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NCIBA Newsletter
July 2013
 
In This Issue
NCIBA Responds to Obama
California Bookstore Day Update
Trade Show Schedule
BART Shuttle for Trade Show
BINC Announces Scholarships
Sell More Books with Hut's Place
Books As Gifts Poster


































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































NCIBA Responds to President's Amazon Appearance 
This open letter was sent to local media on Monday. Feel free to forward to your own press contacts.

July 29, 2013

Dear President Obama,

I'm writing you on behalf of the members of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association to express our dismay at your decision to deliver an address on jobs at an Amazon warehouse.

Amazon is a company that for more than decade fought tooth-and-nail to protect a business model based on sales tax avoidance, in the process fueling other online companies to copy to its actions and costing states cumulatively billions of dollars.

Worse yet, in our state, Amazon's CEO purposely misled the media and public officials by stating that his company shouldn't have to pay sales tax in California because Amazon didn't have a presence here and therefore wasn't using services that sales tax covers. The fact is, of course, sales tax is collected by retailers on behalf of purchasers who are liable for it - Amazon wasn't being asked to pay sales tax, only to do what other retailers are required to do legally in the states.

Amazon now has largely abandoned its sales tax avoidance strategy because it believes it needs to compete on delivery time. So warehouses have been opening across the country, including in Tennessee. Amazon has created jobs, to be sure, but they are often part-time (making those nasty health benefits a non-factor) and barely minimum wage. The company has made news with their warehouses, but it hasn't always been about job creation. In Pennsylvania, employees were forced to work in extreme summer heat without any air conditioning, and you have no doubt been following Amazon's labor troubles in Germany.

On top of all this, your Justice Department handed Amazon a monopoly on e-books with it's recent ruling, assuring that independent bookstores will be unable to compete with e-books being sold as a loss leader to attract new Amazon customers. Ironically, while consumers will see lower prices, they will also see many fewer e-books published in the future. When Amazon decides not to lose money on the products, it will force e-book publishers to offer better terms. Given the already low margins, the response will be to simply not publish nearly as many titles. You'll be able to buy the newest book by Dan Brown, just not anything by the next Dan Brown.

Your appearance at the Amazon warehouse in Chattanooga sends a clear signal to small independent businesses that our value as job creators and community linchpins is not as important as an arrogant chain behemoth's contributions to states' monetary shortfalls and creation of thousands more minimum wage, benefit-poor jobs.

We will continue to do what we do best as locally owned businesses - offer knowledge and service to our customers, create and support community growth and activity, make every effort to provide employees with fair wages and conducive working conditions. And some of us will continue to grow and employ new workers, as small business has always done, even with the Amazons of the world being excused for past transgressions and rewarded for predatory business practices.

We are disappointed that you feel Amazon deserves your attention and endorsement (even if implied). We hope you will carefully consider the message you are sending with such an appearance and perhaps re-think that message in the future.

Respectfully but with regret,

Hut Landon
Executive Director
Northern California Independent Booksellers Association

California Bookstore Day Needs Your Help to Be Successful!

cbd logo square California Bookstore Day is coming - mark your calendar for Saturday May 3, 2014! This one-day celebration of independent bookselling is a joint production of NCIBA and SCIBA. It will feature participating bookstores (and only participating bookstores - no Amazon) selling a selection of unique, limited edition, word-based items created by publishers and high-profile authors and illustrators. Some members are already planning special author events and in-store activities for that day as well.

 

Our goals are twofold - one, to remind the public and the media that independent bookselling is alive and well in California and two, to make May 3 a huge sales day for our members.

 

The NCIBA board and office staff is pretty jazzed about California Bookstore Day, but it is also a big undertaking. To do it right, we have hired a coordinator - Samantha Schoech - to oversee the planning and myriad details of the event. We also have created a working budget, which includes Samantha's salary. We don't want to ask booksellers or publishing houses to fund the event, so we've come up with another way to raise the needed money. But it only will work with your help.

 

We've launched an Indiegogo crowd funding campaign  for the event and we need you to spread the word. Our bottom line - we have to raise $30,000 in less than a month to make this all work.

 

Crowd funding campaigns work best when tons of people get the message. If you click on the link to our California Bookstore Day page, you'll find a video and a detailed description of the event. We are hoping that if book lovers see what we want to do, many of them will donate to make the event a reality.

 

But they can't see it if you don't show them the way. We've even written a sample note (below in red) that you can edit and use to reach out to folks.

 

You can donate yourself to see how easy it is, then you can send or post the link to friends, family, newsletter subscribers, Facebook, Twitter - you get the idea. The more exposure we get, the easier it will be to raise the money.So if you can send this message - or your version of it - out soon, it would be a big help! 

 

Just announced - California Bookstore Day on May 3, 2014! We will be joining more than 150 independent bookstores across the state to celebrate reading and the written word with special events and festivities throughout the day. All participating stores will also be selling a selection of unique, limited edition word-based items that will only be available on May 3 and only in participating bookstores. We'll keep you updated as these special items are announced.

