Booksellers Invited to Share Well Read’s Online Author Videos

Under a new partnership between the American Booksellers Association and the public television show Well Read, booksellers are invited to share short online author videos with their customers through their store websites, on social media, or in newsletters.

The partnership, launched in December, seeks to introduce Well Read’s book club and television series, featuring conversations with authors about their books, to ABA members and their customers while extending the reach and presence of independent booksellers through Well Read.

To complement the TV broadcast, Well Read posts a short web extra video featuring the author of the week in a brief interview with Well Read hosts Terry Tazioli and Mary Ann Gwinn.

Currently available for booksellers to share with their customers are videos featuring Amy Bloom (Lucky Us, Random House), David Mitchell (The Bone Clocks, Random House), Sarah Waters (The Paying Guests, Riverhead), and Tavis Smiley (Death of a King, Little, Brown), all of whom have appeared on Well Read’s show in recent weeks. Well Read is distributed nationally on public television’s WORLD channel by American Public Television. Stations airing Well Read locally can be found here.

Over the next few months, booksellers can look forward to new videos of Colm Tόibín discussing Nora Webster (Scribner), Anne Lamott on Small Victories (Riverhead), Graeme Simsion on The Rosie Project (Simon & Schuster), Garth Stein on A Sudden Light (Simon & Schuster), and more.

Well Read is welcoming booksellers to share their web content however they wish as long as they do not edit the videos. All videos can be found on the videos page of the Well Read website.

In addition, Well Read’s January newsletter announced the launch of the Well Read Book Club, which features IndieBound as a purchasing option for the monthly pick. (For January, it’s Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time [Ballantine], October 2014’s #1 Indie Next List Pick.) Book club members have the opportunity each month to interact with hosts Tazioli and Gwinn and other book club members, and to post comments and reviews about the title.

Booksellers should stay tuned for further news and updates as ABA and Well Read continue to explore opportunities for partnerships and cross-promotions.