35th Annual New England Independent Booksellers Association
Annual Meeting and Trade Show

September 18-20, 2008

Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

10:30 AM TO 5:00 PM

Educational Programming
All events listed below take place at The Hynes Convention Center, unless otherwise noted.

Advance registration is required for Thursday’s Keynote Address.

Educational sessions during the show are sponsored by Random House, Inc.

9:00 AM TO 5:00 PM
Registration Open

9:30 AM TO 10:30 AM
Coffee, Juice, Pastry

Courtesy of National Association of Independent Publishers Representatives (N.A.I.P.R.)
“With thanks to our independent bookstore customers.”

10:30 AM TO 11:45 AM
Opening Keynote Address

New Trends in Publishing and What it Means to You: Brian Murray and Bob Miller in Conversation with Independent Booksellers.

NEIBA is pleased to welcome Brian Murray recently appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers and Bob Miller, President and Publisher of HarperStudio, a new publishing program based on a non-traditional business model.

They will share with us their vision of 21st century publishing, where it’s going and what the role of the independent bookseller will be.

Moderated by Roxanne Coady, R.J. Julia, Madison, CT.

Advance ticket required.

NOON TO 2:30 PM
Awards Luncheon

Sponsored by Baker & Taylor

NEIBA President Judy Crosby, owner of Island Books in Middletown, RI, will present the President’s Award for lifetime achievement in arts and letters to David Macaulay (The Way We Work, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and the Gilman Award for outstanding service as a sales representative to New England bookstores to Tony Giordano of New England Book Sales.

John Hugo, chair of the Awards Committee and manager of Andover Bookstore in Andover, MA introduces the 2008 New England Book Awards recipients:

Alice Hoffman for Fiction,

Nathaniel Philbrick for Non-fiction,

Tomie dePaola for Children’s and

John Viehman, Group Publisher of Down East Enterprise accepting for Down East Books for Publishing.

The awards were established in 1990 and are given annually to New England authors and publishers who have produced a body of work that stands as a significant contribution to New England culture.

John Muse, President of the Book Publishers Representatives of New England, presents BPRNE’s Independent Spirit Award celebrating creative excellence in retail book selling.

Advance ticket required.

2:30 PM TO 3:45 PM
Up To Speed for The Holidays: Recommending Books from 0 – 60
in under 70: A Children’s Book Presentation (NECBA)

A group of wholesale and retail children’s book buyers, book talkers, and hand-sellers will bring you up to speed on the top kids books for the fall season. Hand selling angles will be presented, key talking points offered, and who knows, the demographic curtain may even be lifted slightly to expose a few secrets lurking behind it. Frontline booksellers are especially urged to attend for this harvest of the fall titles for ages 0-15.

With Elizabeth Bluemle of The Flying Pig, Shelburne, VT,

Kenny Brechner of DDG Booksellers, Farmington, ME;

Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins, Falmouth, MA and Bookstream, Poughkeepsie, NY;

Heather Doss of Bookazine, Bayonne, NJ;

Rebecca Fabian of The Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA and

Alison Morris of Wellesley Booksmith, Wellesley, MA.

2:30 PM TO 3:45 PM
Surviving Tough Times in Retail

Independent bookstores are facing a multitude of challenges this coming season, and most likely in the year ahead. This workshop will focus on specific areas that will help store owners and managers survive these tough times.

This content rich session will include discussions of cash management, inventory control, reducing costs and the importance of leadership and being proactive rather than reactive.

The panel will include booksellers Dan Chartrand, Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, NH, and Carole Horne, Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA and led by Len Vlahos of ABA.

3:45 PM TO 5:00 PM
Do I Really Need a Blog?
Social Media 101 for the Independent Bookseller

Small businesses and major corporations alike are finding online marketing to be a valuable promotional tool. Blogs, podcasts, “social media” … you’ve heard the terms, your customers are using them, but you may not understand fully what they are. What can these things do for independent bookstores? And more importantly, should you be using them? If your store already has a website and an email newsletter, do you need a blog, too?

Join us for some non-technical talk about blogs and online marketing. We’ll explain blogs, podcasts, and other forms of social media, including some specifically designed for book lovers. We’ll tell you why you need to know about them, and we’ll examine what they can and cannot do. We’ll tell you about the benefits of using them – and the potential pitfalls. And we’ll give you real information to help you decide if starting a blog would benefit your store.

Michael Kindness and Ann Kingman are two long-time Random House sales reps in New England. They spent the past year researching the world of social media before developing and launching Books on the Nightstand, a blog and podcast about books and reading, which they do in their “spare” time.

3:45 PM TO 5:00 PM
Beyond the Book Light & Reading Glasses:
Selling and Merchandising Sidelines

More bookstores are adding non-book products to their inventory mix. And for good reasons: gifts make bookselling more profitable. They add to the ambiance of a bookstore and appeal to booklovers and non-readers alike. Stationery, calendars, games, toys and gifts are additional reasons for people to come into your store to shop. Learn about non-book vendors, staff training, products that work in a bookstore, and effective ways to display and promote them in your store. This seminar will give you great ideas, a list of vendors, and a time for sharing and for questions. Panelists are: Dana Brigham, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA; Karen Corvello, R.J. Julia, Madison, CT; Jane Hannon, Bank Square Books. Mystic, CT and Wendy Hudson, Nantucket Bookworks, Nantucket, MA.

