We Are Most Appreciative of the Support Given To California Bookstore Day By:
James Patterson
The Penguin Group
HarperCollins
McSweeney's
Random House
Chronicle Books
Scholastic
Little, Brown Litographs Baker & Taylor
Ingram Picador
American Booksellers Association
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Sunday, March 30, in the Presidio
Spring Gathering
Schedule Set
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We hope to see you all at our upcoming NCIBA Spring Gathering/ABA Forum on Match 30, being held again in the Thoreau Center in the Presidio. We've got a great day planned! We are mailing a Schedule and Registration Packet to all booksellers, but we are including details and a link to the program on our website here as well. Here's a rundown: 8:30 - 9:00 REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST Come early, get your badge, say hi to friends, and get your coffee, fruit, and pastries before the crowds. 9:00 - 10:00 ABA FORUMABA CEO Oren Teicher and Content Officer Dan Cullen will lead an open forum and discussion of industry issues. Attendees help guide the agenda of the forum, so please come with questions and comments. Following the Forum, we'll announce our Book of the Year winners! 10:15-11:30 EDUCATION SESSIONSA. CONVERSATIONS THAT WORKPresented by ABA, this panel session will explore what to say a  nd how to handle a variety of irksome situations in the bookstore, including showrooming, aggressive customers, and those who use store inventory to copy information. Be ready to share ideas that have worked for you. PACIFIC ROOM B. YOU GOT THE EVENT! NOW WHAT?Congratulations, you have just booked an author at the store - now all you need to do is plan and execu  te a successful event, make your store stand out in the minds of the author (and the publicist), generate an audience, and hopefully sell lots of books. Our panelists will discuss author relations, the art of the introduction, getting the author to do their part (not everyone has an army of Nerd Fighters), educating a first-time author and more. Panelists: Vickie DeArmon from Copperfields, Melissa Cistaro from Book Passage and Judy Wheeler from Towne Center Books. Moderator: Ingrid Nystrom from Books Inc, Laurel Village. ATLANTIC ROOM 11:30-12:30 AUTHOR RECEPTION / BOOK SIGNINGA new time for our most popular event! We've invited 15 authors, all with new titles (in stores now or soon on the way) to meet you all and sign copies of their books or galleys. This is a great opportunity to chat with the authors and to introduce them to your stores. We've also invited our guests for lunch after the Reception, so there will lots of time for folks to get to know each other. This is BYOB - Bring Your Own Bookbag. CONFIRMED RECEPTION AUTHORS (to date): Marie Brennan, The Tropic of Serpents, Tor Elizabeth Castoria, How to Be Vegan, Artisan Katie Crouch, Abroad, Sarah Crichton Books Jeff Guinn, Glorious, Morrow Kathryn Ma, The Year She Left Us, Harper Laura McBride, We Are Called To Rise, S&S Pooja Mottl, The 3-Day Reset, Seal Press Alejandro Murguia, Stray Poems, City Lights Dr. Beverly Potter, Heal Yourself: How to Harness
Placebo Power, Ronin Christian Robinson, Josephine, Chronicle MJ Rose, The Collector of Dying Breaths, Atria Mariko Tamaki, This One Summer, First Second Kiki Thorpe, The Never Girls #6: The Woods Beyond, Random House Disney Tim Wright (Reeda Joseph), Man Candy, Cleis 12:30 - 1:30 BUFFET LUNCHA time to relax and chat with colleagues and new friends over good food and drink. 1:45 - 2:45 'SPEED DATING' REP PICKS We're inviting nine local sales reps to talk about some highlights from their Spring and/or Summer lists. There will be three separate bookseller clusters and reps will visit each in rotation. They move, you sit - but bring your notebooks! 3:00-4:00 EDUCATION SESSIONMAXIMIZING CALIFORNIA BOOKSTORE DAY93 Bookstores 13 exclusive Books and Art Pieces 1 day only Join the Party! With California Book Store Day right around the corner join your bookselling colleagues from around the region to brainstorm ideas, get up to speed on publicity efforts and generate excitement for the Statewide Party on May 3rd! Didn't order the exclusive merchandise? No worries, you can still be a CBD bookstore and join the fun! Let us know so we can add you to the website. We will also have totebags, t-shirts, and balloons for sale, as well as free CBD bookmarks to hand out. The Roundtable discussion will be led by Ann Seaton from Hicklebees, Zack Ruskin from Book Passage and Hut Landon from the NCIBA. After the session, we will be handing out boxes to CBD booksellers, fulfilling store orders for a few items that Ingram was unable to handle.
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California Bookstore Day Thanks James Patterson!
