Footnotes 2016

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In This Issue 2016 Book Awards Binc Scholarships Children's Institute Scholarships IBD 2016 Orders Paz Goes Pinterest NWBL Noteworthies Member Notes Calendar 2016 Book Awards Announced Spread the News, Stack the Books Eight months, more than 250 nominated titles--and then there were six. Congratulations to the 2016 winners and a gargantuan THANK YOU to Book Awards Committee members. Acceptance essays from the winners are running on NWBookLovers throughout January. A six-panel web banner for newletters and websites is available on NWBL and at PNBA.org.   "If I do not try to do things swiftly they will not get done at all. I have to play defense against myself."  --Brian Doyle, on submitting his winner's essay about five minutes   after (or so it seemed) the 2016 Book Awards announcement   2016 Binc Scholarships Application Process Opens The Binc Foundation's annual scholarship program is now accepting applications. Booksellers and their dependents pursuing higher education goals are encouraged to apply for awards. Binc Executive Director, Pam French, had this to say upon this year's announcement: "The launch of our annual scholarship program always makes January exciting. Helping booksellers achieve their dreams and explore possibilities is one of the ways Binc supports booksellers who make an impact in their own communities every day." "YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" --PGW sales rep Cindy Heidemann, on learning of Megan Kruse's   Book Award win "Yippee, indeed! Right on!" --Hawthorne Books publisher, Rhonda Hughes, hearing the   same news "Holy shitake!" --Hawthorne Books publicist Liz Crain, ditto   ABC Children's Institute Bookseller Scholarships Available Booksellers interested in attending this year's ABC Children's Institute, Orlando, Florida, June 21-23, can now apply to receive a publisher-sponsored scholarship. Scholarships are open to booksellers from any ABA member store that did not have a Children's Institute scholarship winner in 2014 or 2015. The deadline to apply for a scholarship is March 31, 2016. Details at BookWeb.   Gearing Up for IBD Plan Your Premiums The 2016 Independent Bookstore Day catalog goes live today, with specialty items from Mo Willems, Raina Telegmeir, Kate DiCamillo, Anthony Bourdain, Curious George and many more! Deadline for orders is February 16. Want help planning your order? Stop by the IBD Consultation Station at Winter Institute, in Denver, or contact program director, Samantha Schoech.   Paz Goes Pinterest Looking for Update Inspiration? Drawing inspiration from spirited independent bookstores around the world as well as successful general retailers, Donna Paz Kaufman, principal of the Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates, has created a Pinterest page dedicated to "Bookstore Design & Display."   The page features hundreds of photos in fourteen categories showcasing topics like specialty fixtures, accent furniture, kids play areas, seating, and much more--a virtual showroom of ideas for your store!     Per customer request, the biggest sellers at Broadway Books  (Don't you just love the neighborhood reflection?)       Recent Site Highlights *  2016 Book Award winner Martha Brockenbrough on "The Surprising Truth About Novel Ideas." *  2016 Book Award winner Megan Kruse "On Becoming." *  Feel-good customer stories from Elliott Bay and Island Books, with another from Liberty Bay to publish Monday! Good signs for the year ahead. Member Notes 2017 Show Plans December Footnotes announced the 2017 Tradeshow at the Red Lion Hotel on the River, Jantzen Beach, in Portland, as starting October 7. Although the Board of Directors will meet on Saturday, the 7th, the three-day show will begin on the 8th. Setting Sail When Roger and Nancy Page sold Island Books this past year after 30 years at the helm, they promised to stay on on as staff members "until the shop was balanced on both wheels." That bittersweet time has come, and they said goodbye in the store's January newsletter. Big Steps at Sasquatch Shelf Awareness reports that Sasquatch publisher Gary Luke has been named chairman and chief executive officer. Director of Sales and Marketing--and a familiar face from the tradeshow booth--Sarah Hanson has been named president and chief operating officer and joins the company's board. High Praise in The Huff "We stood there holding our treasures, taking this store in one more time before we went about our day." --Liberty Bay Books customer Sara Lindberg on rediscovering the magic of a small bookstore Read it on the Huff Post Blog. It'll warm your bookloving heart. Calendar      Jan 23-26        Winter Institute, Denver Feb 1,2            Annual PNBA Board Retreat, Troutdale Feb 26             PNBA Member Dues Renewal Deadline Mar 4              ABA Spring Forum, Portland (details TBA)  Apr 30             Independent Bookstore Day May 11-13        Book Expo America, Chicago Sept 30-Oct 2   PNBA Tradeshow, Tacoma *Check out the calendar of member-related deadlines   and events now featured on pnba.org! Classifieds Now On NWBL PNBA classified advertisement listings are now featured on the NW Book Lovers blog. NWBL greatly broadens the options and the audience for NW book-related postings. Current PNBA members are eligible for free classifieds. Contact Tegan Tigani for guidelines and scheduling.

