The Written Nerd

We interrupt our sporadically scheduled book reviews to bring you this highly personal pitch, from me (Jessica/Book Nerd) to the booksellers of New York City and the mid-Atlantic region. I have to advocate for things I am passionate about -- if you're a bookseller you can probably sympathize. I wanted to make sure that you know all about the Fall Conference , this September 21 and 22, hosted by the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) . Like a mini-BEA or Winter Institute, the conference brings together booksellers and publishers from the mid-Atlantic region for professional education, networking, and book buzz to prepare us for the fall season in our stores. The cost is membership in NAIBA, which is $100 per store for a year, plus meals and hotel; discounted hotel rates are available (the conference is in Atlantic city, a cheap bus ride away). You can get all of the details about the conference here . I went to my first NAIBA conference when I ha...

I was at a NAIBA board meeting most of today, discussing exciting plans for the fall trade show in Baltimore (hope to give you the full report later this week). So it's rather late, but here's some Monday linkage I've been collecting. (I'm hoping to be a more regular blogger now that I'm officially self-employed -- cross your fingers for me.) * A delicious irony in the Brave New World of e-books: Amazon sneaks into your Kindle and takes back your 1984. (via @beverlyqueery on Twitter, aka sweet pea of King's Books .) * And, since we're feeling rather 1950s paranoid, a fantastically propagandistic video about the environmental effects of shopping local from the fine folks at Regulator Bookshop (via Bookselling This Week ): * I love the long-running feature on the music/culture blog Largehearted Boy in which "authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book." The most recent entry is by Joan...

Note: At last weekend's meeting of the board of NAIBA (the regional booksellers's assocation of which I am an executive board member), secretary Eileen Dengler "comissioned" a piece for the upcoming NAIBA newsletter. This is something I've had on my mind lately, so it was a great motivation to write out my thoughts, and Eileen graciously agreed to let me cross-post it here. Your comments are most welcome. Bookstores in Bad Times At this particular moment, it’s a challenge to be an idealist and an optimist: two labels I’ve embraced as I’ve found my calling as an independent bookseller. Newspaper headlines, daily sales totals, and our own tightening belts tell us that things are tough, and getting tougher. As we head into the holiday season, where most of us make 40% of our yearly sales, it can seem logical to throw up our hands and wait for the apocalypse. But booksellers are tough, and relish a challenge. And somehow I keep finding reasons to be optimistic. For ...

Can I truly ecap the amazingness that was NAIBA-Con 2008 in a blog post on a day when I have a million errands to run? Nay, I cannot. But I can give you the highlights. THE BUS: NAIBA generously chartered a bus for us NYC folks to get to Cherry Hill. It was a small but talkative crowd, and I felt a little like the best parts of high school field trips -- not for the last time this weekend... THE EARLY BIRD SUPPER: Brian Selznick (author of Hugo Cabret and more recently collaborator on The Runaway Dolls ) is freakin' hilarious. He got co-author Ann Martin (of Babysitters Club fame) involved in a very silly scripted speech that had everyone's face hurting. Ask any bookseller who was there for his impression of a doll speaking into a microphone. THE EMERGING LEADERS COCKTAILS: There were so few of us, and Workman's sponsorship so generous, that we invited all the seasoned booksellers to join us young folks for after-dinner cocktails, which was actually awesome -- it...

I'm still reeling from the amazing Fort Greene bookstore party on Tuesday (look, ma, I'm in the New York Times! ) Much follow-up to be done with the wonderful booklovers who put their support in writing, which Rebecca and I are furiously working on. But bookselling life goes on, and how. Wednesday morning I spoke on a panel with Lance Fensterman and Ruth Liebman at the Association of American Publishers ' Intro to Publishing course. It was a cool conversation about selling books all the way through to the consumer (i.e. through editorial, publicity, marketing, sales rep, etc.) and what that implies for cover design, flap copy, blurbs, etc. Lance is the most self-deprecating, energetic powerhouse of a book person I know, and Ruth is incredibly gracious and one of the reasons indie bookstores get the cred and attention they do; I was humbled by both of them. Hope the assembled young and eager publishing folks got something out of it; they're the emerging leaders of t...

