SIBA BBQ Brings New England, Southern Publishers Together

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance held their annual trade show in Mobile, Alabama over the weekend, and Nashville-based Turner Publishing teamed up with Vermont’s Chelsea Green for a “Fire and Brimstone Barbecue.” Turner president/publisher Todd Bottorff and Chelsea Green sales director Peg O’Donnell posed with authors Frank Durham and Diane Wilson. (We don’t know how hot the BBQ sauce was; we presume the “fire and brimstone” thing came about because of the subject matter of the books—Wilson’s memoir deals with growing up in a “holy roller” church in Texas, while Durham’s novels starts in central Louisiana and then turns out to have, you should pardon the expression, honest-to-God biblical overtones.)

PW reporter Kevin Howell filed a report on the weekend’s highlights, including a brief quote from Bottorff, who is publishing Durham’s novel, Cain’s Version, as the launch title for a new imprint specializing in Southern fiction, about the advantages of regional shows like SIBA—”a great place to meet independent booksellers who may not make the trip to BEA.”

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.