All good news to report from SIBA in Greenville, SC this year. Attendance was up according to SIBA official Nicki Leone. Angie Smits, of Southern Territory Associates, who has attended SIBA for years, said that her company saw an increase in orders this year.

Angela Bobbitt, Manager of Rock Point Books in Chattanooga, and Julie Schoerke, book publicist, congratulate authors Ron Rash (middle) and Darden North (right) on their novels’ literary nominations and awards this year.

Barry Doss, Publisher of The Design Group Press, an example of a first-time exhibitor at SIBA this year, said the connections he made were even better than he’d hoped. Marti Healy, the author of several books, signed her books the whole time to attract the attention to the regional publisher’s booth.

Ruth Breipohl of St. Vincents Hospital (Birmingham) and author Patricia Harman at the Friday night SIBA dinner

Authors went on the auction block Saturday night to raise buckets of money for the local Greenville charity Loaves & Fishes. Authors “Tweeted” their answers to questions in an attempt to whet the appetite of bookstore owners who “bought” them for the evening to have dinner and chat at local restaurants. The brave authors featured were those whose books were nominated for 2009 SIBA Book of the Year Award.

First time exhibitor The Design Group Press Publisher Barry Doss with author Marti Healy visiting with a bookseller on the tradeshow floor

An example of a Tweet: Gene Fehler, author of Beanball Question: What will make you a scintillating dinner guest? Answer: “I’ve never been called a scintillating dinner guest. Maybe I’ve been saving myself for this moment.”

Brave authors who participated:

Gigi Amateau Chauncy of the Maury River

Raymond Atkins The Front Porch Prophet

Gene Fehler Beanball

Susan Gregg Gilmore Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

Alan Gratz Something Wicked

Patricia Harman The Blue Cotton Gown: A Midwife’s Memoir

N. M. Kelby Murder at the Bad Girl’s Bar and Grill

Howard Lee The Courage to Lead

Ed Madden Signals

William McKinney Holy Smoke: The Big book of North Carolina Barbecue

Mary Alice Monroe Time is a River

Darden North Fresh Frozen

Kate Salley Palmer Almost Invisible: Black Patriots of the American Revolution

Gin Phillips The Well and the Mine

Ron Rash Serena

Nicole Seitz One Hundred Years of Happiness

John Thompson Armaggedon Conspiracy

Shellie Tomlinson Suck Your Stomach in and Put Some Color On

Beth Webb Hart The Wedding Machine

Karen White The House on Tradd Street

Allan Wolf More Than Friends: Poems from Him and Her

SIBA Executive Director Wanda Jewell takes a moment to great her brothers, Steve and Wayne, on the floor of the SIBA tradeshow.

SIBA Executive Director Wanda Jewell had her family’s support as well as the SIBA family cheering her on after her surgery a few months ago. She looked radiant as her hysterically funny twin son and daughter emceed the Auction. There were bidding wars on the authors, great free food and mixed full bar added to the party atmosphere.

Friday of SIBA

Writing the South Author Panel
Moderator:  Karen Zacharias, Will Jesus Buy Me a Doublewide?  Cause I need more room for my plasma TV (Zondervan)
featuring Batt Humphreys, Dead Weight (Joggling Board Press); Karen White, The Girl on Legare Street (NAL Trade Paperback); Donny Seagraves, Gone From These Woods (Delacorte Press); Amanda Gable, The Confederate General Rides North (Scribner)

South Carolina Writers Author Panel
featuring:  Roger Pinckney, Reefer Moon (Joggling Board Press); Mary Alice Monroe, Last Light Over Carolina (Pocket Books); Mindy Friddle, Secret Keepers (St. Martin’s Press); Nicole Seitz, Saving Cicadas (Thomas Nelson)

Kick Off Kids Lunch
featuring Meg Cabot, Allie Finkle and Airhead series (Scholastic); Richard Peck, A Season of Gifts (Penguin Young Readers Group); Silas House, Eli the Good (Candlewick Press); Patricia Reilly Giff, Wild Girl (Wendy Lamb Books) (Cost is $35)

Register for the SIBA Trade Show TODAY!

Richard Peck, Silas House, Patricia Reilly Giff, Wendy Wax, Laura Hope-Gill, Beth Hoffman, Janice Hardy, Marianne Gingher, William Ferris, Beverly Barton, Larry Baker, Winton Porter, Steve Tiller, Lucy Nolan, Nicole Seitz, Mary Alice Monroe, Rick Yancey, Karen White, Donny Seagraves, Batt Humphreys, Amanda Gable, Karen Zacharias, Edie Hand, Catherine Ritch Guess, Gigi Amateau, Paul Morris, Matt & Ted Lee, Jill McCorkle, Allan Wolf, Dale Volberg Reed, John Shelton Reed, William McKinney, Kate Salley Palmer and more confirming every day!

New this year will be The Writers’ Block – SIBA Book Award First Ever Feed-an-Author Auction AND The All-STARS Autograph Area celebrating the Southern Traveling Registry Authors.  Be there or be square!

Greenville SC is a great town, SIBA is a great show, and these are some great authors!  I hope you are making your plans to be at SIBA in September.  Online Registration is now Open or you can Download a registration form here.

Many thanks to Burgess Bub for sending this to me from Brooklyn!

SIBA’s Core Bookstore memberships are 18% above this time last year.  I think it is due to these economic times that we are seeing this growth and  others in the industry should take notice. 

I have been putting on the largest southern bookselling trade show for nearly 20 years. Through both thick times and thin, and I have to say that it is during the thin times that folks most need the SIBA Trade Show.

How to make the most of a trade show experience?  Defining the goal for attending is the most critical first step to a successful experience.

 Answer the question: How can I best exploit the trade show to meet my goals?

There is still no more economical or effective way to a make contact with a multitude of booksellers and others from the industry than through the SIBA Trade Show.   The SIBA Trade Show is more than worth the money and effort.

Again, the key is to do the homework in advance.
What exactly does the money buy you?
What other opportunities are there and which are the most affordable and/or the most productive for my kind of book or this kind of author or launching a new imprint or a new series or getting authors in my store or dealing with a shipping issue or a credit issue?

I think the internet will prompt more on-line experiences as the methods become more affordable and accessible but nothing will replace the face time that the SIBA Trade Show offers.  No one wants to feel that they are alone in their triumphs and challenges and the trade show offers a unique opportunity for publishers, booksellers, authors, wholesalers, industry media, librarians, academics, gift reps, rep groups, and others to share with each other in a way that is both out of time and out of space.  This simply cannot be replicated.