From the Land of SIBAA message from SIBA to its membership
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First Things First...
2/11: Reader Meet Writer - Race Against Time with Jerry Mitchell 2/18: Reader Meet Writer - The Fortunate Ones with Ed Tarkington 2/18 - 2/20: ABA Winter Institute
2/25: Reader Meet Writer Economy Hall with Fatima Shaik 3/3: Webinar with Bren McClain: Making the Most of Your Pitch to Publicists (register) 3/4: Reader
Meet Writer - Love at First with Kate Clayborn 3/9-3/12: NVNR Presents: Publicity Speed Dating (register) 3/11: Reader Meet Writer - When the Apricots
Bloom with Gina Wilkinson 3/17- 3/18: IndieCommerce Institute (info) 3/23-3/25: NVNR March Madness: Social Media Retreat
Webinar: Making the Most of Your Pitch to Publicists
Wednesday, March 3 at 3PM EST!
Are you signed up for the NVNR Publicity Speed Dating event in March? If not, we still have a few spaces left! For those attending, Bren McClain of McClain Communications wants
to help you put your best self forward during your fifteen minute pitch to publishers.
From Bren: I’ll tell you right off the bat, here’s the key: YOU. You are your biggest asset in this pitch. YOUR energy, YOUR passion, YOUR enthusiasm, YOUR belief in what you’re saying. Yes, words matter, and we’re going to
talk about that, talk about all the cool details you can equip yourselves with – knowing what your store is good at, for example. But words carry no power if they’re not backed by passion, by belief. And how do you show passion?
It begins with knowing what you believe, and, from there, letting your physicality express it with your eyes, your voice, etc. I invite you to join me, and let’s talk about how you can set yourself up to be an even stronger communicator
and have fun doing it.
The Essence of Nathan Biddle by J. William Lewis Greenleaf Publishing June 1, 2021 $27.95 Hardcover ISBN: 9781626348462
A timeless, Southern Gothic-esque, coming-of-age novel that unfolds on the Alabama coast in the 1950s, The Essence of Nathan Biddle follows a young protagonist’s search for meaning, for purpose—and for answers.
“Eloquent, provocative, and beautifully written, The Essence of Nathan Biddle is like discovering The Catcher in the Rye all over again.” –David Armstrong, author of The Rising Place
Kit Biddle, nearing the end of his high school career, finds himself tangled in a web of spiritual quandaries and intellectual absurdities. Kit’s angst is only compounded by the psychological burden of his crazy uncle Nat, who
sacrifices Kit’s metaphorical doppelganger, Nathan Biddle, on what the uncle claimed were direct orders from God. The murder of Nathan leaves Kit adrift, exacerbating his already compulsive struggle with existential questions about
the meaning of his life.
Beautifully written, profoundly moving, and resplendent with characters destined to remain with readers long after the last page is turned, The Essence of Nathan Biddle is unforgettable
About the author: Novelist J. William Lewis lives in Shoal Creek, Alabama
The Bookseller Directory at The Southern Bookseller Review is now also
available at sibaweb.com. The searchable directory lists all the bookstores in SIBA's database, approximately 500 stores. Each listing links to the store website, if known,
and to their list of collected book reviews at SBR, if any. There is also a link for stores to submit corrections, if they see an error in their listing.
Foggy Pine Books "wins the lottery"
If you haven't seen it yet, DO NOT MISS the post-game Super Bowl "commercial" created by Stephen Colbert for Foggy Pine Books. "Big companies aren't the ones
that need our support the most right now. It's small businesses that have been hurt the most in this pandemic," said Colbert during Monday night's The Late Show, "Of course a small business could never afford
the millions of dollars it would cost to produce and run an ad on CBS tonight, which is why we here The Late Show have decided to just pick one and just give it to them."
IndieCommerce Institute Announced for March 17-18, Registration Opens Wednesday
IndieCommerce announced plans for the 2021 IndieCommerce Institute, which will be held Wednesday, March 17 for IndieCommerce stores and Thursday, March 18 for IndieLite stores. This year’s interactive, classroom-style workshop
is migrating to a virtual setting. The live, one-time-only programming is free and limited to the first 200 registrants. Registration will open on Wednesday, February 10. Via The Independent Bookseller.
Reader Meet Writer: Upcoming Events
Are you interested in joining the circle of bookstores
sending invites to their customers? Please email Linda-Marie and we'll discuss what's involved.
Race Against Time with Jerry Mitchell Thu Feb 11th 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Jerry Mitchell has been a reporter in Mississippi since 1986. A winner of more than 30 national awards, Mitchell is the founder of the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. The nonprofit is continuing his work of exposing injustices and raising up a new generation of investigative reporters.
The Fortunate Ones with Ed Tarkington Thu Feb 18th 7:00pm - 8:00pm |
Ed Tarkington's debut novel Only Love Can Break Your Heart was an ABA Indies Introduce selection, an Indie Next pick, a Book of the Month Club Main Selection, and a Southern Independent Booksellers Association
bestseller. A regular contributor to Chapter16.org, his articles, essays, and stories have appeared in a variety of publications including the Nashville Scene, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Knoxville News-Sentinel,
and Lit Hub. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood by Fatima Shaik Thu Feb 25th 7:00pm - 8:00pm
FATIMA SHAIK, a former professor and journalist, is a trustee of PEN America and author of six previous short story collections and young adult novels. Economy Hall is her first nonfiction work.
