New Voices New Rooms began in 2020 as an innovative virtual programming platform for an industry adapting to the realities of operating during a pandemic. The platform was refined in 2021, and now in 2022 has become not simply a "conference" but a permanent and ongoing partnership and community dedicated to fostering connections and relationships between publishers and NAIBA and SIBA bookstores.

The NVNR Calendar currently features five regular events:

March: Publicity Speed Dating
Early in the season, Booksellers pitch their stores to publishers and publicists, making the case for their inclusion in publicity event grids and marketing plans. Participating bookstores receive a contact list of all the publicists and publishers present. Contact Eileen Dengler if your store participated and you need a copy of the list.

May: NVNR May
A two-day event focused on bookseller and author/publisher connections at a time when bookstores are making most of their holiday buying decisions. The program features author panel programs, keynote presentations, and breakout rooms where authors and small groups of booksellers will enjoy get-to-know-you talks, and multiple "Pick of the List" Rep presentations and Editors’ Buzz sessions.

August: NVNR August
A three-day event that features a week of education, bookseller retreats, author presentations, new and upcoming titles, and publisher studios, similar to NVNR from the past two years. There will be an added focus on networking and building industry connections among bookselling colleagues and publishers.

October: The VIndies
Launched in 2021, the VIndies is a celebration of bookstore creativity. A "Bookstore Oscars" that highlights the fun and independent spirit of bookstore videos.

Late Fall: New Owners Retreat
A multi-day intensive networking and education workshop specifically designed for new bookstore owners. The schedule is tailored to current store needs and includes moderated discussions and networking sessions around topics such as staffing, finance, store operations, and inventory management.

April - September: Bookstore Row & The Publisher/Vendor Studio Gallery
The online directories of bookstores, publishes and vendors opens to NVNR attendees on April 1st and stays open until September 30. Bookstores showcase their store and staff, with easily-shared links to their store listing. Publishers provide curated Edelweiss collections, video links to rep picks and editor buzz presentation, links to order specials, new account information and sales rep contact info. Bookstore Row and the Studio Gallery are only open to the NVNR community.

REGISTER FOR NVNR

BOOK THE VOTE!
A Bookstore & Library Voter Registration Project

BTV is a drive to bring together readers, writers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians to register voters before the 2022 elections. Writer-volunteers will organize and staff nonpartisan tables in participating bookstores and libraries, especially in battle-ground states. Stores and libraries in colleges and universities will focus on registering the crucial cohort of younger voters. The BOOK THE VOTE project aims not only to add the unregistered to voter rolls, but to nurture civic resistance to anti-democratic manipulations of elections.

Find out more and sign up

Current participating SIBA Bookstores include Books & Books (FL), Flyleaf Books (NC), Malaprop’s Bookstore (NC), Purple Crow Books (NC)

SIBA's first in-person event in two years will still have a virtual galley room. In fact, it will be a "hybrid" galley room, with both virtual and on-site ARCs available to attendees. The presenting authors featured during "Noir at the Bar" will have books at the event and will be available to sign copies.

The virtual galley room will stay open for a week and will include books from supporting and sponsoring publishers, in both print and digital formats, subject to availability.

Come Together! Registration closes April 15th.

Register for Come Together!

Publishers interested in sponsoring Come Together or listing books in the virtual Galley Room click here or contact lindamarie@sibaweb.com

Part-Time Sales Position with SIBA
Responsible for presenting and selling SIBA promotions to our industry partners and new markets. This role will pitch partnerships, sponsorships, and promotions to existing customers, as well as target new partners to reach new and diverse audiences. This role will work closely with the SIBA team to schedule, invoice, and provide any requested stats on promotions sold. Perfect for someone who is highly motivated, imaginative, attentive to detail, team-oriented and a pro at customer service and sales. Commission-based salary. Send resume and cover letter to Linda-Marie Barrett at lindamarie@sibaweb.com.

The Southern Bookseller Review launches thematic monthly issue

The Southern Bookseller Review is a reader-targeted website and weekly newsletter showcasing book reviews  and staff picks from Southern indie booksellers. Reviews come from store websites, newsletters, social media, and submissions to Edelweiss Plus, the book industry platform for marketing and ordering new titles. Since SBR was first delivered in January 2021, the newsletter's readership has grown almost twenty percent. Bookstores are using their posted reviews as "staff picks" on their own store websites.

Read more about SBR | See what booksellers are reading

This year SBR is launching a monthly thematic "special edition" of the newsletter, featuring bookseller reviews of books around a specific topic. The February edition "Celebrating Black Voices" released February 18, generating an open rate of over 50%,, and a click through rate of 28%.

Reservations are now being accepted for future Special Editions:

• March: Women's History (sold out!)
• April: Poetry Month
• May: Motherhood
• June: Pride Month
• July: Summer Reads
• August: Cooking/harvest
• Sept.: National Hispanic Heritage/Latinx Voices
• Oct: Spooky!
• Nov: Regional Holiday Reads
• Dec.: Winter Reads

Each edition is published mid month, on the Friday of the week of the 15th. To be eligible for inclusion, a book must have a positive review from a SIBA bookseller, and must be available at industry standard terms. Pre-orders are accetable. Cost for inclusion is $399 per review.

