by Thom Chambliss, PNBA Executive Director

 

Yes, it's time again for the annual show. This year, a change of venue brings us to Tacoma and the art-filled Hotel Murano. This might just be the best vacation many booksellers will have all year! 

 

Go here to receive our special $129/night rate, with free parking and WiFi. Remember, the deadline to reserve a room at our special rate is Friday, September 28, or when the rooms are sold out.

 

To find ALL of the show events in one place, check out the PNBA show page. Remember, as a cost-cutting measure, we will NOT print the show program this year, so print your own copies of any pages you might need at the show. We will have a limited number of one-sheets on hand at the registration desk listing the events in chronological order for each day, but those schedules will not include details. As soon as the entire schedule is completed we'll post the comprehensive program on the show page.

 

The show will begin Saturday, October 13 with a full schedule of Educational Sessions. Some highlights include a talk by the executive director of the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, an ABA session to introduce the new indieCommerce deal with Kobo and the now classic Reps' Pick of the Lists. We produce separate sessions for authors, small publishers and librarians but sincerely hope that some of you will try moving between tracks to see how the other half lives.

 

In addition to our first-day author events, including the Celebration of Authors and The Nightcapper, plan on attending the new Northwest Classics First Night Dinner, hosted by King's Books, just ten blocks from the hotel. In addition to meeting some of the Northwest's finest authors and getting signed copies of their newest works, everyone wearing a 2012 show badge will be offered a FREE buffet meal before the author presentations start at 7pm. 

 

The Sunday Book & Author Breakfast will be headlined by the incomparable Sherman Alexie. At 9:30 the exhibits will open to attendees and you'll have a chance to meet the sales reps and publishers, without whom we would NOT have a show. PLEASE remember to bring with you as many orders as you can, especially after you've taken a look at the tremendous Show Specials, as well as the Buyer's Sheet for your 2012 Holiday Books guide. 

 

The BuzzBooks contest will also take place on the floor all day Sunday. A rundown of this year's contest appears in an article below.

 

After the exhibits close for the day at 4:30 Sunday, eight authors will sign for an hour. At 7 pm the incredibly popular Feast of Authors will begin, featuring twenty well-known authors. Where else do you get to sit down with some of your favorite authors to talk one-on-one about their work? After the meal, attendees will receive a random selection of at least twelve of the evening's featured books. 

 

Monday's Book & Author Breakfast has the new wave and the old guard sharing the stage. The second day of exhibits will be open for four hours, 

with author signings in the morning and the Exciting National Voices showcase during the lunch hour. Boxed lunches will be available for just $10. Author autographing from 1 - 2 pm will close out the show. 

 

Register Now. The authors want to meet you. Your fellow booksellers want to see you. And PNBA needs you there.

Evonne Agnello is an author and a member of Book Publisher's Network who lives in Tacoma. When she offered to help us get settled in for a show in her hometown, we threw her this question: Where should we eat?

Agnello says there are many nice restaurants within a several-block radius of the Murano that should be easy for attendees to find. Some of those walkable recommendations are Pacific Grill, Indochine, and if you want THE classiest place in town, El Gaucho. 

For those looking for a little more on-the-town exploration, here's what she suggests: 

When you stop by to hear about Agnello's BuzzBook, Shaking Shame from Mental Illness, at the BPN booth next month, be sure to thank her for the recommendations.

 

Shaking Shame from Mental Illness

by Evonne Agnello

Book Publisher's Network

 

A memoir with a message of hope for anyone who has suffered from depression or trauma or known someone who has. Two family suicides plunge Evonne into darkness where she finds that writing plays a strong role as she trudges through the mental muck to find peace.

 

The Case of D.B. Cooper's Parachute

by William L. Sullivan

Navillus Press

 

Portland police detective Neil Ferguson uncovers a series of puzzling and threatening clues that lead to the identity of legendary hijacker D.B. Cooper, but when he delves deeper into a web of blackmail and murder, he realizes there may in fact be two Coopers.