 

Sound cool? you can help support California Bookstore Day by donating to our crowd funding campaign through Indiegogo. The money raised will fund the salary of our coordinator; watch the video for all the details. Thanks and mark your calendar now - California Bookstore Day on Saturday, May 3, 2014.

 

NCIBA Trade Show Shaping Up to Be a Can't-Miss Event

We here in the office are getting excited as this year's Trade Show approaches. We think this year's event, which will be held again at the South San Francisco Conference Center on October 3-4, will be both informative and entertaining, and we're going to do our best to show you a good time. Remember, we have a new host hotel, the Best Western Plus Grosvenor. We urge you to book SOON to ensure the room rate of $119, which includes breakfast and free in-room wi-fi. Just call one of these numbers, 650-873-3200 or 1-800-722-7141, and ask for NCIBA block.  

  

We are still finalizing our education program for this year's trade show and will have news on the workshops very soon. But one session we do have booked is a presentation of a timely subject from the ABA:

 

Health Care Reform and the Bookstore: How It Affects You Now  
The Affordable Health Care Act (aka Obamacare) was passed by Congress in 2010. Though some provisions of this historic legislation have been delayed some are already in effect, and many important features will still take effect in January 2014, when the new health insurance marketplaces are scheduled to be rolled out across the country. These marketplaces - or exchanges - are designed to ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance.

Come to this session to find out about what these new features mean for you, your employees, and your business. Detailed, actionable information will be provided to help you understand how the new law works, how to evaluate your options under the law, and how to take advantage of provisions of the law already in place. Presented by ABA with assistance and support from the Small Business Majority.    

  

As for the rest of the show,  here's a brief look at the two days. All activities will be held in the Conference Center this year. By the way, our education programming is once again sponsored by our good friends at Random House.

 

Thursday, October 3

9:30-10:00am: Annual Membership Meeting and California Bookstore Day Update  

Keynote speaker Nancy Horan 

BADEN ROOM

 

10:15-0:45: Keynote Speaker Nancy Horan, author of Under the Wide and Starry Sky (Random House)  

BADEN ROOM

 

11-12:00: Concurrent Sessions   

Small Press Rep Picks   

Education Workshop  

BADEN ROOMS 1 & 2

 

12:15-1:30: Author Buzz Lunch  

Sponsored by HarperCollins

Six authors speaking about Winter/Spring 2014 titles

$20 member, $25 non-member, arcs available

OYSTER POINT ROOM

 

Authors include:  

Ishmael Beah, Radiance of Tomorrow, FSG

Carol Cassella, Gemini, Simon & Schuster

Arlo Crawford, A Farm Dies Once a Year, Holt

Armistead Maupin, The Days of Anna Madrigal, Harper

Brian Payton, The Wind Is Not a River, Ecco

Drew Perry, Kids These Days, Algonquin

 

1:45-2:45: Concurrent Sessions  

Two Education Workshops  

BADEN ROOMS 1 & 2

 

3:00-4:00: Concurrent Sessions  

Children's Rep Picks  

Education Workshop  

BADEN ROOMS 1 & 2

 

4:00-5:30: Children's Author Tea  

Sponsored by Baker & Taylor

$25 member, $30 non-member, signed books for attendees OYSTER POINT ROOM

 

Authors include: 

Anthony Horowitz, Russian Roulette: An Alex Rider Novel, Penguin

David Shannon, Bugs in My Hair, Blue Sky/Scholastic

Neal Shusterman, UnSouled, S&S

Cynthia Voigt, Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things, Random House

 

4:30-6:00: Welcome Cocktail Reception. Wine provided by Kermit Lynch and Farrar Straus Giroux in celebration of Lynch's new book, Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer's Tour of France.  

   

5:00-7:00: Trade Show Exhibit Floor open for business - bring your drinks and get a first look.  

Place-an-order raffle drawing at 7:00

 

Friday, October 4

9:00-10:15am: Large House Rep Picks   

Hear about great new books, then visit reps on the show floor to find out more about your favorites

 

10:30-12:00: Author Brunch  

Sponsored by Baker & Taylor

$30 member, $35 non-member, signed books for attendees

 

Authors include: 

Ivan Doig, Sweet Thunder, Riverhead

Wally Lamb, We Are Water, Harper

Kim Stanley Robinson, Shaman, Orbit

 

11:00 - 5:00: Trade Show Exhibit Floor Open  

Place-an-order raffle drawing at 4:45

 

5:30 - 7:00: Author Reception

25-30 authors signing and visiting with attendees; complimentary hors d'ouevres plus wine courtesy of Kendall-Jackson and PublicAffairs, publisher of A Man and His Mountain: The Everyman Who Created Kendall-Jackson and Became America's Greatest Wine Entrepreneur by Edward Humes, who will be signing at the Reception.  