5:00 PM TO 6:00 PM
Connecting to your Customers and Community with IndieBound

Come join members of the American Booksellers Association and New England independent booksellers in a roundtable discussion about the IndieBound program. Share what you have done in your store with IndieBound promotional materials, ways that you have connected with other independent business in your communities and hear about creative ways your colleagues have used IndieBound. This session is intended for everyone attending the NEIBA Trade Show!

6:00 PM TO 10:00 PM
Children’s Books Author/Illustrator Dinner

Sponsored by Bookazine

The annual, gala evening for booksellers, publishers, authors and illustrators. This years guest speakers are Laurie Halse Anderson (Chains, Simon & Schuster), Jeanne Birdsall (The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, Knopf) and Norton Juster (Sourpuss & Sweetie Pie, Scholastic). Cocktails at 6:00pm. Dinner begins at 6:30pm.
Sheraton Hotel, Constitution Ballroom A & B.
Advance ticket required.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

11:00 AM TO 5:30 PM
TRADE SHOW EXHIBIT OPEN

8:00 AM TO 9:30 AM
Friday Breakfast with Authors

Sponsored by HarperCollins

NEIBA welcomes authors: Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games, Scholastic), David Hackett Fischer (Champlain’s Dream, Simon & Schuster) and E.O. Wilson (Superorganism, W.W. Norton). Hosted by NEIBA Vice-President Mitch Gaslin, Food for Thought Books, Amherst, MA.
Advance ticket required.

9:45 AM TO 11:00 AM
NEIBA Annual Meeting

3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
How to Make Publishers Love You: True Confessions from Children’s Publicists, Marketers and Reps (NECBA)

Looking for some relationship help? This presentation will provide a publisher’s eye view of the bookstore-publisher connection. Top publicists, marketers and reps will share and discuss what their favorite accounts do right and how booksellers can work with publishers to build successful and productive relationships. We hope you’ll join us for some essential tips on building synergy in order to sell more children’s books and have more fun doing it, too!

Panelist are:

Deb Shapiro, Director of Publicity, Bloomsbury;

Jason Wells, Director of Publicity, Harry N. Abrams;

Katie McGarry New England rep for Simon & Schuster;

Kathy Space, Inside Sales, Penguin and

Linda Magram, Vice-President, Director of Marketing, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group.

Moderated by Vicky Uminowicz, Titcomb’s Bookshop, E. Sandwich, MA.

3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
Publisher Picks

Macmillan - Ellen Pyle

John Wiley - Suzette Ciancio

Beacon Press - Tom Hallock

Random House - Ron Koltnow, Leslie Vasilio

Parson Weems - Linda Cannon

5:00 PM to 5:30 PM
New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council (NECBA)
Annual Meeting

The NECBA session continues with its annual meeting. NECBA’s invaluable review of the leading fall releases of middle grade and young adult fiction books is unveiled. Any NEIBA member actively involved in children’s bookselling is welcome!

Find out what NECBA is and does and how you can become an active member of this important segment of our bookselling community!

4:15 PM to 5:30 PM
Consumer Behavior Revealed: The Dating Game

Many booksellers who attended this workshop at Winter Institute raved about how fun and useful it was. We have asked ABA to recreate this for the NEIBA show.

Because consumers can buy books almost anywhere independent booksellers need to add value to the book shopping experience. But to add value, we must first understand what motivates our customers.

Come and learn what goes on in the heads of shoppers and how you can improve sales in your stores by understanding your customers needs and desires.

6:00 PM TO 8:00 PM
Author Reception

Sponsored by BookStream, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Ingram Book Company

Last years Author Reception was such a big hit we had to do it again! What better way to end the first day of the show than two hours of meeting authors, hearing about their books and publicity plans, mingling with fellow booksellers and publishers and relaxing in an informal atmosphere of food, drink and books!

 

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2008

10:00 AM TO 3:00 PM
TRADE SHOW EXHIBIT OPEN

8:00 AM
Registration Open

8:00 AM TO 10:00 AM
Saturday Breakfast with Authors

Sponsored by Penguin

NEIBA is pleased to welcome this morning’s guests:

Wally Lamb (The Hour I First Believed, HarperCollins),

Dennis Lehane (The Given Day, HarperCollins) and

Kathleen Norris (Acedia & Me, Riverhead).

Hosted by NEIBA Treasurer Dick Hermans, Oblong Books and Music, Rhinebeck and Millerton, NY. Advance ticket required.

10:00 AM to 11:15 AM
Publisher Picks

Penguin Group - Ann Wachur

Harvard/MIT/Yale - Adena Siegel

Chesapeake & Hudson - Michael Gourley

Houghton Mifflin - Carla Gray

Perseus Books Group - Nicole Fortier

11:15 AM to 12:15 PM
ABA E-commerce Solution -- The New System Revealed

A member of the ABA Staff will demonstrate the new ABA E-commerce Solution, answer member questions, and outline the plan for migrating participating stores to the new system. The migration process will include moving content, moving customers, and training store staff.

All participants in the ABA E-commerce Solution (formerly BookSense.com) are encouraged to attend. Non-participants are welcome to sit in as well.

1:00 PM
Announcement of Vendor Raffle and Prize Winners

2:00 PM
Announcement of NEIBA Raffle Winners

3:00 PM
Trade Show Exhibit Closes