The Dewey Readathon is coming up on October 24. I know that is only three weeks away but I have a brilliant idea and I’m hoping my southern indie bookstore members will jump in with both feet. One of the many goals of SIBA is to assist stores in getting and keeping an online presence without adding to the workload. That is impossible but reducing the workload to get involved online is very possible. And the Dewey Readathon is among the best I’ve come up with, so please read on if you want to:
increase both your virtual and real-world consumer base
enjoy virtually free advertising and promotion
connect in a real way with the hard-working book bloggers across the internet
contribute to the literacy movement
partner with a blogger that will affiliate with your store and blog on your behalf
What do I have to do, you ask?
1) Familiarize yourself with the Dewey Readathon by visiting http://24hourreadathon.com/ (be sure to check out the FAQ)
2) You need to have wifi access in your bookstore.
3) Your store would need to be open for the 24 hours of the Readathon.
4) Email me (wanda@sibaweb.com) if you meet the criteria and want to be added as a participating store.
SIBA is going to coordinate with the Dewey Readathon Bloggers to find the ones near participating SIBA Stores to put them. The Bloggers will make themselves comfortable in your store for the night (you can provide coffee and snacks if you’d like and hopefully some comfy seating is available as well). The bloggers will read books from your shelves and blog about what they read each hour. SIBA will be encouraging the bloggers to also blog about your store and to become an affiliate/fan of the store ongoing. If we can pull this together in the South, we may try to take it national next year. Imagine all of the book bloggers connecting with indie stores in a way that furthers everyone’s cause.
Eighty-six book bloggers have signed up to participate in the Dewey Readathon so far this year and there were over 120 who participated in the last Readathon. SIBA wants to help her stores connect with these bloggers. Let me hear from you.
Is there a blogger in our area?
We might be able to participate but would feel better about this if I knew there
was a blogger available.