All Categories

Get to Know Your GLIBA Board!

1/15/2021

We have a new year and new GLIBA Board members! Please meet Jenny Clines of Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago.

Where do you work and how long have you been there?
I work at the Seminary Co-op and 57th Street Books in Hyde Park, Chicago. I have been here for just over a year.

Where might we be surprised that you have also worked?
My very first job was when I was 14. I worked at a small amusement park that was run by my hometown's Lion's Club. I operated rides, took tickets, and did some cleaning. It was a great job for spending a summer outside with your friends.

What do you like to read? What’s your current favorite book to handsell?
I like a little of this and a little of that. I enjoy true crime and memoirs very much, as well as novels. Right now, I am re-reading Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat. It was one of my all time favorites. It is a wholly sad and entirely moving family immigration story, a brief history of modern Haiti, and a heartrending account of caring for an ailing loved one, all told elegantly and artfully.

In the last year, the book that I have handsold the most is Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton. It is wonderful! Sarton was a poet, fairly moody and brooding, and this journal follows her over the course of a year while she is living on a fairly isolated farm in the Northeast. It chronicles her daily life doing chores and tending her home and garden; tracks her creative process; and intimately details her struggles with loneliness, commitment to solitude, and the evolution of a handful of her closest relationships. It is a beautiful journal to read anytime, especially if you are interested in the creative process or a solitary life, but it has become even more pertinent in the last year as we all find ourselves dealing with solitude in completely new ways.

Who are you when you’re not slingin’ books?
I am a Texan building a life in Chicago after a decade in DC. I like iced coffee, hot weather, Lake Michigan, sleeping cats, and family Zoom calls.

What’s your favorite part of your job?
The best part of being a bookseller is the other booksellers that you get to work with. It is a profession that appeals only to those who are curious, passionate, and creative. My favorite part of my job is that I get to figure out how to make the jobs of other booksellers easier.

Give us three of your favorite bookstores.
Lost City Books in Washington, DC
Fabled Bookshop and Cafe in Waco, TX
Elliott Bay Book Co. in Seattle, WA

Get to Know Your GLIBA Board!

1/6/2021

We have a new year and new GLIBA Board members. First up we welcome Meila Wolf of Cover to Cover Children's Book in Columbus, OH.

Where do you work and how long have you been there?

I have owned and worked at Cover to Cover Children’s Bookstore since 2017. All of my adult life has been working with children. During college I worked at the Columbus Metropolitan Library and at Barnes and Noble.

Where might we be surprised that you have also worked?

After getting a BFA with a focus on sculpture from OSU and a teaching certificate from Ohio Dominican I began a career teaching art to children. My favorite job title was “Atelierista” at a Montessori school.
I volunteered for the James Cancer Center as an art therapist supporting children of cancer patients. My favorite volunteer work was at Open Door Art Studio assisting adults with disabilities in pursuing their artistic goals.

I also had a blast working at my local library planning and performing puppets shows. As an artist I find great pleasure in reading picture books and as a “young” minded adult I LOVE YA!

What do you like to read? What’s your current favorite book to handsell?

Two of my favorite books to handsell are Children of Blood and Bone and The Rabbit Listened.

Who are you when you’re not slingin’ books?

When I am not slinging books I love every second with my own two children...reading, painting, walking our dog, playing chess, and most of all listening to their ideas!

What’s your favorite part of your job?

I am a bridge builder so my favorite part of my job is when I find myself able to make a connection of any kind for someone. I LOVE the people I work with and I love how our store manager, Bryan Loar, encourages us to all work as a team to empower children.

Give us three of your favorite bookstores.

My favorite bookstores are The Bookloft, Parnassus, and the 🎈Red Balloon!

JOIN US! Tonight for an Indie Publishing Rep night

11/12/2020

PGW / IPS Reps are Serving Up Their Favorites!
November 12th 6-7 CST / 7-8 PM EST

RSVP TO ATTEND
Join us tonight for the books we think are the cream of the crop for holiday selling.

RSVP to Johann Hynes and you’re automatically entered to win a free set of these indie favorites, along with a few other surprises!

*Must be present to win*

Please share the invite below with all your booksellers from frontline to backroom and have them RSVP too! The more the merrier.

Join the GLIBA Discord Community!

11/10/2020

As GLIBA looks to the future we are always striving to find new ways to stay connected with each other in our region. As the next step in this process we have started a Discord Server exclusively for GLIBA members. We are looking for GLIBA booksellers interested in joining.

Discord is an American VoIP, instant messaging and digital distribution platform designed for creating communities. Users communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers."

