From the Land of SIBAA message from SIBA to its membership
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First Things First...
5/31: Nomination deadline for SIBA Board (
here) 5/31: Deadline to submit ABACUS Survey (more info) 6/1: MPBA 3-Part Diversity Equity and Inclusion
Workshop co-sponsored by SIBA (register) 6/16: Mental Health Check-in with Micro-chillers (register) 6/16:
Glorious Girls Southern Summer Reading Presentation (register) 6/17: Coffee with the Board (register) 6/17:
Deadline to sign up for RAMP "Hot Summer Reads" email (more info) 7/16: Deadline to sign up for RAMP "Back to School/Work" email (more info)
7/19-7/22 NVNR New Owners Retreat (register) 9/27-10/1 NVNR 2021: Opening Doors (register)
On June 16th at 1:00 PM, Bryan Robinson will join SIBA for a short "Mental Health Check-in with Micro-Chillers." Booksellers will remember Bryan from the earlier days of the pandemic, when
he did a series of short "Chill" breaks for SIBA to help booksellers cope with the stress of closures and stay-at-home orders. He returns in June as stores are facing the equally stressful task of re-opening to walk us
through some small, simple exercises to reduce stress. (more info)
Then, when everyone is feeling calm and relaxed, we'll be in the perfect mood to join the Glorious Girls Summer Southern Reading Celebration, the same day at 3:00 PM. Hosted by Kimberly
Daniels of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, NC, Bloomsbury Kids invites SIBA booksellers to meet two MG authors with Southern roots, Gillian McDunn and Ellen Hagan. Pour a glass of iced tea or coffee, and enjoy hearing about
their fabulous new books, poised to be summer handsells to middle-graders and teachers. (register)
NVNR New Owners Retreat: The Program
The NVNR New Owners Retreat coming up July 19 – 22 has announced the
schedule of topics and programming for the event. The retreat will be held in the evenings, after dinner, to accommodate the limited availability of store owners during the work week.
Thanks to all who signed in for our coffee event last week!
It's so good to see smiling bookseller faces and it's even better to hear that things are looking up for so many of us. I'm not a sports guy, but right now I feel like we're all working on loading the bases so that when Fall rolls
around we can pull a Babe Ruth and call our shot straight out to center field. Our ideas and our talent have never wavered, but now I can feel our collective confidence coming back and we should be able to run up the scoreboard!
Our next Coffee with the Board event will be on June 17 at 1PM EST.
Add it to your calendar and plan on stopping by! The June 17th meeting will be especially prescient as it will come about 1 week before our next scheduled board meeting. That means the things we discuss will be top of mind
whenever the board does its policy reviews and discusses any modifications or updates. I can't tell you how much we appreciate members speaking up to tell us about what's on their minds. Board meetings are made more consequential
with every idea we hear.
One last thing ... Board nominations.
This is pretty much last call. Nominations are due by 5/31. There are 2 seats that will be up for a vote and we hope to have an energetic slate of candidates to put forward. Self
nominations are encouraged. Now is the time to serve! A lot has changed over the past year and there is a tremendous amount of opportunity to be sorted out. Put your name forward or nominate the best bookseller you can think of!
-- John Cavalier SIBA Board President
Owner, Cavalier House Books
A Note from SIBA's Social Media Coordinator
Hello SIBAland!
First and foremost, I hope you all are well! I love seeing all of the magnificent things you post each and every day. You never cease to remind me how lucky I am to be able to do what I do!
On that note, I’d like to highlight more of you, our lovely lovely members, on our social accounts! If you’ve submitted an Edelweiss review of a book that you absolutely adore, and are comfortable taking a picture of yourself with
said book, or a picture of said book in your store, I would love if you sent it my way! If you just so happened to be feeling extra creative one day and you recorded a short video of your review of said book (59 seconds or less),
I would probably faint from happiness.
Your Ever-Enthusiastic Social Media Coordinator, Lucy
P.S. - You can also always just send cool pictures and videos of your store or your staff my way as well!
The Anti-Racist Bookseller
Rethinking School Book Fairs
School book fairs are an important source of revenue for many independent bookstores. They are often the culmination of hard-won relationship-building with local school systems. But are they reaching every child they should be? How
can they be improved to be more equitable, and more representative of the community they are meant to serve?
ABACUS deadline is May 31 If you've been putting it off, this is the week to bring ABACUS to the top of your priority list. Click here
Reader Meet Writer Welcomes NAIBA Booksellers!
Beginning in June, the Reader Meet Writer Author Series will expand its bookseller participation to include bookstores from the North Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association
(NAIBA), SIBA's sister association to the north. NAIBA territory includes West Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware. Read more!
General RMW Event information:
RMW events are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM Eastern
Each event is fully moderated and hosted, with plenty of time for author Q & A. Current host is Wiley Cash, author of When Ghosts Come Home (William Morrow, 2021)
All events are recorded and available to stream at SIBA's Reader Meet Writer TV YouTube channel.
If or When I Call with Will Johnson Thu Jun 3rd 7:00pm - 8:00pm | REGISTER
Will Johnson is a musician and songwriter who has played in the bands Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, Marie/Lepanto, Overseas, New Multitudes, and Monsters of Folk. He also releases records under his own name,
and makes paintings centering on the subject of baseball and its history. His work has appeared in American Short Fiction. He was born in Kennett, Missouri, and currently lives in Austin, Texas. If or When I Call is
his first novel.
