08.14.25 CALIBA Bookseller News & Information

Bookseller Newsletter,

Bookseller News & Information

IN THIS ISSUE

Malibu Village Books: GoFundMe

CALIBA Programs

CALIBA Committees

Professional Booksellers School

Marketing Assets

Grants & Scholarships

Dates and Deadlines

Bookseller Shoutouts

Bestseller Lists

Classifieds

CALIBA Currently Reading

Resources

Bookstore Map

Office Hours with Hannah

CALIBA Staff

NEW MEMBER CORNER

Bluebird Play logo

Welcome to CALIBA, Bluebird Play!

Owner Name: Amanda Klein

Location: San Diego

Established: January 2025

About Our New Member: At the heart of Bluebird Play is a whimsical little bookstore filled with childhood classics, imaginative adventures, and beautifully illustrated stories that spark creativity. It’s all part of founder Amanda Klein’s mission to create a space where kids and their grownups can play, read, and explore together. Bluebird Play blends the magic of storytelling with hands-on fun, making it a favorite neighborhood spot for curious, creative families.

Proud Member of CALIBA digital sign

SHOW OFF YOUR CALIBA SPIRIT

The Office has created a CALIBA Member Decal so you can share your support of California Independent Bookstores in your stores and online. Click here to download the file.(Current membership and login required, having trouble accessing the page? Email Valentina).

Malibu Village Books

MALIBU VILLAGE BOOKS: GOFUNDME

Help save Malibu's only bookstore after fires. Contribute to their GoFundMe.

CALIBA PROGRAMS

Fall Fest Bookseller Scholarships

2025 FALL FEST: BOOKSELLER SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS CLOSE TOMORROW, AUGUST 15TH

Please join us for two full days of education, authors, and connection with booksellers throughout the state of California. Click here for more information.

Fall Fest Schedule: Day 1 Agenda | Day 2 Agenda

BOOKSELLER DEADLINES

TRI-WEST SUMMER SCHOOL

School is almost out! Join us for the Tri-West Summer School's last education session next week. Co-produced by CALIBA, MPIBA, and PNBA.

August 20 at 12pm PT

Understanding & Improving Cost of Goods Sold

Register Here

Missed a session? Click here to access past session recordings.

Golden Poppy Shelf Awareness Mailings

OPT-IN TO THE *FREE* GOLDEN POPPY SHELF AWARENESS MAILINGS

Share the Golden Poppy Award finalists and winners with your customers for easy online shopping!

 

Mailing Schedule for Golden Poppy Book Awards:

  • December 2, 2025 (Finalists)
  • January 30, 2026 (Winners)

Click here to opt-in to Golden Poppy Mailings.

CALIBA COMMITTEES

ADVISORY COUNCIL: MEDIA OUTLET RESOURCE PAGE

Let's crowdsource media outlet contacts to help each other publicize your brands/stores. Add information to the media outlet resource doc and access media info.

POLITICAL ADVOCACY COMMITTEE: CONTINUING THE "SOFT" BOOK BANS CONVERSATION - AUG. 29 AT 1PM PT

CALIBA's Political Advocacy Committee is holding space to continue the conversation started during our Summer School Session on Soft Book Bans. Join this call to learn about soft book bans, share your experience with them, and discuss with your fellow booksellers ways to battle them. This will be a round table discussion, so plan to participate! Register Here

PROFESSIONAL BOOKSELLERS SCHOOL

PBS Bookstore Year One

BOOKSTORE YEAR ONE

The first year of actually running a bookstore can be exhilarating AND overwhelming. PBS is here to help with Bookstore Year One, a combination of education, mentorship, and support group to turn your first year into a strong foundation to help your business grow. Sign up for the pre-list!

INDEPENDENT STUDY: NEW & UPDATED CLASSES

The Power of Ingram 2025 Edition - we've updated our IS listing with this spring's class, so you have the most current information on ordering through Ingram.

Inventory Decisions & Store Layout - Understand the connections between store layout, shrinkage, shelving, and merchandising and learn about taking inventory and handling returns.

MARKETING ASSETS

CALIBA Marketing Assets

CALIBA MARKETING ASSETS FOR BOOKSTORES

We've created assets that you can share with your customers. Visit our Marketing Assets webpage.