Discord will help to keep bookseller conversations going across platforms, events, meetings and anywhere else we congregate.

If you are familiar with Slack you will acclimate quickly to Discord. Think of Discord as a community message board for GLIBA booksellers to stay connected, organize and have conversations.

If you would like to join the GLIBA Discord Server please email larry@gliba.org and I will send you a personal invitation.

We will maintain the GLIBA public Facebook page but would like to move away from using Facebook as a private communication tool amongst GLIBA members. This will include at some point phasing out the private GLIBA Facebook Group.

Thank you and let's talk!
Larry

Workman Publishing Announces 2020 Holiday Campaign in Support of Independent Bookstores

10/30/2020

Shop Local NOW So You Can Shop Local FOREVER — Workman Publishing Announces 2020 Holiday Campaign in Support of Independent Bookstores

NEW YORK, NY (October 21, 2020)--To help support independent bookstores during the critical holiday selling period, Workman Publishing Co., Inc. is introducing a consumer-focused Shop Local FOREVER marketing campaign.

The campaign is comprised of three components:

Videos will feature prominent authors from across the country talking about what independent bookstores mean to them and why it’s important to shop local. Participating authors include: Julia Alvarez, Thomas Keller, Amy Timberlake, Kelly Barnhill, Tracey Baptiste, Austin Kleon, Margaret Roach, Grace Bonney, Edward Lee, Yamile Saied Méndez, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Peace Adzo Medie, Gabriel Bump, Jessamyn Stanley, Adam Rutherford, and Terry Virts, with more to be confirmed. These videos will be shared by the authors and Workman imprints throughout the holiday season, and are available for bookstores to use on their platforms. Booksellers can download the videos via this folder or use the Youtube URL links to post the videos to their store’s social media channels. In addition to the videos, booksellers can find digital assets associated with this campaign here.
The offer of bulk quantities of a complimentary archival frameable art print highlighting the pleasure of reading. Featuring the quote “A spot of light, a good book, and off I go” by award-winning author Amy Timberlake and art by Caldecott medalist Jon Klassen, the print showcases artwork from Skunk and Badger (Algonquin Young Readers) and may be used as a gift to customers. Stores can request a bundle of 75 prints through the Shop Local FOREVER Materials Request Form. Available while supplies last and frames are not included. A digital asset for stores to use on their social media channels to promote the availability of these art prints can be downloaded here.
An 11" x 15" foam core sign featuring the message “Shop Local NOW So You Can Shop Local FOREVER” to help stores communicate the importance and urgency of shopping local during the 2020 holiday season and beyond. Stores can request a sign be sent to their store via the Shop Local FOREVER Materials Request Form. Signs are available while supplies last. Stores are also free to download the file and use on their site, or to print and use in-store as needed.

Of the Shop Local Forever campaign, Liz Hunter, Workman Publishing’s Associate Director of Field Sales, said: “We are honored to partner with our authors, all of whom are leaders in their fields, to champion the message that independent bookstores are a vital part of our culture. We hope this campaign inspires consumers to take action to support local businesses this holiday season and beyond.” If booksellers have questions about videos, or materials for this campaign, they can email Christian Westermann at christianw@workman.com.

# # #

About Workman Publishing

Workman Publishing Co., Inc., is an independently owned family of publishers, including Workman Publishing, Workman Audio, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Algonquin Young Readers, Artisan, Storey Publishing, and Timber Press. Workman also partners with The Experiment, duopress, Erewhon Books, Familius, and Future House Publishing. Workman publishes award-winning children’s books, cookbooks, parenting/pregnancy guides, and books on gardening, country living, and humor, as well as gift books, fiction, and the bestselling calendar line in the business. The company is headquartered in New York City’s Greenwich Village, with additional offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; North Adams, Massachusetts; and Portland, Oregon. For more information, visit w orkman.com

ABA IndieCommerce Communication

10/8/2020

Do You Need Help With Your IndieCommerce or IndieLite Website?
Online holiday shopping is ramping up. If your IndieCommerce or IndieLite website is still not live, here are a couple of videos that might help you get your website ready for launch in time for holiday shoppers.

IndieLite: Chanthee Keokhaw has put together this great video on how to get your IndieLite website ready to go live.
IndieCommerce: Scott Nafz held a recent webinar on how to get your IndieCommerce site ready to go live.

These videos are a great opportunity to finally get your site ready. Check them out today. If you think your site is ready to launch, please sign up for the “Go Live” training sessions. IndieCommerce stores are trained on Mondays and IndieLite stores on Wednesdays. Contact IndieCommerce to schedule your Go Live training.
How Fast Does Your Homepage Load?
Online customers like fast websites. The average time for a page to load on an IndieCommerce or IndieLite website is a few seconds or less. The average homepage takes slightly longer to load. Whenever you update your homepage, check to see how fast it loads compared to before you made the change.

