An Exciting Addition To The Store!

Sam has been bouncing off the walls with glee for the past 6 weeks knowing this addition was coming but had to keep quite... well she doesn't have to stay quiet any longer!

Aaron's Books was selected by Chelsea Green Publishing to test out their new indie bookstore consignment program.  Right now the program is in just a handful of stores (like 5!), with Aaron's Books being the smallest and newest by far.  We are so thrilled to be a part of this, and it's really an honor that a publisher would think of us as a good fit to test out a program for the rest of the country.  Below is the official press release and some pictures of our new Chelsea Green display (still a work in progress).

Happy GREEN Reading!





Local Bookstore Among First in Nation to Join New Partnership With Famed Publisher Chelsea Green
NEWS RELEASE September 14, 2010


Aaron’s Books (Lititz PA) announces today it is beginning a unique new partnership with prominent independent publisher Chelsea Green to bring more titles about local foods, sustainable living, and earth consciousness to Lancaster County. Chelsea Green is developing a new business model for its relationship with independently-owned bookstores, and it selected Aaron’s Books to be one of the first in the nation to join this program.


Chelsea Green Publisher Margo Baldwin observed: “This branded area partnership is the only model that works to preserve and enhance the vitality of both indie publishers and indie bookstores. They need to move into alliances that support one another and build on local economies and shared communities and mission. We look forward to showing the rest of the industry that all is not doom and gloom if you can carve out authentic human relationship and build on it.”


This new consignment approach to bookselling is being tested in several of the largest and most well established independent bookstores in the nation to include Boulder Book Store (CO) and Northshire Bookstore (VT). Aaron’s Books, far smaller than the others has been selling books since 2005.


For 26 years, Chelsea Green has been the publishing leader for books on the politics and practice of sustainable living and is a founding member of the Green Press Initiative. It leads the industry in terms of content—foundational books on renewable energy, green building, organic agriculture, eco-cuisine, and ethical business—and in terms of environmental practice, printing 95 percent of books on recycled paper with a minimum 30 percent post-consumer waste and aiming for 100 percent whenever possible. This approach is a perfect example of what is called a “triple bottom line” practice, one that benefits people, planet, and profit, and the emerging new model for sustainable business in the 21st century.


The same triple bottom line practice has been core to the mission of Aaron’s Books since its inception, with sustainable living titles and information an important part of their store selection.


“By entering into this special consignment contract with such a great publisher as Chelsea Green, we are able to double our inventory in this area and make a far stronger commitment to offer works on sustainable living to the Lancaster community,” says Sam Droke-Dickinson, co-owner of Aaron’s Books. “We love that Chelsea Green understands how our small independent bookstore benefit from this new model for providing inventory and is willing to offer this opportunity for us. This selection is an honor for the store and the community it serves.”


For its part, Aaron’s Books will feature a special display of Chelsea Green titles selected by the store as the best match to the needs of community. The stock will be rotated periodically to reflect demand and new Chelsea Green offerings. This initiative builds on Aaron’s Books already active participation in local sustainability efforts, including the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network, the Lititz Farmer’s Market, the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, and the Mother Earth Harvest Festival at Spoutwood Farm.


“We are most excited that out of the hundreds of smaller market independent bookstores, Chelsea Green selected Aaron’s Books to be a test store,” states Ms. Droke-Dickinson “They were encouraged to try a smaller market when they understood our dedication to sustainable living books.”


Regarding the recent experiments in consignment, American Booksellers Association (of which Aaron’s Books is a member) CEO Oren Teicher said, “We think it’s extremely encouraging that publishers are taking a fresh look at trade practices and asking themselves whether there are potentially profitable new ideas to be explored. In our discussions with publishers, ABA has encouraged them to examine such new avenues as consignment, which we believe have the strong potential of selling more books, a definite win-win for publishers and booksellers.”


Aaron’s Books opened in 2005 as a used book store and began featuring many more new books over the past few years. Founded on the principle of being a family and community center for Lititz and all of Lancaster County, Aaron’s Books hosts a variety of events including author appearances, book groups, lectures and discussions on a variety of subjects, story time, and an annual children’s literature festival.

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What We're reading This Week

Aaron is due for a library trip, so his read is unknown right now.  Although he is continuing with Harry Potter 5 with mommy and myths and legends from around the world with daddy at bed-time.

Todd is finishing up Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and then he will delve into the life of Michelangelo with the upcoming bio by John T. Spike.

Vicky is spending her week with ghouls and ghosts.  She's reading The Faculty Club by Danny Tobey and and arc of  Holy Ghosts by Gary Jansen. 

