This year’s Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Fall Discovery trade show, held October 27–28 at the South San Francisco Conference Center, marks the first year with Calvin Crosby as executive director (Crosby assumed the role last year upon the retirement of Hut Landon).
The numbers from ABA show that of the stores who participated in the ABACUS-15 survey, 69% had a positive net income and 62% reported a positive sales change. Sales figures from 2016 are running about 5% higher than 2015 according to ABA president Oren Teicher, who noted that this year isn’t as spectacular as 2015 because election years are always “a little off.” Yet he pointed out that stores are still anticipating a strong upcoming holiday selling season, and that sentiment was reflected at shows across the country this fall. At NCIBA, that upswing was echoed in a record attendance with a boost in children’s programming.
This year's show hosted 102 authors for the various events, including the first Children's Author Reception, and a Children's Dinner that hosted six authors as speakers, up from four last year. Crosby said that the additional programming, especially the addition of so many children’s authors, was met with “nothing but raves” from booksellers in attendance.
On the trade show floor, attendees celebrated the fact that the conference seemed bigger than last year, with a multitude of offerings in kids’ titles and a large presence of sidelines. Yet despite the number of titles, one picture book was on every bookseller’s lips: They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel (Chronicle). “I am a cat person,” said Karen Sesody of Hicklebee’s, explaining why she loves the book so much. “One of the appeals is that it’s very artistic, and has so many different styles of artwork in it.” Kris Vreeland of Once Upon a Time Bookstore said she was excited about I Dissent (S&S), the picture book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Debbie Levy, and illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley. Both Vreeland and Maureen Palacios of Once Upon a Time were excited about the YA novel The Call by Peadar O'Guilin (Scholastic/Fickling), which Palacios called “wonderfully creepy.”
The education sessions included a panel on how to grow nonfiction featuring Michele Bellah (Copperfield’s), Caitlin Jordan (Kepler’s) Sally Engelfried, children’s librarian from Oakland Public Library, and Marissa Moss of Creston Books, moderated by Summer Laurie, chair of the Northern California Children’s Booksellers Alliance. With nonfiction being one of the fastest growing segments of the book industry, children’s booksellers talked about how to discover, select, display and maintain a selection of great children’s nonfiction titles.
As far as discovery of titles, the panel suggested a host of tactics: talk to librarians to see what kids are interested in, ask sales reps about their favorite nonfiction titles, look to publishers you trust, and go with your gut.
Laurie also said that “multicultural holidays” are a good time to buy nonfiction titles for. “Paying attention to the holidays that we may not have heard about before is a great opportunity” to stock books customers might not have seen before and to create community and diversity, she suggested.
Moss of Creston Books said that she “loves the genre. For me, the touchstone is something that’s exciting but real.”
Booksellers in the audience said that the concern is stocking enough titles and that nonfiction has a very high turnover as people search for very niche topics. To that problem, the panel had no easy answer other than to market other related titles and use customers searches as an upselling opportunity, even turning them to fiction titles if there are no good nonfiction ones on hand.
Thursday’s Children’s Author Reception featured 35 children’s authors, and the Children’s Author Dinner that followed was emceed by longtime bookseller Valerie Lewis of Hicklebee’s and included four authors and illustrators: Tom Lichtenheld (Groovy Joe, written by Eric Litwin, Scholastic/Orchard), Megan McDonald (Judy Moody and the Bucket List, Candlewick), Melissa de la Cruz, (Something in Between, Harlequin Teen), and Adam Gidwitz, (The Inquisitor’s Tale, Dutton). This was the second year of the Northern California Children’s Booksellers Alliance fall diversity initiative, the Mirrors and Windows Program, which highlights diverse books and this year they chose two books: Jewell Parker Rhodes (Falling Towers, Little Brown) and Andrea Beaty’s Ada Twist, Scientist (Abrams).
Beaty said in her remarks, “Independent bookstores, you are the lifeblood of great children’s books. I want to say thank you for being the heart of your communities, which you are. You’re a safe haven for those of us who love books and for whom books are a lifeline. You give a voice to our words; you give our books a chance to be seen and heard.” She also thanked the crowd for making her books into bestsellers, joking that when her book came out she thought the “earth was going to stop. But of course it doesn’t happen that way; it was more like crickets and silence.” She added, “But that’s not where it ended as you know,” referencing the success of both Iggy Peck. Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer, which has spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list. “That’s because you guys started handselling this book, and every month you sold more and more of them year after year. It was remarkable and outstanding.”
Rhodes told the crowd of booksellers: “As I speak my daughter is laboring to bring my granddaughter into the world. I’m so glad she will be born into a world that has each and every one of you in it. I want you to know that I am the adult writer who always wanted to write for children. In fact, I wrote nine books for adults hoping I would be good enough one day to write for children. I am living my best life ever because of you. It is heaven to be a selection for Windows and Mirrors. All stories matter and diversity is the new civil rights frontier. Because of a lack of diversity I almost missed my calling as a writer. Like each of you I am committed to having children read a global world of inclusion and love. We need them to grow up and write their stories. I was in New Orleans in a very poor school and a young black boy asked me, ‘How come white people hate us so much?’ I knew then he hadn’t been given enough books. Everything you do to get a book in a child’s hands is important in making our world a more civil and just place. Please do not forget that.”