In This Issue PNBA Names New E.D. ABA Spring Forum Paz Adds Resources NWBL Noteworthies Member Notes Calendar PNBA Lands New Director Apprenticeship Pays Off As of March 1, Brian Juenemann will succeed Thom Chambliss as Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Chambliss is set to retire at month's end after 23 years as the head of PNBA. Juenemann, the PNBA Marketing Director for the past 11 years, was chosen by the PNBA Board following a national search. Prior to coming to PNBA, he worked for more than a decade at the University of Oregon Bookstore as a Bookseller, Returns Coordinator and Author Events Coordinator. Official press release.  PNBA will host a reception in celebration of Chambliss's service and retirement at its Eugene office, Sunday, Feb. 28. Contact Larry West for more information or to RSVP.   ABA Spring Forum Nears Hear the Sermon in Portland Representatives of the American Booksellers Association will lead a presentation titled "Indie Bookstores and the New Localism," in Portland, Friday, March 4. The session grew out of the Civic Economics report "Amazon and Empty Storefronts: The Fiscal and Land Use Impact of Online Retail," released and heavily discussed during last month's Winter Institute, in Denver.   The free 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. session will be held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, at 1624 NE Hancock, in Portland, just a few strides up the street from Broadway Books and will include a lunch provided by ABA. After the forum, the BookBroads invite attendees to drop in for a store walk-through before retiring next door to the Broadway Grill and Brewery for a PNBA-hosted happy hour with 2016 PNBA Award-winning author of Undermajordomo Minor, Patrick deWitt, and other special guests. Please RSVP to your ABA Member Relations rep, Nathan Halter, by Wednesday, Feb. 24. Nicole Sullivan at BookBar New Benefits from Paz & Assoc. Online Bookseller Training and Café Expertise The Bookstore Training and Consulting Group has added Bookstore Café Specialist Nicole Sullivan to its roster of experts. Sullivan is the owner of Denver's BookBar and is "available to help booksellers with everything from calculating start-up investment needs to choosing equipment, laying out service counters to providing vendor lists." Also newly offered by Paz is an online training program for new bookstore owners. Paz has developed twelve training modules that "focus on creating the foundation of any successful independent bookstore." Presentations, videos, links, spreadsheets, planning exercises and supplemental hand-outs are available to guide new booksellers in creating a realistic business plan based on bookstore metrics and best practices. For information visit PazBookBiz.com or contact Mark Kaufman, 904-277-2664. Recent Site Highlights *  2016 Book Award winner Patrick deWitt explains why he stopped underlining passages in his books in "Some Thoughts on Book Etiquette." *  2016 Book Award winner Thor Hanson delivers "Recommended for You," an essay on why he finds it difficult to ignore a good pitch. *  2016 Book Award winner Dana Simpson presents, ta-da, "Me and My Unicorn." Try and ignore that. Member Notes Jacobsen's Books & More, No More "Last year was our best year. But it's been a struggle every single year."  --Tina Jacobsen, for The Oregonian, on the closing of her bookstore after a five-year go on Main Street in Hillsboro, Oregon. Village Books and Kurtis Lowe Finalists for PW Awards  Publishers Weekly revealed the names of five finalists for its 2016 Bookstore of the Year Award and four finalists for Sales Rep of the Year. PNBA's Village Books and Kurtis Lowe, of Book Travelers West. are finalists in their respective categories (guess which is a store and which is a rep). The winners will be revealed at BEA.   Wide World of Bookstores Gets Smaller  Seattle's Wide World Books & Maps, opened in 1976, announced the store's closure at the end of this month. The store is offering  progressive discounts during the countdown on everything in the space, including the maps on the walls and the fixtures.   Where's PNBA? We spot eight members in this crowd shot from the Wi11 opening reception at Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store! Photo by Kristen Gilligan Calendar      Feb 22             BPNW Meeting, Seattle Feb 26             PNBA Member Dues Renewal Deadline Mar 4              ABA Spring Forum, Portland    Apr 30             Independent Bookstore Day May 11-13        Book Expo America, Chicago June 21-23       ABC Children's Institute, Orlando Sept 30-Oct 2   PNBA Tradeshow, Tacoma *Check out the calendar of member-related deadlines   and events now featured on pnba.org! Classifieds Now On NWBL PNBA classified advertisement listings are now featured on the NW Book Lovers blog. NWBL greatly broadens the options and the audience for NW book-related postings. Current PNBA members are eligible for free classifieds. Contact Tegan Tigani for guidelines and scheduling.

