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Tell Shoppers About James Patterson’s Holiday Bookstore Bonus Program
- By Liz Button
Booksellers are encouraged to share details at their stores about author James Patterson’s Holiday Bookstore Bonus Program, which in 2018 will distribute $250,000 in bonuses to independent bookstore employees.
The program invites booksellers, publishing professionals, authors, and bookstore shoppers to share why they think an individual indie bookstore employee should receive a holiday grant. For the fifth year in a row, Patterson will partner with the American Booksellers Association to distribute the funds, to be granted in amounts of $750 to $1,500 to individual booksellers.
This year’s campaign is open to all U.S. independent bookstore employees through September 30. All past recipients of Patterson grants are eligible, and booksellers can nominate themselves. The grant application asks one question: “Why does this bookseller deserve a holiday bonus?”
Patterson will select winners from bookstores across the country to receive the bonuses this holiday season. The author’s 2018 pledge brings Patterson’s contribution to date to $1.1 million.
In 2017, Patterson donated a record $350,000 to bookstore employees; in 2016, $250,000 to 149 independent bookstore employees across the country; and in 2015, $250,000 to 87 recipients. In 2014, he awarded $1 million in grants to 178 independent bookstores. Over the past decade, Patterson has given away more than a million books to students all over the United States and visited hundreds of schools to advocate for youth literacy.