It has come to my attention recently -- when sending out events emails, calling publisher customer service, inquiring of publicists, talking to my friends, etc. -- that virtually the entirety of the publishing industry takes some portion of the month of August off. Next to that week between Christmas and New Year's, it's probably the deadest time of year in the echoing offices of the publishing houses. And gosh darn it, I think this bookseller needs to get in on some of that lack-of-action. So I'm declaring the month of August a hiatus from The Written Nerd. Half of my readership is somewhere in the Hamptons or the Caribbean or Canada anyway (ha, or the roofs of their non-air-conditioned apartments -- who am I kidding?) I've got big plans for September, but I feel it's gonna be a really good thing for me to take a little time off in the meantime. I'm not going anywhere myself -- but loafing in the grass this morning in Prospect Park, I couldn't think of...

Okay, heads up! I know it feels like the part of summer that will go on forever (and thank goodness for that, on an at-last-gorgeous day like today after a week of rainy 90 degrees). But the fall is on it's way, and there are a couple of major events coming up you'll want to know about. Emerging Leaders Night Out, NYC: IndieBound! On Tuesday, August 19, at 7 PM, Emerging Leaders NYC -- which welcomes young people in bookselling and publishing in the greater New York area -- is hosting a new Emerging Leaders Night Out. That means you come, you drink, you chat with passionate book folks your age, you learn some things, you make new friends. And at this one, you'll learn more about IndieBound , the ABA's buy local revolution. We'll have lots of IndieBound materials available for everyone, and for booksellers who RSVP, free IndieBound t-shirts! These are just for booksellers, and you've got to get in touch fast in order to get your t-shirt at the gathering. Th...

Killing two birds with one stone, I'm making my plans for this weekend's NAIBA -Con (also known as the NAIBA fall conference) in Baltimore and blogging as well! Ha! Today: Pack. Print out handouts for Internet panel and Emerging Leaders meeting Saturday: 10:00 Meet my colleague Adjua at Penn Station to take the train to Baltimore. Afternoon: visit Baltimore bookstores, including breathe books and Atomic Books . Can't wait to talk to these great booksellers and check out their stores -- honestly, this is one of the main reasons I've advocated to have the conference in Baltimore! 6:30 NAIBA board reception 8:00 Early Bird buffet supper 9:30 Quiz Bowl! This was way too much fun last year, mostly thanks to Quiz Master Joe Drabyak -- hopefully Arthur Phillips won't be there to show up all the booksellers' literary knowledge. I'm hoping to round up an Emerging Leaders team to show what the young'uns know... Sunday: 8:00 (if I'm ambitious) Walk down ...

I'm both feeling ill AND extraordinarily busy today, dear readers, so no time for the thougtful review I was hoping for. Instead, here's some of what I've got coming up -- maybe I'll see you around... I'm headed to the New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA) trade show in Providence on Friday, where I've been invited to speak on an ABA panel titled "Doing Digital Right." Robert Gray of Fresh Eyes and Shelf Awareness and Heather Gain of Harvard Bookstore will be my illustrious co-panelists, and the inimitable Len Vlahos is moderating; it's at 3:00 PM. Next, of course, is the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association trade show (or NAIBA-Con ) in Baltimore -- hooray! On Sunday, October 14, I'll be joining Robert Gray (again) and Felicia Sullivan on a panel tentatively titled "Getting the Most out of the Internet" at 3:45 PM. Hope to see you there! Then, closer to home, I'm honored to participate in the ...

Despite the purported summer doldrums, July was a busy month as booksellers came together for pooling our collective brains and planning for the future. My own brain is a bit fuzzy today as I seem to have contracted an icky summer cold, but I'll do my best to give you the scoop on the two meetings I attended this month. Wednesday, July 11: American Booksellers Association Digital Task Force (ABA-DTF) Participants: * Beck Anderson (Anderson’s Bookshops – Naperville, IL) * Tom Campbell (Regulator Bookshop – Durham, NC) * Dan Cullen (Director Information Department – American Booksellers Assoc.) * Avin Domnitz (CEO – American Booksellers Assoc.) * Kelly Justice (Fountain Bookstore – Richmond, VA) * Russ Lawrence (Chapter One Books – Hamilton, MT) * Ricky Leung (Technical Lead – BookSense.com) * Madeline MacIntosh (Senior VP and Publisher, Random House Audio Group) * Jessica Stockon (McNally Robinson – New York, NY) * Neil Strandberg (Tattered Cover – Denver, CO) * Oren Teicher (COO –...