Christian Bookshop Day - Saturday, 14 October 2023

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Posted on behalf of  Andrew Lacey

Recently the Booksellers Association has invested into promoting reading, books and bookshops through ‘Bookshop Day’. In the general book trade, Bookshop Day is well established and will receive a huge amount of media attention.  To help the Christian trade, the Booksellers Association recently started promoting Christian Bookshop Day as a separate- but linked- part of the Bookshop Day celebrations. This year, it will be Saturday 14 October 2023. The theme for this year is ‘Bookshops- Bringing People Together’.

What can authors do to help?  

The primary need is for writers to get behind the Christian bookshop trade on social media. A post on your social media networks mentioning local Christian bookshops would be greatly appreciated! The BA has produced social media assets to share. Changing your page banner for a day or two around Christian Bookshop Day would be really helpful.

  • Would you be willing to do a short promotional video on your social media pages? A 30 second video to support your local Christian bookshop- or Christian bookshops in general!- would be much appreciated. And, of course, you can also promote your OWN books at the same time!
  •  Can you make an appointment to call into a local Christian bookshop and get a promotional image with the staff team? Our experience is that these ‘personal’ images get a lot of response.
  •  When posting on social media, please use the hashtags #ChristianBookshopDay #ChooseChristianBookshops and tag @booksaremybag. The Booksellers Association will then pick these postings up and amplify them.
  •  Are there freebies that you can offer to your local Christian bookshop? Do you have free bookmarks, free samplers, free stock for the shops to give away to customers on Christian Bookshop Day?
  •  If you are thinking of approaching Christian bookshops with some special offers, bear in mind that shops are well stocked at present with Christmas stock. There is more likely to be a better response to a single item with a bigger discount.

There have been many years when reading books has been declining and local bookshops have been closing, but there is a new sense of optimism and enthusiasm about the printed book trade, both generally and in the Christian trade. The time is right to have a celebration of books and bookselling and Christian Bookshop Day gives a great opportunity to work together to get the Word out there!

If there are questions or suggestions for Christian Bookshop Day, welcome to pass them onto the Christian Books Are My Bag Team through Andrew Lacey – alacey@glo-europe.org

Comments

  1. Brendan Conboy2 October 2023 at 09:50

    I always promote our local Christian bookshop, as they need all of the help and support possible. I will also promote Christian Bookshop Day, it's in my diary. As one of the organisers of the Book Blest Christian book festival, I approached the Christian Books Are My Bag team and asked if they would like to send us some publicity material. They said that they couldn't spare any and that it was all for their shops. Sometimes we all need to think outside of the box.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous2 October 2023 at 22:38

      Hi Brendan, thanks for your support and interested to hear this. I know that the BA will only print materials for as many Christian bookshops who are registered for the year- to avoid waste. Send me a DM on FB with your postal address & I’ll arrange to run some of our materials through our copier to send down to you👍 best wishes! Andrew Lacey @ The GLO Bookshop

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  2. Jenny Sanders2 October 2023 at 11:53

    Thanks for this, Rosemary. I hadn't realised this but now it's in my diary.

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  3. Olusola Sophia Anyanwu2 October 2023 at 12:01

    Lovely post, Rosemary!! Thank you for this. Will definitely help in the promotion. Noting the date in my diary. Blessings.

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  4. Rosemary Johnson2 October 2023 at 14:03

    As I mentioned on Facebook, nice compliments, but they are undeserved. This blog was written by Andrew Lacey of the Booksellers Association and posted by me.

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  5. Sheila Johnson2 October 2023 at 16:23

    Great post, Rosemary, and great idea. Unfortunately there isn't a Christian bookshop locally in Cheltenham, which is a great shame. However, we do have a bookshop at our local Gloucester hospital, which we always visit if we have an appointment there. It stocks Christian books and material alongside secular, which I think is a great model. I also try to buy my Christian books either from friends, St Andrews Bookshop or Premier, rather than the dreaded Amazon!

    It is our church Women's Day on 14 October, so I will be fairly busy this year but also attending the Cheltenham Literature Festival later. I love books.

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