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We were thrilled to be one of the recipients of James Patterson's One Million Dollars for Independent Bookstores campaign. NCIBA received a check for $15,000 in support of California Bookstore Day and a personal note from Patterson, who also sent checks to nearly sixty bookstores, including NCIBA members Bookshop Santa Cruz, Book Passage, Hicklebee's, and Gallery Books. In response, NCIBA sent Patterson the following thank-you note. Dear Jim,
I am writing on behalf of the NCIBA, SCIBA and 93 participating bookstores to express our deep appreciation for your donation to California Bookstore Day. Your generosity will enable us to get the word out much more widely throughout the state as we invite book lovers to experience live bookselling at its best on May 3.
I also want to express my gratitude for your support of independent booksellers, not only with this initiative but throughout the years. They are not the only folks selling books, but I think they play an important role in maintaining diversity and variety in publishing. And, of course, in discovering authors and books - I read Along Came A Spider on a bookseller's recommendation, then handsold it in my bookstore at the time. I still remember how much I enjoyed the relationship between Alex Cross and John Sampson.
This is an tumultuous time in the book industry, but independent bookstores are not only surviving but in many cases thriving. Thanks to your support, many of them will be able to do even more for their customers and their communities, making them stronger and more visible. Independent bookselling is not a lost cause but rather a cause for hope and celebration, and your public commitment underscores that point.
With thanks,
Hut Landon
Executive Director
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More Cool California Bookstore Day Stuff!
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Thanks to booksellers, we've sold out of our initial supply of 1500 California Bookstore Day (CBD) book bags, and we have orders for more stacking up. Our next shipment of 2500 will arrive in three weeks, in plenty of time for at least three bookstores - Vroman's/Book Soup, Mysterious Galaxy, and Skylight Books - to sell them at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival on April 12-13. We are also asking booksellers who have CBD bags on hand (or on  order) to ask visiting authors to pose for a picture with the bag. If they'll agree, as Isabel Allende did for Pegasus Books, and will let us post the photo on social media (and their website?), then booksellers can give them the bag as a gift, and we'll replace it for you. Then post away, and send a copy to hut@nciba.com.
Additionally, we are printing 75,000 CBD bookmarks and asking participating stores to commit to proactively distributing them during the month of April - placing them in books or bags at checkout in place of their own store bookmarks. We'll give stores whatever quantity they want - from 500 to 5,000; remember, every customer you give one to is a prime candidate to return on May 3!   Want a poster for your store window? You can download this one by clicking here. |
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Book of the Year Finalists Announced - Vote Now!
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The NCIBA has just released its list of finalists for this year's Books of the Year awards - winners will be announced at the Spring Gathering. We are mailing ballots to every member store, but booksellers can also vote by sending their picks via email to office@nciba.comno later than March 12. Here are the Finalists:
FICTION
* The Circle Dave Eggers Knopf
*We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler Marian Wood/Putnam
* The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells Andrew Sean Greer Ecco
* A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Anthony Marra Hogarth
* Tatiana Martin Cruz Smith Simon & Schuster
NONFICTION
* Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party Joshua Bloom & Waldo E. Martin UC Press
* Who Owns the Future? Jaron Lanier Simon and Schuster
* Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal Mary Roach W.W. Norton
* Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography Richard Rodriguez Viking
* The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit Viking
FOOD WRITING
* The New California Wine Jon Bonne Ten Speed
* The Heart of the Plate Mollie Katzen HMH
* Manresa: an Edible Reflection David Kinch Ten Speed
* The Perfect Peach Marcy, Nikiko & David Mas Masumoto Ten Speed
* Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation Michael Pollan Penguin
* The Drunken Botanist Amy Stewart Algonquin
* The Art of Simple Food II Alice Waters Clarkson Potter
REGIONAL TITLE
* Down by the Bay: San Francisco's History between the Tides Matthew Booker UC Press
* Humboldt: Life on America's Marijuana Frontier Emily Brady Grand Central
* Inside the California Food Revolution Joyce Goldstein UC Press
* The Golden Shore: California's Love Affair with the Sea David Helvarg Thomas Dunne
* Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco Gary Kamiya Bloomsbury
POETRY * Fire Break George Albon Nightboat Books
* My Enemies Jane Gregory The Song Cave
* Hotel Oneira August Kleinzahler FSG
* People on Sunday Geoffrey O'Brien Wave Books
* Here Come the Warm Jets Alli Warren City Lights
CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS * Little Santa Jon Agee Dial
* Battle Bunny Mac Barnett (& Jon Scieszka) S&S
* Glasswings: A Butterfly Story Elisa Kleven Dial
* Tap the Magic Tree Christie Matheson Greenwillow
* The Dark Lemony Snicket Little, Brown
MIDDLE GRADE READERS * Al Capone Does My Homework Gennifer Choldenko Dial
* The World Is Waiting for You Barbara Kerley National Geographic Children's Books
* Mira's Diary: Home Sweet Rome Marissa Moss Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
* Lara's Gift Annemarie O'Brien Knopf Books FYR
* Odessa Again Dana Reinhardt Wendy Lamb Books
TEEN LIT * Freakboy Kristin Elizabeth Clark Farrar Straus Giroux
* The Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong Nina L. Tam Holland S&S
* Charm & Strange Stepanie Kuehn St. Martin's
* Absent Katie Williams Chronicle
* Boxers & Saints Gene Luen Yang First Second
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New Rep Directories
On the Way!