Please contact lindamarie@sibaweb.com to reserve your listing.

A Call for Authors, Reps, & Editors

Register | Submit an Author | Publisher Opportunities

Share your insider-information with booksellers on the east coast. Two days of Editors Buzz and Pick of the Lists at the time booksellers are making their buys for Fall and Holiday titles.

How to use NVNR to your advantage:

Use Your Studio Space!

• Announce the Fall & Holiday releases.
  
• Broadcast seasonal promotions.
  
• Share links to genre Edelweiss catalogs to help bookstores fill out special sections
  
• Post videos of editors talking about their projects. Link to an Edelweiss catalog.
  
• Post videos of author interviews and promotions.

Apply for an Editors Buzz and / or Pick of the List session: We have more of those sessions in two days than anywhere else in the industry. All these will be recorded and available for booksellers for three solid months. Register to apply

Take advantage of NVNR breakout rooms to invite a limited number of booksellers to meet an author. The online version of an author luncheon. Unlike author panels, booksellers will have the chance to engage with the author.

Galleys in the Readers of the Last ARC: Share print and digital copies of the new releases you want booksellers to handsell. Don’t worry if the ARC is not ready yet. Post it now, we’ll provide you with a request list, and you can send it later. Register to reserve a listing.

All this content will be promoted continuously to the booksellers until NVNR August.

NVNR: a long & fruitful promotional shelf life for books.

SIBA in the Springtime 2022: Come Together!

Join us for an in-person “Come Together” celebration of our amazingly creative and resilient SIBA bookselling community. It’s been two long years since we’ve been in company, and we can’t wait to see you in historic Winston-Salem, NC on Wednesday, Apr 27, 2022

REGISTER

Schedule:

12-5PM: Bookstore Tour of Winston-Salem & Greensboro, with a stop at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum (website)
Cost per person $20

5-7 PM: Come Together Reception at Footnote
Conveniently located next to Bookmarks, the last stop on our bookstore tour. Enjoy drinks and hors d'oeuvres as you mix & mingle & catch up with your bookseller colleagues and other industry friends.
Cost per person $25 (includes Noir at the Bar)

7-9 PM: Noir at the Bar
Eight crime, thriller, and mystery authors will read from their works in an event hosted by author and veteran Noir at the Bar MC, Eryk Pruitt. Noir at the Bar follows our welcome reception, and will feature literary-themed cocktails (cash bar) and a fun, raucous environment for readers and writers alike. Includes ARCs for bookseller attendees.

Health Guidelines:
All attendees must be fully vaccinated, and abide by local mask mandates for the safety of our community. Registrants are required to upload or show their vaccination cards to attend.

Event Hotel:
Courtyard by Marriott Winston-Salem Downtown, reserve by 3/26 for special rate.
Event Reservations Link

For Publishers:

Come Together Sponsorships & Promotions | Call for Authors

The Bookseller Resources Page for the Summer Catalog is now live at rampbooks.com. Including

• Title Lists
• Book Details
• Edelweiss Collection Links
• Marketing Resources & Materials

The RAMP Winter Catalog (also known as the SIBA Holiday Catalog) is by far the most popular and effective resource SIBA provides for its bookstores. It has become a key part of bookstores' holiday sales plans. Last year's catalog was so well received that stores requested a summer edition for the other major shopping season on their calendars.

Now there are twice as many ways to promote year-round reading across print and digital formats, indie-style! Visit RAMPBooks.com for more info and to sign up! The deadline to place store orders is March 15.

Attend the Information Session on February 17th!
REGISTER

Meet the owners of 44th & 3rd Bookstore at the 21-Day Challenge Keynote Event 

SIBA booksellers Warren and Cheryl Lee will be hosting next week's Keynote address with Laura Coates and Steven Wright: In Pursuit of Racial Justice: A Conversation.

Register for the Keynote.
The 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge Blog
Register to take the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge

Warren and Cheryl Lee are the owners of 44th & 3rd Bookseller in Atlanta, GA located near the historic Atlanta University Center. The bookstore opened in November 2017 and specializes in books written by African American authors and authors from the African diaspora.  You can find 44th & 3rd on-line at their website 44thand3rdbookseller.com. 

Spotlighting Books and Crannies Bookstore in Martinsville, Virginia.
“My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”— Malcolm X

SIBA promotes six new books every month to readers, the customers of our member stores, in our Southern Bookseller Review (SBR) Bookshelf promotion. These titles appear at the top of our  weekly SBR newsletter. We also feature them on our SBR Facebook page, with buy links promoted to our 15,000 Facebook friends, and on our Instagram and Twitter accounts. A different member store is featured with the titles on every new shelf.

For publishers looking to promote their new titles out to readers across the South, the SBR Bookshelf is our greatest value because of high visibility and engagement across multiple platforms. Contact us for more information or to get your titles on “The Shelf” in coming months.

Edelweiss Collection