Sam learned a big lesson with her read this week- When Julie P (aka BookingMama) hands you a book and says "you should read this one, you'll like it", don't wait 4 months and start it at 9pm when you really should be sleeping!  Julie knows her books and Sam's taste.  Said book is The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen, and any time Sam is not working diligently on the computer this week, her nose will be deep into this great read. So everyone... if BookingMama says something is a "must read", RUN don't walk to your local indie and buy a copy!  (don't know where your local indie is, or don't have one?  use INDIEBOUND to find one and order online!  Remember that indies support their/your communities and the EvilRiverEmpire doesn't!)

Happy Reading!

Bookstore With a Capital "C"

As a small indie bookstore in our community, we often venture outside our own four walls to work with local and regional nonprofits to bring books to events. Why? Because of our dedication to that one key concept:  COMMUNITY. (See our new logo for our core value statement.)

More than a store, more than a retailer, Aaron's Books is a Community-based bookseller. As a retailer and sales-based business, it is often assumed that  we are constantly zeroed in on the bottom line ... sales, marketing, customers, etc., all leading to profit. In reality, our daily planning seldom involves "profit". We may talk about what sold, what people are picking up off the shelves, what our numbers are versus previous years or months... all in an effort to make us better for the Community. (Yes, we do need to make some profit... so we can feed, clothe, and house that cute not-so-little kid the store is named for.) So how do we spread word about our Community involvement and our mission as it were? We go out into the community. (Okay, no more big red "c"... you get it now!)

We enjoy working with a variety of groups to help them educate, promote, and fund raise through book sales. As an indie bookseller, we do not need to go through some corporate chain of command to approve our outreach. We get an email, brochure, call, or visit from a group whose mission and vision focus on some need in the community; we look at our calendar and make plans to support their mission through selling books at their event. We work closely with the organization to make sure what we have at our sales booth fits the event and their mission. Are they a group raising awareness about heart health?Then we supply books relating to healthy eating and living. Is this a garden club encouraging folks to grow their own veggies? Then we bring out our organic gardening books.

These off-site events are such an integral part of our own "mission", that we enjoy them far more than the people asking us to be there know. Many of the groups that approach us do so hesitantly, for fear of being turned down. Again, we are not motivated by profit, so the big chain may ask the question first "What's in it for us?"; whereas we ask "How does this fit with our role as a community member?" Yes, we do get something out of this ... we get to meet people where they are, we get to be a part of another group supporting another aspect of our local community, we get to put smiles on people's faces when they see that a business is willing to support something they are passionate about.  Do we make money? A little, hopefully ... but we donate a lot of it back to the sponsoring organization. The hours of planning and staffing such an event are also part of the donation. The sponsoring organization and event not only get money from the book sales, but they get a knowledgeable sales staff that can also speak about the event and organization.

We just finished two weeks at the Lititz Farmer's Market (look for us there during special event weeks throughout the summer) and are getting ready to do three off-site events over the course of the next seven days.

So why are we sharing this now? Because being a part of the community means we need to let the community know how we can serve them. And again, doing these off-site events is something we enjoy and want to continue doing for many years to come!

So if you are at the Lancaster-Lebanon Reading Council's end-of-year celebration at Gov. Dick Park on Saturday, or the Pennsylvania Downtown Center's annual conference at the Marriott next week, or the Junior League of Lancaster's shopping extravaganza next Friday, be sure to drop by our booth and say hello. (And of course, buy a book or two to support the cause!)

Happy Reading!

~Sam, Todd, Vicky and Aaron

What We're Reading This Week

Our weekly rundown of what books we currently have our noses in

Aaron is reading Greek Myths & Legends with his daddy and is still slowly working his way (with mommy) through Harry Potter 5.

Todd is reading an advance copy of Bill Bryson's newest- At Home.  He's absolutely loving it.. how can we tell?? He starts telling us (at random times) all these odd historical facts he's learned.  This will be a great holiday gift for those on your list that like to spew facts of history at a moments notice.
Vicky just finished up the Advanced Reading Copy of A.S King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz, We'll be hosting the book launch for the book in October, keep your eyes peeled for info on the party!  Vicky picked up lots of great YA fantasy books from BEA, so can't wait to see what she reads next.

Sam is just finished reading Murder on Astor Place for Crazy for Cozies book group Tuesday night (quite a twist or two there at the end!).  She also picked up Theater Geek, it's the history of a summer camp she worked at after college.  She's excited to see what they say about the summer she was there, but also worried that it will be a rosy picture and gloss over some of the things that REALLY happened.  Buy the book, and Sam will dish the true dirt with you! :)  And towards the top of her pile is the next book guided by editor extraordinaire Amy Einhorn (TheGendarme by Mark Mustian), who's previous books include The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Postmistress by Sarah Blake, and Lost Summer of Lousia May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor Mcnees- all of which are current Staff Picks here!


