IBD 2019: More Parties, Passport Plans

With the fifth annual Independent Bookstore Day inching ever closer, Shelf Awareness has taken another look at what independent bookstores around the country have planned for Saturday, April 27.

To celebrate Indie Bookstore Day, Libro.fm is providing a selection of free audiobooks to customers of independent bookstores. On April 27, readers can enjoy these free audiobooks: Mothers' Group by Liane Moriarty, The Blackhouse by Peter May, Hello Neighbor: Missing Pieces by Carly Anne West, Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven and a Penguin Random House story sampler featuring a selection of 2019 bestselling audio titles.

Through a partnership between Hummingbird Digital Media, HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group, booksellers will be able to offer eight bestselling e-book titles for $2.99 or less on Indie Bookstore Day. To make use of this offer, indies must use Hummingbird's My Must Reads platform, which is integrated into the ABA's IndieCommerce and IndieLite programs. Bookstores already enrolled in the program will receive marketing materials from Hummingbird, and others can be found here.

The eight discounted titles are: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver; Your Duck Is My Duck by Deborah Eisenberg; Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin; Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman; The Prophet by Michael Koryta; Mischling by Affinity Konar; The Party by Elizabeth Day; and Testimony by Anita Shreve.

For the first time, bookstores throughout New Hampshire are teaming up for a statewide bookstore tour. Readers who visit seven or more stores and get their passports stamped will be eligible to win a variety of prizes.

Seventeen bookstores across the state of Connecticut are taking part in the Connecticut Independent Bookstore Day Passport Program. Readers who visit every participating store can win a Passport Prize, a 20% off coupon from each of the stores, and will be entered into a grand prize raffle. For the raffle, five names will be drawn at random to win a grand prize of a $50 gift card from each store, for a total value of $850.

R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., and R.J. Julia Bookstore in Middletown, Conn., will be celebrating IBD with a day full of parties and in-store events. The first 20 customers to spend $100 at either location on April 27 will receive a free IBD tote bag.

In St. Louis, Mo., six independent bookstores have joined forces to create the area's first IBD passport program. Readers who collect all six passport stickers will receive a coupon for 20% off any purchase at each one of the participating stores. The participating stores are: EyeSeeMe African American Children's Bookstore, Left Bank Books, Main Street Books, The Novel Neighbor, Subterranean Books and The Book House.

The Transportation Alternatives Queens Volunteer Committee, a Queens, N.Y., community organization advocating for bicycling, walking and public transit, has organized a bike tour of four Queens bookstores to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day. The tour will begin at Astoria Bookshop in Astoria and stop at Book Culture in Long Island City and Kew & Willow Books in Kew Gardens before finishing at Topos Bookstore in Ridgewood.

Twenty independent bookstores across the state of Vermont are working together to create the Vermont Independent Bookstore Passport. Readers who visit five or more stores will receive a custom enamel pin; those who visit 10 or more will receive a Vermont Bookstores bumper sticker; visiting 15 or more will earn a Vermont Bookstores magnet; and readers who visit all 20 will receive all of the above in addition to a Vermont Bookstores bag.

In Burlington and Essex, Vt., Phoenix Books will be celebrating Indie Bookstore Day by raising funds for the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, N.H., which cares for orphaned black bear cubs. Megan Price, author of the Vermont Wild series, will be visiting both stores throughout the day, and a portion of both the store's and Price's sales will be donated to the KBC. According to Price, the KBC is currently "overwhelmed" caring for 65 bear cubs, and more are expected to arrive this spring. The center needs more funds to build additional housing and to buy food and other supplies. Price's books collect the true stories of retired game wardens. She will begin the day with a visit to Phoenix Books Burlington at 11 a.m. before stopping by Phoenix Books Essex at 2 p.m.

Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Mont., is turning 45 this year and will celebrate its anniversary on IBD. The store will have author signings and presentations, and former store employees, or Chapter One-ders, will be on hand to help celebrate. Visitors will enjoy birthday cake, and exclusive IBD merchandise will be available.

In Vienna, Va., Bard's Alley is celebrating with a variety of events and programs, including a community-wide book hunt. The hunt will begin at 9 a.m., and customers will try to find 100 ARCs hidden in and around participating businesses. Throughout the day, there will also be in-store scavenger hunts, a literature-themed children's concert, portrait drawings, live music, specialty drinks and board game sessions in the evening.

At DIESEL, a Bookstore in Brentwood, Calif., plans for Indie Bookstore Day include a special children's storytime session from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and a literary scavenger hunt for children that will run throughout the day. Kids will scout the bookstore to answer questions and be entered into a drawing for a variety of prizes.

IBD celebrations will be taking place at each of the Third Place Books locations in Lake Forest Park, Ravenna, and Seward Park, Wash. Customers can expect free coffee, a scavenger hunt, photo booths, prize wheels and author meet-and-greets throughout the day. Some featured authors include Laurie Frankel (This Is How it Always Is), Asia Citro (Zoey and Sassafras) and Jill Lightner (Scraps, Peels, and Stems), among others. --Alex Mutter

Powered by: Xtenit