New service for Southern authors & booksellers

September 8, 2008
Call for Authors

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) is looking for authors to help beta-test a new service for writers and independent booksellers, the Southern Traveling Author Registration Service (STARS). STARS will be promoted as part of SIBA's website for Southern Literary news and events, Authors 'Round the South (ARTS). SIBA is inviting members of the North Carolina Writers' Network to participate. If you are a member of the Network and are interested in scheduling events at independent bookstores, you can sign up for free.

Please read the following details carefully, and note the sign up instructions at the end of this email. Simply replying to this announcement will not sign you up!


What is ARTS?
Authors Round the South (ARTS) is a website for people interested in Southern books and literature. The site is sponsored by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) and hosts one of the largest, most complete calendars of author events in the South. Southern independent booksellers list their upcoming author readings, book club meetings, writers groups, book festivals and other events on the ARTS calendar. Events are promoted to consumers, members of the industry, the media and anyone interested in Southern literature via weekly and monthly mailings and ongoing regional promotions by SIBA. Events are listed as part of the weekly Southern Indie Bestseller list, and author readings are a highlighted feature of SIBA's acclaimed newsletter for Southern Literature, Lady Banks' Commonplace Book.

What is STARS?
The Southern Traveling Authors Registration Service (STARS) is a specialized "speakers bureau" of sorts created by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and designed to build relationships between authors and independent booksellers. Authors want to give readings at bookstores. Bookstores are often looking for authors for events. But unless an author's publisher is really on the ball, setting up events is a haphazard process left entirely to the author, who often is pressed for time, inexperienced in publicity and marketing, and forced to make cold calls to stores without even the benefit of up to date contact information.

STARS was built to help authors and booksellers find each other. Authors who register for STARS can create profiles, enter book information, and most importantly, list their upcoming travel plans and areas they are willing to visit. SIBA will collate this information and forward it to their member independent booksellers as potential events. The bookstores, in turn, will use STARS as a resource for finding authors, and will promote the site to other organizations in their area that need to find speakers and presenters for events. This includes book groups, civic organizations, libraries, schools and business alliances. Independent booksellers are active in their communities and are often approached as a resource for finding speakers.

Even better, events scheduled by SIBA booksellers are entered onto the ARTS calendar, which is forwarded to media throughout the South every week as part of the Southern Indie Bestseller List, and in the popular monthly newsletter on Southern Literature, Lady Banks' Commonplace Book.


Who are we looking for?

Any author with a book in print is invited to take part in STARS. Authors should have some familiarity with the Internet, and be willing to work with SIBA's technical support team as features are implemented on the STARS service. Your experiences and feedback will be used to enhance the site and make the service work better for authors and booksellers by identifying bugs and suggesting new features.

To sign up please email Nicki Leone at
nicki@sibaweb.com

Copyright 2008