 Join Love Your Bookstore & share your love for your local bookstore! We'll be celebrating all brick-and-mortar bookstores for an entire week, starting Nov. 10!
The first Love Your Bookstore steering committee is comprised of George Slowik Jr., President of Publishers Weekly; Becky Anderson, co-owner of Anderson’s Bookshops and past President of the American Booksellers Association; Carl Lennertz, Executive Director of the Children’s Book Council and Dominique Raccah, Publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks. For more details on how you can participate visit http://www.loveyourbookstore.com/. Readers, you have made your voices heard by nominating your very favorite bookstore. With over 13,000 votes, there was so much support for your favorite bookstores. The votes have been counted, so please join us in saying a big “Congratulations!” to Anderson’s Bookshop (Naperville, IL) as being the most voted for store! (Anderson’s Bookshop is our longest running bookstore partner, but we swear this is all on the up-and-up, we’re not playing favorites.)  We are also so excited to congratulate our two second-prize winners: Page and Palette (Fairhope, AL) and Brilliant Books (Traverse City, MI).
Anderson’s will receive a $3,000 grant and Page and Palette and Brilliant Books will receive a $637 grant each (the population of Broken Wheel, IA). Publisher’s Weekly announced the winners this morning, including Anderson’s plans for the grant! And Shelf Awareness (Anderson’s Picked as Readers Favorite Bookstore) told us about the matching grant that Brilliant Books is creating for seven Michigan school libraries – fantastic! Bookstores make such a difference in our lives and we couldn’t be happier to present grants to all three stores. Thank you so much to everyone who voted, the support and love for your bookstores is heartwarming. We think that Sara and all of Broken Wheel, IA would approve.
   Eagle Harbor Book Company in Bainbridge Island, WA recently posted this fun photo to their blog and let's not forget our incredible partners Team Broken Wheel at Boswell Books in Milwaukee, WI!
If you want a whirlwind of a life, then I recommend working as a salesperson for a book publisher’s gift division. Not only is it an amazing job, but twice a year, we have gift show season. For six to eight weeks in January/February and June to August, every customer you might want to see goes to all of the major gift shows to see what’s new—which means you get to spend six to eight weeks traveling around the country, showing off all the great books and gift products they’ll love. Such was my life for the past three weeks, attending as many gift shows as I could and meeting as many customers and readers as possible! First stop:  Atlanta boasts the largest gift show and gift mart in the country. If you are a gift customer or a supplier and you aren’t there, you are missing out. Trust me when I say I was there (Tuesday through Sunday)! Featured in the RPM Gifts and Greetings Showroom, my reps and I met with hundreds of people and talked books, wrote orders, and discussed future opportunities and titles.
But Atlanta wasn’t the only show on my list. So giddy up, cowboys, because my next stop was…  Where hospitality was high…  And everyone was wearing cowboy hats.  Including the dinosaurs!  I spent two days with our reps, daniel*richards.  I was able to work with new customers and get everyone excited about all of our new titles, include our new series, Love Is All Around, and our Keep Calm and Color On coloring books.  But Dallas was left in the dust as I slid into Las Vegas…  …and touched base at the Sports Licensing and Tailgate Show.  This was a new show for my coworker, Peter Vanaria, and me, where we launched our new line of MLB activity books to a new type of customer—sporting goods stores! But while in Vegas, I made sure to visit our rep group California Marketing Association at one of the fast-growing gift marts, the Las Vegas Market.  There, the customers streamed through all the way until the end of the show. (The East Coast blizzard caused many customers to arrive later than expected, but they made the most of it.) Everyone excitedly perused our latest line of calendars (I am a cat lady; of course I’m going to show everyone our Call Me Cat Lady wall calendar) and our wide variety of gift and children’s titles.  Overall, these three weeks have been fantastic. All the customers, new contacts, new trends, ideas, and places have really geared me up for a fantastic 2016…though, I think first…a nap...  Liz Otte
National Accounts Manager—Gift and Regional  There’s a person for every book, and a book for every person. This beautiful belief is the last thing that the residents of the fictitious Broken Wheel, Iowa, put their faith in. With closed up storefronts and a dwindling population, this town is one step away from ceasing to exist. But when a Swedish tourist comes to town and opens a bookstore, everything changes. The townspeople are reluctant readers at first, but they soon learn that one little bookstore and the passionate bookseller who runs it have the power to revitalize their dying town. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a book that reminds us that each local bookstore is the cornerstone of their community—a place for adventure, knowledge, escape, inspiration, enlightenment,and to remember that you’re never truly alone. READERS, RECOMMEND YOUR BOOKSTORE!“Bookstores are the heart and soul of their community and have enormous impact on readers’ lives,” said Dominique Raccah, founder and CEO of Sourcebooks. “The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend inspired us to create a campaign that will not only give back to a few deserving bookstores, but hopefully highlight all the many wonderful bookstores that service communities across the country.” The Readers, Recommend Your Bookstore campaign encourages everyone to vote for their local bookstore here. Sourcebooks will award the bookstore that receives the most votes with a $3,000 prize; two additional bookstores will each receive a $637 prize. (The specific dollar figure of the second prize is a nod to the book, as 637 is the population of Bivald’s Broken Wheel, Iowa.) As part of the campaign, we’ll also give weekly prizes to those who submit nominations. The campaign began January 4 and runs until February 19, when the winning bookstores will be announced. There have already been nearly 7,000 votes, and the current front-runners are listed on the nomination website! So go nominate your local bookstore now! WHAT BOOKSELLERS ARE SAYING... Booksellers showed their love for The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by making it the #1 Indie Next Pick for January! Bess Bleyaert at McLean & Eakin (Petoskey, MI) called it“sheer perfection,” and Stephanie Crowe at Page & Palette (Fairhope, AL) noted that it is “a true testament that one person who cares can make a difference.” Leslie, from Read Between the Lynes (Woodstock, IL) even took her advanced reading copy to the great city of London!