The Soulmate Equation with Christina Lauren Tue Jun 8th 7:00pm - 8:00pm | REGISTER
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA TODAY, and #1 internationally bestselling authors
of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, Dating You / Hating You, Autoboyography, Love and Other Words, Roomies, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, My Favorite Half-Night Stand,
and The Unhoneymooners. You can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com,@ChristinaLauren on
Instagram, or @ChristinaLauren on Twitter.
We Are Each Other's Harvest with Natalie Baszile Thu Jun 10th 7:00pm - 8:00pm | REGISTER
Natalie Baszile is the author of the novel Queen Sugar, which was a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2014, longlisted for the Crooks Corner Southern Book Prize, nominated for an NAACP Image
Award, and adapted for television by writer/director Ava DuVernay and co-produced by Oprah Winfrey for OWN. Baszile holds a M.A. in Afro-American Studies from UCLA and is a graduate of Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program
for Writers. She lives in San Francisco.
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.
Spotlight on: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
What booksellers are saying about The Soulmate Equation
Christina Lauren books are auto-reads for me. I laugh, I swoon, and I put off any and all responsibilities to JUST. KEEP. READING. What more could you want from a romance? -- Hannah Kerbs from Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN Buy from Parnassus Books
This story is full of heart and humor and is a joy to read. -- Jennifer Jones from Bookmiser, Inc. in Marietta, GA Buy from Bookmiser
Nobody makes chemistry leap off a page like Christina Lauren! The Soulmate Equation is full of heart and heat - loved every page of it! --Jessica Nock from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC Buy from Main Street Books
Nobody makes chemistry leap off a page like Christina Lauren! The Soulmate Equation is full of heart and heat - loved every page of it! --Jessica Nock from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC Buy from Main Street Books
Spin is a thrilling story that will keep the reader breathless until the end. This mostly true story begins with a bored housewife and mother in the 1890’s who takes a wager to circle the world on a bicycle. The
reader gets to ride along with Annie as she meets the most famous people of the day and finds love and adventure in every long mile. This tale will stay with you long after Annie’s last ride.
Linda-Marie: Reading:Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal. A completely addictive novel centered around chronic, disabling illnesses, with many passages in the
form of texts and group chat. I haven’t reached the werewolf reveal, but I sense it coming. Listening: Beethoven Chamber Music station on Pandora. Watching: the scene in my neighborhood from my perch on the front porch. Yesterday the ice cream truck drove by for the first time since 2019!
Lucy: Reading:The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell - Richly detailed and full of suspense, this mysterious story is definitely one of those ones that has you sacrificing sleep for answers. Listening: Consider This from NPR Watching:Shadow and Bone - I have not read these books, but I really liked this show!
Nicki: Reading:Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter (another twisty path I've been pushed down by the Slightly Foxed Podcast), The Parted Earth by
Aanjali Enjeti Listening:Summertime, Isata Kanneh-Mason, hello, 90 degree afternoons! Watching: Any Star Trek episode from any series that features the Borg or the Romulans. Yes, you read that right.
SP: Reading: Not enough reading lately! But... Listening: ...to Nathan Rateliff and Lucy Dacus and impatiently waiting for the next episode of the Cocaine & Rhinestones podcast. Watching: Summer usually gets me in a New Orleans mood, and since it is pretty much on 24 hours a day somewhere, I’ve had NCIS: New Orleans on in the background a lot. The NCIS part is nothing special,
but the show is actually shot in and around New Orleans and every episode is full of local musicians and someone is always cooking something I want to eat.
1. Project Hail Mary Andy Weir, Ballantine, $28.99, 9780593135204 2. Sooley John Grisham, Doubleday, $28.95, 9780385547680 3. The Hill We Climb Amanda Gorman, Viking, $15.99, 9780593465271 4. While Justice Sleeps Stacey Abrams, Doubleday, $28, 9780385546577 5. The Midnight Library Matt Haig, Viking,
$26, 9780525559474
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet John Green, Dutton, $28, 9780525555216 2.
The Premonition Michael Lewis, Norton, $30, 9780393881554 3. The Bomber Mafia Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown, $27, 9780316296618 4. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99, 9780062976581 5. Finding the Mother Tree Suzanne Simard, Knopf, $28.95, 9780525656098
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Supporting independent bookstores in the South SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805
Useful Links SIBA Office Hours on Zoom by appointment. Available during regular business hours at 803-994-9530, or anytime at siba@sibaweb.com
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.
The NVNR New Owners Retreat coming up July 19 – 22 has announced the
schedule of topics and programming for the event. The retreat will be held in the evenings, after dinner, to accommodate the limited availability of store owners during the work week.
Thanks to all who signed in for our coffee event last week!
It's so good to see smiling bookseller faces and it's even better to hear that things are looking up for so many of us. I'm not a sports guy, but right now I feel like we're all working on loading the bases so that when Fall rolls
around we can pull a Babe Ruth and call our shot straight out to center field. Our ideas and our talent have never wavered, but now I can feel our collective confidence coming back and we should be able to run up the scoreboard!
Our next Coffee with the Board event will be on June 17 at 1PM EST.
Hello SIBAland!
Rethinking School Book Fairs
If or When I Call with Will Johnson
The Soulmate Equation with Christina Lauren
We Are Each Other's Harvest with Natalie Baszile
