FIRST THINGS FIRST:
1/8/2020: B3! Book Club Discusses Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan (rsvp)
2/1/2020: Southern Book Prize Ballot closes (here)
1/15/2020: Independent Bookstore Day Catalog is published (here)
2/3/2020: Deadline to place your IBD orders (no late orders this year!) (here)
3/9 - 3/19/2020: The March Madness Bookseller Series (register)
SIBA Office Hours: Wednesdays from 2:00 - 5:00 PM EST (by appointment in November and December)
In the Land of SIBA Blog
A NEW LOOK FOR A NEW YEAR
On December 2, SIBA launched its new website design -- a simpler, cleaner look that is completely mobile friendly and emphasizes the programs and services that SIBA members have told us were most important and useful to them. While we are still in the process of fine-tuning and updating, we encourage you to visit and let us know what you think. www.sibaweb.com
BOOKSHOP.ORG, PART 1
On Wednesday, December 4 at 2PM EST, Andy Hunter, CEO and Founder of Bookshop, and Sarah High, Partnerships Manager and Bookseller Liaison, discussed Bookshop, its mission, and how it will partner with independent bookstores. Set to launch in January 2020, Bookshop is an online bookstore with an explicit mission to help promote and financially support the brick-and-mortar bookselling community. Built-in collaboration with the ABA, independent booksellers, Ingram, and some of their favorite book and magazine publishers, Bookshop will be a way for websites, authors, indie stores, magazines, and bookstagrammers to easily promote and purchase the books they love online without driving sales to Amazon.
Read Andy Hunter's letter detailing how Bookshop.org will work.
Questions about Bookshop can be sent to Sarah High, the Partnerships Manager and Bookstore Liaison, at sarah.high@bookshop.org
Next week: Bookshop.org, Part 2: Questions and Answers from the Webinar
SIBA IN THE SPRINGTIME:
THE MARCH MADNESS BOOKSELLER SERIES
 Where every bookseller is a champion!
March Madness Bookseller Series: Fourteen bookstores across our territory will host one-day education and networking gatherings running from 10am-3pm with an author luncheon. Events are within 2-3 hours driving distance from a majority of our member stores, and take place over a three-week period in March. Booksellers may register for multiple events, as each host store’s education is tailored to share their best practices and innovations.
Register here
- March 9: Oxford Exchange, Tampa, FL
- March 10: Page & Palette, Fairhope, AL
- March 10: Horton’s Books & Gifts, Carrollton, GA
- March 11: Square Books, Oxford, MS
- March 11: Page 158, Wake Forest, NC
- March 12: Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA
- March 12: Gottwals Books, Byron, GA
- March 13: Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, NC
- March 15: Story & Song, Fernandina Beach, FL
- March 16: Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC
- March 16: Starline Books, Chattanooga, TN
- March 17: Cavalier House Books, Denham Springs, LA
- March 18: Bookish, Fort Smith, AR
- March 19: Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA
Call for authors! Publishers are invited to participate, and store availability is determined on a first-come, first-served basis. Pricing is as follows:
- $899 per publisher includes 1 attendee + 1 author lunch keynote, eblast, banner ad at sibaweb.com, and in Lady Banks newsletter
- $799 includes author lunch keynote, eblast, banner ad at sibaweb.com, and in Lady Banks newsletter
Every publisher will receive a list of all booksellers registered for MMBS, plus an individualized list of who attended their sponsored event.
Deadline for author nominations: Jan. 15, 2020
Contact for author nominations: lindamarie@sibaweb.com
Next week on Lady Banks Pick of the Week:
Read more about SIBA's Circle of Sites Program (aka the "banner for dues" program) and find out whether your store is eligible to participate and receive free membership dues.
