GLBA to Focus on "Making It on Main Street"

The Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) Annual Fall Trade Show will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Michigan, from Friday, October 8, through Sunday, October 10. This year's show, the third in a row at the Dearborn site, is packed with educational programming, including timely information for store owners about Book Sense gift cards, workshops exploring ways to create successful events and to stimulate productivity, and reports from communities that are keeping 'Main Street' alive through independent business alliances. Special events include the Great Lakes Book Awards Luncheon, appearances by many popular authors at banquets and in expanded reading rooms, and just for fun -- several team competitions.

Educational programming begins on Friday with concurrent 40-minute sessions in four tracks: track 1 focuses on things operational (e.g., "How to Manage a Backlist" and "10 Things I Want My Rep/Booksellers to Do"); track 2 offers great marketing ideas and more (e.g., "Entice and Entertain Your Customers With Authorless Events" and "Slash Staff Costs While Stimulating Joyful Productivity"); in track 3, the focus is authors (e.g., "Writers of the Heartland" and the Poetry Reading Room); and track 4 features all things new (e.g., "What's the Buzz" and "Picks of the Lists").

The theme of this year's show, "Making It on Main Street," comes to the fore on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., when ABA COO Oren Teicher will moderate the plenary session "Forming Local Business Alliances." Booksellers and other independent business owners across the country are working together to form local business alliances designed to promote the ever-growing importance of locally owned independent businesses to the economic stability of their communities. This session will introduce booksellers to the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA). Independent booksellers who have been in the forefront of creating such alliances in their towns and cities will also participate.

To help booksellers make it on Main Street, ABA has developed the Book Sense Gift Card, and on Friday from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., the "BookSense.com Users Group" will offer an in-depth review of the gift card program and a discussion about future growth. Over 200 participating bookstores have seen a dramatic increase in their sales. GLBA-member booksellers will be asked to share their experiences regarding the operation of the program as well as their marketing ideas. Stores that have not yet converted to gift cards are also welcome.

In addition, throughout the show, at the ABA booth, booksellers will have the opportunity to see demonstrations of the gift card program. As an incentive to try the gift card, ABA will waive the one-time $25 set-up fee for booksellers signing up at each trade show. (Booksellers planning to sign up at the show should bring their checking account information.)

Also at the ABA booth, staff will be working toward implementing the number-one goal of ABA's strategic plan: "To provide independent professional booksellers with access to the education, information, and business services they need to succeed in a changing world." Dan Cullen, editor-in-chief of Book Sense Picks, and Teicher will be seeking bookseller input about how best to construct the association's future educational offerings. The "ABA Education 2005 Survey" has been sent to booksellers via e-mail, is available on BookWeb.org, and will be available at the show. (Booksellers returning surveys at the trade show will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a color, inkjet computer printer.)

In addition to ABA staff members, ABA Board member Karl Pohrt of Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will also be at the show.

Always a special event, the Great Lakes Book Awards Luncheon this year will be held on Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Featured will be winning authors Blue Balliet (Chasing Vermeer, Scholastic), Candace Fleming (Boxes for Katje, illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen, Melanie Kroupa Books/FSG), Ingrid Hill (Ursula, Under, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill), and Phyllis Vine (One Man's Castle, Amistad/Harper Collins).

GLBA Executive Director Jim Dana told BTW that he was especially looking forward to two Reading Room sessions. "We've added a second Reading Room this year -- one for new voices and one for poetry," Dana explained. The Poetry Reading Room will take place on Friday afternoon, from 5:15 p.m. - 6:15 p.m., and will feature Raymond McDaniel (Murder [a violet], Coffee House Press); Keith Taylor (Life Science & Other Stories, chapbook); and Maurice Manning (A Companion for Owls, Harcourt). The New Voices group includes Doug Crandell (Pig Boy's Wicked Bird, Chicago Review Press); Steven Gillis (The Weight of Nothing, Brook Street Press); and Rob Laughner (Our Nun, Melville House).

GLBA's Booksellers Banquet, to be held on Saturday evening from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., will feature Maria Doria Russell (Thread of Grace, Random House); T. Jefferson Parker (California Girl, Morrow); and Ron McLarty (The Memory of Running, Viking).

New this year is an after-hours participatory event -- "The Quiz Bowl" -- featuring A.J. Jacobs (The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, S&S) and moderated by Carol Besse of Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky. This is a competition for teams of up to six people, who will be asked questions with a predominantly literary theme. Jacobs will provide commentary and sign books. "The Quiz Bowl" will take place at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday after the Booksellers Banquet. Refreshments will be provided. Teams can pre-register for both "The Quiz Bowl," as well as the "Spelling Bee" sponsored by American Heritage Dictionaries to be held on Friday at 1:10 p.m., at www.books-glba.org/tradeshow.php.

The Children's Book & Author Breakfast will begin at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday morning and run until 9:30 a.m. Guest speakers include, Marc Brown, (Wild About Books, Knopf Books for Young Readers); Tomie DePaola (Guess Who's Coming to Santa's for Dinner?, Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers); Cornelia Funke, (Dragon Rider, Chicken House/Scholastic); and Peter Sis, (Train of States, Greenwillow/HarperCollins Children's Books).

Most author events require advanced ticketing. For more information about the GLBA trade show and to register, visit www.books-glba.org/tradeshow.php. --Nomi Schwartz