Slavinsky, director of events at Warwick’s Bookstore in La Jolla,
Calif., will host a panel titled “Romance: Love It... And Don’t
Leave It Off Your Shelves!” with the Wicked Wallflowers Club
podcaster Jenny Nordbak and author Tessa Dare. Other shows,
including PNBA and NCIBA, will host panels focusing on
diverse and inclusive romance, such as YA and LGBTQ
romance; SIBA will feature executives from the Berkley
Publishing Group discussing the genre.
Book Prize Goes Public
Numerous regional organizations present their own book
awards, such as MIBA’s Midwest Book Awards, SIBA’s Southern
Book Prizes, and the SCIBA and PNBA annual awards. At
MPIBA, which administers the Reading the West Book
Awards, Heather Duncan has concentrated her effort on bol-
stering the impact of the prizes, in part by inviting the public
to vote alongside booksellers for the winners for the first time.
“Our bookseller reading committees created amazing shortlists
in six categories, and with the help of our member stores, our
nominees, and our publishing partners, we generated almost
4,000 votes to pick the winners,” Duncan says. “We also had a
Reading the West bookstore display contest, which was fun to
see on social media, and we will have a new website for the
prizes in place for next year. This will be at the center of a new,
expanded book-marketing campaign.”Maps and Road Trips
MIBA’s Obry says they have launched some special programs
in the past few years, including the Midwest Indie Bookstore
Roadmap. The physical map has now been published for two
years running and allows the organization to promote all of its
stores, and gives each individual store a chance to brand itself
creatively. “We’re also managing our events a bit differently and
launched two new events last year: our first-ever Roadtrip, as
well as Book University,” Obry says. “The Roadtrip is unique
because it’s a 100% store-driven event that invites colleagues
to that store to learn what they do best. Book U is unique
because it’s geared to motivate and teach frontline booksellers
about the industry overall, which is sometimes too easily
overlooked.”ABA and IBD
Bookstore maps, road trips, and competitions to visit multiple
bookstores in a region or city have also become a popular and
integral part of the annual Independent Bookstore Day, which
will now be administered by the American Booksellers