Bookstores that have been contacted

Today I spoke with the gentleman who owns seven Hallmark card stores with nice bookstores in them. His seven stores are in a fifty mile radius here in Western Ohio.

He will put one Anthology book in each store. (7).

He by the way allowed me my first signing of my PA book. Nice guy.

He didn't have any worry about selling them when I told him that Scott Card was in the book. He will put them on the best selling rack for us. He said he would replace them as they sell, and may give one to each manager for a Christmas gift since it was for a good cause. I will be pushing the anthology at my local store) Hallmark,as a contributor as soon as they arrive. It will (coenside)- is that spelled right?-with a sale and the story that will run in my newspaper. I assume on a Saturday. The ladies know how The Hallmark store can draw customers at holiday time.

Remember, use all the star power of this anthology when speaking with bookstores.

Two copies will be stocked at The Little Professor bookstore in an ajoining town. If the book moves for them, they will order more. They will put the books up at the sales counter in a nice wire stand.

Ken

Edit: I'll contact Toni Whitney, the librarian we sent books to, and have her contact all the Huron libraries too!

I'll be out and about tomorrow, I'll stop by the local indie bookstore. I have to go there anyway to set up a signing for my own book. And sometime soon I also have to hit the B&N (Deptford, NJ)to set up my launch... so I'll talk to them about that too.

Don't know how B&N will take to stocking a POD book (even for a good cause) but maybe I can leave them some flyers when they're finished.

And as soon as someone has that press release done, I'll send it to the Gloucester County Times, Courier Post and Philadelphia Inquirer.

I haven't yet, but will be contacting:

The Banff Book & Art Den
Cafe Books (Canmore)
The Second Story (Canmore)
Banff Public Library
Canmore Public Library

...and any store that carries magazines, etc. Grocery stores, smoke shops, so on.

In the media thread, I called on all Canadians about contacting national media. Same thing here re the national bookstores:

Chapters/IndigoAnyone in the area want to put them on their list?


Jenna, how can independent bookstores and libraries like the above acquire the book? I'd like to go in armed with information on how they can get it. -- question answered in another thread. Ingram will have it.

If it's not going to be out until November now, it times with the release of my own book. So when I'm out and about getting signings, I can promote both at once! One for the kids, one for the adults

I hope you can get it out before then, though.

I don't think any of the other authors lives in my area, so I'll get all I can in South Jersey, Philly market.

Once the press release is done I'll be contacting the following markets in central Ohio"

The Columbus Dispatch
The Suburban News
Columbus Messenger Newspapers
WCMH-TV NBC affiliate)
WBMS-10 (ABC affiliate)

We have a CBS station too, but I don't watch it so I'll have to figure out who they are

I also plan on talking to a couple of librarians and school-type folks I know to see if they'd like to help us out by selling copies.

SW OH and W PA here. Two Joseph-Beths, BN, and a few local bookstores.

I've contacted Websters Book Store and Cafe in State College, PA. Still waiting to hear back from them on the plan of attack.

Ohio Country, Some of WV

I live in SE Ohio (Marietta area), and I've got a question. I live about an hour's drive from Zanesville and Dresden (home of the Longaberger basket). Do you think that Zanesville would be better covered by the folks in Columbus, or should I attempt something there, time permitting?

I'm also right across the Ohio River from Parkersburg, WV. I plan to see what I can do there. For WV, it's actually quite a large town. It's no Columbus or Cleveland, though!

I'm working on a list of bookstores in Maine from Augusta south. (My husband's already calculating the gas and/or long distance phone charges and shuddering.) If there's anyone else in Maine, please let me know; I'd like to be able to tell the bookstores about any other local authors. (Plus maybe we can divvy up the list )

I'm still kind of new in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. So, I'll have to look up the bookstores here but I know where all the libraries are. I'll contact them.

I haven't yet but I'm going to contact some bookstores and library in my hometown of Texarkana, Tx. I'm not sure if some of them will display PODs but I'll contact them anyways:

WaldenBooks
Books-A-Million
Baptist Bookstore
Christian Herad Book Store
Texarkana Book Store
Texarkana Public Library

Holy Schmoly, I never realized there were so many bookstores near me. I'm doing a distance search on MSN yellow pages; within 25 miles of my home there are 15 bookstores. That isn't counting the ones that obviously wouldn't be appropriate to contact. This might be harder than I thought...

I'm making up a flyer to leave at the bookstores I do get to, in case I don't get to talk to the person I need to and to be sure they don't forget me. Would it be all right for me to include the first paragraph of your intro, Jenna? (Once I get the flyer done, I'll post it in the e-mails thread.)

KimJo -- the company I work for is producing flyers and posters as we speak that folks will be able to download (PDF format) and print out. They'll be coordinated with the cover art, and feature an image of the cover of the book as well. There'll be an area at the bottom where folks can write in local info, such as the date and time of a signing featuring one of the anthology authors, etc.

