Archive for June, 2012
Fabulous IBW Shop Windows!
June 29th, 2012
Celebration of Indie Bookshops Across the UK Underway!
June 29th, 2012
Well – The hard work is done (sort of!), and now the fun starts….!
1. Photo Roundup in Bookseller Magazine
IBW starts tomorrow, 30th June, with National Reading Group kicking things off, and we are starting to get lots of information in from bookshops. There’s been a good positive story in the Bookseller magazine today about IBW numbers, and the Bookseller are also planning a picture round up of IBW bookshop pictures – as you are taking photos next week, make sure to send a copy to lisa.campbell@bookseller.co.uk as well as me:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/record-number-indies-join-ibw.html
2. Bookshop Band on Today Programme, R4
We also just heard from The Bookshop Band that they are being featured on the R4 Today programme tomorrow morning for IBW– not sure of the timing, but this is great news – listen out for that!
3. Local PR Coverage
We are also starting to see some local PR coming in – here’s a selection Midas PR have picked up on. If you have any links to your own local PR, please do send to me and to emma.lawson@midaspr.co.uk or tracey.jennings@midaspr.co.uk
http://www.juniormagazine.co.uk/days-out/family-fun-for-independent-booksellers-week-2012/13954.html
(They featured lots of other events too around the country on other pages on their website)
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Vote-Tracey-s-book/story-16445947-detail/story.html
http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/2116017_meet_crime_authors_on_tuesday
4. Offer from And Other Stories & Signature Books
We also have a late-in-the-day but nonetheless valuable offer from And Other Stories and Signature Books for indie bookshops:
And Other Stories publishing have an exclusive summer reading offer for independent shops. Receive a MASSIVE 60% discount on two of our bestselling titles when you order 5 copies or more of:
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy 9781908276025 or
Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos 9781908276001
Swimming Home was a Radio 4 Book at bedtime and book of the year for Boyd Tonkin in The Independent in 2011, and Down the Rabbit Hole was Guardian First Book Award shortlisted and Book of the Year for Ali Smith in the Daily Telegraph and Sarah Churchwell in New Statesman, as well as one of Nicholas Lezard’s books of the year in the Guardian.
For more information about us and our books please visit www.andotherstoriespublishing.org
Email orders to cath@signaturebooksuk.com using order ref. ‘Summer Promo’ in the subject line.
5. Bookshop Event Listings on the IBW Site
We are having technical problems listing the bookshop events on the IBW –we aim to have this fixed today. Sorry about this, it’s not great timing.
6. Twitter Event
If you are able to take time out of your IBW schedule, we are running an event with TwitterUK for bookshops in the London area – it’s all about how to make the most of Twitter for your business – it’s on Wednesday 4th July, 5.00-6.30pm, The Albany, 240 Great Portland Street, W1W 5QU
Email Naomi.gane@booksellers.org.uk if you’d like to sign up.
Plans, plans…
June 27th, 2012
Just a few more updates for you on IBW activity
Social Media Activity 30th June – 7th July
We are planning an IBW social media splurge for next week. We will be approaching authors about supporting IBW on Twitter, and what we really need bookshops to do is to retweet the stuff we are putting out – you can talk more directly to your customers about the messages behind IBW than we’re able to. If you don’t already follow us, please do follow us on @IndieBound_UK for all the latest chat and links to do with IBW. We will also be featuring bookshop photos on our BA Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/thebooksellersassociation , as well as on the IBW site.
Book Lover’s Competition
We have also put together, as usual for IBW, a National Book Tokens Book Lover’s Competition, which this year will be available online, and also as printed Word documents, if you want to print out and hand to your customers. The Competitions are on the NBTs website:
http://www.nationalbooktokens.com/ibw2012adultsquiz
http://www.nationalbooktokens.com/ibw2012childrensquiz
And the Word document versions are on the IBW site http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/bookseller-resources/
Press and PR
Midas PR have been working hard liaising with journalists and broadcasters about IBW and the Keep Books on the High Street Campaign – though of course you never know till the last minute what will actually be covered where! But we will keep you posted as articles and coverage appear.
Midas are also pulling together press releases for IBW, and we will be putting the releases up on the site as they are circulated.
We are also sending out local and regional releases about IBW bookshop events going on around the country. You can also download Press Release Templates on the Bookshop Resources page of the site http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/bookseller-resources/
Nielsen Support for IBW
Nielsen have again produced IBW tshirts for all IBW booksellers, and they should be on their way to you now. We have used the Keep Books on the High Street slogan this year, and we hope you like them – do send in photos of staff wearing the shirts.
