Free books for life giveaway and Book Angel program helping kids in need

My November articles (so far) for Forbes.com are below, where I've been covering all things books, publishing, libraries, authors, literary agents, book clubs and more since November 2018, are about some cool things independent bookstores are doing. You can follow me there so you don't miss anything, and I'm now working on January 2021 articles and beyond, so if you're a book publicist, editor, agent, bookseller, librarian or book club organizer or anyone else doing something new and unique in the book world, feel free to pitch me (rachelkb at gmail dot com with "Forbes" in the subject line).

Having this beat has totally changed my freelance writing career and given me a great way to focus my interests, and cover books for other outlets like Publishers Weekly and Washington Post Book World.

Here are two articles I hope you'll appreciate. You can nominate someone to WIN A BOOK A MONTH FOR LIFE from London, UK bookstore Heywood Hill through Sunday, November 8, and you can donate a book to a child in need with Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, New York, either in person or online. More details in the pieces.

"Why UK Bookstore Heywood Hill Is Giving Away A Book A Month For Life"





"Bookstore’s Book Angel Program Ensures Kids In Need Receive Books For The Holidays"

Want a FREE I read sexy books sticker? Come and get 'em on my Best Women's Erotica book tour!

I got these beautiful new I read sexy books holographic stickers made just for you and will be giving them away at all my book events this year and in my February newsletter. If you're not subscribed, get on my mailing list so you can enter to win!



Here's where I'll be handing them out next! If you're not in these cities but know anyone who is, let them know and they can snag a sticker for you. We will even have a PHOTO BOOTH(!!!) by Glitter Guts at the Chicago reading and party! I've included the Facebook event pages for Chicago and LA as well as the bookstore links in case you want to easily invite anyone.

2020 Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 Book Tour
sponsored by überlube and Le Wand

February 13, 7 pm, free
Best Women's Erotica Chicago reading and Valentine's party

Join editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and contributors to Best Women's Erotica of the Year Volume 4 and 5 Kathleen Delaney-Adams, Lauren Emily, Jayne Renault, Sierra Simone and Suleikha Snyder for a pre-Valentine's Day reading and book signing at feminist bookstore Women and Children First. Free book cover cookies and stickers will be given out. Party with PHOTO BOOTH to follow! Lube and sex toy giveaways by sponsors überlube and Le Wand. Open to the public. Wheelchair accessible. Refreshments will be served.



Women and Children First, 5233 N. Clark St. Chicago, Illinois, 773-769-9299, wcfbooks at gmail.com
Facebook event page

February 14, 7:30 pm, free
Valentine's Day Best Women's Erotica Los Angeles reading

Join editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and contributors Joanna Angel, Lauren Emily, CD Reiss, Jayne Renault and Sabrina Sol for a Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 reading and book signing in LA (Los Feliz). Free stickers will be given out. Lube and sex toy giveaways by sponsors überlube and Le Wand. Open to the public.

There is a paid public parking lot behind Skylight Books, and street parking. There are no stairs whatsoever to the event space and Skylight Books has a one-person, gender-neutral restroom. Should guests attending the event require any additional disability access such as ASL interpretation during the event, please email events at skylightbooks.com with those needs and they will be happy to accommodate them.

Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, 323-660-1175, events at skylightbooks.com
Facebook event page



September 12, 7:30 pm, free
Best Women's Erotica of the Year reading

Series editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and contributors to Best Women’s Erotica of the Year Volumes 3 and 5 Alexa J .Day, Kathleen Delaney-Adams, and Annabel Joseph will read, answer questions and sign books.

Charis Books & More, 184 S. Candler Street, Decatur, GA, 404-524-0304, info at charisbooksandmore.com

How authors can book readings directly with bookstores

Over at Medium, I have an article up on how to book readings with bookstores. I interviewed several independent bookstore staffers, and can say anecdotally from booking my own readings for many years that if you follow the instructions of each bookstore, it's usually a smooth process. Sometimes, I haven't heard back, but usually I've been able to book events in cities I wanted to. If you like the article and use Medium, please give it some claps (hold down the hands button on the bottom left, up to 50 times), which helps it be seen by more readers. This article was originally published in the Novelists, Inc. (NINC) newsletter.



Speaking of bookstores, I hope you'll mark your calendars for Valentine's Day, February 14, if you're in LA and let all your LA friends know. I consider bookstore readings for my Best Women's Erotica of the Year series so important that I put my money where my values are (yes, I cover all my own event costs) and am flying out to LA for this sexy erotica reading at Skylight Books along with Joanna Angel, CD Reiss, Jayne Renault and Sabrina Sol. They were so wonderful to us for our Volume 2 reading and are a delightful bookstore with a tree in the middle!

My article on Independent Bookstore Day and bookstore crawls at The Goods

I'm excited to have a new article up at The Goods by Vox on Independent Bookstore Day and bookstore crawls. As you may or may not know, books are my favorite subject and my favorite hobby and any time I get to write about them I'm thrilled. Plus I'll be doing my first bookstore crawl this weekend and talking to people about them only got me more excited about it. Follow me and Best Women's Erotica on Instagram for updates from mine.

Read my new Forbes article if you dream of opening a bookstore

In case it relates to your New Year's plans (or future business plans or retirement plans), I wrote about how to open an independent bookstore over at Forbes.com. I interviewed owners of four recently opened independent bookstores, including two going the popup store route, about their career paths, steps and advice.



