IndieBound On Tour

Since July, American Booksellers Association staff have been visiting locations around the country to answer questions, share ideas, and help position bookstores to take advantage of IndieBound [1] and all that it has to offer. One such ABA staff member is IndieBound Outreach Liaison Paige Poe, who has traveled from Cleveland, Ohio, to Elizabeth City, North Carolina -- and points in-between -- to spread the word to booksellers about the IndieBound Movement. Here, she provides us with a look at her travels over the summer.

By Paige Poe, IndieBound Outreach Liaison

As part of ABA's ongoing IndieBound tour, I've had the opportunity to host several sessions with great groups of booksellers. At each session, I displayed for the booksellers all that IndieBound has to offer, showed them the ins and outs of IndieBound.org, and discussed how they can use the materials, with examples of what other booksellers are already doing. It was fun and enlightening to meet enthusiastic booksellers and to hear their ideas on the movement's progress. There were so many good ideas, and we hope to incorporate many of them in the coming months.

Here's What You Just Did and We're IndieBound signs at Sacred Path Books & Art.

The first trip was to Cleveland, Ohio, for the first of three IndieBound sessions held in conjunction with the Great Lake Booksellers Association (GLBA) and their executive director, Jim Dana. The initial session was hosted by Sacred Path Books & Art [2]. The bookstore is part of Trinity Commons, connecting the store to the beautiful Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Sacred Path proudly displayed IndieBound posters and cards throughout their store, along with works from local artists and authors. It was wonderful to see the idea of IndieBound coming to life in their efforts to support localism. And the lunch from Cafe Ah-Roma, also a Trinity business, was fantastic (delicious hummus sandwiches....). Check out their profile [3] at IndieBound.org!

Indiebound in the window at Shaman Drum.

The second session took place at Zanzibar Restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where we gathered for lunch and discussion. This was the perfect setting for an IndieBound session, right on State Street in downtown Ann Arbor, surrounded by indie businesses. As a great addition to the IndieBound talk, we heard from Ingrid Ault of Ann Arbor's Think Local First association, which is making great progress in promoting the region's already thriving local culture. Later, Karl Pohrt gave us the grand tour of his beautiful bookstore, Shaman Drum Bookshop. Visiting all these great bookstores is amazing, but my suitcase gets so heavy with new purchases.

Indie Bestseller display at Outwrite Books.

And afterwards, it was onward to Aurora, Illinois, to meet at Anderson's Book Fair Warehouse, where I was joined by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. Anderson's employee Larry Law gave us a presentation of the amazing customized IndieBound material the store has produced, and inspired lots of project ideas for the other booksellers in attendance. Each of these meetings was followed by screening of Paperback Dreams [4], a documentary film about the contributions, historical significance, and struggles of Cody's Books in Berkeley and Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, California. These viewings generated some enlightening discussions on the future of bookstores and their place in the cultural fabric of a community.

An Indie Next table at McIntyre's.

Avin and I drove on to Madison, Wisconsin, for a session to be held in conjunction with the Midwest Booksellers Association and several Wisconsin booksellers at the Wisconsin Historical Society, and it was another great session. Jill Nelson and Candy Pearson of Apple Blossom Books in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, came to the meeting in shirts from the IndieBound's Prinfection shop [5] --and reported they'd been selling tons in their store, as well. Avin and I took time out to tour his old stomping grounds at the University of Wisconsin and visit the great University Bookstore.

After a weekend break, I made it to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a session held in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association at Carnegie Mellon University for a nighttime discussion over some delicious vegetarian spring rolls. Pittsburgh-area booksellers were eager to discuss using IndieBound to reach out to other local businesses. Later, NAIBA Executive Director Eileen Dengler and I had an exclusive tour of the under-construction Penguin Bookshop [6] in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, guided by Penguin's director Karen Fadzen and manager Maryanne Eichorn. The new Penguin Bookshop is being built to LEED Certification environmental standards, and is set to open September 6. Check out their blog [7] to see the building process.

For the Love of Books tote bags at Page After Page

On August 2, I hosted a session for booksellers and publishers at the Great American Bargain Book Show in Atlanta, Georgia, which took place before the show, so thanks to everyone who woke up early to attend. Later I had a chance to visit Atlanta's great Outwrite Books, and my suitcase became even heavier with new books. Then, it was on to North Carolina for two events. First was at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, with a large crowd of North Carolina booksellers. The next day, on my drive to Page After Page Bookstore in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, I stopped along the way to visit stores that attended the session at Regulator, McIntyre's Books in Pittsboro, and Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, to thank them for coming to Durham, check out their IndieBound displays, and, of course, buy more books.

Indie Next shelf-talkers [8] at Prince Books.

At my last session at Page After Page, I met booksellers from the Outer Banks and many of the independent business owners in Elizabeth City, who showed a great interest in using IndieBound. Susan Hinkle of Page After Page is making great strides in organizing her community businesses -- so, thanks to her for promoting the session. It was very interesting to hear so many different non-bookstore perspectives on IndieBound and what localism means to them. The next day, on my way back home, I stopped off in Norfolk, Virginia, to visit Prince Books. They have IndieBound posters and displays everywhere you turn. I even got an IndieBound shopping bag when I bought (even more) books!

Thanks to GLBA's Jim Dana, MBA's Susan Walker, NAIBA's Eileen Dengler, GABBS's Valerie May, Tom Campbell of the Regulator Bookshop, Susan Hinkle of Page After Page Bookstore, and all the booksellers, business owners, and anyone else who came to our sessions!