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Indie Bookstores Invited to Partner With Book Post Newsletter
- By Emily Behnke
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Book Post, a bite-sized, newsletter-based book review delivery service, is currently looking for bookstores to partner with in the future. Bookselling This Week spoke with Book Post’s founding editor, Ann Kjellberg, about the opportunity.
![A sign at Left Bank Books that announces the store as Book Post's featured store for November. A sign at Left Bank Books that announces the store as Book Post's featured store for November.](/sites/default/files/gallery/BookPostSignage270.jpg)
In addition to working as a bookseller and in publishing, Kjellberg worked for many years as a book review editor at the New York Review of Books; she started Book Post in 2017 in order to find a “creative way to broaden the audience for book criticism” and to support reading.
“My idea was to dedicate [Book Post] to building and boosting reading around the country — to find creative ways to reach readers and support and nurture new reading,” said Kjellberg. Book Post, she said, is a place where people can “engage with new ideas in literature, history, science, etc., and try to grow a common language based on shared ideas.”
Every few months, Book Post partners with a different independent bookseller for book sales. So far, Book Post has worked with Malaprop’s in Asheville, North Carolina; Greenlight Bookstore in New York City; Mac’s Backs in Cleveland, Ohio; and Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri. The partnership offers a variety of benefits, including:
- A post announcing the partnership, which includes a profile.
- Store links at the end of each book review included in Book Post
- News regarding the store shared on social media, plus she uses the store in in her free posts about the book world. (For example, in a post about partnering with school book fairs, Kjellberg has included stories and photos from her most recent partner, Malaprop’s).
- Shelf-talkers that quote Book Post reviewers and highlight the partnership.
- Complimentary Book Post subscriptions for staff.
- Event collaboration with writers brought to stores by Kjellberg or with Kjellberg herself, who talks on book criticism and book culture.
- Special offers. (For example, this holiday season, readers can receive a Book Post subscription if they buy a $35 Malaprop’s gift card.)
- Readers can receive a free subscription to Book Post in exchange for spending $100 at the partner store.
Kjellberg is looking for the following for bookstore partnerships:
- Partnerships with bookstores in underserved communities. She’d like a broad geographic reach.
- Bookstores willing to share information about Book Post in their communities to help the service grow. A strong social media presence is a plus.
- Bookstores that have found creative ways to maintain a virtual community during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Bookstores interested in working with Book Post can email [email protected].