Greetings,

Fall is officially upon us! We hope the summer was kind to you all.

This month, we’re pleased to mark the change of season with association updates, a guide to our revamped Member Portal, upcoming events, a bookseller-led discussion on new season books, and more.

We hope you enjoy.

 

Time flies when you’re having fun – and hard at work! Here are some important announcements from your association.

2021-22 Annual Report & AGM Results

Last Tuesday we hosted our second AGM with Bookseller Members. In the days following, we released our 2021-22 Annual Report for all industry professionals to read. You can access the report here.

The AGM included a number of important votes including the affirmation of our 2022-23 Board of Directors. Seven founding directors were re-elected to the board for a two-year term along with two new directors: Ilya Razykov from Librairie Saga Bookstore in Montreal, QC and Jo Treggiari from Block Shop Books in Lunenburg, NS. Welcome to Ilya and Jo!

The membership also approved revisions to the bylaws including the creation of a new “Provisional Member” category for aspiring booksellers who haven’t yet opened their stores. These members will have access to all the Bookseller Member benefits with the exception of association votes and access to the group membership with CFIB. We will update the website in the coming weeks to reflect this change.

Thanks to all those members who joined us at this year’s AGM and our thanks to author Iain Reid for helping host our after-party!

Holiday Season, Here We Come!

Our annual membership survey found that many booksellers are pressed for time when it comes to the holiday season while others have well-established holiday campaigns of their own. With this in mind, the CIBA team will lead a holiday marketing initiative on behalf of indies, instead of designing a collective campaign. It will include three distinct phases: 

  • Shop Early (“Avoid holiday stress this year.”)
  • Book Recommendations (“Indie booksellers give the BEST suggestions.”)
  • Gift Cards (“Give them the indie bookstore experience.”)

We will focus on promoting broad-appeal messaging on CIBA's reader-facing social media channels and provide graphic assets for those members who want to spread the word. Stay tuned for more information in October!

DCH Support for Booksellers Update

Heads up to booksellers who applied for the new Support for Booksellers program: keep an eye on your inbox. 

DCH program officers have begun reaching out to booksellers with requests for direct deposit information. These requests have included a quick turnaround time for responses, so we strongly encourage you to keep on top of your emails to ensure you don’t miss important information. And don’t forget that junk folder!

Please reach out to us if you have any questions about the annual report, holiday campaign, or the DCH Support for Booksellers program.

There is a wealth of information and resources waiting for you in our revamped Member Portal including:

  • the Bookseller Forum, a dedicated forum accessible only to booksellers who wish to discuss business challenges, crowdsource answers, and share information
  • our Bulletin Board where all member types can share ideas, initiatives, event invitations, and opportunities with industry colleagues
  • a growing archive of Member Resources including business tools, event recordings, marketing assets for campaigns and general use, member discounts, and so much more

To help you navigate the portal more easily, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide that includes information about things like logging in, editing your member profile, registering for events, posting to the forums, and more. Click here to access the Member Portal guide.

We recommend downloading this guide or bookmarking the link on your browser for future use. If you encounter any issues in the portal or have questions about the website, get in touch.

Not a member? Join today to take advantage of the Member Portal!

Our brand new #IndieBookshopHaul contest was a great success!

Over the course of the contest, we received more than 125 entries across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. In early September, the CIBA team randomly selected one winner – Becka W. from Sarnia, Ontario. Becka chose The Book Keeper to curate a contest prize pack worth $250. Click here to see what the team put together.

This campaign encouraged readers to shop at indie bookstores, show off their purchases online, and promote the value of shopping local. Thanks to all the bookstores, publishers, not-for-profit organizations, and readers who have helped boost the signal.

Did you enjoy this contest? Were the assets useful for promotion? If you have thoughts on this campaign we’d love to hear from you.

CIBA Publisher Picks – Fall Edition
Tuesday, September 20 (Multinational Publishers) TODAY!
Tuesday, September 27 (Canadian Independent Publishers)

Both sessions will take place at: 3:30pm PT, 4:30pm MT, 5:30pm CT, 6:30pm ET, 7:30pm AT, 8:00pm Newfoundland

CIBA's Publisher Picks series is back! We will bring you to the heart of publisher marketing discussions to discover the season's best bets – the books you might not know you need to stock but will definitely be glad you have on hand. Publishers will be presenting highlights only, in a speed-dating format.

Strategy Sharing: Curating and Ordering French-language Children’s Books
Thursday, September 29
12pm PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, 3pm ET, 4pm AT, 4:30pm Newfoundland

Booksellers with experience selling French-language books will share their key strategies including useful websites and tools for research beyond publisher pitches, tips for identifying and dealing with distributors, best practices for placing orders, and ideas for keeping your shelves strategically stocked. The format of the event is question-and-answer, with an opportunity for questions and discussion from attendees. 

