"In my book, you're quite a character." The literary-themed phrase is one sentiment adorning In My Book cards, a greeting card and bookmark in one, introduced by Robin K. Blum 10 years ago last month.
A bookmark Blum handmade for her great-aunt's 70th birthday--given with a page-turner--was early inspiration for In My Book. "The length of the bookmark made me think about what they used to call 'long-line' greeting cards," Blum explained. From there 
she came up with the idea to combine a bookmark (the front portion of the card) with a removable, perforated section that can be used to write a personal note or greeting.
Each card begins with "In my book..." and concludes with one of 15 sayings, such as "you're an adventure" or "you're a mystery." An Illinois bookseller paired cards bearing the phrase "In my book, you're pure poetry" with a selection of Christmas poetry titles for holiday gift-giving. The cards are decorated with whimsical drawings by illustrator Meredith Hamilton and printed on textured watercolor paper. They come with a red envelope and retail for $3.95, a price that has held steady since Blum launched the company.
In February, Blum was a vendor at the inaugural Bookmark Collectors Virtual Convention, organized by Lauren Roberts, a bookmark collector and founder of the online literary salon BiblioBuffet, and Alan Irwin of the Bookmark Collector blog. Blum later met one of the convention participants, librarian Hope Crandall, at the Public Library Association conference in Portland, Ore., where she exhibited In My Book cards. (Book Lust author and In My Book fan Nancy Pearl was a guest at Blum's booth.) Blum blogs under the moniker "birdie" for LISNews.org, a resource for library-oriented news, and tweets as @inmybook.
Blum, who previously worked in technical theater and for a children's book publisher, sold the first In My Book card at BookExpo America in Chicago a decade ago. They're now available at hundreds of outlets across the country, primarily independent bookstores and library shops. One purveyor is the shop at the Library of Congress, which began stocking them after Blum taped a business card to the buyer's desk while in the building to attend a congressional soirée. The greeting cards are also sold at museum stores, stationers, galleries and gift boutiques, as well as at www.inmybook.com.
Selling her product to small and independent businesses is an important principle for Blum, who runs In My Book from her home office in Brooklyn, N.Y. "I'm a supporter of independent businesses by inclination," she said. "When I started my business, I was approached by Amazon and other big-box stores, but I made the decision to support community bookstores by not offering it to the chains."
So what's the top-selling In My Book greeting? "You're a classic."--Shannon McKenna Schmidt