AUGUST: Back to School Month

AUGUST 8: International Cat Day

AUGUST 26: National Dog Day (to come)

AUGUST 30: National Beach Day (to come)

ABA MARKETING ASSETS

ABA fall marketing assets

Have more marketing ideas or special events members would find useful? Send in your ideas here.

Are the CALIBA marketing assets useful for you?

GRANTS & SCHOLARSHIPS

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

August: Back to School Month / Black Business Month

*TOMORROW* August 15: Deadline for Fall Fest Bookseller Scholarship Applications

August 20: Tri-West Summer School - Understanding & Improving Cost of Good Sold - LAST SESSION!

August 25: Fall Fest Hotel Group Rate Ends - Book Now!

September: Self-Care Awareness Month / National Hispanic Heritage Month / Digital Catalog pages to stores

September 5: Catalog assets available

September 17-18: Fall Fest @ South San Francisco Conference Center

October 1: Target date for catalog delivery to stores and newspapers

October 5-11: Banned Books Week

October 31: Deadline for ABA Fall Show Special/ABA Membership Trial - use promo code: FallPromo2025

November 1: Target date for catalog deliver via direct mail

Now More Than Ever, I Stand with Bookstores is a fundraising campaign to engage all book lovers to join some of their favorite authors/creators and stand with their community stores during this time of uncertainty. They can help stores by making an in-store purchase and/or making a donation to Binc. Your support is appreciated and optional. The Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation is our safety net. Whether you are facing a life-altering medical situation or the effects of a climate related disaster, Binc is the place you can call for help. Donations will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling your impact, up to a total of $50,000.

Share your bookstore dogs to celebrate National Dog Day (8/26). Email your photos to Alecia or share images in Discord.

CALIBA Bookseller Shoutout August 14 2025
  1. Malibu Village Bookstore has started a GoFundMe to help keep their doors open.
  2. Monarch Books, in Arroyo Grande, had so many great submissions for their Summer bookmarks that they printed all of them!
  3. Image of the Day: Warwick's Has A Way with Words

Bookstore Romance Day

Back to School

Don't forget to follow and tag us (@caliba_20) to be featured! CALIBA resources has

info about being featured by Shelf Awareness, USA Today, and Bay City News.

BESTSELLER LISTS

Click here for the Los Angeles Times & Southern California Independent Bookstore Bestseller List

Click here for the San Francisco Chronicle & Northern California Independent Bookstore Bestseller List

CLASSIFIEDS

  • Part-Time Bookseller - Mrs. Dalloway's, Berkeley
  • Managing Director of Finance and Operations - City Lights Books, San Francisco
  • Marketing Manager - Simon & Schuster, Virtual
  • Part-Time Administrative Assistant - The Collective Book Studio, SF Bay Area

CALIBA CURRENTLY READING

Alecia

Supporting Staff

So Thirsty Rachel Harrison

So Thirsty

Rachel Harrison

9780593642566

Hannah

Executive Director

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

Django Wexler

9780316392204

Valentina

Operations Manager

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love India Holton 9780593547281

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love

India Holton

9780593547281

RESOURCES

CALIBA new logo

CALIBA RESOURCES

Click here for a complete list.

CALIBA COMMITTEES

MEDIA OUTLETS

American Bookseller Association logo

ABA LINKS

Binc Book Industry Charitable Foundation logo

BINC LINKS

Professional Booksellers School

PBS' LINKS

BOOKSTORE MAP

CALIBA Bookstore Map

This map shows our current bookstore members.

Don't see your store on the map? Check your information on our website, then contact Alecia to update the map.

JOIN US ON DISCORD

Email Valentina to join.

Current CALIBA bookseller membership required.

HOUSEKEEPING

We're working hard to make your life easier with membership tips & tricks:

How to set up auto-pay for dues.

OFFICE HOURS WITH HANNAH

Join our monthly office hours (fourth Thursdays) to co-work with Hannah! Have a question, idea, or comment about a CALIBA program? Office hours are a great chance for you to check in directly with your Executive Director.

Click here to register for a morning session (9-10am) or afternoon session (2-3pm).

Become a Member

CALIBA STAFF

Hannah Walcher

Executive Director

hannah@caliballiance.org

Valentina Moberg

Operations Manager

valentina@caliballiance.org

Alecia Reddick

Supporting Staff

alecia@caliballiance.org

Support CALIBA

Publishers support CALIBA when bookstores participate.

Bookstore Participation = Publisher Sponsorship = CALIBA = Bookstore Education, Advocacy, Networking +++

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