Happy Reading!

Self Publishing and Getting It RIGHT!

With the advent of new printing technologies, the internet and so forth, self publishing has become a much larger chunk of the book world in the past few years. First, what do I mean by self-publishing? in this case I’m referring to authors that pay a publisher a fee for printing the books, then are responsible for the sale of their own books to recoup their investment. In essence the author is now also the book tour coordinator, the publicist, the publisher relations manager, the sales representative, etc. etc. etc. We recently worked (and are still working with) at team of self published authors and illustrator, and they are a prime example of how to do it right.

We first met Susan in the Fall of 2009 (actually we really met before that, since she had shopped at our store, but that was before she was close to finishing a book). She and the illustrator of the book came to events and workshops at our first annul Lititz Kid-Lit Festival. They met with other published authors and illustrators and got an inside peek at the business. We then engaged in several preliminary conversations with them about carrying the book when they got it finished and printed.

Over the course of the next 5 ½ months we spoke with Susan about pricing, advertising, distributions, getting the book to reviewers, and hosting a launch party. Susan wisely used her local bookstore for guidance through the publishing process and as a resource to help promote the book before it hit the stands. We talked in detail about pricing- what was a good price for this area, for this type of book, what is too high what minimum would they need to make back their investment (all things a “real;” publisher does in-house, but self-published authors need to consider before the book is out). Then we shifted to where should it sell (oversaturation can make a book’s sales drop), bookstores report to BookScan (a weekly report of book sale numbers, that publishers use to decide what to by from an author, what to re-print, what to publicize etc.), gift stores do not; what other stores in town are a match- toy store- yes, soap store- no. Then we tackled how to release it- one day party at the store, then book available elsewhere the next day. We (the store) did the press releases for the event, and sent out newsletters, emails, and social media updates.

What did all this working together get this book? 2 large feature newspaper articles, one TV appearance, over 200 books sold in one day at one store (to compare, this year’s Pulitzer in fiction winner sold 7,000 in 10 months in ALL the book and online stores before it's big win was announced). It also brought author and bookstore together for what will be a multi-year relationship. It brought a community together to support a new book. It brought friends in from out of town that Susan hadn’t seen in years. It brought people into our store that work a block away and didn’t even know we existed. It was a win-win for everyone involved.

This was self-pubbing done RIGHT!

For more about Tugger, visit our FaceBook page to see pictures from the release party.  For more on the Do's and Dont's of working with a local bookstore, see our previous post "You Say You've Written a Book..."

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IndieBound Rocks!

Matt, the code-god behind the website IndieBound.org, has added some awesome new features that not-so-techno people like me can get "geeked" about.

As you can see we've added a "widget" to our blog that highlights some of our current bestselling books. Click on the book for more info or to order it. You too can add lists of books to your website, then link the book to IndieBound or your favorite indie bookstore (which is Aaron's Books, naturally! hehe).

Here's the skinny straight from the code guy himslef:

Our theme for this round of updates (yes, we picked a theme...) is "Pass it On." We've rolled out a number of significant changes to IndieBound.org to give you more ways than ever before to spread the Shop Indie message.

IndieBound Book Lists IndieBound.org has had a Wish List feature since Holiday '08, but now each community member can create an unlimited number of book lists. Each list can be given its own name, as well as some introductory text, which is a great place to include a ship-to address, tax deductible information, and more.

New Book List Builder New lists need new tools, and we wanted to be sure indie fans could build great lists fast. We've created a new list builder function which provides a book search on the left and your book list on the right, so you can add, rearrange, and move books between lists super-fast, all from one screen.
Annotate Book List BooksBy popular request! Using the new Book List Builder, you can add notes to each book on your list--for example, to request a signed copy, or to indicate which month your book group will be reading each title.

Share Your Lists with the World Once you've made a great list of books, you'll want to get it out there. We've provided several ways to do so. You can email your list to mutual friends on IndieBound.org, or to any group of email addresses. We've provided printable versions of each list that you can take with you for in-store shopping. And each list is syndicated as an RSS feed, so you can plug it into any RSS/XML widget on your blog or Facebook page.We're also working on public venues on IndieBound.org to show off the newest and best book lists.

But wait, there's also...