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association | 338 W. 11th Ave. #108 | Eugene | OR | 97401

In This Issue Promoting Indie Bookstore Day NWBL Noteworthies Member Notes Calendar IBD Upping Public Promotion 400 Stores, 12 Exclusives, One Day, Let's Go! The Neil Gaiman Coloring Book buzz hit social media this week and the challenge now is to keep it building! And, no, you can't order extras now that the word is out, but who would have shorted themselves of a Neil Gaiman coloring book anyway? Come on. Independent Bookstore Day has made available an array of promotional pieces--flyers, teasers and talkers for building the anticipation of IBD-only exclusives, so start peppering your windows and shelves and stuffing those bags. View the most recent IBD newsletter for a rundown of resources, from bookmarks to backlist deals, press release template to party planning and a whole lot more. Award presentation for Patrick deWitt following the ABA Spring Forum. Click the shot for an array of 2016 Book Award events. photo courtesy of Laura Stanfill, Forest Avenue Press Recent Site Highlights *  Pacific Northwest Book Award and Oregon Book Award winner Gina Ochsner interviews Portlander Robert Hill upon the release of his new novel from Forest Avenue Press, The Remnants. *  Evel Knievel Days author and Portlander Pauls Toutonghi interviews Annick Smith "on Poetry, Pets, and Perception" and Crossing the Plains with Bruno. Member Notes Open Books Open for Bidding After more than 20 years running Seattle's poetry-only bookstore (almost 30 years at the bookstore till, in general), John Marshall and Christine Deavel are ready to hand over the keys to the shop. Read Marshall's announcement letter at The Seattle Review of Books. Snow Goose on the Market From Kristine Kaufmann and Tom Bird, Snow Goose Books & Frames, Stanwood, WA, in the store's "Honk" newsletter: "As the old saying goes, time passes quickly when you're having fun, and our time at the Goose has been a pleasure and a privilege. But the passing of the years has meant one other thing--namely, we got, well, old. So after much rumination, we've decided to hang up our bookselling shoes, and are now actively looking for someone--maybe even you--to become the proud new owner of Snow Goose Books & Frames."  Interested? Contact Mark Kaufman at Paz & Associates, 904-277-2664. Mostly Books Totally Done   During the 2016 membership drive PNBA was informed that Gig Harbor, Washington's Mostly Books is closing its doors. Owner Jo Graffe attributed the sad decision to a variety of factors, "main one being revenues down and expenses up."     Wide World Feeling the Love, Hanging On   Seattle's Wide World Books & Maps announced its closure last month and even started selling everything that wasn't nailed down--but wait! After an outpouring of support from hundreds of customers and travel professionals, the store decided to launch a crowd funding effort to raise $50,000 to "pay off some back bills and expand our inventory." As of this week, the campaign has raised more than $20,000 with another $20,000 in travel package donations offered by sponsor Rick Steve's Europe. Owner Julie Hunt has good reason to share this sentiment with her customers: "I'm feeling quite optimistic that this campaign will be successful and that we'll be able to keep the store open!"      Calendar Highlights     Apr 4                 Spring Board Meeting, Portland Apr 30               Independent Bookstore Day May 11-13          Book Expo America, Chicago June 21-23         ABC Children's Institute, Orlando Sept 30-Oct 2     PNBA Tradeshow, Tacoma Check out the full calendar of member-related deadlines and events featured on pnba.org. Classifieds Now On NWBL PNBA classified advertisement listings are now featured on the NW Book Lovers blog. NWBL greatly broadens the options and the audience for NW book-related postings. Current PNBA members are eligible for free classifieds. Contact Tegan Tigani for guidelines and scheduling.