If your website uses carousels to display books, one major culprit slowing it down might be the number of books you are displaying in the carousel on your homepage. The above example shows four images, but you could scroll to see more if it was an actual carousel. The problem is that although you only see four at a time, your homepage is loading every single book that you have selected to appear in the carousel, and that takes time. By reducing the number of titles in each carousel you display to no more than 20 books, this will help to reduce your homepage load time and keep your online customers happy.
Watch for Credit Card Fraud Red Flags
ABA’s Alison Larkin has been keeping an eye on IndieCommerce and IndieLite fraud trends. Lately, fraud patterns seem to be changing almost weekly, so she’s compiled a list of red flags to keep an eye out for when processing your online credit card orders. Each of these are pieces of the puzzle in determining if an order should be considered fraudulent.

Read ABA’s fraud report, which lists email addresses from which fraudulent orders have been received.
For IndieCommerce/IndieLite sites, check each order to see if ABA has added an admin comment warning of fraud. In some (but not all) cases, we have been able to add these warnings before an order has been completed.
Check the IP address used to place the order for risk assessment using Scamalytics and IPQualityScore. It is especially important to check if the IP address shows a different geographical location from the billing or shipping location, or shows no location.
Pay attention to different ship to/bill to addresses, in particular those that are the same except for ZIP Code.
Pay attention to email addresses that have no connection to any of the billing or shipping data in the order.
Get a phone number for the customer on all orders. If this customer is not known to you, check to see how long they have been a customer as well as their order history. For IndieCommerce/IndieLite sites, do this by clicking on the customer number link in the customer info box.
Call the customer and the recipient of suspicious orders; the recipient might not be aware of any fraud and may help confirm if the order is fraudulent.
Check the order to see if the credit card authorization had address mismatches or declines before being approved.
Report all suspicious activity to the IndieCommerce team so we can track fraudulent activity.

Additional fraud prevention tips can be found here.
Another Batch of New Features for You

Discount Coupons: IndieLite sites can now offer coupons to their customers. Coupons can be for a dollar amount or percentage, for the order subtotal, or for particular ISBNs. (IndieCommerce stores have additional options for coupons.) Learn more about offering discount coupons.
IndieLite stores using Stamps.com, PirateShip, or ShippingEasy solutions can export order information into a CSV file and create shipping labels in bulk.
IndieLite stores can request both of the above features from the Store Features page on their IL sites. Go to: Store -> Configuration -> Account Information and Preferences -> Store Features
Bookazine Stock Information: Bookazine stock information is now visible on all IndieCommerce and IndieLite admin order pages

Just 16 Days Left for IndieCommerce Sites to Move to Their Own Credit Card Merchant Account
The deadline is October 22. If you have questions regarding the upcoming change to credit card processing on IndieCommerce websites, check out these frequently asked questions or the recording of a webinar presentation on this change to credit card processing. If your IndieCommerce site is still on the shared ABA credit card account and you have not already started the move to your own credit card merchant account, you are encouraged to get this transition completed in October, before the holiday shopping rush begins.
If your bookstore is currently on IndieCommerce (not IndieLite) and you use ABA’s shared account for processing online credit card orders, we would like to help you set up your own credit card merchant account for your website as soon as possible. ABA CFO PK Sindwani has negotiated discounted credit card processing rates for ABA members with Gravitypayments.com. Find more information here.
Upcoming Webinars Next Week
We’ve got two important webinars for you next week that can help your website manage increased holiday sales and list non-book products faster.

Order Processing 201: Monday, October 12, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET: Learn about the latest advanced tools available for processing your online orders in bulk. In this webinar, we will cover bulk order processing, printing invoices in bulk, exporting to shipping solutions, exporting to POS systems, and generating custom sales reports. These new features will save your staff time and keep your customers satisfied. Register today.
Sidelines and Non-Book: How to Create, Sell, and Manage Stock: Wednesday, October 14, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET: Get up to speed on the latest features and strategies for selling sidelines and other non-book inventory on your website. We'll cover an easy-to-use feature that adds tens of thousands of gift and game products from Ingram, how to bulk upload your own unique products, and how to integrate non-book products with LSI, so you can combine stock and pricing updates for books and sidelines in a single upload from your POS system. Register today.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to email us with any thoughts, questions, or suggestions.
The IndieCommerce teamFor past editions of IndieCommunication, visit this page.

