09.24.26 CALIBA Bookseller News & Information

Bookseller Newsletter,

CALIBA Bookseller Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE

Take Amazon to Trial Campaign Resources

CALIBA PROGRAMS & EVENTS

2026 Fall Fest: Thank You for Joining Us

2026 Golden Poppy Awards: Winners Announced

Golden Poppy Promotions Brainstorming Session

Ways to Promote Golden Poppies in Your Store

Fall Fest Virtual Education Sessions from Show Sponsors in October

BOOKSTORE PROMOTIONS & MARKETING

Dates and Deadlines

Bookseller Shoutouts & In the News

CALIBA's Currently Reading

Resources

Become a Member Today

CALIBA Staff

BESTSELLERS LISTS

The Los Angeles Times & Southern California Independent Bookstore Bestseller List

The San Francisco Chronicle & Northern California Independent Bookstore Bestseller List

Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers

Indie Next List & Kids' Indie Next List

BLK Bestsellers list - August 2026

BOOKSTORE MAP

CALIBA Bookstore Map

This map shows our current bookstore members.

Note this info is public. Check your information on our website, then contact Alecia to update the map.

MEMBERSHIP EXPIRED?

Check your member compass here.

OPENED A NEW LOCATION? Add a new store location on our website and label your original location as the "Parent Company."

JOIN US ON DISCORD

Email Valentina to join.
Current CALIBA bookseller membership required.

We know reining in Amazon's monopoly power is critical for leveling the playing field for independent businesses and creating thriving local economies. Right now, we have a significant opportunity with the antitrust lawsuit against Amazon brought by 19 states and the Federal Trade Commission.   We're working with small business groups around the country to get 1,000 small and independent businesses signed on to this letter as a UNITED FRONT urging the government to TAKE AMAZON TO TRIAL. But, we need more signers. Would you consider joining the hundreds of small businesses who have signed the letter by Oct 9th?   *** SIGN ON HERE *** LETTER TEXT LIST OF SIGNATORIES   This is time-sensitive. Amazon is expected to file a motion to dismiss the case in mid-October. Don't let Amazon get away with it!

TAKE AMAZON TO TRIAL CAMPAIGN RESOURCES

"We know reining in Amazon's monopoly power is critical for leveling the playing field for independent businesses and creating thriving local economies. Right now, we have a significant opportunity with the antitrust lawsuit against Amazon brought by 19 states and the Federal Trade Commission. 

We're working with small business groups around the country to get 1,000 small and independent businesses signed on to this letter as a UNITED FRONT urging the government to TAKE AMAZON TO TRIAL. But, we need more signers. Would you consider joining the hundreds of small businesses who have signed the letter by Oct 9th?" 

*** SIGN ON HERE ***

LETTER TEXT

LIST OF SIGNATORIES 

This is time-sensitive. Amazon is expected to file a motion to dismiss the case in mid-October. Don't let Amazon get away with it! 

CALIBA PROGRAMS & EVENTS

Fall Fest September 14-15

2026 FALL FEST: THANK YOU FOR JOINING US

Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s Fall Fest in beautiful San Diego. The energy of the show was absolutely amazing! We had over 170 booksellers attend, representing  85 stores. We also had at least 60 first-time attendees, a representation of the growth in California’s bookstores! 

The Exhibit Hall was lively and full of a wonderful selection of publishers, small presses, and gift vendors. We also had a great number of first-time and local vendors this year as well. I hope the connections made are fruitful relationships moving forward. Exhibitors, please provide your feedback so we can continue to improve the Exhibit Hall and make it worth your while from year to year. 

Booksellers, we hope the peer-to-peer education and the author panels you all attended serve you well in the coming months (and beyond). Enjoy all of the books you took home and shared with your fellow booksellers. I imagine they’ll lead to amazing events, book clubs, hand-sells, displays, and customer interactions. 

I also owe a great deal of gratitude to the San Diego Bookstores who helped us pull off a successful Bookstore Tour. I heard it was a spectacular way for those who attended to kick off their show. It was my pleasure to celebrate you all and the growth the San Diego bookstores are experiencing! 

Finally, thank you to everyone who was able to attend our first-in-person Golden Poppy Award ceremony. It was truly a joy to celebrate the authors, booksellers, and publishers who make California the amazing literary scene it is. For those who missed it, yes, I might have teared up a bit at the end. Valentina, Alecia, and I are proud of what we’ve accomplished with the help of so many amazing bookseller/ member volunteers (thank you, thank you) and look forward to growing and improving the Golden Poppy Awards and Fall Fest in the years to come. 