IN BRIEF
 Publishers Weekly seeks nominations for 2020 Bookstore & Sales Rep of the year
Authors, booksellers, publishers, distributors, and others with ties to the book industry are invited to nominate their favorite bookstores and sales representatives for the Bookstore and Sales Rep of the Year Awards. (Please note that candidates cannot nominate themselves, nor can family members nominate them.) Finalists will be named at Winter Institute 15 in Baltimore, Md., in January. Winners will receive a write-up in the pre-BookExpo issue of Publishers Weekly’s print magazine in May 2020 and will be honored at an awards ceremony in New York City at BookExpo.
more info
On Lady Banks Bookshelf this month:
Printable versions for your store displays: Hardcover | Paperback | Children's.
Hardcover Fiction
1. The Starless Sea
Erin Morgenstern, Doubleday, $28.95, 9780385541213
 2. Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens, Putnam, $26, 9780735219090
 3. The Dutch House
Ann Patchett, Harper, $27.99, 9780062963673
4. Olive, Again
Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $27, 9780812996548
5. The Guardians
John Grisham, Doubleday, $29.95, 9780385544184
Hardcover Nonfiction
1. A Warning
Anonymous, Twelve, $30, 9781538718469
2. The Body
Bill Bryson, Doubleday, $30, 9780385539302
3. Talking to Strangers
Malcolm Gladwell, Little Brown, $30, 9780316478526
4. The Yellow House: A Memoir
Sarah M. Broom, Grove Press, $26, 9780802125088
5. Me
Elton John, Holt, $30, 9781250147608
Special to the Southern List
Books that appear on the Southern Bestseller List, but not on any other region's list
see all
THE BOOKS YOUR COLLEAGUES ARE TALKING ABOUT
 Some of the reviews submitted this week on Edelweiss+ from your fellow SIBA booksellers. SIBA members earn B3! points for every review if they join the SIBA community on Edelweiss. Email nicki@sibaweb.com to be added.
   
9781496441539 A Long Time Coming 1/7/2020
"Great character development and a compelling narrative. I think this will make a good book club pick for its family dynamics and themes of family secrets, infidelity, and end-of-life issues. Despite all of its heavy themes, it's a joy to read. Granny B, with all her flaws, is a treasure." -- Angela Schroeder, Sunrise Books, High Point, NC
9780525534938 We Wish You Luck 1/14/2020
"A quiet novel with big payoff. I was immediately intrigued by the narrative voice; the story of what happened at a low residency MFA program (the students meet every June and January and go home to their regular lives the rest of the year) is told through the cumulative voice of the residents, minus the three most talented writers at the center of the story. These writers (Hannah, Leslie, and Jimmy) are wildly different from each other, but they form a tight bond during the first residency; this bond is irrevocably changed during the second residency, and two of them take their elaborate revenge in the third. Surprisingly heartfelt, this book is a must-read for fans of the campus novel. "-- Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, NC
9781644450109 Homie 1/21/2020
"Navigating the conflicting but closely connected emotions of joy and grief, celebration and mourning, and love and pain, Danez Smith’s Homie is a lyrical force of reckoning. Through the evocative power of memory, Smith’s collection delves deeply into stories and hurt that we might try to run from in order to transform them into odes—odes of childhood, of loss, of the person from high school that you always wanted to tell you admired for their strength and confidence. Through an intimate understanding of the people that have populated their life, Homie creates a complex but undeniably honest portrait of human connection." -- Morgan McComb, Square Books, Oxford, MS
9781984878618 The Authenticity Project 2/4/2020
"Intertwining the stories of five strangers who reach out and help each other after reading and sharing their stories in a common journal, the author deals with issues of truth, falsehood, loneliness, friendship and generosity of spirit. Book clubs, in particular, will find this book rich with opportunities for discussion." -- Lia Lent, WordsWorth Books, Little Rock, AR
More bookseller reviews
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Thank you for your interest in SIBA,
Nicki Leone
SysAdmin
nicki@sibaweb.com
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance
51 Pleasant Ridge Drive, Asheville, NC 28805
803.994.9530
Fax: 309.410.0211
www.sibaweb.com
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