Independent Booksellers Invited to Celebrate Small Presses This March

The Small Press Center (SPC) and the Publishers Marketing Association (PMA) invite booksellers to celebrate the ninth annual Small Press Month this March. Small Press Month provides independent booksellers with an opportunity to tout the objectives they share with independent publishers -- promoting individual and original expression. The slogan for 2005 is: "In the world of publishing, size doesn't matter -- it's what's between the covers that counts!" Book Sense and ABA are providing additional support for Small Press Month.

"Small Presses appreciate so much the support that that independent bookstores give to their titles on a year-round basis, but during the four weeks of March -- Small Press Month -- there is an additional opportunity for bookstores to focus on exceptional books by smaller publishers," said Karin Taylor, the center's executive director. "We have a suggested list of things to do that include: displaying free Small Press Month posters, hosting special programs, and readings that bookstores can find on our Web site."

To help promote that March is Small Press Month, Friday, March 4, 2005 is "How to Get Published Day." Across the country publishers and small press writers will team up with their local bookstores and libraries to present seminars on the publishing process. In addition, lively, colorful posters promoting Small Press Month will be distributed for free to booksellers in the February White Box. New this year, the SPC compiled its own 10 notable small press titles after canvassing independent booksellers. The list of titles is available on the SPC Web site.

Also new is the SPC's inaugural New York Round Table Writers' Conference, which is held in conjunction with the Algonquin Hotel and takes place in Manhattan from April 28 - 30. The conference will focus on a variety of literary and publishing topics, including in-depth discussions about book production, marketing, public relations, self-publishing, grants and fellowships, and writing for performance. Editors, publishers, and literary agents will be on hand to discuss publishing opportunities. The SPC will host other literary events at the center throughout the month.

To highlight small presses, Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, will create a display of small press titles showcasing fiction, spirituality, poetry, and regional genres. The bookstore will also offer several readings by small press authors, including Jeannine Savard (My Hand Upon Your Name, Red Hen Press). But featuring small press authors is business as usual for the bookstore. "We always do our best to represent small presses in our reading schedule," said Pinna Joseph, director of marketing, who talked about the relationship between independent presses and bookstores: "The small presses offer unique voices to be heard, and those voices are heard, handsold, and read at independent bookstores."

All of the Tattered Cover locations in Colorado will also promote March is Small Press Month with prominent displays of titles and fliers, and, like Changing Hands, Tattered Cover will have small press writers on their author events schedule. "Last year we wrote about Small Press Month in our newsletter, and this year we'll do it again," said Heather Duncan, director of marketing for Tattered Cover. "People come in to check it out. It's a good way to let people know about small presses."

Other sponsors of Small Press Month are Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, Independent Publishers Group, National Book Network/Biblio, Publishers Group West, R.R. Bowker, SCB Distributors, and Small Press Distribution.

For more information on Small Press Month, including a list of marketing suggestions for bookstores and libraries, as well as events at the Small Press Center, go to www.smallpress.org. Free posters can be ordered by calling PMA at (310) 373-2732. --Karen Schechner