Though I am exhausted, my heart is full. 

After a brief rest, the CALIBA team will remain busy during the next few months, helping our booksellers to promote the 2026 Golden Poppy Award Winners and Finalists, AND rolling out CALIBA’s new Member Bookstore Map for Indie Bookstore Day 2027! Watch your inbox for more communications! 

Best wishes,

Hannah

EXHIBIT HALL DRAWING WINNERS

Order Winners: Lynne Almeida (Spellbinder Books in Bishop), Christie Olson Day (Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino), Michael Barnard (Rakestraw Books in Danville), Jessica Palacios (Once Upon a Time in Montrose)

See your name? Check your inbox for an email from Hannah!

2026 GOLDEN POPPY AWARDS: WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Congratulations to the 2026 Golden Poppy Award Winners & Finalists! Thank you to everyone who attended the first in-person ceremony! In case you missed it, you can view photo highlights below in the Bookseller Shoutouts.

Brainstorm icon

GOLDEN POPPY PROMOTIONS BRAINSTORMING SESSION

OCTOBER 7TH, 12-1PM PT

Have questions about how to champion the Golden Poppy Awards in your store? Join the CALIBA team to hear CALIBA's ideas, brainstorm ways you'd like to promote the finalists/winners, plus share the books you'd love to see submitted in for 2027! Click here to register.

WAYS TO PROMOTE THE GOLDEN POPPIES IN YOUR STORE

Moonstone and Mist Bookshop - 2025 Golden Poppy Display Contest Winner

DISPLAY CONTEST that will be running through January 31st. Winners will be announced in February 2027. 2025 Display Contest Winner: Moonstone & Mist Bookshop (pictured).

To enter the display contest tag @caliba_20 on instagram or submit photos of the display to Alecia.

Golden Poppy Shelf Talkers

MARKETING RESOURCES

In-Store Marketing: Posters, Shelf Talkers, and Winners Bookmarks; Online Marketing: Site Banners, Social Posts, and Partnerships with Edelweiss, IndieCommerce, Bookmanager, Bookshop.org, Libro.fm. Click here to access marketing resources for Finalists 
&
 Winners.

Golden Poppy Merch Sticker

GOLDEN POPPY MERCHANDISE

CALIBA Bookstores can request FREE removable Finalist & Winner stickers and purchase Golden Poppy merchandise (stickers and pins) to sell in their stores! Click here to order free supplies and merchandise.

Note: first batch of merch & supplies shipping this week!

*NEW* CUSTOMER ACTIVITIES BEING INTRODUCED THIS YEAR

 

READERS' CHOICE AWARDS (public-facing)
CALIBA will provide bookstores with online and in-store marketing resources to promote the Golden Poppy Finalists with customers. Readers will be asked to pick their 2026 winner(s) from the Golden Poppy Finalists list in January.
Assets to come in October.

WINTER BOOK BINGO (public-facing)
CALIBA will provide bookstores with digital
print bingo cards to promote in their stores, similar to Summer Reading Challenges. Prizes for completed bingo cards to be provided at the discretion of each bookstore.
Assets to come in October.

 

2027 GOLDEN POPPY BOOK AWARDS: JOIN A COMMITTEE

Interested in joining a Golden Poppy Committee next year? Email Valentina!

Fall Fest Virtual Education Sessions

SOUND INVESTMENT - MAXIMIZING THE LIBRO.FM REVENUE STREAM VIRTUAL EVENT

OCTOBER 14TH, 12-1PM PT

Independent bookstores operate on famously thin margins, where rising operational costs and fixed retail realities require creative, diversified revenue streams to survive and thrive. Join the Libro.fm team for an actionable, toolkit-focused session dedicated to transforming your Libro.fm sales into a sustainable low-effort, high-efficiency revenue stream for your store. We will explore field-tested strategies from stores that have successfully increased their Libro.fm revenue through creative in-store presence, author event tie-ins, and strategic promotional campaigns. Finally, we will pull back the curtain on upcoming Libro.fm platform features designed to enhance community engagement both in-store and online. Whether you want to streamline your staff’s handselling workflow or expand your digital offerings, this session provides the concrete tools and inspiration you need to boost your bottom line. Brought to us by Golden Poppy Award Ceremony Sponsor, Libro.fm. Click here to register.

