SCIBA Feast & Trade Show: A Very Full Plate

The 2008 Southern California Independent Booksellers Association (SCIBA) Authors Feast & Trade Show will be held on Saturday, October 18, at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Among the day's highlights are a morning of educational programming, sales rep pick of the lists sessions, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner author events. The American Booksellers Association will be presenting "Connecting to Your Customers and Community With IndieBound" at the show.

SCIBA Executive Director Jennifer Bigelow told BTW via e-mail that she and SCIBA President Sherri Gallentine of Vroman's Bookstore "are most looking forward to meeting a wonderful selection of authors throughout the day -- David Benioff, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Stewart O'Nan to mention just a few. We are also very pleased with our selection of book award finalists. They represent a very talented pool of Southern California authors and illustrators." The winners will be announced at the Authors Feast & Book Awards Dinner by Paul Cimusz of Baker & Taylor, SCIBA's premier event sponsor. T. Jefferson Parker will also be on hand to present the T. Jefferson Parker - SCIBA Mystery Award.

SCIBA's offerings on Saturday include "Business to Business: 10 Great Ideas You Can Implement at Your Store"; "Graphic Novels for Children: The History, Use in the Classroom and Why They Matter"; "Bookseller Luncheon/4 Authors Speaking!"; the "Author's Feast Reception"; and the "Author's Feast Dinner/SCIBA Book Awards."

New this year, SCIBA's Children's programming will be presented by Kristen McLean, executive director the Association of Booksellers for Children, and will be open to teachers and librarians as well as booksellers.

ABA's education programming, which is sponsored by Ingram Book Group/Ingram Publisher Services, will be presented by ABA COO Oren Teicher and Chief Program Officer Len Vlahos:

• Connecting to Your Customers and Community With IndieBound, 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
  There is a clear sentiment in favor of localism that is revolutionizing consumer behavior. People are renewing their ties to friends, neighbors, and institutions in their cities and towns, choosing Main Street over malls, and embracing localism and sustainability movements of all types. This presents an extraordinary opportunity for independent booksellers and other independent retailers. IndieBound taps into this growing movement, creating new and interesting ways for independent booksellers and other independent businesses to better communicate their core strengths -- independence, passion, community -- to their customers. Share what you have done in your store with IndieBound promotional material, ways that you have connected with other independent businesses in your community, and hear about creative ways your colleagues have used IndieBound.

"The SCIBA Board and staff are looking forward to hearing about our booksellers' experiences introducing IndieBound in their communities, and what their future plans are as well," said Bigelow. "Also, we look forward to hearing what other booksellers around the country have been up to. Russo's Books in Bakersfield combined its Twilight Prom [for the release of Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn] with the introduction of IndieBound to Bakersfield with great success."

The trade show and author autographing kicks off at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and the floor is open until 7:30 p.m. Authors who will be autographing on the floor include Dean Koontz, Melisa de la Cruz, and Pseudonymous Bosch, among many others.

ABA will have a booth on the SCIBA trade show floor, where booksellers can meet ABA staff and learn about IndieBound and the association's many other services and products. Information will also be available about the Fourth Annual Winter Institute (Wi4), to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Thursday, January 29, through Sunday, February 1.

Booksellers can enter a raffle for a free trip to Wi4 (airfare and up to a two-night hotel stay for one person) by dropping a business card off at the ABA booth on the show floor. They can also enter the raffle a second time by updating their store profile via BookWeb.org. One winner will be chosen at random at the end of October from all entries received at the nine regional shows and via profile updates.

Registration materials, including ticket information and a full schedule of events, are available on the SCIBA website. Questions about SCIBA programming should be addressed to office@scbabooks.org.

Questions and requests for information about ABA's participation at SIBA's trade show may be directed to ABA's Lisa Winn at lisa@bookweb.org. --David Grogan