  

Confirmed authors:

Tom Barbash, Stay Up With Me, Ecco

Mac Barnett, Count the Monkeys, Disney

Kendare Blake, Antigoddess, Tor

David Carter, Spot the Dot, Scholastic

Cecil Castellucci, Tin Star, Macmillan Children

Sandra Feder, Daisy's Defining Day, Kids Can Press

Marcia Goldman, Lola Goes to Work: A Nine-to-Five Therapy Dog, Creston/PGW

Peter Brown Hoffmeister, Graphic the Valley, Tyrus Books/F&W Media

Edward Humes, A Man and His Mountain, PublicAffairs

Matthew Kirby, The Lost Kingdom, Scholastic

M. Sarah Klise, The Show Must Go On!, Algonquin

Barry Lancet, Japantown, S&S

Gene Yuan Lang, Boxers and Saints, Macmillan 

David Laskin, The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the 20th Century, Viking

Jenny Lundquist, Princess in the Opal Mask, Running Press

Adam Mansbach. The Dead Run, Voyageur

Christie Matheson, Tap the Magic Tree, Greenwillow 

bill p.
Bill Petrocelli, bookseller and author 
Lisa O'Donnell, Death of Bees, Perennial

Robin Oliviera, I Never Loved You, Viking

Drew Perry, Kids These Days, Algonquin

Bill Petrocelli,The Circle of Thirteen, Turner/IPS

Indu Sundaresan, Mountain of Light, Atria

Martin Cruz Smith, Tatiana: An Arkady Renko Novel, S&S

Peter Stein, Toys Galore, Candlewick

David Thomson, Moments That Made the Movies, Thames & Hudson/Norton

Daisy Whitney, Starry Nights, Bloomsbury

 

NCIBA Working on BART Shuttle from South SF Station to Trade Show
The trade show complaint we heard most often last year was that taking BART to the event was not very easy. There is a shuttle that runs between the South San Francisco BART station and the Conference Center, but only during commute hours. And taking BART to the SF airport and hopping a hotel shuttle bus to the area was time-consuming and not always smooth.

So this year, we are going to provide shuttle service between the show and the South SF BART station throughout the two days of the show. We're still finalizing the details, but they will be included in the Attendee Registration kit that goes out in a couple of weeks. We don't know the exact schedule, but we're hoping to have at least hourly pickups and hopefully an ongoing loop (it's about a 10 minute drive). We will of course provide service into the evening, so that people can stay until the end of the festivities each day.

We are hoping that bookstores will send additional staff this year for at least one day, and we want to make as easy for East Bay and San Francisco booksellers to attend. We'll have more details soon!

Binc Foundation Announces 2013 Bookseller
Higher Education
Scholarship Winners

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation has announced the recipients of their 2013 Academic Scholarship Program, which saw 32 students, who were either booksellers, former Borders employees or dependents, receive nearly $100,000 in scholarship funding for their continuing education.

Scholarship recipients were evaluated by a third-party academic selection process. The selection criteria included financial need, prior academic success, leadership capabilities, and participation in school and community activities, work experience and a statement of career aspiration.  The winners from our region include:

·Jerome Gaoiran, former bookseller at Borders/Union City, CA. Jerome is finishing his degree in clinical psychology at Pepperdine University/Malibu, CA.

· Karen Johansson, bookseller at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Karen studies applied anthropology at San Jose State University/San Jose, CA.

· Marjorie Muto, daughter of bookseller Mary Muto from Gallery Bookshop/Mendocino, CA. Marjorie is enrolled at the University of San Francisco studying environmental studies.

"We are pleased to assist these students achieve their goals through higher education," Binc Foundation Executive Director Pam French said. "We were impressed by the quality of candidates who applied and congratulate all the scholarship winners.  We encourage all booksellers and their dependents to consider applying next spring."

See the full list of winners here. http://www.bincfoundation.org/request-assistance/scholarship/

Sell More Books To Your Customers with Hut's Place
Take a look at the latest issue of Hut's Place, the weekly newsletter column dedicated to driving book buyers into bookstores with news of popular new releases, new titles on bestseller lists, hot books arriving in paperback, and more.

This week, the column looks at Sarah Dunant's new novel about the Borgias, Blood & Beauty, James Lee Burke's 20th installment of his Dave Robicheaux series, and the arrival of the sequel to the bestselling I Could Pee On This.

If you forward Hut's Place to a few good customers (or family and friends) with an invitation to subscribe, they'll buy the books from you when they read about something they want - a win-win, right?
 
Poster Reminds Customers That Books Make Great Gifts All Year Round

The NCIBA has done a new color printing of its poster touting books as gifts that's available free to any interested bookstore member. The message is simple - books make great gifts for any person and any occasion; to date, more than 75 stores have requested and received posters.

 

The impetus for the poster's creation came from the notion that, although book buyers may spend less on themselves in tough times, they will usually not shirk on spending when purchasing a gift. So why promote books as great gift ideas only during the holiday season? Book customers purchase gifts all year round, so let's remind them that books are the perfect answer.

The poster, measuring 11x17 and printed on card stock, can be ordered for free by emailing hut@nciba.com. Or use the concept to create your own messaging and let us know what you come up with.

 

poster