INTRODUCING COVERED - INGRAM'S DRC AND CATALOG SITE

OCTOBER 21TH, 12-1PM PT

Booksellers are always looking for standout titles to share with their customers. Join us for a look at Covered, Ingram’s new site designed to connect booksellers with digital review copies (DRCs) and title information direct from publishers. In this session, you’ll learn

how Covered makes it easy for booksellers to evaluate new titles through DRCs and get a preview of a more powerful catalog, ordering, and discovery tool. Speakers: Margaret Harrison, VP Digital Services and Courtney Seitz, Manager Data Sales & Insights. Brought to us by Fall Fest Sponsor, Covered. Click here to register.

EDELWEISS OMNIBUS: NEXT STOP, YOUR BOOKSTORE

OCTOBER 28TH, 12-1PM PT

Your store is wherever you are… in the stacks, at the counter, at an offsite two towns over. So is Omnibus for Booksellers.

Omnibus isn't something new to learn alongside Edelweiss: it's what Edelweiss is becoming, live now and growing. Discover revamped catalogs, review copies, and events. Manage what you stock and who you reach, with smarter analytics on your sales and email marketing that goes further. Connect a POS whenever you're ready and operate the whole floor from any device—transacting, ordering, receiving, selling online.

In this session, the Omnibus team will show you what's new on the platform, the workflows that save the most time, and how to get on board.Brought to us by Fall Fest Sponsor, Omnibus. Click here to register.

Substitute Bookseller Program

CALL FOR BOOKSELLERS

Looking for staffing or employment during the holidays?

CALL FOR MENTORS

In need of more mentors for BIPOC, niche & small stores

CALIBA Committees

JOIN A CALIBA COMMITTEE

Celebrate 30 Years Binc

BOOKSTORE PROMOTIONS & MARKETING

CALIBA MARKETING ASSETS

ABA MARKETING ASSETS

LIBRO.FM MARKETING ASSETS

SHOW OFF YOUR CALIBA SPIRIT
Click here to download the Proud Member
of CALIBA file
(Login required).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

September: Self-Care Awareness Month / National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15)

September 25: National Comic Book Day

October: LGBTQ+ History Month / Filipino American History Month / National Book Month / National Reading Group Month / National Cookbook Month / TeenTober™ / National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15)

October 1 at 10am PT: Indie Bookstore Day 2027 Exclusives Order and Participation Form Opens

October 1-7: Mystery Series Week

October 8: Featured ShopTalk: Cybersecurity for Booksellers

October 4-10: Banned Books Week

October 10: World Mental Health Day

October 12: Indigenous Peoples' Day

Bookseller Shoutouts Header
Fall Fest and Golden Poppy 2026 Recap Photos

See more Fall Fest 2026 (social and CALIBA album) and Golden Poppy 2026 highlights.

CALIBA's Fall Fest in the News

In the News

BOOKSTORE FEATURES

Don't forget to follow and tag us (@caliba_20) to be featured! CALIBA's Media Outlet Resource Doc has info about being featured by Shelf Awareness, USA Today, and Bay City News.

Want to share your personal story or concerns as a small business owner more broadly? Share your OpEd, Think Piece, or Slice of Life story with your local media outlets. CALIBA is building a shared Media List here. Find or add contacts.

BOOKSTORE: TOP 5 BESTSELLERS Submit your top 5 best sellers in our new "Flying off the Shelves at..." feature in our weekly newsletter! Submit your best sellers list here. Note: must be a CALIBA Member.

BOOKSTORE MEMBER CORNER Want to be featured in the Member Corner? Submit your details here. Note: must be a CALIBA Member.

CALIBA'S CURRENTLY READING

Alecia

Supporting Staff

Dead Beat Leigh Bardugo 9781250478825

Dead Beat

Leigh Bardugo

9781250478825

Hannah

Executive Director

To Clutch a Razor Veronica Roth 9781250855503

To Clutch a Razor

Veronica Roth

9781250855503

Valentina

Operations Manager

Hazelthorn C.G. Drews 9781250376299

Hazelthorn

C.G. Drews

9781250376299

Check out CALIBA’s 2026 Reading List!

RESOURCES

CALIBA Merchandise
 

CALIBA RESOURCES

CALIBA new logo

Complete resource list.

 
 
American Bookseller Association logo

ABA LINKS

 

BOOK INDUSTRY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION LINKS

Binc Book Industry Charitable Foundation logo
 
Professional Booksellers School

PROFESSIONAL BOOKSELLERS SCHOOL LINKS

5% DISCOUNT FOR CALIBA MEMBERS

Independent Study: CALIBAind | Live Courses: CALIBAlive

 

INDIE TO INDIE LINKS

Independent Publishers Caucus
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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