Step Away From the Cell Phone, Laptop, iPad...

This Saturday, April 17, is the first annual celebration of e-Free Day. IndieBound created e-Free Day as a way for booksellers to encourage customers to put down their electronic gadgets and pick up a book instead!

The ready-made marketing campaign features downloadable e-Free posters,bag stuffers, and a list of activity ideas that stores can use to create in-store events in IndieBound's Bookseller DIY section.

The Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, will celebrate e-Free Day with author Amy Brecount White (Forget-Her-Nots, Greenwillow). "Learn about the Language of Flowers and meet the author as Fountain celebrates the first annual E-Free Day!" says the Fountain website. "Unplug! Get out and learn something new from a real live person, not Skyped, not on Twitter, not on YouTube…."

Athens, Georgia's Avid Bookshop isn't open yet, but that's not stopping Janet Geddis from advocating for e-Free Day online. "I did organize an e-Free Day event on Facebook and sent it out to all sorts of people," she said. "Last time I checked, I was the only event on FB called 'E-Free Day.'".

Other booksellers planning to mark e-Free Day are Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, and The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina. 

Booksellers who will be joining in this weekend's celebration are encouraged to contact Paige Poe, ABA marketing manager. Booksellers can tweet about e-Free Day on April 18 at #eFree!