Mythbusting with BookNet Canada: We Fight Anecdata and So Can You!
Tuesday, October 4
9am PT, 10am MT, 11am CT, 12pm ET, 1pm AT, 1:30pm Newfoundland

In this webinar, we set anecdata aside to delve into the latest research on Canadian book sales, Canadian consumers, and Canadian readers to address some of the biggest book industry myths. Are online sales taking over in-store shopping? Are libraries in competition with bookstores? And what’s next for the industry post-COVID? Find out in this session led by BookNet Canada’s President and CEO Noah Genner.

Lectures & Labs: Pre-Holiday Season Website Preparation
Thursday, October 6
12pm PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, 3pm ET, 4pm AT, 4:30pm Newfoundland

Follow along as Trevor from Bookmanager goes through a pre-holiday checklist for your website. This includes tips on the new Gift Registry feature, suggested strategies for pre- and post-checkout messages, and checking your estimated pick-up times for books needing to be ordered. If time allows, Trevor may even give a preview of the upcoming improved shipping rate calculator and promotional codes area on the new Bookmanager admin website. As always, participant questions are preferred over anything Trevor has to say, so feel free to ask anything and steer the ship!

Ask the Bookseller: A Crash Course in Consignment
Tuesday, October 18
4pm PT, 5pm MT, 6pm CT, 7pm ET, 8pm AT, 8:30pm Newfoundland

It's a hot button topic for indie booksellers. How can we find treasures in the sea of self-published books? How can you save time when it comes to answering queries from authors? What policies can you put in place to help your decisions make good business sense? Our expert panel of booksellers will share their strategies and successes with navigating the world of consignment. 

Can’t find the time to attend CIBA events live? No problem! You can access our event recordings in the CIBA Member Portal for on-demand viewing.

Some of our recent recordings include:

  • Ask the Bookseller: Planning for a Successful Holiday Season
  • Using Consumer Insight Information to Do Better Business This Fall
  • Think Local: Independent Canadian Publishers and You
  • Mythbusting with BookNet Canada: Canadian Book Sales at Your Store

Click here to access these recordings.

Not a member? Join CIBA today to access event recordings and a whole range of other member benefits.

You know what they say: fall is for book lovers.

We’ve curated two collections of recently released and forthcoming books to help fill out your customers’ “to read” lists. Authors and illustrators featured include Billy-Ray Belcourt, Tomson Highway, Iain Reid, S.K. Ali, Elise Gravel, Richard Van Camp, and more.

Check out the reading list for adults here.

Click here to see our list for young readers.

We will share our list for adults across our social channels today. Our list for young readers will be shared publicly on September 27.

Block Shop Books in Lunenburg, NS is a local favourite and tourist destination. In this profile, we spoke to Jo Treggiari – co-owner, Governor General’s award-nominated YA author, and newly minted CIBA Board Director – about the store and its place in the community.

“We like to think of ourselves as a hub for the community. A place for dialogue. A welcoming space where everyone, in particular 2SLGBT+ youth, feel comfortable and supported.”

Read the article here.

The Bookseller Forum is the place to receive support from and participate in discussions with your fellow bookseller members. This month, CIBA posed the following question:

“How do you ensure that you and your staff are knowledgeable about new season books?”

Here are some excerpts from member responses shared so far:

“Now [CIBA’s] Publisher Picks is a key way I plan to have our booksellers hear about new books. We will still try to gather as much as possible and have it be something of a social occasion for staff as well but, because the presentations are recorded, we can also assign key booksellers an hour off the floor to see it for themselves. I recommend these highly.” 

– Chris Hall, McNally Robinson (MB and SK)

“We have our meeting on a Sunday morning [in October], and I bring breakfast (croissants, jam, fresh fruit, and yogurts and someone gets the coffee order. It's a roundtable set up. We go over housekeeping things, then everyone takes their turn talking about their own stack of favourite books they have gathered from the inventory. It's a good way to call attention to books we all need to know about and refine the way we talk about them.”

– Eleanor LeFave, Mabel’s Fables (ON)

Read the full responses here and add your voice to the mix! You can also post any business-related question in the forum to crowdsource answers from your peersThis forum is only accessible to Bookseller Members.

Want to be part of the conversation? Join CIBA today.

Our monthly micro survey allows the membership to weigh in on questions from the CIBA team. Your participation helps us develop our programs and services.

This month, we are gathering intel for an upcoming Lectures & Labs event.

BOOKSELLERS:

Does your store have a good relationship with local schools and boards and, if so, are you willing to share your experiences with fellow bookseller members?

 
 
 

This message was sent to you by the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe at any time

P.O. Box 36099, Halifax NS B3J 3S9

{Organization_URL}