National Reading Group Day
NRGD is on 30th June and the Reading Groups for Everyone website is carrying all the information your reading groups might need. We hope you are using the Chris Cleave and Victoria Hislop NRGD posters, and also that you noted the Skype Reading Group Competition with Kevin Powers, author of Yellow Birds. Check out www.readinggroups.org for more information.
You might also like to know that The Bookshop Band are keen to extend their repertoire to include Reading Groups – so if you have a Reading Group who would be keen for a visit from a real life band, playing songs about real life books, please let us know! There is a list of all the books they have written songs about Bookshop Band Song List (june 2012), so if your group has read one of these, they might like the song about it too!
Contact meryl.halls@booksellers.org.uk or sharon.benton@booksellers.org.uk for more information.
It’s starting to feel like something’s happening next week…
June 27th, 2012
Here’s a great pic of Goldsboro Books in London, using the IBW POS and also putting the IBW Collectibles Bellybands to great use!
We are also really really delighted to have an IBW song, written for us by the lovely Bookshop Band – here’s the link to their video and song ‘A Shop With Books In’ – complete with a cameo from Mr B’s in Bath! https://vimeo.com/44626112
The Bookshop Band is doing a tour of indie shops during IBW, and here is a full list of all their gigs – check them out and buy their CDs!
27th June
The Drill Hall, Lower Church Street, Chepstow, Monmouthshire, NP16 5HJ
A special evening of music and storytelling for this year’s Chepstow Festival. Join us for a drink as we welcome The Bookshop Band, made up of three British musician/ songwriters Ben Please, Poppy Pitt and Beth Porter. The band is on a tour of 15 Independent Bookshops and will be playing bookshop and book-inspired music from their latest album “Travels from your Armchair.”
We then welcome critically acclaimed author Horatio Clare he transforms tales from The Mabinogion into modern times. Horatio is the author of books including ‘Running for the Hills’ about growing up in Monmouthshire and ‘A Single Swallow’ an epic tale from South Wales to South Africa. Ticket price redeemable against book purchase at the event and includes a free glass of wine.
Time: 7.30pm, Tickets: £3, Ticket Weblink: http://chepstowbooks.webplus.net/authorevents.html Website: www.chepstowbooks.co.uk
29th June, Lowdham Village Hall, Main Street, Lowdham, NG14 7BE
The Lowdham Book Festival is delighted to present a festival packed with great authors, both national and local, with music and storytelling, with walks and talks. The Bookshop Band will be playing in concert, songs inspired by books, in the lovely Lowdham Village Hall.
This concert is being held during Independent Booksellers Week, a national celebration of independent bookshops. Please visit your local bookshop this week, as you may find they have extra activities going on. www.independentbooksellersweek.org.uk
Tickets: 7pm, Tickets: £10 (£8 conc.), Website: http://www.lowdhambookfestival.co.uk/TheBookshopBand.php Ticket weblink: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/170237 Festival Website: www.lowdhambookfestival.co.uk
30th June, David’s Bookshop, 12 Eastcheap, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, SG6 3DE
The Bookshop Band comes to Davids Bookshop, playing songs about books.
Time: 2.30pm & 3.30pm, Tickets: n/a in-store busking appearance, Weblink: http://www.davids-music.co.uk/about-davids-music/
30th June, Chorleywood Bookshop, 4 New Parade, Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, WD3 5NJ
Time: 6.30pm, Tickets: phone 01923 283566 for details, Email: info@cwbooks.co.uk, Website: www.chorleywoodbookshop.co.uk
1st July, Orchestra in a Field, Glastonbury Abbey, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 9EL
Orchestra in a Field is a unique, family-friendly festival: a kaleidoscopic tour of the world’s best music from Tchaikovsky to Tubular Bells by way of hip hop, handbells and opera. Held in the sweeping parklands of Glastonbury Abbey, with its romantic ruins, and ancient orchards, this unique event is the inspiration of award-winning conductor, Charles Hazlewood. The Bookshop Band will be performing songs inspired by books in The Talk Tent.