Hope you find it useful (and if so, I'd love if you shared it). I have lots more articles in the works relevant to authors, such as a few about how to get book deals (here's one I already did about getting published based on your Instagram account), so stay tuned.

You can follow me at Forbes after you make an account there to receive an email when a new articles posts. I write 5-7 per month. This has been a wonderful addition to my freelance writing, especially since I started in November after a year in which I had very few other writing gigs. I get to learn from authors, editors, publishers and bookstore owners, and generally geek out about books. If you're an editor, publishers, publicist or literary agent with an idea for an article you'd like to pitch me, or a standout title and why it's newsworthy, email me at rachelkb at gmail.com with "Forbes" in the subject line. Note that I cover publishing news and trends, and generally not individual titles or series unless something about them makes them stand out, like you can draw on the covers.

Los Angeles loves erotica - see you tonight 1/31 at Skylight Books for my book tour kickoff!

Firstly, tonight is the kickoff of our Best Women's Erotica of the Year book tour at Skylight Books in Los Angeles at 7:30 pm (1818 North Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz).



I hope you can make it, or else let someone in the LA area who might be interested know. I've heard through the grapevine that some cool folks will be in the audience and I and my authors Jocelyn Bringas, Melina Greenport and Jade A. Waters are all going to read you very sexy stories and answer your questions and sign books! If you want to invite friends easily, here's the Facebook event page. It's free and we will be sharing behind the scenes secrets as well as our hot words. And a special shoutout to Skylight because they treat their authors so well - the book is in the store window, in a special display with other upcoming authors and in the area where we're going to read! Plus they have a beautiful tree in the middle of the store.





I'll do a fuller recap when I'm home but I also got to visit two other amazing bookstores. On Sunday, I taught a wonderful, enthusiastic and smart group at romance bookstore The Ripped Bodice in Culver City. Their store is a treasure trove of sexy books, cards, lingerie and other cool items and they have this amazing personal touch. They recommended a book by a new to me author, Tamsen Parker, that I'm enjoying (Craving Flight, about a woman who converts to Orthodox Judaism and is kinky). They also have an utterly adorable bookstore dog named Fitzwilliam Waffles, who even has his own Instagram account. I highly recommend the store and they also host lots of cool events, like Romantic Comedy (comedy night) and movie nights and book events and such. Oh, and they have book art hanging in the air (my photo doesn't really do it justice because when you are standing in front of it, they're just right there), book pages as wallpaper and just a generally beautiful design, including couches to sit on and read! They also have fiction and memoir and YA and various genres, and romance subgenres by category, like Cowboys and I Love Rock N Roll. Perhaps coolest of all, their bathroom has tons of books you can read and a Post-It wall where you can write whatever you want, and one on the mirror saying "Nasty Women Read." Indeed!







I visited Pasadena for the first time and the first thing I saw after getting out of my Lyft car was this free speech art, which seemed quite apt.



Then I promptly fell in love with Vroman's Bookstore and pretty much want to move in there. I wandered around and pretty much swooned over their displays. I love that they have an erotica section, that they are playful and political and had four amazing signs about writing that encouraged me to get back to it. They also have fun book-themed pillows and mugs and other items and it's a bookstore you can get lost in and wander for hours.





To recap, I hope you'll come out to our Skylight Books reading tonight and tell your friends, and if you're in LA or will be, all three of these stores are amazing and there's lots to see in the surrounding neighborhoods as well (I may have bought some crystals at the store next to Skylight, because I feel like I need all the help I can get these days).

See you in Brooklyn Monday night for our New York Writers Coalition reading at BookCourt

Yes, it's insanely cold outside, I'm well aware, but if you're up for braving the cold, New Yorkers, I'll be reading from Best Bondage Erotica 2015 tomorrow, Monday night, February 16th at 7 p.m. at BookCourt, 163 Court Street (between Pacific and Dean Streets), in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, along with Melissa Petro and members of nonprofits SAGE and Ali Forney Center as part of the New York Writers Coalition Writing Aloud Series. You can take the F or G trains to Bergen Street.



I know it's winter and I rarely leave my house unless I have to, which is usually to go to the post office (let's hear it for working from home in winter!), so I get that going outside may not be everyone's top priority in this weather, but if you're near BookCourt and/or want to hear some sex stories for free, definitely check it out, and if you're not in the area but know anyone in the NYC area who might appreciate hearing stories and a Q&A about sex, send them our way. It's my first and possibly only time reading from Best Bondage Erotica 2015, and even though after all these years readings still make me a little nervous, they are a rare treat and I'm looking forward to it, cold be damned. I'll have these bookmarks and postcards to hand out:

Hey Brooklyn, come see me Monday and get Best Bondage Erotica 2015 at BookCourt

I forgot a very important bookstore in my list of stores stocking Best Bondage Erotica 2015 and that's BookCourt at 163 Court Street in Brooklyn, where I'm doing a free reading on Monday night, February 16th at 7 p.m. with Melissa Petro and members of the New York Writers Coalition! I lived in Brooklyn for 13 years but don't get there too often now that I'm a Jersey girl, so I'm looking forward to this. I'll be bringing some of these bookmarks and postcards and giving them out free. Excited to do my first reading of 2015 and see my new book in a store for the first time. That is always a wonderful feeling. If you're not in New York but know someone who is who might like a free reading all about sex, please let them know! You can take the F/G to Bergen Street and if you want to share the news on Facebook (no RSVP required), here's the official event listing there. Want to know more about Best Bondage Erotica 2015? The introduction and table of contents are on the official Tumblr.

Come get these Monday night!