Posts Tagged siba
Love an Indie #SIBA11 Membership Offer for Book Bloggers
Posted by Wanda in GiB Book Bloggers on May 6, 2011
Love an Indie #SIBA11 Membership Offer for Book Bloggers
Calling All Book Bloggers ! SIBA wants to make a trade. Place a “Find an Indie Bookstore” badge above the fold on the homepage of your website and SIBA will waive your $195 dues. Just let us know when the badge has been placed and we will mark you current. There are many benefits to membership in SIBA. Let us count the ways!
- Receive a complete contact list of all of SIBA’s member stores on demand—including contact names, email addresses, phone and mailing addresses via email.
- Three passes to the #SIBA11 Trade Show.
- Reduced prices for advertising & table rental at #SIBA11.
- Be informed. Stay in the loop. Don’t miss the numerous SIBA opportunities to connect with each other, indie booksellers, and the industry-at-large across the south.
We’re all in this together!
Steps to Love an Indie and become a member of SIBA for Free:
- Choose a badge and embed the appropriate code on your website, “above the fold.”
- Email wanda@sibaweb.com when your badge is on your site, and we will give you a free membership in SIBA ($195 value!)
| Badges |
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<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/baby175.jpg” alt=”I want to grow up in an indie bookstore!” width=”175″ height=”162″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/redhead175.jpg” alt=”Dahling! Let’s meet up at an indie bookstore.” width=”175″ height=”175″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/goldfish175.jpg” alt=”Gotta go…to an indie bookstore!” width=”175″ height=”164″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/monsters175.jpg” alt=”all the cool aliens and monsters are at the independent bookstore!” width=”175″ height=”175″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/prettygirl175.jpg” alt=”Going my way? I’m going to an indie bookstore” width=”175″ height=”175″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/werelost175.jpg” alt=”I know we’re close to an indie bookstore” width=”175″ height=”130″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/flowerpower175.jpg” alt=”Find an indie bookstore” width=”175″ height=”175″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/catanddog175.jpg” alt=”We need a good home at an indie bookstore” width=”175″ height=”185″ border=”0″></a> |
<a href=”http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/STARS/bookstore.php”><img src=”http://www.sibaweb.com/luv/moovealong175.jpg” alt=”Moooove along to an indie bookstore!” width=”175″ height=”194″ border=”0″></a> |
Meet Elizabeth Nichols!
Posted by Wanda in Good Gifts & Ideas on March 30, 2011
Elizabeth Nichols (800-637-0037 ext. 6614, elizabethn@bookweb.org) is the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) bookstore liaison.
Elizabeth came to ABA from Columbia University, where she worked in donor relations. “I want booksellers to know that I really mean it when I say they can call me any time,” she said. “They’ve made a great choice by joining ABA, and I’ll do whatever I can to help them get the most out of their membership.” Elizabeth studied sociology at Hunter College and Russian studies at NYU. In her spare time she enjoys light hiking, cooking, and volunteering at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan. In addition, one of Elizabeth’s favorite pastimes is to browse for memoirs at Book Culture and the Strand.
Bennie and the Gets! What can SIBA do for me?
Posted by Wanda in Bennie and the Gets!, Business on February 23, 2011
What Can SIBA Do for ME?
The SIBA Welcome Kit http://www.sibaweb.com/pdf/welcomekit.pdf is an extensive piece that outlines the many benefits of SIBA Membership. We’ve added a handy legend to identify the characteristics of benefits noting which benefits save money, or connect with customers, are free, easy, fun, or popular, allow you to be seen and network, and which are high tech or low tech. Spending a few hours with this brochure is well worth it!
Bottom Line: SIBA belongs to you. We want to help you sell more books and thrive in your communities. Set aside a couple of hours to read this invaluable Welcome Kit. http://www.sibaweb.com/pdf/welcomekit.pdf
Show Your Love & Enter to Win
Posted by Wanda in Bennie and the Gets! on February 7, 2011
SIBA’s Welcome Kit & Twitter Contest!
The SIBA Welcome Kit, newly updated for 2011, is an extensive piece that outlines the many benefits of SIBA Membership. Download a copy and make sure you are getting the most out of SIBA.
Along with encouraging you to spend an afternoon exploring the ins and out of the SIBA Welcome Kit, we also want to promote the most valuable and popular benefits in a new monthly column Bennie & the Gets!
Bottom Line: Any core member who follows @SIndies and tweets the following: I read Bennie and the Gets! will be entered into a drawing for a free ALL PASS meal ticket at #SIBA11. The deadline for tweets is Valentine’s Day.
