Candlewick Press’ [5] CHIRP program, the targeted handselling initiative for frontline booksellers, offers many benefits for participating indie booksellers, including special terms.

Now in its eighth year, CHIRP, [6] which stands for “Candlewick’s Handselling Indie Recognition Program,” helps familiarize both general booksellers and children’s specialists with the Somerville, Massachusetts-based publisher’s best hand-selling gems each season, while saluting indie booksellers’ hand-selling acumen.

The list of exclusive benefits associated with CHIRP includes special terms; a seasonal CHIRP hand-selling kit for the first 300 stores that sign up; a dedicated “CHIRP-mail” e-newsletter and website; a chance to win the annual CHIRP scholarship to Winter Institute; shelf-talkers with blurbs from indie booksellers; tip sheets with handselling tips written by indie booksellers; CHIRP Sneak Peek galley mailings; and the CHIRP Frequent Blurber Appreciation Program.

Booksellers who would like to participate in the Frequent Blurber Program [7] are asked to submit three Edelweiss reviews of Candlewick’s upcoming frontlist titles to earn free Candlewick books and Candlewick chocolate. Submitting five or more reviews will earn participating booksellers books, chocolate, and a chance to win a free trip to ABA’s Winter Institute 14 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For fall 2018 titles, all eligible reviews must be posted to Edelweiss by October 19, 2018.

Candlewick Executive Director of Independent Retail and Canada Sales Elise Supovitz said CHIRP is a play on words as well as an acronym: a bookseller “chirps” when he/she is handselling his/her favorite books.

“We created the CHIRP program in spring 2010 to applaud what makes indie frontline booksellers unique: their unparalleled handselling expertise,” Supovitz told Bookselling This Week. “CHIRP recognizes indie handsellers’ ability to put the right book in the right hands at the right time and gives them tools to sell more of the Candlewick books they love. We’ve updated the program annually in response to feedback from our CHIRP stores. Many Candlewick classics were launched through the CHIRP program, including Home by Carson Ellis, Journey by Aaron Becker, and The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton.”

Booksellers like Margaret Brennan Neville at The King’s English Bookshop [8] in Salt Lake City, Utah, agree that CHIRP is proof that indie publishers and indie booksellers make a great team.

“At The King’s English, the CHIRP program tells booksellers and customers that these are wonderful books, worth picking up, reading, sharing, gifting, and re-reading,” said Brennan Neville. “Candlewick does a fine job selecting the best titles of their list each season, providing promotional materials, and utilizing the best book advocates out there: independent book store staff. We’re grateful to be a part of the program.”

Booksellers can contact their Candlewick sales reps or Supovitz [9] for more information about the CHIRP program.