Time: 2.30pm, Venue: The Talk Tent, Website: www.orchestrainafield.com, Tickets: Weekend: £55 (with camping) Sunday day: £25. Other tickets available. See website for details. Ticket link: http://www.orchestrainafield.com/tickets/
2nd July, Jaffé & Neale, 1 Middle Row, Chipping Norton, Oxon, OX7 5NH
The Bookshop Band will be busking in-store during the afternoon, in this lovely bookshop and cafe. This concert is being held during Independent Booksellers Week, a national celebration of independent bookshops. Please visit your local bookshop this week, as you may find they have extra activities going on. www.independentbooksellersweek.org.uk
Time: 2.30pm, Tickets: n/a in-store busking appearance, Tel: 01608 641033, Email: info@jaffeandneale.co.uk
3rd July, Blackwells, The Norrington Room, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BQ
The Bookshop Band will be performing in concert, songs about books in Blackwell’s famous Norrington Room, the largest single room selling books in the world. This concert is being held during Independent Booksellers Week, a national celebration of independent bookshops. Please visit your local bookshop this week, as you may find they have extra activities going on. www.independentbooksellersweek.org.uk
Time: 7pm, Tickets: £5, Tel: 01865 333623, Weblink:
5th July, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, 14/15 John Street, Bath, BA1 2JL
A night of tough lessons learned as Pen/Hemingway Award winner BEN FOUNTAIN crosses the Atlantic to take us on Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, his sensational debut novel of homecoming, heroism, destiny and Destiny’s Child.Also featuring a special appearance by The Bookshop Band who will play a couple of songs to start the evening.
Time: 6.30pm, for 7pm start. Ticket price: £14 each (or two for £25). Include buffet dinner + wine. Ticket purchase: Call 01225 331155
Event web link: http://www.mrbsemporium.com/index.php/info/events Shop website: www.mrbsemporium.com
Shop contact: books@mrbsemporium.com Band link: www.thebookshopband.co.uk
Macmillan Children’s Books & Find Wally PR Template
June 22nd, 2012
First off, here’s a PR Template from Walker to help you promote your IBW Find Wally Competition in your town – Where’s Wally IBW Press Release Template
Exciting new from Macmillan Children’s Books who have launched a writing prize, Write NOW! and are keen to involve indie booksellers in the process:
As publishers, we know that you, more than anyone, understand what book buyers want. We also know that your expertise and passion can make the difference between a quiet book and a bestseller, and we want to celebrate that.
Here comes the fun bit. We’re launching WRITE NOW!, a competition to discover a new children’s fiction writer (for readers aged nine to teen) and we’d love you to help us pick the winner. Tell us which books you like to hand sell, what you think is missing from the market and what you’d like to see more of. We’ll use that information to pick a longlist of eight, and then you’ll get to vote on the shortlist. The winner will be picked by a panel of publishing people and an IndieBound bookseller representative. We’ll provide you with point-of-sale material to publicize the competition and get your customers involved in the voting.
The winning book will be available as a beautifully packaged limited-edition hardback and it will be available exclusively from independent bookshops. We hope that the publicity surrounding the prize will send people in their droves to buy this beautiful book from your shops and, while they’re at it, to realize (if they didn’t already know) just how much fun it is buying books from their local indie.
We’d love you to take part. Please register your interest at writenowcompetition.com. You can also stay up-to-date via our Twitter feed, @writenowprize.
Thanks and best wishes,
Emma Young (@truffleoilyum) and Rachel Petty (@Petty_monster) – we’ll be tweeting too!
Macmillan Children’s Books
Foyles, Fiction Uncovered and Indie Bookshops
June 22nd, 2012
Foyles in Charing Cross Road London is creating great activity around IBW. Inspired by IndieBound and cross-community activity in the US, Foyles has created, with its neighbouring retailers and businesses, a Love Charing Cross Road festival, kicking off on the first day of IBW, 30th June. Find out more here http://www.foyles.co.uk/
And this week, Foyles has also been hosting Fiction Uncovered FM, a radio station broadcasting from the shop a series of programmes about books, reading, literature and bookshops. The brainchild of Fiction Uncovered http://www.fictionuncovered.co.uk/ the programme today (22nd June) ran a half hour programme on indie bookshops and IBW. Meryl Halls of the BA, Vivian Archer of Newham Bookshop and Eleanor Lowenthal of Pages of Hackney joined Jasper from Foyles to talk about indie bookshops and how they can create urgency around their place on the high street.
You can listen to the broadcast live, and downloads will be available as podcasts which you can use online yourselves, or simply listen to – check it out http://www.fictionuncovered.co.uk/radio/
Downton Abbey Star Endorsement for IBW!
June 21st, 2012
What a delight to see support for IBW from Dan Stevens in the Telegraph! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9314402/My-Week-Dan-Stevens.html
“If there has ever been a better invention than the hammock, then I’ve yet to hear of it. During the recent spell of jubilicious weather, I blissfully rediscovered the joys of lying, cradled, suspended in sunshine. Of course there’s the wheel, but the wheel is actually only useful if you want to go somewhere. If you’ve found where you want to be and you don’t need to move then a hammock – or “hangabout”, as my daughter dubs it – is about the most beautiful thing you could imagine…..
