The Professional Booksellers School is launching a new course on "Marketing, Display, and Storytelling Excellence," developed and taught by Lisa Uhrik and Steve Wax, who founded Beyond Bookstores. The two are interested, the school said, "in helping all bookstores think and work 'beyond the walls'--both literally and figuratively. They believe that pop-ups, B2B efforts, mobile shops and other innovations are critical to building book culture."
Uhrik also co-owns Franklin Fixtures and co-founded Plenty bookshop in Cookeville, Tenn. Wax is board chair of Heyday Books and co-founder of the Cooke Wax Partnership, "a creative studio that helps brands and causes raise their voice."
The new course is designed, the school said, "to offer fresh perspectives drawn from the disciplines of design, writing, entertainment and anthropology. Wherever a store is in its journey, this course will help stores elevate and expand their thinking and practice in connecting with customers, and improve the things that matter most to them. The course is designed for both brick-and-mortar and novel models bookstores."
The course has five online workshop sessions, each with a chapter to be read and field work assignments for participants to complete in store before coming to the class to discuss, share, and learn together. The workshops focuses are:
1. Your Book Haven Space (Crafting Experiences & Setting the Scene)
2. I'm Curious... (Marketing & Display as Emotional Curiosity)
3. Knowing You, Knowing Me (Using our Experience, Strength, Hope and Connections)
4. Better Together (How Marketing, Display, Events and Curation Work Better in Alignment)
5. Unforgettable (Methods of Storytelling in Display at Macro and Micro Levels)
The five sessions are 90 minutes long and held every other Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, starting June 19, and go until August 14. Registration opens this coming Wednesday, May 29, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. The course costs $425; members of the regional independent booksellers associations are eligible for discounts. Registration is limited to 30 students. For more information, click here.
