Wi10 Session to Highlight Planning Strategies for Independent Bookstore Day

At the upcoming Winter Institute 10, booksellers will have the opportunity to attend an education session offering actionable tips and advice for planning successful participation in Independent Bookstore Day, which will be celebrated this year on Saturday, May 2. The “All About Independent Bookstore Day” panel discussion will be held on Monday, February 9, from 3:35 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. in the Grove Park Inn’s Heritage Ballroom A.

Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, and Samantha Schoech, producer of California Bookstore Day and Independent Bookstore Day, will be joined on the panel by booksellers who will share their experiences with planning for and executing events on California Bookstore Day: Christie Olson Day of Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle’s Children’s Books in Mendocino; Ann Seton of Hicklebee’s in San Jose; and moderator Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books in San Francisco.

In addition to their presence on the panel, Landon and Schoech will be available at the Wi10’s Consultation Station, which is open in the Skyline Room on Tuesday, February 10, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Wednesday, February 11, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Booksellers are invited to bring their questions, discuss events and publicity plans, and take a sneak peek at samples of some of the Independent Bookstore Day literary items, which booksellers are ordering now to sell in stores during the event.

At the panel, Schoech will share national publicity plans for Independent Bookstore Day and a variety of social media tips and tricks for getting the word out to the largest audience. “Our main emphasis is that Independent Bookstore Day is really about the national party that we all throw together on that day,” Schoech explained. “The items are a great draw and they’re very exciting, but they’re not the only thing that brings people in. What I’m hoping for is an exchange of ideas and for people to really understand how this went off last year in actual bookstores.”

The booksellers on the panel come from stores of different sizes and specialties, and “are going to have very specific and personal advice that will really speak to booksellers,” Schoech said. “We know that what works in a large, urban store won’t work in small, suburban stores. We’re very aware that stores have different personalities and needs.”

For Seton and the staff at Hicklebee’s, Independent Bookstore Day highlights the uniqueness of indie bookstores. When Hicklebee’s celebrated California Bookstore Day last May, “it was a really fun party and a great way to invite our book-loving fans back into the store and offer them unique physical items that are available in physical stores,” she said. “That’s easy to forget when customers can hop online and click a button and get whatever you want delivered. There are certain things that we can offer that those online services can’t, and it’s a good reminder.”

Booksellers who are the creative types at their stores might find this session to be particularly inspirational, said Seton, be it managers, event planners, or frontline booksellers — “the people who are really good at being creative and can put on a good party,” she said. The Winter Institute session will be a great place to get booksellers excited about the event and thinking about what to plan.

One lesson that came out of last year’s California Bookstore Day is how important it is to share the event planning with all of a store’s employees, especially the catalog items, said Landon. It’s critical for store owners and managers to know “how jazzed the employees were who were involved in the process,” as it might change their thoughts on merchandise and events. “This will be a motivational session for booksellers,” he said.

Ordering is underway now through February 1 for special Independent Bookstore Day merchandise. Booksellers at the Winter Institute can see samples of these items and place and update orders.