We will be hosting a Twitter Contest in every SIBA eInk between now and August, 2011.
Bennie and the Gets! FBSP
Posted by Wanda in Bennie and the Gets! on January 19, 2011
This month’s highlighted benefit of SIBA Membership is the Free Book Stimulus Plan (FBSP) Any core member store can participate and it is a high-value perk for which the bookstore has to do very little.
Check out this link for materials for both in-store and on-line. You will see where we have added a new facet to FBSP via the Caught U Reading Program that came out of the Good Ideas Breakfast at #SIBA10.
We have core member stores who have placed the FBSP website on their receipts and stores that have printed out the mail-back form as a bag stuffer. SIBA has collected a contact list of hundreds and hundreds of southern readers via this program and does outreach on members’ behalf regularly. We have had many participants from Alpharetta, Suwanee, and Duluth, GA; Elizabeth City and Franklin, NC; and Tampa, FL. We’ve given away over 2000 books. It is a great way to thank your customers and who doesn’t love getting a free book in the mail?
Bottom Line: Anyone who shops in your store can mail their receipt attached to the form found at www.freebookstimulusplan.com and they are mailed a free book handpicked by me from my library of books from 20 years with SIBA.
Bennie and the Gets! (Win stuff for reading SIBA eInk)
Posted by Wanda in Bennie and the Gets! on January 12, 2011
A play on Elton John’s Bennie and the Jets here. Here I will write a monthlyish column on SIBA benefits that core members get. Survey results indicate that booksellers are very aware of some membership benefits and less aware of others. It may be that booksellers do not find some benefits valuable but before making that decision, I want to make certain that booksellers know of the benefit, try it, and then accept or reject its value to them. So here and in the monthly SIBA eInk, I will be highlighting underused benefits to make certain that core members are aware of them.
First, let’s look at the latest survey results. Core members indicate the most valuable benefits of SIBA Membership are: SIBA Book Awards, Southern Indie Bestseller List, the Holiday Catalog, Indie Bookseller Revivals, and Find a Bookstore
And rated less valuable? SIBA eInk, Southern Indie Lit Crossword Puzzle book, Wanda’s Wonderful Book Blog, Free Book Stimulus Plan, and The Document Library.
So this first post will deal with SIBA eInk, SIBA’s monthly newsletter directed at SIBA’s core indie bookstore members and distributed to the industry. This email newsletter takes the place of SIBA’s bi-monthly print publication of previous years and is the best, direct way to communicate with you about valuable upcoming opportunities. In addition to the SIBA listserv, this is the must current up-to-date material to assist you in maximizing your membership.
To pump up interest in this monthly electronic publication, SIBA will be offering a Twitter Contest each month where core members will be entered to win a FREE All Pass to #SIBA11. This will require setting up a FREE Twitter Account and following @SIndies. If you need help with that, please give me a call, and I will walk you thru it. Very easy, very economical, very efficient! The SIBA phone number is: 803.994.9530
#SIBA10 Delivered at Every Level
Posted by Wanda in SIBA Trade Shows on October 29, 2010
It has been a month since SIBA and we have been very busy. First of all let me say I have been attending SIBA over 20 years. As owner & bookseller at B&L Books over 23 years, I also attend SIBA as an exhibitor of our inventory control software program, The UBIC System. SIBA 2010 was one of the best for both. As a bookseller, I learned a lot about social networking, blogging, and e-commerce. I also got some insight into hosting events in the store and how to tie all this together. The trade show offered some great opportunities for us to learn more about children's and young adult books and incentive discounts especially from Penguin. Their rep was on top of everything. At HarperCollins we grabbed onto the idea to have a story time ticket event for Scaredy-cat Splat, which we incorporated into our Customer Appreciation Day last Saturday. We provided cat-ear headbands and face painting along with a goody bag, activities, and story reading all for the price of the book. The kids loved it and we had a good time doing it. Later that same afternoon we had Roxanne St. Claire in for an author signing. As an exhibitor at SIBA 2010, we were very pleased with the traffic and the opportunity to spend time with interested parties. I am glad to see ABA offering a new membership for bookstores whose inventory is 75% used. There are many independents who sell both new and used books and we are hoping to see some seminars for independents like us in the near future. Thank you Wanda and Nicki and Matt for all you do to make SIBA so great. Jan Packwood B&L Books 990 N. State Road 434 #1140 Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 407 682-0090 jan@ubicsystem.com
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.
