From the Land of SIBAA message from SIBA to its membership
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Booksellers are unique people who possess equally the rugged individualism of the entrepreneur and a citizen-steward mindset when it comes to our towns, organizations, and communities. Our perspectives can provide insight into the transformation necessary to reemerge from the COVID-19 crisis stronger people that are part of stronger groups.
Ahead of our regularly scheduled May meeting the SIBA Board would like to invite all members to share the concerns, thoughts, and challenges facing you as members. We would also ask you to bring, if you have them, any contributions of insight or solutions you have found to problems related to this new reality, things that are providing you comfort and inspiration right now, and any ideas you have to share with our organization and our industry for the future. The format will be open. We encourage you to bring your perspectives.
The constantly-changing information regarding this ongoing pandemic and our various states' policy changes surrounding it are causes of fear and insecurity and we are all facing daily, even hourly, personal and community uncertainties. The sudden onset of an increased amount of difficult, important decisions to make and conversations to have is overwhelming for many of us.
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is an amazing community of booksellers and entrepreneurs that share together in the best of times and uplift each other during the worst. The SIBA Board of Directors invites all members (owners and managers, we encourage you to also invite your staff members) to participate in a town hall forum on Friday, April 17th from 1-3 PM EDT to begin a discussion designed to determine what we can all do for each another right now, in this incredibly difficult time, and going forward.
See you at the Town Hall,
Reader Meet Writer, Okra Pick with Steven Wright Coming Up April 16th @ 5 pm – Are you in?
It was so wonderful to hear Steven Wright at #SIBA19 and I’m excited for him to share his book with readers across the south. If you haven’t signed up to participate in SIBA’s Virtual Author Series Reader Meet Writer, you can do so by emailing wanda@sibaweb.com.
And if you have, Steven’s The Coyotes of Carthage is “a blistering and thrilling debut—a biting exploration of American politics, set in a small South Carolina town, about a political operative running a dark money campaign for his corporate clients.” (Edelweiss)
Steven Wright is a clinical associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, where he co-directs the Wisconsin Innocence Project. From 2007-2012 he served as a trial attorney in the Voting Section of the United States Department of Justice. He has written numerous essays about race, criminal justice, and election law for the New York Review of Books.
Worie Dressar is 17 years old when influenza and typhoid ravage her Appalachian Mountain community in 1877, leaving behind a growing number of orphaned children with no way to care for themselves. Worie's mother has been secretly feeding a number of these little ones on Sourwood Mountain. But when she dies suddenly, Worie is left to figure out why and how she was caring for them.
Plagued with two good-for-nothing brothers—one greedy and the other a drunkard—Worie fights to save her home and the orphaned children now in her begrudging care. Along the way, she will discover the beauty of unconditional love and the power of forgiveness as she cares for all of Momma's children.
Storyteller and popular speaker Cindy K. Sproles pens a tender novel full of sacrifice, heartache, and courage in the face of overwhelming obstacles.
Bookseller Chill with Bryan Robinson, Ph.D. is a six-week series that began on March 26 at 2 PM EST and continues each Thursday, same time, same zoom link, till April 30. Each session lasts approximately 30 minutes and include concepts from Bryan's book: #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life (HarperCollins, 2019), followed by what Bryan calls simple, short "MicroChiller" meditations that will help us relax and restore during this time of great uncertainty. You can read Bryan's recent post at Forbes.com: The Psychology of Uncertainty: How to Cope with COVID-19 Anxiety.
Edelweiss has created a hub page of special offers from publishers, including offers specifically for bookstores facing the challenge of closures and interrupted sales. There are dozens of offers listed, from Arcadia to Wiley Press.
Macmillan has posted their first-ever virtual event grids to Edelweiss, as well as an offer to share some digital marketing tips for successful virtual/live streaming events. Email Melissa.Campion@macmillan.com for more info or start requesting authors now--they're sharing requests with publicists daily, as they come in. Here are the links to them: Macmillan Virtual Event Grid - Adult / Macmillan Virtual Event Grid - Kids/YA
Sign up fo the Workman Chalkboard Digital Resources: Authorless event kits, educational/homeschool materials, author videos, and downloadable visuals for social media to help promote titles and bookseller contests and giveaways for stores and staff plus extra swag for customers! Here is the March chalkboard if you would like to take a look through and get an idea of what it's like. Booksellers that are subscribed are really enjoying it so far.
Simon & Schusterindies.
And so do our authors! Please feel free to download the assets and share the love.
Holiday House has added a new resource page to meet the needs of those booksellers who would like to connect authors/illustrators and their books with community members in a virtual environment. Please feel free to download and print all materials and link to this page on your website, enewsletters, or any other platform. This page compiles all their materials, which includes activities, lesson plans, event kits, read-aloud guidelines, and more. They are adding additional resources daily!
#SaveIndieBookstores Applications Are Open
Bookstores requesting funds must apply during the application period
of April 10, 2020 until 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) April 27, 2020.
Relief provided to independent bookstores is at the sole discretion of the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc). All donations go directly to Binc and are tax-deductible. Any amount funded to qualifying bookstores is at the discretion of Binc. Funds received are based off of an anticipated loss of 50% of sales during any 30-day period of March 15, 2020 through May 15, 2020, based on the same period of sales during 2019, due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The application for funds will be open from April 10, 2020 until 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) April 27, 2020. All checks will be made payable by Binc directly to the supported independent bookstore. Checks will not be made payable to individuals.
All eligible indie bookstores will receive funds. We anticipate 95% of indie bookstores will be eligible.The final fund amount and the number of eligible bookstores that apply will determine the amount of money that's ultimately given away. We recommend that bookstores consider this part of their overall relief plan that they are pursuing that may include federal and local grants, forgivable loans, low interest loans, Facebook grants, and others.
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: Simon and Schuster Partners with Bookshop and Libro.fm
Simon & Schuster is partnering with Bookshop.org and Libro.fm to support independent bookstores. For the rest of 2020, Simon & Schuster will donate any affiliate fees earned through sales at Bookshop.org to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.
In addition to this financial support, they’ve created beautiful assets for booksellers to use on Instagram and Facebook, in which authors like Stephen King, Jason Reynolds, Cassandra Clare, and Lisa See express why independent booksellers need support now more than ever.
1. The Glass Hotel Emily St.John Mandel, Knopf, $26.95, 9780525521143
2. The Mirror & the Light Hilary Mantel, Holt, $30, 9780805096606
3. Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens, Putnam, $26, 9780735219090
4. The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich, Harper, $28.99, 9780062671189
5. Valentine Elizabeth Wetmore, Harper, $26.99, 9780062913265
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. The Splendid and the Vile Erik Larson, Crown, $32, 9780385348713
2. Untamed Glennon Doyle, The Dial Press, $28, 9781984801258
3. Front Row at the Trump Show Jonathan Karl, Dutton, $28, 9781524745622
4. Lady in Waiting Anne Glenconner, Hachette Books, $28, 9780306846366
5. The Yellow House Sarah M. Broom, Grove Press, $26, 9780802125088
Thank you for your interest in SIBA,
Nicki Leone
SysAdmin nicki@sibaweb.com
THANKS TO OUR INKREADIBLE SPONSORS:
SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805
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What Momma Left Behind 
