Indie Bookstore Day 2024

Indie Bookstore Day is on the horizon! IBD is the last Saturday of April, which this year is the 27th. Here's a primer on what you can expect, which we'll be updating as we get in more exclusive products.
 

First, we'll be handing out and stamping the Twin Cities IBD Passport, courtesy of local literary periodical Rain Taxi. If this is your first rodeo, here's how it works: every participating bookstore in the Cities (which is almost all of them) has a page in the passport, and you can grab your passport for free at any of them. Get it stamped and come back with it later (starting in May) for 20% off your purchase at that store. Get fifteen stamps, and you can use the 20% off coupon at every bookstore. Get all 28 stamps, and you can enter to win one of five prize packs, or the Grand Prize: $25 gift cards to all 28 stores!

Don't worry -- you don't have to visit 28 bookstores in one day. We'll be handing out and stamping passports between Wednesday, April 24th and Sunday the 28th.

We'll have the customary (and also free) Midwest Indie Bookstore Roadmap, updated to include stores that opened since last year! The roadmap is splendidly illustrated by Twin Cities artist Kevin Cannon. It folds out just like a real roadmap, and look great on your wall.

Next Chapter will debut two new free bookmarks, so for those of you who collect our bookmarks, you'll be able to add a fifth and sixth design to your collection. 

We'll also have etched metal bookmarks designed after Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Orisha series! The metal bookmarks are free too, but limited quantity: first come, first served.

Now let's talk IBD merch! As always, there's a unique IBD 2024 tote bag (design forthcoming), and the ever-popular limited-edition IBD Blackwing Pencils! This year, we'll also have exclusive magnets, which read "Eat Sleep Read Local."

In terms of limited-edition books, you can expect: 

• A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett, whose birthday falls on the day after IBD this year. This is your chance to get the paperback early -- it won't be back until October!
• A signed, anniversary edition of The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, which includes a sticker sheet and letter from the author, Matt Kracht.
• Becoming Who We Are, an anthology of autobiographical comics about growing up trans, edited by Sammy Lisel and Hazel Newlevant. This is the only way to get the book before its June release; the IBD edition comes with a fold-out poster, too!

Finally, our digital audiobook partner Libro.fm has some fun stuff planned:

• Visit Next Chapter on IBD to get a FREE audiobook: The Hill We Climb, by this year's Indie Bookstore Ambassador, Amanda Gorman (while supplies last)
• The Indie Bookshop Appreciation Sale runs the whole week of IBD, April 22 - 28, with tons of Libro's most popular audiobooks on sale for $5 each.
• New members will get two free audiobooks when they start a monthly membership using code SWITCH! Time to ditch Audible.

Wow, that's a lot, huh? Indie Bookstore Day is our biggest day of the year, so we want to pull out all the stops. 

You can find listings for all the IBD-exclusive merch here! However, these products won't be available through our website until the day after IBD, April 28th -- and then, only the stuff that hasn't already sold out. So, if you there's something here you really want, the best way to get it is to come out in Indie Bookstore Day!

We can't wait to see you there, whether you come by on Saturday the 27th or in the week running up to it!