Buy a book, get a book free. The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is offering just that.
“If students buy a book between now and the end of July, they can mail in a form and get a free book mailed back to them,” said Margaret Hendricks, general book manager at the Auburn U. Bookstore.
The forms are available inside the AU Bookstore, and the books must be written by a member of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance.
These include many different types of general books, but textbooks are not included.
“All of the members of the alliance are bookstores and booksellers, and the AU Bookstore is actually a part of that alliance which ranges from Arkansas to the Carolinas, and as far down as Florida,” Hendricks said. “The closest people can get to picking their own book is by filling out a place on the form which tells what genre you’re interested in.”
Wanda Jewell is the executive director of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, SIBA as she calls it, and the books given away as a part of the free book stimulus plan will be coming out of her personal library.
“One of the benefits of this business is that people are always sending me their books; to read them, review them, whatever,” Jewell said. “I get books in the mail every day, and I’ve been working here for 20 years.”
Jewell has been doing this project for over a year now. “In the past I’ve given them to libraries, daycares, etc.,” Jewell said. “But I just kept thinking- I wish I could find a way to use these to help my sources.”
SIBA pays for the shipping of the free books, and Jewell sees this as what she considers member benefits.
The books cost about $2.33 each to ship. Jewell claims SIBA spent about $2,000 in shipping over the past year to deliver the free books, but says it is worthwhile if it stimulates people to buy from independent bookstores.
SIBA currently has about 200 member bookstores, and Jewell said they will get more in the fall because they have a large trade show in September.
The trade show moves to a different southern city every year. This year the show will be held in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Jewell said hundreds of booksellers, hundreds of publishers and hundreds of authors will attend the show.
Jewell wants the free book stimulus plan to look better for each independent bookstore participating than it does for the alliance.
“I want people to think, ‘Hey, if I go to Book Depot and buy a book, I can mail something in and get one for free,’” Jewell said.
Stephanie Martucci, senior in RTVF said she has not heard of this yet, but would be interested in participating.
Martucci said the types of advertising that would catch her eye would be e-mails, fliers around campus or ads on Facebook.
”I would definitely be interested in receiving free cookbooks and fitness books,” Martucci said.