Gwyn Ridenhour of Matchbook Marketing is designing a new collaborative project between Matchbook and SIBA to promote SIBA book prize winners. The Shop South program will incorporate these book prize promotions into bookstore websites, and where possible, link them to online sales pages. Matchbook is a marketing firm dedicated solely to independent bookstores, and currently works with 65 stores around the country to provide print materials and newsletters, logo and branding creation, website design, and email management. For more information, go to www.WeLoveBooksellers.com

Gwyn will present a preview of the Shop South program at the following March Madness Bookseller Events:

• March 10: Horton's Books & Gifts, Carrollton, GA
• March 11: Page 158, Wake Forest, NC
• March 12: Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA
• March 16: Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC

If you'd like to attend one of these events, please register here.

A Stellar SIBA Revival in Southern Pines! 

On Friday, July 20, booksellers from McIntyre’s Books, Quail Ridge Books, and The Country Bookshop gathered for a SIBA Bookseller Revival.  SIBA Board member Kimberly Daniels Taws presented with Josh Floyd of IngramSpark, giving an overview of how bookstores are utilizing Ingram Sparks’ services in various ways. Kimberly and her team shared their experiences working with local authors, and their approach to publishing with IngramSpark. They help local authors publish their own work, or publish for them. Their services include project management, local expertise, and quality book production. The Country Bookshop has published two authors under their imprint, with plans for more. They also offer authors resources to DIY.

Ingram Sparks’ Josh Floyd explained how his program works in bookstores across the country in ways similar to Kimberly’s, from being a part of a program offered to authors, to becoming the printer for a bookstore’s imprint. He praised Eagle Eye Book Shop of Decatur, GA for their success with offering marketing services to authors.

Josh also offered samples of store and business-branded journals, produced by IngramSpark, and an example of a calendar that stores could replicate if they wanted to do a store or community calendar.

Booksellers spent the afternoon brainstorming for next year’s Independent Bookstore Day, NC-Piedmont Style. Look for some great things to happen for the twelve indie stores participating!

Praise from attendees:

"This revival session was jam-packed with good information. My coworker felt we picked up more in that short period that was useful to our store going forward than any other education we participated in this year. It was intimate enough that we felt we had meaningful participation and had opportunities to ask questions/ hear from our fellow booksellers. In short, we look forward to attending our next one!”--Keebe Fitch, McIntyre's Books, Pittsboro, NC

"I thought the revival was terrific.  Josh gave a really valuable presentation on using Ingram Spark for setting up a bookstore publishing program. Having Kimberly's first-hand experience with it made it even more useful. I couldn't scribble notes and ideas down fast enough. Equally valuable was the opportunity to network with a few other stores in our area. With inspiration from Josh's presentation and the ability to brainstorm on the spot we were able to flesh out a whole campaign for promoting our stores, NC authors, and Independent Bookstore day through next year! Something that would have taken months of emails otherwise and wouldn't have been half as good (or fun). Thanks to SIBA for giving us this opportunity - and to Ingram for a great program, continued support - and lunch!”--Sarah Goddin, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, NC

"Thank you to everyone who came to the revival. We missed those of you who couldn’t join us! Josh did a fantastic job representing IngramSpark, a company that is truly changing the game of what is possible for our stores.” --Kimberly Daniels Taws, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC

Over 80% of SIBA’s bookstore members report to the New York Times Bestseller List, review books on Edelweiss, submitting to IndieNext, publishers, and SIBA plus maintain an extensive local media list. Over 90% report to the ABA Indie Bestseller List.

Combined our southern bookstores support over 1100 book clubs across the south reaching thousands of southern readers. The themes for these book clubs run the gamut and include:  Adult, Children, YA, YA for adults, Signed 1st Edition Clubs, Teen, Black Feminist Fiction, Sci Fi, Political, Mystery, Classic, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, International Literature, Women’s Voices, “Monday Morning”, Romance, Spanish, Small Press, Social Justice and many more.

SIBA stores combined have over 500,000 Facebook friends, over 300,000 Instagram, and over 200,000 Twitter followers.  In addition, SIBA and her stores email nearly 500,000 readers regularly. SIBA’s social network reach is 22,000 on Facebook, 5000 on Twitter, and 1000 on Instagram making the total reach of SIBA and her stores well over one million!

Over 60% of SIBA bookstores attend the SIBA Discovery Show sending more and more booksellers every year increasing attendance by 10% on average since 2014.

We can carry this momentum forward into the future and imagine a day where we determine to send a message out to our million+ southern readers!

As this is my first experience being an intern, I can say for sure one of the things I did not expect to do within my first month with SIBA was go to the SIBA trade show in Norfolk, Va. Caitlin Thigpen, a good friend of mine at Columbia College, is also an intern with SIBA and attended the trade show with me.  

Before going to the trade show, however, Caitlin and I helped Mrs. Wanda Jewell, our supervisor, with getting prepared. We printed out badges, organized tickets, and scheduled author interviews. Then before we knew it, the trade show began.  

To say I was excited is an understatement. I was exuberant at having the opportunity to collect galleys of books not yet released. I was also ecstatic because I was able to interview authors about their upcoming books.

One of the most enjoyable experiences for me attending the trade show was meeting all of the authors I was going to be interviewing. I was happy that I was able to interview authors about their new books. As a book worm, I have always wanted to talk to authors about their books and pick their minds as to what inspired them to write their stories. Being at the trade show, I was given that opportunity and found out a lot about the books I would be reading as well as the authors I interviewed.

Participating in the Civil War photo booth with the two sisters I interviewed about their book, Sisters of Shiloh, Kathy and Becky Hepinstall was also a lot of fun. During the whole photo process, they provided me with a lot of entertainment and really knew how to make me smile.

Seeing that there were so many people at the trade show who also had a passion for books really made me happy.

I enjoyed my time at the trade show. I gained some hands-on experience as both SIBA intern and reporter that I would not get anywhere else. And I received free books as well, which is a big plus for me.