Back in the hammock, if you are staying put then I fully expect you to sign up to read the Man Booker long list with me, announced late July. You’ll have two months to read a dozen or so books and when you go to buy them – all right, I’ll let you get away with six – make sure you order through your local independent bookshop. Yes, it might be a little more expensive than ordering online, but you will be championing a precious, transformative and vanishing outlet; an emporium of wonders. The best are curated by proprietors who know their customers’ minds like a good tailor would know their body shape, and who stock and guide according to taste and curiosity. Independent Booksellers Week starts June 30; buy, support and retreat to hammock.”
List Your IBW Events on the Guardian NBTs Bookshop Map
June 21st, 2012
We are delighted to let you know again about The Guardian link up with National Book Tokens and their Map of the Literary Landscape of the UK and Ireland.
The map features bookshop locations, literary landmarks and information on local literary events. The map enables booksellers to showcase themselves and promote their shops to Guardian readers. Enjoying strong editorial support from the Guardian Books team, it’s being promoted regularly throughout the year in print, online and via blogs, tweets, films and podcasts. You can add a description of your bookshop and upload information about upcoming events to enhance your shop’s entry on the map.
The key element for IBW booksellers is the ability to upload your IBW Events data direct to the Guardian Map – that way, you are letting a wide audience know about the events you are running. We have already started doing this for IBW events we know about, but it’s well worth you taking a look, and uploading your own events.
For more information, visit www.guardian.co.uk/national-book-tokens
Updates and Reminders (we all need them…)
June 20th, 2012
Just a reminder that we have lots of IBW Book Award Voting Leaflet and lots of IBW Bookmarks left – please let us know if you would like some more and we can send them out to you.
Also, don’t forget the Overhead in a Bookshop competition – send in your entries for a chance to win – anything quirky, or funny, or weird! We are sharing all entries with Jen Campbell, author of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops – so you may even see your entry in print in a future edition of the book!
We also have lots of resources on the site– there is the IBW Quiz, PR templates and media lists, guides to running bookshop events and reading group events and a full listing of all the IBW Bulletins that have been sent out http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/bookseller-resources/
We also wanted to remind you, once IBW is over and the Olympics may be inspiring you to create lovely windows – we have some Olympics-inspired posters in our IndieBound POS DIY for you to download and print – check out some below, and visit www.indiebound.org.uk to access them – use ‘community’ as the password.
Check out too the page on the site about National Reading Group Day – we have links with libraries, ideas to inspire your NRGD activity and guides to running reading group events. http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/your-local-independent-bookseller/national-reading-group-day/ There are also THREE author competitions open to bookshop reading groups – with Chris Cleave, Victoria Hislop and Kevin Powers.
And finally, we have collated a fantastic list of author testimonials on behalf of independent bookshops – we are Tweeting them regularly, but feel free to use them in your own materials too – http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/author-support/
Follow us on Twitter @IndieBound_UK and also check out the BA Facebook page which carries IBW updates too http://www.facebook.com/thebooksellersassociation
Yellow Birds Skype Reading Group for Bookshops
June 19th, 2012
Sceptre have an offer for IBW bookshops who would like to receive proof copies of
THE YELLOW BIRDS by
Kevin Powers (Sceptre hardback – 6th September 2012)
Already receiving huge amounts of attention on both sides of the Atlantic ahead of its September publication date, THE YELLOW BIRDS, by thirty year old US Iraq war veteran and poet Kevin Powers, is set to be the debut of 2012. Following the story of young soldier John, and how the realities of war impact on the realities back home, the novel is already being heaped with praise by Ann Patchett, Colm Toibin, Alice Sebold, Chris Cleave and Philipp Meyer.
To celebrate IBW and National Reading Group Day, Sceptre are offering five lucky reading groups the chance to receive advance copies of the book and the opportunity to hold a book group with the author himself, via Skype.
To receive proof copies and involve your reading group in this transatlantic initiative, contact Rosie Gailer at Sceptre rosie.gailer@hodder.co.uk with contact details and a little information about your shop/ reading group. Emails should arrive before 20th July 2012.
Good luck with this – and don’t forget to let us know about your IBW activity. And check out the website for new additions – today we have just put up a press release template for you to announce your local events to local. Check out the resources at http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/bookseller-resources/ There are also media lists on the site to help you find the right person in your area to contact for local press coverage – do use these resources, and if you need specialist PR advice, don’t forget you can email tracey.jennings@midaspr.co.uk
