Independent Bookstore Day: Get the Word Out

With just weeks to go before the kickoff of Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) celebrations on April 30, new materials are available to help bookstores promote the event and its special literary-themed merchandise.

Author Kate DiCamillo, who served as the fourth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, has shared her excitement for Independent Bookstore Day in a new video available on YouTube. The DiCamillo video and forthcoming videos from Tad Hills and Lauren Groff can be used by bookstores in IBD promotions.

Booksellers are encouraged to visit the Independent Bookstore Day website to find downloadable digital teasers, signs, and shelf-talkers for promoting both the event and specific IBD merchandise, such as the exclusive Neil Gaiman coloring book and Ann Patchett’s mini collection of essays, The Care and Feeding of an Independent Bookstore. Independent Bookstore Day bookmarks, which arrived in stores in or alongside the ABA March Red Box mailing, can be used now to get the word out about IBD.

Now is also the time to add the IBD logo to the store’s website homepage, including a link to details about party plans, so readers clicking through on the searchable Independent Bookstore Day map can easily find celebration information.

Booksellers are asked to share their party plans on a dedicated spreadsheet provided by Independent Bookstore Day. Information included on the sheet will be used by IBD Publicist Elka Karl to refer media in local markets to nearby bookstores.

Several publishers are offering specials on backlist and companion titles by Independent Bookstore Day authors. Booksellers can review the IBD catalog for suggestions and sign up for the Independent Bookstore Day newsletter to learn more about publisher promotions.

Independent Bookstore Day is also the goal date for the completion of the World’s Longest Tattoo Chain, a challenge launched by Litographs in 2014 that asked thousands of people to participate in recreating Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland through temporary tattoos.

In hopes of reaching its goal of 5,000 photographs (about 3,000 have been collected so far) on Independent Bookstore Day, Litographs is offering free temporary literary tattoos to any IBD participating bookstore. Bookstores that would like to take part in the challenge can e-mail Corey Fain by April 1 to receive temporary tattoos and instructions on how to add photos to the chain.

Questions about Independent Bookstore Day can be directed to IBD Program Director Samantha Schoech or NCIBA Executive Director Calvin Crosby. Booksellers can also follow Independent Bookstore Day on Twitter. A Twitter party is being planned for Wednesday, April 27; more details about the Twitter party will be coming soon.