What a difference a simple brochure can make. In June, six New Age
bookstores in the mid-Atlantic area--who have dubbed themselves "the Mid-Atlantic New
Age 6"--began promoting themselves as a group to authors and artists,
emphasizing that they are "ready, willing, and looking forward to
hosting you and your event." The group produced a brochure and began
distributing it at the International New Age Trade Show West (INATS)
late last month in Denver.
"Boy did we get some interest," Jean Haller, owner of Journeys of Life, Pittsburgh, Pa., one of the six stores, told
Shelf Awareness. As of last week, she said, "we're working on our third booking."
Besides Journeys of Life, which Haller founded 17 years ago, the stores are Alchemists, Richmond,
Va., breathe books, Baltimore, Md., Divine Inspirations, Nutley, N.J.,
Soul Journey, Butler, N.J., and Spark of
Spirit, College Park, Md. The stores stress that "we're similar but
different," as Haller put it.
The stores tend not to do simply traditional signings, but have authors
and artists lead workshops, talk about their work, and more.
The idea behind the group venture, Haller continued, is "strength in numbers and the cost
factor. We can bring authors in, but it's almost prohibitive just for me
to do. Also none of us has the time to do this by themselves. All of us are smaller stores, so we don't usually have much a
chance for big names to visit unless something drops out of heaven. Pittsburgh is not on the map for author tours." She
emphasized, too, that the stores--most
of which are less than two years old and all run by women--are "not
competitors in any sense of the word." The approach helps remind
authors, artists and publicists of the stores and what they can do.
"We're bringing the energy of six stores together and creating
something viable for the presenter and the store," Haller went on. "It
shows how alive our stores are."
The group-promotion idea is catching on among other retailers. Some New Age booksellers in other parts of the country
who saw the brochure at INATS are considering and beginning to promote
themselves in similar regional ways, Haller said. She noted that such an approach
would work well for stores with other specialties such as children's,
mystery or travel stores. "The moral of the story is for booksellers to
look around and see who to partner with and attract authors that way."
The genesis of the brochure goes back to a tour made by Ted Andrews, author of
Animal Speak and some 30 books on signs and omens in nature and in the animal world, Haller said. At last year's
INATS meeting in Denver, Andrews said he would come to Haller's store. She
told him that Susan Weis of breathe books
also wanted him to visit. One thing led to another and when he came to
the area he went to both stores as well as others in Pennsylvania, Virginia
and West Virginia. That led Haller and Weis to talk about how to repeat the
approach. "We said, 'Let's be creative. Let's try to do something so we
could offer different things to the authors. If they're visiting New
York, why not go to New Jersey, too, and down the coast?' "
Among the authors and artists currently planning trips to "the
Mid-Atlantic New Age 6": Cyndi Dale, the Chakra writer, who will visit
the area in February and James Wanless of Voyager Tarot fame. Haller
noted: "Wanless said, 'Tell me when are where to be. This is so easy.'
" Yet another is Judith Lukomski, author with Doreen Virtue of
Crystal Therapy: How to Heal and Empower Your Life with Crystal Energy, who's coming from California in October and will go to at least three of the stores and maybe five.
Haller said that she and Weis are the "point people"--Haller for those
inside who are talking with authors and Weis for people who approach
the group. Haller may be contacted at
jolbooks@aol.com and Weis at
breathebooks@aol.com.
On July 15, Salty Dog Books & Music, St. Michaels, Md., celebrated its first
anniversary (Shelf Awareness,