IndieBound Book Widgets! You can also add book lists to your blog or website in a fun, interactive way using our new IndieBound Book Widgets. These lightweight JavaScript widgets can be created from any book list, or from the Indie Bestseller Lists or Indie Next List. Affiliates may include their affiliate ID to collect a commission from sales. Widgets are available in a variety of sizes and with a completely customizable palette of colors. And each book can link either to IndieBound.org, or to one of your favorite stores that offers online shopping.

As always, frequent site visitors may need to refresh their browsers to see some of the changes.There's much more to come, including an update bringing these book lists to

IndieBound for iPhone. Stay tuned.Check out the latest book lists!

Yes, you read that correctly- IndieBound also has a great iPhone application that will help you find indie stores (not just bookstores) wherever you are in the country, just by using your GPS location... and of course you can order books through the "app"... and it's FREE!!

Shop Indie everywhere you go!

Looking for the next great read, the next big thing, or the next undiscovered gem? Independent bookstores have always had the answer. Now IndieBound for iPhone puts the latest indie bookseller recommendations and bestsellers in your pocket, so you can *really* keep up with what’s going on in the book world. Each book includes a link to purchase direct from the website of an indie bookstore near you. Also included is a comprehensive book search and a location-based store finder to guide you straight to America’s best bookstores.

IndieBound for iPhone allows anyone to:

Browse indie bookseller recommendation lists (The Indie Next List, The Kids Indie Next List) and bestseller lists (The Indie Bestseller Lists)

Search for books from a comprehensive database of in-print titles

Review detailed book information

Buy books online from indie bookstores

Find local, indie bookstores nearby, or across the United States

Find other independently-owned businesses, like coffee shops, movie theaters, and bicycle stores

Free from the App Store -- Download Now!

The folks at the American Bookseller's Association and IndieBound are doing great things for us and we stand and applaud them wholeheartedly for their hardwork and never ending dedication (and we promise more Wilbur Buds at NAIBA in the Fall!!).

PS- to see our full list and what we have to say about the books (all are staff picks too.. how convenient) click here

Beating the recession: Knowing customers key to success

Beating the recession: Knowing customers key to success, experts say
By Jessica Bair

Sam Droke-Dickinson, in photo, and her husband, Todd, co-own Aaron’s Books in Lititz, Lancaster County. She said holding in-store events, expanding their new-books selection and working with the community helps increase their customer base. Photo/Amy Spangler

A retailer's customer base is at the heart and soul of its success....

Full article featuring words of wisdom from Aaron's Books: http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/weekly_article.asp?aID=224911702.1291873.924742.0149461.3776281.667&aID2=71125

Distinctive INDIE Lititz

Today was a pretty big day in our little hamlet. The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced Lititz as one of its Distinctive Destinations of 2009. Those of us that live and work here of course said "duh" :) So here is a little blog of town gloating.

Todd and I are still viewed by some locals as "outsiders" since we've only been here for 4 years... but we CHOOSE Lititz. We picked up our family and moved TO Lititz, BECAUSE of Lititz. We love this town. As an Army Brat growing up on military bases and small German towns, I fell in love with this town. Why? For the very reason that was mentioned by every speaker at the press conference today: community. Around this nation developers are killing trees, moving wild animals, and buying up farms to create new "false" communities, while towns like Lititz have it naturally. When people watch re-runs of Leave It to Beaver & Andy Griffith, some long for that town life where kids can walk to the corner store owned by "Mr. Jones" and get candy on their way home from school. Where they can freely ride their bikes to the park to play and feed the ducks, without having to check in with mom on the cell phone every 10 minutes, or having a parental escort. Where you can sit on your front porch and say "howdy" to all that walk past (and know at least half of them). Well, folks I have that... here in Lititz; and I wouldn't change it for the world. (yes, this is the same city gal Sam from a few years back, commuting and working in DC!).

What makes Lititz distinctive though is not it's history as observed by the Historic Trust (and yes, we do have our history, from it's Moravian roots 250+ years ago), but it is what makes up the town now- INDIES. This town only has one non-locally owned business.. and that one "chain" kept their building to match the historic nature of the town, and has no glaring neon signage... so unless you know it's there, you would miss it. This is a true INDIE town, even on the outskirts of town, you'll find vibrant indie groceries and hardware stores. Not to mention farms, service businesses, and restaurants. If we truly want to build better communities across America, we really need to look no further than Lititz, and not at some developers planning board.

So while the Historic Trust gives us this great title for our historic preservation, we need to toot our INDIE horn as well. What makes Lititz distinctive is the history... what makes the history is the community.... and what makes the community is our support of local independent businesses!

Below are pictures from the press conference, including the actual award and a citation from the PA House of Representatives acknowledging Lititz in all it's distinction :)