This Friday, November 11, is the last day to order 2023 Independent Bookstore Day Exclusives. Note, we will be unable to accept or change orders after this date. There will be no extension. Take a look at the digital catalog, which includes the complete list of paid and free exclusives. 

While the exclusives this year are intended for IBD on April 29, their shelf life can also assist with other literary events throughout the year since they are undated and not specific to 2023. 

Booksellers have been asking for exclusive book material the last few years. This year we’ve made great strides to offer several, including:

• Little People, BIG DREAMS Amanda Gorman paperback offered only to indies until June
• A signed paperback of Sheila Heti’s Pure Colour with a new short story as bonus material
• An IBD exclusive anthology of short stories from the Tales of the Weird series
• An indie-bookstores-only, exclusive edition of The Poet X with an exclusive letter from Elizabeth Acevedo
• Jane Mount’s illustrated Bibliophile: Banned Books Puzzle only available through indie bookstores through Summer 2023

The best way for your customers to take home their indie-exclusive purchase is in this year’s undated IBD Tote Bag (also undated and sold individually based on last year’s feedback)!

Free items, Blackwing Pencils and T-shirts do not count towards the 20-item minimum. Without the 20 paid item minimum, stores will pay the $6 flat rate shipping fee.

This week for Native American Heritage Month, we’re featuring Carolann Duro, founder of Quiet Quail Books in Highland, California, who last month launched their new podcast, NDN Book Nerd, a podcast dedicated to exploring the book community from an Indigenous lens. Duro, a member of the ABA's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council (DEIC), shared:

“Quiet Quail Books was born from my inner child that one summer I realized how I couldn’t remember a time I read a fiction book from a Native author in my youth. I remember feeling how I couldn’t see my Native identity and my family in any stories we read in the classroom or in my leisure reading after school. I created Quiet Quail Books so that less and less Native youth can say that same thing in their adulthood because our tribal oral histories, our unique languages, our rich cultural traditions, and our contemporary everyday lives are important. We deserve to see ourselves come alive on the page and to also learn about the variety of unique experiences of other Native people because we are not all the same. In my year of selling books at powwows and Native markets I will never tire seeing the joy of a Native parent picking up a book they are excited to share with their children. I end with Maori director Taika Waititi’s quotation after winning the Oscar for one of his films as he spoke to all Indigenous children, ‘We are the original storytellers and we can make it here as well!’ Hakup a’ai!”

I joined the US Naval Reserves in the Summer of 1985. I would like to say it was a call from Democracy, but it was really a call from my bank because I needed the money for college tuition. My family was excited because I was joining a long line of folks who actually heard the call and wanted to make sure the ideals of Democracy were upheld. Veteran’s Day is this Friday, November 11. It is sometimes called Remembrance Day. Every year I am reminded of Walt Whitman’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd about Lincoln and his dreams for Democracy. I usually receive numerous messages from well meaning folks to thank me for my service. While thanks are appreciated, time and support are much more appreciated. This year, I would ask anyone who is grateful for their daily freedoms and liberties won by those who take the oath to protect and serve to take the time to actually see Veterans and remember what they have done for Democracy. To honor them:

• Exercise your right to vote. 
• Visit a VA hospital and read them a book. 
• Buy a book and send it to your local VA. 
• Teach your children the history of the United States — ALL of it, not just the fun stuff. 
• Take some time today to Remember the sacrifices of the folks you know personally and do something to honor them. 
• Read a poem or a book about the sacrifices those in the Armed forces and their families make every single day. 
• Let your actions speak for your gratitude for their service. 
• Ask your customers to buy or drop off books for your store to ship to Operation Paperback. 

I would also like to take a minute to honor our members who are identified as Veterans. This year and every year, I will pick a store and buy a book from them as my thank you. I hope you will too.