Posts Tagged Rebecca
One Book, Many Readers
The Richland County Public Library in cooperation with many city & county partners is launching their One Book, One Columbia city-wide read and we are reading Having Our Say: The Delaney’s Sisters’ First 100 Years, and it got me to thinking how many one-read programs are out there. And what do they read?
I heard from Lisa Sharp of Nightbird Books that Fayetteville, AR is planning it’s 3rd community read. It’s called One Book, One Community and is a fall event. The first year we read The Devil’s Highway by Luis Urrea, last year was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and this year we have yet to choose. Wonder what it will be?
I heard from Fran Bush at Booklover’s Bookstore in Aiken, SC. The Aiken County Public Library has Aiken Reads with a selection per quarter. “Last summer we hosted Mary Alice Monroe with Swimming Lessons as the summer selection for adults and Turtle Summer for the children. In October 2011, The Aiken Women’s Club is sponsoring a county wide reading program named The Big Read to encourage reading at any age. They wanted to find books that were inexpensive and readily available. The selection for high school and adult is The Call of the Wild by Jack London; upper elementary and middle school is Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George; the younger kids selection is One Wolf Howls by Scotti Cohn. The club will be giving books to the libraries and school libraries throughout the county. There are several alternate selections for those who have already read the selection.” This project should get a lot of publicity.
Emily Bell shared that Page & Palette has seen great success with the One Town One Tale concept. “Our picks have included Three Cups of Tea, The Poet of Tolstoy Park by Fairhope’s own, Sonny Brewer; Alabama Moon by local writer Watt Key; A Thousand Splendid Suns by NY Times bestselling author, Khaled Hossieni; Peony in Love by NY Times bestselling author Lisa See; and The Noticer by Andy Andrews of Orange Beach.”
Jill Hendrix of Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC shared Greenville’s The Amazing Read. The book for this, the 4th year, is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. The past 3 years picks were Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven, Saints at the River by Ron Rash, and The Pleasure Was Mine by Tommy Hays.
Here are a few resources I found about OneBook programs:
This is a somewhat out-of-date listing of OneBook programs out there but the only list I found.
Terrified to go to #SIBA10?
Posted by Wanda in Uncategorized on October 27, 2010
Submitted by
Michelle Cavalier, Owner, Cavalier House Books
michelle@cavalierhousebooks.com
http://www.cavalierhousebooks.com
I was terrified to go to the SIBA trade show! I opened my store in September of ’09, and it still doesn’t feel real, so I knew people were going to call me out on it. I thought that people would tell me I wasn’t a real bookseller and that I didn’t belong. Basically, that they would find me out and know my secret. I’m not a bookseller! I’m just a book lover. I don’t know anything about running a business.
And then I got there and I saw it. You are all just like me. Everyone in this business is in it because they love books. Yeah, they may be older and wiser than me and they may have some clue as to what it means to own or run a small business, but really I had nothing to hide or be ashamed of.
The day of education served to solidify this new belief. SIBA is, as the acronym allows, an alliance. The trade show was about being a book lover and learning to be a better bookseller. There were people here to help me learn the business and promotional stuff! I wanted to divide myself into several ‘mini-me’s in order to attend all of the available classes and panels, but alas there is only one of me. However, those I was able to attend were great.
First was “Get in Bed with a Book Blogger” with the bloggers from Beatrice.com (Ron Hogan) and The Book Lady’s Blog (Rebecca Joines Schinsky) as well as Kelly Justice, owner of Fountain Bookstore and SIBA president. I was so looking forward to this because I am ready to jump in bed with a blogger of my own. What should I expect of her? She of me? They answered it all and I am ready to implement their suggestions in my store and online. Then there was what I called the Malaprops’ Twitter Class. I asked several questions, but they were patient with me. I had no idea how Twitter worked really or the etiquette of it. Thanks to the Malaprops’ ladies I have been significantly more active on Twitter, but I still have a lot to learn (and a lot of first day of school awkwardness to get over).
I also attended two author panels (“True Southern: Books Steeped in the South” and “Cooking Up a Storm: Sharing recipes with readers”) as well as all of the author meals (wherein we did not eat authors, but listened to them speak). From the very first breakfast my TBR pile started growing and by Sunday evening it was taller than I am. How could I ever have been intimidated by these authors? They were all so eager to talk about their work and mine. Everyone was so approachable, and I realized – these are my people! Then the exhibits opened and I saw so many people geeking out over new books. It was so exciting and refreshing to see so many people as excited as I was about exactly the same things. Our collected passion: books!