 

Wilderness

by Lance Weller

Bloomsbury Publishing

 

Gig Harbor resident Lance Weller's stunning debut; Cold Mountain meets East of the Mountains in this tale of a Civil War veteran's final journey on the Pacific Coast.

 

Four Thousand Hooks: A True Story of Fishing and Coming of Age on the High Seas of Alaska

by Dean Adams

University of Washington Press

 

It's the summer of 1972, on an Alaskan halibut fishing boat. This adventurous memoir, like a great novel, follows Dean as he witnesses courage and vulnerability on the high seas, emerging with a deeper knowledge of himself and the world.  

 

The Open Door: 100 Poems, 100 years of Poetry Magazine

edited by Don Share and Christian Wiman

University of Chicago Press

 

A stunning collection-a book not of the best or most familiar poems of the century, but one of incomparable archives, revealing conversations across time and enduring themes. Poetry-and Poetry-remains a vibrant, important part of today's cultural landscape.

 

The Carrion Birds

by Urban Waite

William Morrow & Co.

 

Set in a small town in the Southwest, a soulful work of literary noir rife with violence, vengeance, and contrition from a fresh voice in fiction. Seattle resident Waite is the author of the highly acclaimed The Terror of Living.

 

Booksellers attending this year's PNBA show in Tacoma will have the chance to meet a new exhibitor. Here's what GLIBA's Executive Director Deb Leonard had to say about BINC:

"I wanted to let you all know about the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. This is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides financial emergency assistance to booksellers experiencing an unexpected financial crisis. The organization began as the Borders Group Foundation, with a mission to help BGI employees and their families. Last year they expanded their focus to include booksellers at large. The foundation is based here in Ann Arbor. I was familiar with them when my husband was a BGI employee, and I have met with several members of the organization in the last few months. They are on the up and up, and it is a great program."

You can familiarize yourself with BINC and its assistance process on the Bookseller Programs page at PNBA.org.

Any time you donate retail books or cash to a non-profit, literacy-oriented group, you and your recipient may be eligible for a matching grant of up to $300 from PNBA. In 2011 the program was revised so that grant money is now offered in terms of "credit" for the recipient

literacy group to spend only in your store, so your efforts are guaranteed to pay you back. 

This year, Maggie Freitag, owner of Parnassus Books and head of PNBA's Literacy Committee, donated books to Ketchikan's Community Connections' Early Learning Program. This photo shows Freitag's PNBA matching grant at work!

Bookselling This Week announced the lauch of a new ABA web page that gathers all of the particulars related to the new Kobo eBooks and eReaders partnership announced just a few weeks ago.

Learn how to sign up and how to begin offering your customers Kobo eReaders and access to Kobo's nearly three million titles! The program also includes bookseller training as well as merchandising and marketing support.

Your new S & S rep has some updated contact info for you: "Hey, everybody; below is my new contact information with Simon & Schuster. You may begin to send me orders/issues/rants and raves! Please send me an email at christine.foye@simonandschuster.com, as it's the quickest way for me to enter you into my S&S contact folder." 

Wilcher Associates, an independent commission rep group covering the 13 western states, is seeking a dynamic and self-starting individual to become the new Northwest rep. Geography tentatively includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Candidate must have reliable transportation. Please send letter of interest and resume to Dan Skaggs.

The Craig Public Library of Craig, AK has been chosen as the recipient of all books and materials donated to the Michael Pritikin Rural Library Project by exhibitors at this year's show. The library was nominated by both Hearthside Books of Juneau and Parnassus Books of Ketchikan.

World Book Night is producing regional promotional videos from it's 2011 U.S. launch and they want to get working on the Pacific Northwest version. Send them your photos and share what you have on your Facebook and Pinterest pages. Here are the first two videos in the series, from New England and the

Southeast.

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