For Publishers

The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) is a trade organization dedicated to supporting, nurturing and promoting independent retail bookselling in California. With over 600 members, including more than 300 booksellers, the NCIBA has been an experienced provider of services for over two decades.

NCIBA Trade Show 2010 will be held October 14-16, Oakland, CA

Exhibitor Kit and details will be posted here later in the spring. In the meantime, please review last year’s Author Opportunities fact sheet (52 KB Word doc) and the 2009 NCIBA Trade Show Exhibitor Packet (306KB PDF) for a general overview. Please email the NCIBA office if you would like to be added to the list to receive a 2010 Exhibitor Packet.

See some pictures from recent trade shows on our Trade Show page.

Holiday Catalog 2009

Click here for this year’s ad rates and deadlines (1M PDF) and contract (184K Word file) for our Holiday Showcase book catalog. For further information, contact Hut Landon at .

This year, we are offering bookstores an online version of our Holiday Catalog for their web sites. Titles can be clicked on for direct online ordering through the store. The online catalog will be designed by the same folks who design our print version to ensure a similar look. There is no extra charge to bookstores or advertisers.

We’re also providing display posters and shelf talkers of all titles to participating stores.

Other Advertising Opportunities

The NCIBA is now offering advertising on our email newsletter (over 300 subscribers) and on our two weekly email announcements—the San Francisco Chronicle’s featured Sunday book reviews and weekly Top Shelf list and the NCIBA bestseller list.

We are also now offering ads on our web site, which receives over 1,000 unique visitors and 4,000 page views a week. Click here for rates (493K PDF).

Additionally, we provide a New Title Preview section on our web site. Publishers can post up to 50 words of descriptive text and an image of the book, along with a limited offer of free book or galley. We send an email blast notifying members of the post; cost is $50 for a one-month posting.

Regional Bookseller Association Joint Promotion and Advertising

Dear Vendors,

Your friendly and enthusiastic regional independent bookselling trade associations have come together to offer publishers special marketing and promotional opportunities to reach a nationwide audience of indie booksellers—the very people most likely to get behind and handsell your books. In addition to our popular Creative Alert Program, we are now offering cooperative website banner placement and tradeshow badgeholder and attendee bag sponsorships:

The regional associations have worked hard to develop cost-effective marketing opportunities that offer national exposure and still meet your budget. But space is limited, so make your reservations early!

Your regional independent booksellers trade organizations.

New! Banner Ad on all 9 Regional Industry Website Homepages

The nine regional Bookselling Organizations have combined forces to bring yet another fantastic opportunity for promotion & advertising. Our combined websites garner over 300,000 successful page views each month and the number is climbing. These are the online go-to pages for all of our members and interested parties. Book your one week banner ad for $1000 or buy a month long banner ad for the reduced rate of $3500. This is an exclusive spot—your ad will not be in rotation.

Email nicki@sibaweb.com with any questions or to book your banner ad today! You can check the ad out at any of our regional websites and here they are:

New! Regional Tradeshow Bag Sponsorship

2500 bags will be distributed across the nine regional trade shows and we will place four full color process jackets on the bag at $3000 each. The deadline to reserve bag placement is May 1. Email Wanda@sibaweb.com to express your interest.

New! Regional Tradeshow Badgeholder Sponsorship

A single entity can purchase 7500 badgeholders for all nine regional trade shows. This is an exclusive offer and the deadline to reserve is May 1. Email Wanda@sibaweb.com to express your interest.

Creative Advertising and Promo Alert!

The deadline for the Creative Alert is the first Friday of each month, and the alert will be distributed the following week.

“We have new videos available this month for free download. We are thrilled with the turnout for the videos! Thank you!” —Sheila Clover English, Circle of Seven Productions

Reach thousands of booksellers. The Regional Bookseller Trade Associations are combining efforts to get your promotional materials, ideas, and gift items into the hands of our nearly 3,000 independent bookstore members. Entries cost $100. Each participating regional will send an email alert to our members. Payment must be made before the alert is sent. You can pay with a credit card or a check. For credit card payments buy online here or call 800.331.9617. You can also mail your check to SIBA, 3806 Yale Ave., Columbia, SC 29205.

Email your entry to: alert@sibaweb.com exactly as you’d like it described in the alert.

Along with bookmarks & posters, there are other materials that our booksellers would like to know about such as contests, event kits, authorless events, and other creative materials that you spend dollars on developing and shipping.  This would be a Call to Action to Booksellers to request the materials that they believe will be most valuable to them. Booksellers will email you directly to request the items allowing you to capture the emails of the stores that are most interested in the materials. All requests should include any parameters you choose.

Submission guidelines are below.

See a sample Creative Advertising & Promo Alert here!

This is a great opportunity for greeting card companies and other sidelines vendors to connect with independents and to get a sample of your wares into their hands.