The final coup came on Sunday morning at the “Good Ideas Breakfast.” I shared my idea of partnering with a local travel agent for literary tours, and they liked it. Everyone was so supportive. They liked my idea and counted me as one of their own. As it turns out, all of my insecurities were unfounded. I am not only a booklover, but a bookseller and business owner. So, thanks to you, my fellow SIBA members, for reminding me why I’m doing this in the first place. See you again next year.
Get In Bed With A Book Blogger!
Posted by Wanda in Good Gifts & Ideas on May 21, 2010
SIBA wants its booksellers to Get In Bed With A Book Blogger!
Some people are just made for each other. You have the space, the resources, the access to authors, the access to books. She (or he) has the audience, the reputation, the reach, the Internet savvy and the voice. It’s a marriage made in heaven. Or at least, a really fun fling.
SIBA is encouraging its booksellers to seek out partnerships with book bloggers to enhance their presence on the Web and extend their online visibility, not to mention help turn the Internet from something that’s “work” to something that’s fun. This is what Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA and Rebecca Joines Schinsky of The Book Lady’s Blog (thebookladysblog.com, @bookladysblog on Twitter) have done, and from the looks of the pictures, maybe they are having a little too much fun!
“Kelly and I have created a partnership that works so well for us we want to share it with the whole book world in hopes that other independent bookstores and book bloggers will try it!” said Joines Schinksy, commenting on the mutual benefits of their relationship, “As the owner of an indie bookstore, Kelly is focused on connecting to the local and national book community, bringing in fabulous authors, and maximizing opportunities to grow her store. As a blogger, I’m all about writing content, getting the word out, and sharing news with my readers, who hail from all over the planet.”
Justice notes that the partnership is flexible in its terms. She allows Joines Schinsky to pick and choose from among the many author events hosted by the bookstore. In return for a chance to interview the authors (and a review copy of the book) The Book Lady’s Blog reviews and promotes the book and event via the blog and on twitter. Justice and Joines Schinsky also work together to promote books that the two avid readers are especially excited about, and have recently begun a book club on Twitter to discuss “under the radar” books they feel worthy of notice.
It helps that bookseller and book blogger are so simpatico. “Kelly and I know that together, we can reach more readers, promote more authors, and help more publishers than we can individually,” says Joines Schinsky, “We’re looking into some cookbook promotions as well where we make recipes, taste and share the results online.”
According to Justice, the key to the success of the partnership is that it has evolved naturally, without hard and fast rules, and that both partners have a good understanding of each other’s mission. Both see themselves as “literary ambassadors” for the Richmond, VA area—dedicated to exposing their city to great writers and great books. “We’re lucky in that we just “get” each other,” says Joines Schnisky, “Fountain Bookstore is about fun, escape, and celebrating books and the people who love them, write them and publish them. The Book Lady’s Blog is about these same things.”
The informal partnership has been good for everyone: The Book Lady’s Blog gets access to more books and authors, and can take advantage of Fountain Bookstore’s industry connections with publishers, publicists, and book media. Fountain Bookstore gets near-constant publicity from The Book Lady’s Blog, free content that is well-written and matched to the store strengths, referred traffic to its Web site and social media accounts, extra promotion for its events and an enhanced standing with publishers—who appreciate the fact that authors sent to the store will receive extra coverage. Fountain’s customers get to find out much more about books and authors than they’d normally hear from standard publicity. And Kelly and Rebecca get to run around town doing photo shoots. It’s a win-win-win.
The success of the partnership between Fountain Bookstore and The Book Lady’s Blog has prompted SIBA to encourage other bookstores to use it as a model to develop their own relationships with book bloggers. In order to help its members find bloggers in their area, SIBA is developing a directory of Southern Book Bloggers that it will help to “match” with area indie bookshops. Booksellers and Book bloggers who are interested in being a part of the project should contact SIBA Executive Director Wanda Jewell at wanda@sibaweb.com.
*photo was taken by P.J. Sykes www.intheblackandwhite.com @PJSykes on Twitter
*bed was located in La Difference in Richmond http://www.ladiff.com/ @LaDIFF on Twitter
*Hair by Jamie Lewis
(All indie business people in Richmond, VA #rva)