In This Issue Parting with Partners Goodbye, Bob! Amazon-Cadabra NWBL Noteworthies Spinning New Terms Member Notes Calendar Classified Information Partners Pulls the Plug PNBA Loses Major Ally A couple of weeks ago I received an early afternoon phone call from a one of the staff at Shelf Awareness. It wasn't someone in editorial or advertising, so I might have known something was up. But I've received a lot of notes and calls these past few weeks; well-wishes, requests, check-ins from all corners of our industry. I happily greeted my caller. Then, the bomb. "...hoping to get your reaction on the Partners announcement." Awww, man. The feeling wasn't unlike that I experienced a day earlier with the news of Jim Harrison's death. Sure, the possibility might have been lingering in the deep crease between the pages for some time. Maybe there were even immediate signs. But then, no way. He's a fixture of our landscape. He's always there. Book after book he just is. In Northwest indie bookselling, Partners-West just is. Was. They sometimes kept a few copies of hot stock stashed, off the inventory, for their best customers in a pinch. It wasn't hinky, just a benefit of doing long-term, mutually-beneficial business. They gave our local self-published authors a distribution home to support their solo efforts. Heading to the next town after that last book is signed is a whole lot easier when you don't have to square up with the bookstore and pack up your extras to load back into the trunk. I've heard tales of hand-deliveries from the office staff. Their booth was an oasis amongst the madness of BEA. They were old school. They were thoughtful. They were our friends. Gloria, Trent, Russ, Luis, Vicki, Sam and the rest of the crew. We are grateful that you live on as independent entities and hope we see you down the road--whether it's in this crazy business or elsewhere. On behalf of all the members of PNBA, our very best.   Brian Juenemann Executive Director Bob Harrison, circa 2000 Harrison to Come Off the Road Karel/Dutton Rep Calls it Quits After 27 Years Dear Friends, I'm writing to announce that I'll be retiring in April after working in the book business for nearly four decades, beginning with a part time job doing college textbook returns--which, amazingly, didn't scare me off for good!  It has been my great good fortune to spend the last 27 years as a book rep here in the Northwest. I'd been thinking about this for a while, but as I was visiting a store earlier this season, the buyer introduced me to a newly hired bookseller. I mentioned that I'd been calling on the store since 1989--he told me that was the year he was born.  That's when I knew it was time! In many ways this has been a dream job, because of the books, certainly (well, perhaps not all of them...), but mainly because of the people--smart, hard-working, and most importantly, honorable people. It's been a privilege to be your colleague. Many thanks to you all. --Bob Harrison As of May 1, the NW territory will be covered by, as Harrison put it, "two excellent and experienced reps." Washington: Lise Solomon 1047 Stannage Ave. * Albany, CA 94706 T: 510-528-0579 * F: 510-900-1088 lise.solomon@sonic.net AK, ID, OR, MT: Ellen Towell 3145 Geary Blvd. #619 * San Francisco, CA 94118 T: 415-668-0829 * F: 415-668-2463 ellentowell.kdg@gmail.com   Look into my eyes... Give me a discount... Amazon to Re-join PNBA But Only with a Severe Price Break If you missed the April 1 edition of Shelf Awareness Pro, you started the month out wrong. Included alongside such articles as "Coloring Books to Fill in 80% of Book Trade Sales," "Targeting Toddlers: NRA Expands Children's Book Program" and "Pop-Up Bookshop at NYC's Museum of Sex" was a bit built around an actual archival copy of Jeff Bezos' 1995 PNBA membership application, which PNBA keeps in the vault. Really, who can argue with Amazon's point that its single store shouldn't have to pay as much as area "behemoths" like University Bookstore and Third Place Books. Big bullies.   Recent Site Highlights *  James Crossley's latest "A Can of Corn" column--wait, that's "A Cup of News," sorry--smells of hot dogs and pine tar and heaven. For it's root, root, root for the Pickles... *  NW Book Lovers welcomed a new columnist this month, a voice we have been following with great pleasure via the newsletters of Sumner, Washington store, A Good Book Cafe. Get in the habit of reading Mark Teppo's "Bookseller Confessions" column. Put a Spin On Your Store Turntable Project Makes it as Easy as it is Cool After discussions with many booksellers at Winter Institute, the brain trust (it's Carl Lennertz) behind The Turntable Project has removed returnability restrictions from its vinyl terms. "I just decided I had to remove this one big obstacle," Lennertz said. "If I'm asking stores to make an investment, I have to as well."   Not only does the project give bookstores the opportunity to stock a seriously hip sideline package, it also provides the tools for bookstores to put their stamp on turntables donated to local schools. Get up to 33 rpm speed via the article in Shelf Awareness. Member Notes Pendleton Wrap-Up Terry Dallas is closing Pendleton, Oregon's Armchair Books at month's end. Dallas acknowledges that the store "has been a huge part of the life of my family and me for the past 26 years," but cites continuing declining sales and the decision finally coming down to basic quality of life. "I'm looking forward to finally being able to do some gardening, quilting, and hunting for mushrooms and wildflowers with my husband. I will certainly still be part of the book world in the Pacific Northwest, but now I'll just be on the other side of the counter!" Armchair has some items to liquidate as they move out. If interested, see the listing on the NWBL Classifieds page. Calendar Highlights     April 25              BPNW Meeting, Seattle Apr 30               Independent Bookstore Day May 11-13          Book Expo America, Chicago June 21-23         ABC Children's Institute, Orlando Sept 30-Oct 2     PNBA Tradeshow, Tacoma Check out the full calendar of member-related deadlines and events featured on pnba.org. Classifieds Now On NWBL PNBA classified advertisement listings are now featured on the NW Book Lovers blog. NWBL greatly broadens the options and the audience for NW book-related postings. Current PNBA members are eligible for free classifieds. Contact Tegan Tigani for guidelines and scheduling.