Creative Advertising & Promo Alert for Booksellers - Vendor FAQ Sheet

“This is one of the most beneficial things I’ve seen so far! Thank you so much for making it available to us.” —Cindi, Ink Spell Books, NCIBA

What is The Creative Alert? Publishers invest significant amounts of their marketing dollars designing promotional items—bookmarks, posters, event kits, etc.—but getting these items into the hands of the people who can use them is a challenge. The Creative Advertising & Promo Alert is a monthly email to booksellers that allows you to list the materials you have available and allows stores to request items they are interested in using. Designed as a kind of “Advanced Access” for promotional and marketing items, each edition of the Creative Alert provides offers of professionally-developed materials, referenced by vendor, category, and type of item.

Along with bookmarks & posters, there are other materials that our booksellers would like to know about such as contests, event kits, authorless events, and other creative materials that you spend dollars on developing and shipping. The Creative Alert is a Call to Action to Booksellers to request the materials that they believe will be most valuable to them. Because booksellers email you directly to request the items they want, you are able to capture the emails of the stores that are most interested in your products.

For an example of a Creative Alert email, visit http://www.sibaweb.com/creative.html

This is a great opportunity for greeting card companies and other sidelines vendors to connect with independents and to get a sample of your wares into their hands.

Who can participate? Any vendor with promotional items they would like to offer to bookstores. This includes publishers, gift companies, business services, wholesalers, even nonprofit organizations. Individual authors may also participate.

What sort of items are allowed? All promotional items are allowed with the exception of review copies, books and galleys. Bookmarks, postcards, event kits, reading group guides, as well as contest information, displays, posters, and signage are all appropriate. You may also use this alert to announce new newsletters, website resources, or blogs.

What items are not allowed? The Creative Alert will not list offers of review copies, galleys, or ARCs in any format.

Are there any other criteria? All requests should include any parameters you choose.

What is the cost? A basic listing is $50 and includes a description of up to 250 words. An enhanced listing costs $100 and also includes an image.

What are the design specs? Text: All copy should be minimally formatted. Bold, italicized and underlined text is allowed, but color and custom fonts are not. Copy can be sent in the body of an email or attached as a word document. Do not send pdfs. There is no word limit but we recommend not more than 250 words per item.

Images: Images can be gif or jpg. Animated gifs are allowed but not encouraged. Flash and html-enriched jpgs are not allowed. Images should not exceed 200 pixels in its smallest dimension. Images which do not conform to these specifications may be reformatted by SIBA.

Who receives the Creative Alert? Every bookseller who is a member of one of the nine regional independent booksellers trade associations—that is a national audience of total of over 2500 bookstore emails!

Creative Alerts are sent out on a monthly basis.  Listings must be paid in advance. To reserve a listing in the next alert, please send an email to alert@sibaweb.com.

GLIBA, MBA, MPIBA, NAIBA, NCIBA, NEIBA, PNBA, SCIBA, and SIBA

Northern California Book Awards

The NCIBA presents the Northern California Book Awards every Spring. Awards are given in various categories for books published for the first time in the prior year and written by an author residing in Northern California (we may a residency exception for an author whose book is nominated in the Regional Title category).

Bookseller committees review all book submissions — from publishers and bookseller colleagues — and choose finalists in each category. A Finalists Ballot is then created and distributed to all member bookstores.

Owners and all employees of those stores are eligible to vote; winners are announced by the NCIBA in early April. Bookstores receive promotional materials and stickers for winning titles.

We begin accepting submissions on October 1. Committees begin deliberations in mid-January. There is no fee to submit a title; we ask for two copies of the nominated book be sent to the NCIBA office, addressed to Book Awards. Books cannot be returned. Depending how books are shipped, here are the two addresses:

USING U.S. MAIL

Book Awards
NCIBA
PO Box 29169
San Francisco, CA 94129

USING UPS, FEDEX, ETC.

Book Awards
NCIBA
1007 General Kennedy Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94129

2009 Winners (for books published in 2008):

FICTION

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial)

NONFICTION

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial)

POETRY

My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer
Jack Spicer (Wesleyan University Press)

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Steinbeck’s Ghost
Lewis Buzbee (Feiwel & Friends)

CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED

One
Kathryn Otoshi (KO Kids Books)

REGIONAL TITLE

Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California
Frances Dinkelspiel (St. Martin’s)

Annual Trade Show

Every year, the NCIBA sponsors an annual trade show. It is the single most important coming together for regional booksellers. The 2009 NCIBA Trade Show will be held Thursday, October 8-Saturday, October 10 at the Oakland Convention Center/City Center Marriott. See more about the 2008 show on our new trade show page.

Our show helps promote the vitality, diversity and prosperity of independent bookselling. We look forward to seeing you there!

NCIBA Newsletter

The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association publishes a regular newsletter of interest to both booksellers and those in the publishing community.