GLIBA Board Nominations Now Open!

9/2/2020

The Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association is amending its board member nomination process to encourage new and diverse voices to represent our region and to promote self-nominations.

GLIBA Board Terms are served in two two-year terms. If a board member is a member of the Executive Committee during their second term, they may serve a third two-year term for a total of six years.

Current annual in-person meeting schedule consists of Spring Forum (March/April), Heartland Fall Forum (October), November meeting. As well as two conference calls. Due to travel and meeting restrictions all upcoming events and meetings will be held via video call. Our annual schedule shifts as determined by the board and additional events may be added.

• Board members are responsible for the scheduling of their travel to and from all GLIBA sponsored events.
• GLIBA is responsible for booking all accommodations for board members for all sponsored events.
• GLIBA will reimburse board members for travel to and from all GLIBA sponsored events.
• GLIBA will pay for accommodations for all GLIBA sponsored events with the exception of Heartland Fall Forum.
• GLIBA will reimburse board members for two nights during Heartland Fall Forum.

To self-nominate, please use "Self-Nomination" section. To nominate an individual please skip to the "Nominate" section.

Just Announced - Join us for a very special event with Al Sharpton!

8/28/2020

REGISTER FOR EVENT

This event is open to association member booksellers only. Pre-registration is required. Approved registered attendees will receive a Zoom link prior to the event.

The eight regional bookseller associations are working together this fall to present a special trade show season Opening Keynote event with the Reverend Al Sharpton. Independent booksellers are invited to join us as Rev. Sharpton presents his important, timely book RISE UP: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads (Hanover Square Press; 9/29/20), on Tuesday, September 15, from 4:30 to 5:30 pm ET.

Rev. Al Sharpton is the host of MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” and the founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), one of the leading civil rights organizations in the world. With over 40 years of experience as a community leader, politician, minister and advocate, the Rev. Al Sharpton is one of America’s most-renowned civil rights leaders. Sharpton also hosts the nationally syndicated radio show, “Keepin’ It Real”, which broadcasts in 40 markets, five days a week.

In RISE UP, Rev. Sharpton revisits the highlights of the Obama administration, the 2016 election, Trump’s subsequent hold on the GOP and his interactions and relationships with other key players in politics and activism. He also amplifies the new voices and movements that have emerged in response to the Trump presidency.

Rev. Sharpton will be in conversation with Ramunda Lark Young of MahoganyBooks, and will take questions from attendees. This virtual event will be held via Zoom, and access will be limited to association member booksellers only. Booksellers may register for free now, via this link. Approved registered attendees will receive a Zoom link prior to the event.

Special thanks to Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins Publishers for their support.
About Hanover Square Press:

Hanover Square Press publishes compelling fiction and nonfiction encompassing a broad range of genres--from crime, thrillers, literary and high-concept fiction to narrative history, journalism, science, biography and memoir, including New York Times bestsellers from Dan Abrams and David Fisher, and Rick Ross. www.hanoversqpress.com

Join us Wednesday 3PM CT / 4PM ET for a special Meet the Editors with Simon & Schuster!

6/16/2020

Children's Fall 2020 Presentation
Wednesday, June 17 from 3PM - 4 PM CT / 4PM - 5PM ET

JOIN CHILDREN'S ZOOM PRESENTATION

Located in the Great Lakes and Midwest we don't have frequent access to publishing editors. The current state of our industry has offered us this amazing opportunity.

A portion of each presentation will be dedicated topics including antiracism, helping kids talk about racism, resistance, amplifying Black voices and stories, celebrating difference, inclusion and immigration.

We are thrilled and grateful to meet with the following Simon & Schuster editors. Please join us Wednesday!

Caitlyn Dlouhy, VP and Editorial Director, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Sarah Jane Abbott, Associate Editor, Paula Wiseman Books
Allyn Johnston, VP and Publisher, Beach Lane Books
Jennifer Ung, Senior Editor at Simon Pulse
Kendra Levin, Editorial Director, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Karen Wojtyla, VP and Editorial Director, Margaret K. McElderry Books
Alyson Heller, Senior Editor, Aladdin
Siobhan Ciminera, Editorial Director, Simon Spotlight
Jeffrey Salane, Editorial Director, Little Simon

Join Us for a Special Tin House Cocktail Hour!

6/11/2020

Join the Tin House staff (and special surprise guests) as they serve up an intoxicating array of top-shelf, new and forthcoming titles - all shaken and stirred for indie bookstores to enjoy and share.

Monday, June 15 from 7PM - 8PM CT / 8PM - 9PM ET
Join Virtual Cocktail Hour via Zoom