Several independent bookstores nationwide will celebrate Veteran's Day with a Grove Press promotion offering free copies of indie favorite Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Beginning this Friday and continuing through the weekend, participating stores are displaying copies of What It Is Like to Go to War and Matterhorn. Customers who buy War will receive a free copy of Matterhorn.
"We’'re very excited about the Veteran's Day/Karl Marlantes promo PGW/Grove is so generously offering stores, and have placed the books front and center in the shop, with signage explaining how it works," said Libby Cowles of Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colo.
Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, N.C., will have a box dedicated to their local veterans' organization next to the display, giving customers a chance to donate copies of either book if they choose.
Green Apple Books, San Francisco, Calif., featured the promotion in its e-newsletter last week and has already had positive feedback from customers, and the Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, Colo., has displays going up in all three stores.
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"Buy a book, bring a book, give a book." The Books for Soldiers campaign is currently underway at Martha Merrell's Books, Waukesha, Wis. Co-owner Norman Bruce reports that seven boxes of books were collected at the kick-off event last weekend, which featured authors Deb Baker (Hannah Reed), Bill Rapp, Jerry Peterson and Allan Ansorge. The books are for the Hartford National Guard unit, which will be dispatched in February.
In addition to collecting book donations, Martha Merrell's is offering a 15% discount on any titles purchased for the troops. On Sunday, November 20, 20 authors will be signing their books on behalf of the Books for Soldiers effort.