitch their stores directly to publishers and publicists. It also hosted two summer events in May and August -- the first focused on Fall release authors, and the latter with extra days of education and networking built into the schedule. The famous NVNR "Readers of the Last ARC" Galley Room processed 1500 requests from booksellers for review copies.

In October, NVNR hosted a bookseller-only reprise of one of the most popular sessions at the August event, "Responding to Hate," where booksellers were able to share difficult or confrontational situations and offer each other advice and support.

In November, NVNR hosted the second annual VIndies Ceremony, celebrating the best in bookstore video. the 2022 VIndies included an expanded list of categories, include "Staff Picks" and "Trending Sounds" -- both of which showcased the creative ways bookstores have used TikTok to share their enthusiasm for books and reading.

The Holiday Catalogs

Still the most popular benefit among SIBA booksellers, the holiday catalog is produced by RAMP, in cooperation with SIBA's sister organizations, NAIBA and GLIBA. This year, despite supply-chain worries and a shortened publication schedule, RAMP created both a Summer and a Winter Catalog for stores, and added an optional early ship date for stores that wanted to start they holiday promotions early (October is the new November!). 65 SIBA stores signed up for the RAMP Catalogs and distributed about 240,000 catalogs in 2022.

New Faces on the SIBA Team!

One of the most important changes in 2022 is that the SIBA staff has grown. In January Robin Wood came on board as SIBA Social Media Coordinator. Not only has she expanded the reach of SIBA's own social media presence, she has been dedicated to amplifying the presence of SIBA's member stores. Her regular posts of store reviews from SBR has caught the attention of authors and publishers, raising the visibility of SIBA bookstores within the industry and among readers.

In November Candice Huber, (owner of Tubby & Coo's Mid-City Bookshop in New Orleans) joined the SIBA team as its Membership Coordinator. Their role is to reach out to all SIBA bookstores and work with them to make sure they know about all their SIBA benefits. Candice wants to hear from stores about what things are working or not working, and what things they would like to see from SIBA in the future. Every SIBA bookstore can expect a call in the upcoming months!

Looking Ahead

While SIBA stores are busy with fourth quarter and holiday sales, SIBA uses this time to strategize for the upcoming year. SIBA booksellers can look forward to more of the great programming they are already familiar with, plus more in-person events and virtual networking opportunities. This upcoming spring sees the return of "March Madness" a series day-long events at nine bookstores across SIBA territory. New Voices New Rooms will return in 2023 as well, with its first in-person event in August in Alexandria, Virginia. NVNR is also continuing its virtual programming, starting with an Owners Retreat in January.

A Crazy and Gratifying Year

The year was not without its challenges. Some stores faced unprecedented difficulties -- book bans and storytime protests, which also become opportunities to rally the support of their communities Hurricane Ian had a devastating effect on bookstores on the Florida Gulf Coast, Right now, those stores are engaged in rebuilding, determined to re-open their doors. SIBA has lent support and advocated for its members wherever and whenever possible.

SIBA's membership grew from 152 stores in 2021 to 173 stores in 2022. 44 new bookstore accounts were created this year -- some from bookstores under new ownership, some from established stores that joined SIBA for the first time, but over half were brand new stores that opened their doors in the last 18 months.

If there is a word to describe SIBA's booksellers this year, it would be "eager." Over and over again members talked about their joy at having customers in their stores again, their determination to face all challenges, and their enthusiasm about the future.

If 2022 was a year of transition, the watch word for SIBA and SIBA bookstores in 2023 is "optimism."