The Readers of Broken Wheel is on sale now, so stop by your local bookstore and pick up a copy today! Prior to the start of the Heartland Fall Forum, Sourcebooks had the opportunity to invite approximately 50 independent booksellers and industry professionals to our offices in Naperville, IL. We were so excited to be able to host this awesome group of booksellers!  A chartered bus brought our guests from The Westin in Lombard to our offices where they were greeted with lunch from a local favorite, Portillo’s. (The chocolate cake was a huge hit!), some familiar books (our Indie Next picks!), and goody bags in honor of our newsletter, Book Tipsy.
Lunch was followed by a tour of the office which included stops in editorial, design, content delivery, customer service and of course an introduction to our beloved Well-Read Cow. It was a lively tour and really great for all of employees to get a chance to say hello to the amazing people on the frontlines.
From there, we took our guests downtown Naperville to visit Anderson’s Bookshop and shop local. It was a great day at Sourcebooks and it was so exciting to have these special visitors! A huge thank you to everyone who made the trip out here, we loved having you and you are welcome back anytime!
DEBUT NOVEL BECOMES AN INDIE STORE FAVORITEWhat happens when Karen Schwettman, one of the “Foxes” (a.k.a. friends and cofounders of award-winning indie bookstore FoxTale Book Shoppe), falls in love with your book? You get invited to visit their store in Woodstock, Georgia, for a fabulous event—complete with a dazzling window display and a magical recreation of one of your chapters in the store.
Scott Wilbanks, author of The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster, was absolutely blown away with the scene that met him when he stepped inside FoxTale for an event in August. (Below left: Scott Wilbanks, Below right: Scott (right) with Mike and Karen)
The Foxes had set up an antique red door that serves as the time travel portal in the novel as part of the author signing table. Other elements featured in the book, such as a brass letter box, were prominently displayed in the store window.
“If you ever get the chance, stop by the store and shoot the breeze with Karen. You’ll thank me. She’s pretty marvelous, folks,” says Scott.  Wilbanks’s event was packed, and included old friends, enthusiastic fans, and new friends, including Karl Camp, who posted on Facebook: “My family and I had a wonderful time meeting Scott and Mike at the book signing event for The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster at Foxtale Book Shoppe in Woodstock. I just finished reading the book. Thank you, Scott. It is masterfully written. Please keep writing! Such literary gifts are exceedingly rare and always a jewel to discover.”  The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is also November’s FoxTalk Book Club pick! Thank you to FoxTale Book Shoppe for the amazing hospitality and for making an author’s dream come alive! Barnes & Noble Chairman Len Riggio gave the keynote address Friday morning at PubWest 2011. I had the pleasure of introducing him and then found I spent much of the day thinking about what he said. So I just wanted to share some of what he said (and I apologize in advance to Mr. Riggio for any errors or misrepresentations here which are strictly my own):
On books, pricing and reading
On possibilities and publishing
On culture and books
On entrepreneurs and publishing
On the value of bookstores and publishers
 Naperville community members, local authors, and loyal patrons were surprised to learn many things at the “Celeppreciation Party” that Sourcebooks sponsored for our beloved neighborhood bookstore, Anderson’s Bookshop. For example, we all learned that just between Anderson’s and Sourcebooks, Naperville has one of the highest per capita concentrations of book industry people in the country.
But one thing no one was surprised to learn was that Naperville has the best bookseller in the country. After receiving dozens of nominations from publishers, sales representatives, and patrons, Publishers Weekly named Anderson’s its 2011 Bookstore of the year. Anderson’s Bookshop, like Sourcebooks, is an independent business that has stood in the face of adversity and not only survived, but thrived. One of the major reasons we’ve grown together over the years is that we have similar mission statements. We profess not only a passion for books, but the desire to spread that passion and to enlighten the lives of others. In the words of Todd Stocke, V.P. and Editorial Director of Sourcebooks who officiated the event: “…it’s about the people. The people of Anderson’s are the reason you come to the stores for recommendations, and it’s the people suggesting books for your book clubs, and it’s the people who are here when your home and school organization or your kid’s scout troop needs to put up a sign or needs support. It’s the people who bring in the big name authors, even celebrities. And perhaps more importantly it’s the people who bring in the voices you haven’t heard of before, because that’s what makes for a vibrant community…” For Sourcebooks, Borders was our dear friend over the pond (Lake Michigan, as it were), and they were an essential part of our growth and success over the past 24 years.
The news this week is incredibly difficult, as hundreds of communities lose long-standing gathering places for readers. I really wanted today to say THANK YOU to Borders – to their community of booksellers and home office staff over the years – for being such an important part of our lives, and for their dedication to getting books into the hands of so many people for so many years. If you'd like to add your thanks, please feel free to comment below and talk about what Borders' booksellers have meant to you. You can also feel free to post to Twitter, Facebook, Google+. [#ThankUBorders!] To all our friends at Borders, THANK YOU for the enormous contribution that you've made to our lives at Sourcebooks specifically, to books and authors more generally, and most broadly to the book culture that nourishes us all. You have made a world of difference. With heartfelt good wishes, Dominique Raccah and everyone at Sourcebooks |
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