This week on Circle of Sites
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.
Read This! Recently Posted on The Southern Bookseller Review
LAST WEEK'S BOOK BUZZ: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw On Edelweiss
When Deesha Philyaw talks about why she quit her day job and decided to write full time, she quotes Audre Lorde. "I actually quit because it was a toxic work environment...Leaving
felt radical to the extent that I left to preserve my mental and physical well-being, and as Audre Lorde said, ‘Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.’”
What
booksellers are saying about The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
Having grown up in a Mississippi Southern Baptist church, it wasn't until I was a teenager that I saw the secret double lives of some of us. Rebelling against the submit to authority messages on Saturday night, but sitting
pious and submissive come Sunday morning services was de rigueur. Deesha Philyaw's book The Secret Lives of Church Ladies gives voice to secret lives that I know for sure are lived and true. The need for acceptance,
for absolution, for grace is ever-present in familiar relationships as well as those in the church. These short stories are divine. --Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in
Athens, GA
A mesmerizing series of stories chronicling the private thoughts and lives of an eclectic group of women. The presence of the Church in the characters' lives is simply a false stereotype that sets the reader up for a sometimes
sad, sometimes angry and often sensual romp outside church services. --Jamie Fiocco, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC
Built around the lives of women at the intersection of the Black community and the Church, this collection soars. --Miranda Sanchez, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel
Hill, NC
I loved these stories. What does it mean to be a good church girl? How does that effect a strong woman's desires and freedoms? The stories were superbly written, both meaningful, poignant and funny. Couldn't put it down, finishing
in an afternoon. -- Kelley Barnes, Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, NC
A stunning tale of perseverance, family, friendship, and hope, The Four Winds absolutely blew me away. Kristin Hannah describes a time in American history that is often overlooked through the eyes of characters so human
I’m amazed they aren’t real people. Hannah weaves the struggles of the time seamlessly with ones any mother can relate to: working ten hours a day for mere pennies and a son who gets into fights at school; using
a rope to guide her to the barn because the dust in the air is so thick she can’t see, then coming inside to an obstinate teenage daughter who just wants her dad. The reader can relate to Elsa enough that they can easily
see themselves even in her most dire circumstances. The Four Winds tells the story of an American dream that isn’t meant for everyone, and how those left behind can band together to make that dream work for them.
It’s one I will not soon forget.
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (List Price: $28.99, St. Martin’s Press, 9781250178602, 2/2/2021) Reviewed
Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina
Over the Shop by JonArno Lawson, Qin Leng (Illus) On Edelweiss | Buy
This beautiful picture book without words tells a story of welcoming and acceptance. I love that the absence of text allows the reader to make up any story or dialogue they want. The pictures provide so much to talk about, and
it would be easy to become so absorbed in this book that the time just passes by.
Over the Shop by JonArno Lawson, Qin Leng (Illus) (List Price: $16.99, Candlewick, 9781536201475, 1/5/2021) Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Take Pride and Prejudice and set it in the mid 80s at a high school in Texas and you’ve got Pudge and Prejudice. Elyse and Jayne Nebbit have moved to Texas with their parents and three younger sisters. Their
new school is obsessed with football and their star quarterback, Billy Fitz. And Elyse finds herself a little obsessed with Billy herself. We’ve all read retellings where the changes are obnoxious and make the story too
far in tone and theme from the original. I’m glad to say that one is true to the original, while still updating it for 1980s Texas. This was a sweet, fun story about teens, but which works well for preteens as well.
Pudge and Prejudice by A.K. Pittman (List Price: $15.99, Wander, 9781496442833, 1/12/2021) Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser, Inc. in
Roswell, Georgia
1. The Four Winds Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s, $28.99, 9781250178602 2. The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett, Riverhead Books, $27, 9780525536291 3. Hamnet Maggie O’Farrell, Knopf, $26.95, 9780525657606 4. The Prophets Robert Jones, Jr., Putnam, $27, 9780593085684 5. The Unwilling John Hart, St. Martin’s, $27.99,
9781250167729
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. Keep Sharp Sanjay Gupta, M.D., S&S, $28, 9781501166730 2. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain George Saunders, Random House, $28, 9781984856029 3.
Let Me Tell You What I Mean Joan Didion, Knopf, $23, 9780593318485 4. Caste Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $32, 9780593230251 5. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99, 9780062976581
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Supporting independent bookstores in the South SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805
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
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Wednesday, March 3 at 3PM EST!
The Bookseller Directory at The Southern Bookseller Review is now also
Are you interested in joining the circle of bookstores
sending invites to their customers? Please 
Race Against Time with Jerry Mitchell
The Fortunate Ones with Ed Tarkington
Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood by Fatima Shaik
What
booksellers are saying about The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
