Tune Into Your Local Independent Bookseller: SEBA Sponsors Public Radio Program

This fall, Southeasterners will be able to tune into author readings hosted at independent bookstores all over the region. Starting October 1, the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) will be the presenting sponsor of The Spoken Word, a series broadcast by Atlanta's public radio station, WABE. The Spoken Word features author readings and talks and performances about literature and the arts that are recorded around the Southeast. The program will be syndicated and will be broadcast weekly to radio stations throughout the region from a rotating list of SEBA-member bookstores.

In 1996 at New York's Algonquin Hotel, The Spoken Word began as a way to revive the storied past of that literary landmark and its famed Round Table. In 2001, it moved to WABE, an NPR affiliate. Recent shows have included the First Annual Bourne Poetry Reading, which boasted an A-list of poets: Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, and Tom Lux.

The series had become so popular that syndication became an option. Daren Wang, the executive producer of Spoken Word productions, began looking for sponsors. "Booksellers became an obvious fit," said Wang, who brings his own love of literature, particularly of southern writers. He spent two years traveling, writing, editing, and producing "Porches: The South and Her Writers," a radio program featuring in-depth interviews with Southern authors.

During Wang's hunt for sponsorship, he contacted Wanda Jewell, executive director of SEBA, and the idea for the partnership was spawned. "It was as natural a pairing as I could imagine," Wang said. "Working as an independent producer, I'm always happy to work with independent booksellers. They're an idealistic lot, like radio producers."

Jewell also thought the partnership a natural fit. "It's just plain brilliant," she said. "People who listen to and support public radio, particularly public radio about books, are also the people who spend the most money on books annually as an aggregate.

"We want to create awareness of bookstores to those people who buy the most books. Many will already be customers, but The Spoken Word will raise awareness in the customer's mind of that store. Or if they don't know the store, they'll be introduced to it."

So far, The Spoken Word will be broadcast on Georgia and Kentucky radio stations, but the goal is to eventually cover the rest of the 11 states that make up SEBA's region: Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

The series will continue in its original, hour-long format of airing previously taped and edited events. SEBA will be the presenting sponsor; i.e., each broadcast will announce The Spoken Word as a SEBA-sponsored show and will be almost exclusively broadcast from SEBA-members bookstores. To participate, bookstores will submit their events calendar to SEBA. The events will then be posted on their Web site and sent along to Wang, who will choose which readings to broadcast and will rotate through SEBA-member bookstores. In addition to announcing which bookstore is hosting the featured reading, two additional SEBA-member bookstores will also be mentioned.

All of this is good news for SEBA and its members. And it's live bait to lure new members. "I like to call it the golden handcuffs," said Jewell. "Stores have to be members to participate [in The Spoken Word program]. But it's a huge advantage to stores. For $75 a year in dues, you'd be nuts not to join."

Jewell expressed another potential benefit: "When publishers are looking at bookstores for author tours, I hope they'll pick a member bookstore, because they'll [realize] that the only way the author will appear on The Spoken Word is if they read in a SEBA-member bookstore."

"It's win, win, win," proclaimed Jewell. "The Spoken Word benefits. SEBA benefits. SEBA bookstores benefit. The authors. The publishers benefit; they'll have access to media coverage they most want, because they'll reach the audience that buys the most books. It's an all around winner." -- Karen Schechner