Great Lakes and Midwest Booksellers Join Forces for ShopTalk

The Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Shorewood, Wisconsin, will host a ShopTalk, co-sponsored by the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) and the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA), on June 22. The far-reaching program will include a presentation by Schwartz staff on the store's innovative marketing initiatives, lunch with Vintage author Patrick Somerville, and sessions on the upcoming switch to 13-digit ISBNs, as well as information about The Spoken Word, the weekly National Public Radio program backed by eight regional bookseller associations.

The ShopTalk program will run from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. and is free to all members of GLBA and MBA and to booksellers interested in joining the associations. It includes a complimentary boxed lunch, courtesy of Vintage Books.

GLBA Executive Director Jim Dana told BTW that this joint ShopTalk is more extensive and follows a better format than previous gatherings. "We've found that the time frame and format used at the ABA Forums is about right. [The ABA forums] provide enough content to make it really attractive for booksellers to make a point of getting away from the store, yet they are still short enough, and economical enough, to make [absence from the store] feasible.

"In this case, we are really focusing on Schwartz's innovations, but we feel the two other topics -- ISBN 13 and The Spoken Word -- are so important to our membership that we decided to address them whenever we have meetings this year."

Susan Walker, executive director of MBA, said that co-sponsoring the event is an excellent opportunity for networking and "clearly can serve our members in Wisconsin and Illinois."

Registration begins at 9:00 a.m., with presentations starting at 9:30, when Schwartz General Manager Mary McCarthy and other staff will introduce one of the store's many innovative marketing and merchandising programs, Schwartz Exclusive Products. The session will also include a tour of the store to see its marketing and merchandising programs in action.

Lunch with Patrick Somerville, author of Trouble, to be released by Vintage in September, will begin at 11:30 a.m.

From 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., will be the "The Big Switch -- The 13-Digit ISBN Is on Its Way," followed by "The Spoken Word: Brought to You by Independent Bookstores Nationwide." The day's program will end at 3:00 p.m.   

"The Big Switch" will provide an overview of the change to ISBN-13, which goes into effect on January 1, 2007. The session will look at information resources, and a checklist of steps that store owners need to take to ensure their businesses are ready will be provided.

The Spoken Word, the national hour-long, weekly NPR broadcast featuring authors reading or talking about their writing, encourages reading and raises the profile of independents among consumers. Booksellers will learn how events at their stores can be considered for broadcast and how they can encourage local NPR stations to carry the program.

At 2:30 p.m., the ShopTalk will offer an opportunity for networking and a wrap-up discussion about "emerging leaders." In GLBA's Broadside On-line, Dana wrote, "A new movement is afoot in the bookselling industry. Spurred by a meeting at the Winter Institute in Long Beach, a group of young booksellers has organized to find answers, opportunities and a place in our business. This is a heartening development in an industry that has been 'graying.'"

Dana told BTW that younger booksellers, owners or staff, are particularly encouraged to attend the ShopTalk. In addition to the formal sessions, they'll get the chance to meet each other and to make connections with established leaders in the book business.

Anyone interested in attending should RSVP with the numbers and names of attendees to [email protected] or [email protected]. --Nomi Schwartz