The second proof of the book cover art should be in to Jenna today, so we anticipate being able to get the posters and flyers ready within a day or so once she gives her final approval of the cover.

So hang in for a bit and you'll be able to distribute the 'official' flyer/poster.

Charlie,

Seeing I'm a fellow Canadian on the other side of the country, I'm going to direct these questions to you. First of all, I'm going to be honest and say that I'm completely inexperienced in this area of promotion, etc. But, in having said that, I would love to help in some way from my area. St. John's, NL, has a small population of 200,000 but we have Chapters as one major bookstore as well as some independents (as well as Hallmark stores, libraries, etc.). And there are the local newspapers, etc. (In fact, there was as article done in a smaller paper here just a couple years ago on my greeting card publications with Blue Mountain Arts). What do you think of my approaching these venues? Would I give them a copy of the press release and posters, with the mention of my contribution to the anthology? I don't mind doing this - I just want to be able to approach it properly in the best interest of the project. Also, do I contact the local Canadian Red Cross in my area about this? Sorry about all the questions. I'd just like to do something to help with promotion of the project. What do you think? Thanks Charlie.

Debbie

Hi Cabria!

Chapters as one major bookstore as well as some independents (as well as Hallmark stores, libraries, etc.). And there are the local newspapers, etc. (In fact, there was as article done in a smaller paper here just a couple years ago on my greeting card publications with Blue Mountain Arts). What do you think of my approaching these venues? Would I give them a copy of the press release and posters, with the mention of my contribution to the anthology?

Click to expand...

I would say a great big yes to the above. See the Press Release thread for the official release Jenna's working on. I've copied it into a wordprocessor document and added my local info where indicated, you should do the same and have it ready for when Jenna says it's okay to start sending it out. Keep checking that thread in case she makes any final changes to the wording.

While you wait, make a list of newspapers, TV and radio stations you want to send it to, along with their preferred method of contact for such things (fax or e-mail) With that in hand, the minute Jenna says GO, you can send them out.

As for the flyers and posters, by all means, once they are ready, you can download them and have them printed and distribute them to anyone willing to put them up. I'd say anyone who sells books of any kind would be a candidate. Most copy shops should be able to do a nice job printing the posters and/or flyers for you. See what kind of deal they'll be willing to give you, or even if they's donate the copies to the cause. This is the kind of thing you could write neatly at the bottom of the area for local info on the poster or flyer: "printing of posters donated by blablaprinters" or some such.

See if your local Chapters would be willing to bring in the book. Offer to drop by to sign any copies they stock, if you can. Then put up posters and add the date & time when you'll be there.

Also, do I contact the local Canadian Red Cross in my area about this?

Click to expand...

I'm really not sure about this since all the proceeds are being generated in the US and the donations being made from there. Mind you, wouldn't hurt to tell them what we're up to. Even though none of the actual funds will be passing through the Canadian chapter, maybe they'd help us by posting the link to storiesofstrength.com on the Canadian Red Cross site, you never know.

Also, see the media contact thread. I've asked Canadians in the anthology to contact me about my pitching our book to CanadaAM. Would you be willing to go on the show if they decided they wanted to interview some of us on air?

Hey Charlie!

Thanks for replying so quickly! And thanks for all of that info. I'm going to check out those threads now and process all of this. It's very exciting and I'll do my best to help out where I can. And yes to the Canada A.M. thing - cool.

Debbie

ChunkyC, thanks for the info! I'll put off my bookstore visits until then.

For those of you who'd like to hunt down bookstores in your area: http://www.bookweb.org/bookstores/

http://www.booksamillioninc.com/
Has anyone contacted this company yet.... IF not I will.....

Borders, Fairfield, CT will stock and wants to do a signing.

My friends in verious places are chomping at the bit to get their hands on this book. One of them had a suggestion--she wants us to have friends/relatives go to the bookstores right after the book is made available (or even just before) and ask for it, and ask when are they going to be getting it stocked?

I'd think this might be a good idea! But I don't know if it would really work until after SOS is listed in Ingram.

I'm a bit inexperienced at promoting as well, so I apologize if my questions seem off the wall here. Is everyone pretty much just contacting local bookstores and newspapers? What exactly do you do...speak with someone at the bookstores or just leave a flyer? If they want to stock the book, how would they go about doing that?Thanks!

Shwebb said:

My friends in verious places are chomping at the bit to get their hands on this book.

Click to expand...

Same here. Looks like I have about 100 "sold" so far. So your idea of people going to a bookstore and asking for the book sounds appealing.

But I'm really new to all this.

Do we have any idea as to what price range this book will be? And if sold at a bookstore, is it much more? (I want to buy at least 25 myself for gifts....do I order direct through Lulu or through a book store so that they can realize the potential this book has.)

Most major bookstores in St. Louis....