Administration/Projects
Send project-related
questions (Fall Discovery Show, Winter Catalog, Reading the West Book Awards, Website)
plus bills, invoices,
and payments to:

MPIBA Administration
c/o Kathy Keel
208 E. Lincoln Avenue

Fort Collins, CO 80524

Mark Your Calendar!

Fall Discovery Show (Trade Show) 2015

October 8-10, 2015
The Renaissance
Denver Hotel

Booksellers Celebrate
Independent Bookstore Day!

"Christmas in May"

The first Independent Bookstore Day held on Saturday, May 2, was a success, with some of the roughly 400 participating stores already planning for next year. Several booksellers contacted by PW compared sales for the day to those during the biggest retailing season of the year: December.

"We have a hit on our hands."

... the fact that booksellers are already working on ways to improve IBD is one sign the event could become an annual one. As NCIBA's Hut Landon noted, "First indications are [that] we have a hit on our hands."

-Excerpted from Publishers Weekly, May 5, 2015

Booksellers:
Please complete the Independent Bookstore Day Survey by clicking here.

MPIBA Bookstores Invite Customers to Join the Fun

Weller Book Works in Salt Lake City Uses Facebook to Promote the Day

Facebook post: Here we have a BUILDING STORIES print, signed by Chris Ware and numbered 17 of 500 prints. Available only on Independent Bookstore Day, this Saturday, May 2! Store mascot not for sale.

Another Weller's Facebook post:

What are our day-long Independent Bookstore Day activities? We're glad you asked!

Butcher Paper Book Favorites: Tell us what your fav is.
Celebrity Author Challenge: Vote with donations between Chuck Klosterman & Chuck Palahniuk; J.R.R. Tolkein & George R.R. Martin; Jeannette Walls & Jeanette Winterson. $$ go to Utah Humanities
Desert Island Books: What will you take?
Book Making for Kids

Bookworks in Albuquerque, NM Celebrates 30th Birthday and Independent Bookstore Day

Congratulations to Bookworks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which celebrated their 30th anniversary on Saturday, May 2, in conjunction with Independent Bookstore Day. The store featured appearances by New Mexico authors Carolyn Meyer, author of DIARY OF A WAITRESS, and David Thurlo, author of GRAVE CONSEQUENCES.

To celebrate their birthday and to honor their loyal customers and event attendees, Bookworks launched a new loyalty program, the "Bookworks Book Brood," where customers receive a loyalty card and earn a stamp for each Bookworks event attended. After 10 events, customers receive a 30% discount on a single purchase.

Bookworks also gave away scores of Advance Readers Copies of new books as part of a "Blind Date with a Book" game and they raffled off book swag by the hour.

Out West Books in Grand Junction, CO, Celebrates 1st Birthday and IBD

Celebrate First Independent Bookstore Day and First Birthday!

As a HUGE thank you for your fantastic encouragement and support this year, we are giving away signed copies and advanced reading copies of books! Come join us!

Bluebird Books in Hutchinson, KS

"I love being a part of downtown and the Hutchinson literary community," Melanie Green, owner of Bluebird Books, said in a news release. "Independent Bookstore Day just gives me one more reason to thank my community for their enthusiastic support of Bluebird Books and to remind them of all that we offer."

Show your love and join the party May 2 for Independent Bookstore Day, a nationwide celebration of the value independent bookstores bring their communities and a thank you to all our customers! We love being your local source for all things books. We love being a part of downtown. We love engaging readers young and old and reminding everyone of the power of the written word.

Join us Saturday and show your love!

West Side Books in Denver, CO

Did someone say "Independent Bookstore Day?" Someone did. 20% off everything and anything today for the occasion. Come and play, come and play!

Brace Books & More
in Ponca City, OK

It's Independent Bookstore Day! We have lots of exclusive, limited edition literary items that you can't get anywhere but your favorite indie bookstore!! We're also having story time at 10am & 2pm, so come by the bookstore today and bring your little ones!!

