Indie next deadlines
Welcome to the “Indie Writing Life,” my semi-regular blog series about my ongoing activities as a writer, i.e. – somebody running a business writing and selling books. My inaugural episode can be found here, if you’d like to start at the beginning. The last episode is here.
Conventions & Events
I got accepted into the Blend Book Fair. It’s being held near my house at the Blend Coffee Bar (there’s a big patio area in the shopping center next to the business) in Ashburn, VA on August 9, 2025, from 3:00 – 7:00 PM. I’d heard of it before, but hadn’t found out about it in time or had the necessary contacts to apply. This will be the third you that they’ve held the event.
Interestingly, it’s the first time I’ll be doing a selling event without my usual sales partner, Martin Wilsey. So, I’ve decided to use this as an opportunity to upgrade my own gear. I’ve got a canopy on order, and I’ll be buying a portable table, as well. I already own folding chairs and book racks.
Oh, and under the heading of networking, I found out about the event and the application process from J. Denison Reed, one of the organizers. I met him at ComicLogic’s Spring Lo
ABA’S INDIE NEXT LIST E-NEWSLETTER PROGRAM
The American Booksellers Association has partnered with Matchbook Marketing to provide the Indie Next List, Kids Next List, Reading Group Reference, and Holiday Gift Guide e-newsletters. This program is available as a free benefit to members in good standing with the American Booksellers Association.
The e-newsletter features your bookstore logo and contact information, a custom message from your store, hyperlinked book jackets, and descriptions of new and forthcoming titles, and is sent out to each store’s customer email list via the email provider, MyNewsletterBuilder.
Entries and updates will be processed on a rolling basis. For the full calendar with deadlines, click here.
For title lists and more information, see the ABA’s Indie Next page here.
If you have questions about any of these forms, please contact Gwyn Ridenhour at 828-450-0265 or matchbookgwyn@welovebooksellers.com.
Send Calendar for the Indie Next List, Kids Next List, Reading Group Guide, and Holiday Gift Guide e-Newsletters
“A wholly unique take on Snow White, with Kingfisher’s quirky wit and ordinary characters having unordinary adventures. A quintessential mix of sweet love story, creepy plot, and unusual animal companions.”— Christy Peterson, Vintage Books, Vancouver, WA
“Buckeye’s got an indelible cast of characters, a propelling narrative, and combines the plainspoken with the mystical, the American everyday with the implacable sweep of history, and unspeakable tragedy with hope.”— Robert McDonald, The Book Stall, Winnetka, IL
“After reading Mother Mary Comes to Me, you’ll likely feel cracked open. Roy will leave you awash in a swirl of grief, admiration, and deep recognition of the tangled cords that bind us to those who shape us most.”— DJ Johnson, Baldwin & Co., New Orleans, LA
“Part romance, part comedy, part multi-generational story of women in publishing, this was a fun and engaging read. Light and humorous, but also touching on themes of gender and power in the workplace.”— Vanessa Gengler, The Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, VT
“This inventive advent
This is one of those occasional ShelfTalker posts that is pretty specific to booksellers and publishers, so you might not care to read it if you’re not one of those folks.
Last Winter Institute during the Publisher Roundtables, our group of 10 booksellers was asked about marketing materials that are most useful to us (and are actually used by us) in our indie stores. Edelweiss came up as a great way to distribute e-ARCs, and I had some ideas for other things that would be helpful to me as a bookseller trying to help publishers promote their books — and could streamline that process.
- Anything downloadable or embeddable — shelf talkers, book trailers, promo flyers, etc. — would ideally be located on Edelweiss. Individual emails are okay, but they get lost by the time the books come out, so having them permanently linked to their books in Edelweiss would be convenient for everyone involved.
- Something very handy, to me at least, would be Indie Next deadlines for each book noted at the top of marketing materials for books. To some booksellers, that might seem pushy, but it can be worded gracefully (along the lines of, “If you’re inclined to n