From the Land of SIBAA message from SIBA to its membership
You have received this email because you are currently subscribed to receive general correspondence. Please click @@unsubscribe_url@@ if you no longer wish to receive these communications. View this email online.
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.
Check out these numbers! Prices are low and interactions are high in the SIBALAND newsletter.
Open rates for SIBA's weekly newsletter jumped from a 45% rate in January and February to 72% March and April. Click through rates also jumped from 5% to 9%
The SIBALAND newsletter enjoys high reader loyalty as a matter of course, and industry people -- bookseller and other -- tend to read it regularly. In March and April, the open rates, clicks, and reading time all increased significantly, coinciding with the forced store closures and shelter-in-place orders. This is evidence that subscribers find the newsletter a valuable source of information. The clicks, which are spread out evenly through the major newsletter articles, suggest that SIBA is meeting the needs of its readers. Moreover, there is a high repeat-open rate, meaning people are returning to the newsletter to read it multiple times.
Bookstores, especially, are reading SIBALAND more diligently than ever, and are open to any and all information that will help them weather the current crisis. SIBALAND represents an opportunity for publishers to reach a highly receptive audience and the prices have never been lower. With SIBA's advertising cut 50%, publishers can reach these booksellers with their COVID-19 messages of support, special offers, books, any news you want in front of booksellers for a low price and high return. A header banner is only $150, and a newsletter banner, only $99 through July 1. Space is limited.
Our web traffic had fallen off then I sent out the notice for Lee Smith in (our version of) Shelf Awareness and we now have more than 35 participants and more than 20 books sales. -- Doloris Vest, Book No Further, Roanoke, VA
We are adding authors to the schedule. First, if you haven't signed up to promote the Reader Meet Writer (RMW) events and sell the books to your customers and want to, email wanda@sibaweb.com. We have two events coming up next week. Lee Smith is on Tuesday, and Ruthie Lindsay is on Thursday. Their books, Blue Marlin, and There I Am: The Journey from Hopelessness to Healing - A Novel, are both perfect books for the times. And we will soon be offering three or more events a week. Lee Smith has signed a limited number of bookplates in preparation for her SIBA Reader Meet Writer event (April 21 at 4 p-m). Booksellers who are interested in having some bookplates for their readers and/or those who are interested in hosting virtual events should email Lynn York at lynn@blairpub.com.
Resourcing, Or, What do I do when I'm lying awake at three o'clock in the morning?"
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.
Independent Bookstore Day has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 29
Some important news...
• You will be able to amend or cancel your order of IBD exclusives before May 1. Please only do this if you feel you absolutely need to as all exclusives have already been printed and produced according to your original orders. This applies only to the exclusive items coming from Ingram, and does NOT include totes, t-shirts, or bookmarks.
• You can check your IBD order on your iPage (it will show as backordered). Then simply email me with any changes. Please include your Ingram number, store name, the ISBN for each changed item, and the NEW TOTAL. If you originally ordered 10 of something and you want to change it to 5, just put 5 next to the title and ISBN.
• If you missed the original order deadline and still want to place an order of the exclusives for the August 29th date, please use the ORDER FORM (visible on indiebookstoreday.com) and we will see what we can accommodate as the new numbers shake out. You can see the 2020 catalog here.
• A reminder that none of IBD orders will ship from Ingram until the beginning of August (if all goes well) and you will not be billed until it ships. Shea Serrano's Basketball book has been postponed and we are rolling out online sales of Renee Watson's WAYS TO MAKE SUNSHINE this month (see below). Bookmarks and tote bags are no longer available.
#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. All eligible indie bookstores will receive funds. We anticipate 95% of indie bookstores will be eligible.
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.
Good ideas: Firestorm Books & Coffee"Instagram Worthy" Packaging.
Good ideas: Underground Books on How to Sell Candles
1. The Glass Hotel Emily St.John Mandel, Knopf, $26.95, 9780525521143
2. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires Grady Hendrix, Quirk Books, $22.99, 9781683691433
3. Valentine Elizabeth Wetmore, Harper, $26.99, 9780062913265
4. American Dirt Jeanine Cummins, Flatiron Books, $27.99, 9781250209764
5. Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens, Putnam, $26, 9780735219090
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. The Splendid and the Vile Erik Larson, Crown, $32, 9780385348713
2. Untamed Glennon Doyle, The Dial Press, $28, 9781984801258
3. Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family Robert Kolker, Doubleday, $29.95, 9780385543767
4. The Last Book on the Left: Stories of Murder and Mayhem from History's Most Notorious Serial Killers Ben Kissel, et al., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26, 9781328566317
5. Korean Dream: A Vision for a Unified Korea Hyun Jin Preston Moon, Morgan James Publishing, $29.95, 9781642799804
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
You have received this email because you are currently subscribed to receive general correspondence. Please click @@unsubscribe_url@@ if you no longer wish to receive these communications.