Katy Budget Books in Houston, TX

Today is Independent Bookstore Day! Come by and celebrate with your family owned neighborhood bookstore. We have unique items sold ONLY in Indie Bookstores. We also put our entire line of Melissa & Doug toys and games, Tyler Candles, spring scarves, and all our jewelry on sale for 30%. With Mother's Day right around the corner, the timing of this promotion could not be better.

MPIBA Urges Colleagues to Become Sustaining Donors

Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation Launches Campaign to Sustain

The Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation announced that during the month of May, it will be seeking 50 new sustaining donors to provide ongoing support for bookseller assistance programs such as serious medical expenses, domestic violence, utility shut-off prevention and homelessness prevention. This national fundraising initiative, called the Campaign to Sustain, will ensure the Foundation can continue to assist booksellers experiencing financial hardships like these for years to come.

"I invite all of you to join me."

"With the upcoming launch of Binc's Campaign to Sustain I am increasing my commitment to $40 a month in celebration of SIBA's 40th Anniversary, and I invite all of you to join me," stated Wanda Jewell, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Executive Director and current sustaining board member.

80% of all assistance grants are awarded
to employees of independent bookstores.

For almost 20 years, the Binc Foundation has served as a safety net for booksellers facing unexpected personal financial hardships, and today 80% of all assistance grants are awarded to employees of independent bookstores. From the first assistance grant of $323 given to a single mother struggling to pay her bills, the level of assistance has steadily grown, with the average grant today exceeding $1,500. In order to continue to provide this increasing level of assistance to booksellers, the Foundation must raise funds for sustainable and lasting support.

"Booksellers are ... a big, extended family."

Pam French, Binc Executive Director, noted, "Over the past three years the Foundation has focused on awareness while also working to determine if there is a need within the book industry for a Foundation of our type. In 2014, grant requests increased, and we received on average one request for assistance every week. To continue to meet grant requests, we are focusing on becoming sustainable and expanding our fundraising efforts. Booksellers are like a big, extended family and willing to help each other out, becoming a sustaining donor is one way for booksellers to ensure help is there when it is needed."

To make a donation:

To make a sustaining donation to Binc during the Campaign to Sustain, please visit the Binc donation page.

Bookstores on Buzzfeed!

Changing Hands Bookstore

31 Independent Bookstores
That Are Every Book Lover's Dream

The BuzzFeed Community was asked about their favorite independent bookstores and their picks, posted on May 2, included the following MPIBA member bookstores. Congratulations!

Tattered Cover Denver

BookPeople Bookstore

Changing Hands Bookstores

To see all of the bookstores listed, please click here.

ReadingGroupGuides.com "Speed Dating" Deadline

ReadingGroupGuides.com will be hosting its 4th annual "Great Book Group Titles for Fall/Winter: A Special Speed Dating Event for Booksellers, Librarians, Blogger and Book Club Leaders" at BEA. The event will be held on Friday, May 29th, from 2:00pm to 3:50pm, in the Special Events Hall at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

27 publishers will gather to share selections and book group news.

Representatives from 27 publishers (listed below) will gather to share selections and book group news from their publishing houses in a speed-dating format designed to give booksellers, librarians, book group leaders and bloggers an inside look at what book groups will be tempted by for fall and winter. Galley giveaways and ideas for enhancing book group discussions will be part of this event.

Sign-up is required by Monday, May 18.

The event also coincides with the site's 15th anniversary, and we're planning to make it extra special to celebrate that milestone. Advance signup is required by Monday, May 18th at noon, and seating will be assigned.

For more information, click here.

To sign up for the event, please click here.

Presenting Publishers:

Algonquin
Berkley/NAL
Bloomsbury
Consortium
Crown
Ecco
FSG
Grove/Atlantic
Hachette
HarperCollins
Henry Holt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Ingram
Liveright
Mira
Other Press
Penguin Press
Picador
Random House Trade Paperbacks
Riverhead
St. Martin's Press
Simon and Schuster
Soho Press
Sourcebooks
Viking
W. W. Norton
William Morrow