SIBA and frindies launch radical underground movement for the good of the printed book!
Columbia, SC - November 6, 2103 –In
support of (print) books and indie bookstores, a group of authors
gathered together in New Orleans earlier this fall to make a video
where they all read aloud from Lane Smith’s It’s a Book. The
project was devised by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance
(SIBA) and once it was confirmed that Lane Smith and the book’s
publisher Macmillan supported the project, the taping began. Authors
graciously (and often gleefully) stepped into a makeshift studio to
read their lines with little notion of what the final outcome would
look like, but nevertheless believing in the good cause the project was
designed to highlight: the benefit of print books and indie bookstores.
The result has been everything they and SIBA and her member
booksellers could hope for: a wonderful read-aloud of Lane Smith’s It’s a Book!
Each author reads,
with the helpful inset
illustrations of
“monkey” and “jackass”, to cue viewers as to who is speaking. Viewers
can see authors with their own print book as they read from Lane
Smith’s. Sandra Brown, Michael Buckley, Karen White, George Bishop,
Susan Crandall, Walter Jury, Jenny Han, John Milliken Thompson and Gigi
Amateau are just a few of the approximately three dozen authors you
will see in this two-minute video. The closing line is read by Amy
Tan (and her dog). (There are more surprises in the credits.) In order to raise awareness and enthusiasm about the video, print books, and indie bookstores, SIBA reached out to its author “Frindies” (“Friends of Indies”) to help spread the word via social networking and embedding the video on their websites. The response from authors was immediate and radically gratifying.
The following writers have agreed to participate in this radical movement: Tony Abbott, Kaye Barley, Betty Bolte, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Malcolm Campbell, Julie Cantrell, Cindi Carver-Futch, Walter Culpepper, Anna Dewdney, Nell Dickerson, Patti Digh, Stephen Doster, Elizabeth O. Dulemba, JT Ellison, Beth Finke, Dorothea Benton Frank, Mark Hainds, Tommy Hays, Jennie Helderman, Kaye Hinckley, Ann Hite, Amalie Howard, Joshilyn Jackson, Charles Jacobs, Jessica James, Deborah Johnson, Dianne Johnson, Cassandra King, Irene Latham, Christopher Loren, Kelly Lyons, Charles McNair, Laura McNeal, Adrian Miller, Jim Minick, Mary Alice Monroe, Robert Morgan, Bryan Powell, Sharman Ramsey, Aaron Reynolds, Bryan Robinson, Karen Spears Zacharias, Martha Stiles, John Thompson, Carol Wall, Robin Wasserman, Millie West, Laura Wharton, Deborah Wiles, Jessica Young.
SIBA is looking for more people -- authors, bloggers, booksellers, book lovers -- to join their “radical underground movement for good” by sharing and linking to the “It’s a book!” video, in the hopes that this “underground” print and indie partnership will erupt nationwide.
For more information and to get involved, contact Wanda Jewell at wanda@sibaweb.com.