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The 2014 edition of the NCIBA Rep Directory is being mailed to all member stores next week. The mailing will also include a copy of the Book of the Year ballot (please make copies and encourage your staff to vote) and the Sprung Gathering program and registration form. Watch for the envelope next week!
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Moe's Recognized for Its Place in Berkeley History
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Congratulations to Moe's Books, which was recognized for it's historical significance by the Berkeley Historical Plaque Project. The 55-year-old store now sports a plaque that reads:
"In 1959, Morris (Moe) Moskowitz and his wife, Barbara, opened a small paperback bookshop on Shattuck Avenue. They soon moved to Telegraph Avenue where Moe's Books evolved into a renowned emporium featuring hundreds of  thousands of books. Moe's Books was a pioneer in giving honest, fair prices by establishing a fair trade policy of offering cash or a higher value in "Moe Dollars" ("In God and Moe We Trust") for used books. These innovative trade slips - membership cards to a literary world - give previously read books respect and value. Defying Berkeley's no-smoking ordinance, the iconoclastic, politically leftist Moskowitz enjoyed his cigars at work, typifying Telegraph Avenue's anti-authoritarian identity. After his death in 1997 the bookstore has remained a family-run business, continuing its legendary founder's traditions."  | |
Moe's daughter (and current owner) Doris Moskowitz standing next to the new plaque by the bookstore's entrance
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Booksellers Invited to Join Publisher Promotion Offer Program
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"This is another example of how a common problem faced by booksellers was solved simply because a bookseller was at a meeting and mentioned their wish for some industry efficiencies," said NAIBA Executive Director Eileen Dengler. "NAIBA did it last year with the Publishers Advocate program (where booksellers receive marked-up Edelweiss catalogs) and now the Publishers Offer Program. It demonstrates the value of our trade associations and what we do to help our members."
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CLASSIFIEDS
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Sales & Marketing Assistant
Legato Publishers Group,
a Publishers Group West affiliate
Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K
Location: Berkeley, CA
The Sales and Marketing Assistant provides administrative and general support to the Legato Publishers Group Sales and Marketing efforts; including special projects associated with national accounts, report generation, analysis, correspondence and routine clerical.
DUTIES & REPONSIBILITIES: The following reflects the definition of the essential functions for this position, but does not restrict the responsibilities that may be assigned.
SALES:
Populate frontlist title spreadsheets and account systems with title data. Send all appropriate publicity/PR/marketing hits and updates to sales staff every Friday or as needed
- Coordinate the dissemination of print and electronic sales kits and print and electronic sales materials to the sales force
- Perform departmental and specific publisher sales tracking, sales analysis and monthly reporting
- Assist in preparation and compilation of materials for book fairs and presentations
- Ad hoc sample mailings to accounts/buyers as necessary
- Receive from publishers, forward, and follow up on sales leads with reps
MARKETING:
- Compile and distribute marketing information and updates to publishers
- Coordinate the updating of the Legato website
- Be liaison for Legato in all appropriate Berkeley meetings
- Serve as Legato author events order coordinator
ADMINISTRATION:
- Contracts - scan and file signed agreements. Send digital copies to accounts payable with related fees, and to Canada, International, Gift, and Constellation departments.
- Complete new publisher set-up forms and process
- Schedule trade show appointments
- General clerical; expenses, filing, copying, etc.
- Get from publishers and circulate distribution letters
- Research travel/hotel options
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
- Acute attention to detail
- Proficient on Microsoft Office, Excel, Outlook, Microsoft Works and PowerPoint
- Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills
- Ability to work independently and as an member of a team
- Proven ability to handle multiple projects and meet deadlines.
- College degree and 2-4 years publishing experience, preferably in sales, required
EOE
Please submit resume with cover letter to hr@perseusbooks.com
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Poster Reminds Customers That Books Make Great Gifts All Year Round
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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.
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