And The Winner of the 2009 Independent Bookseller of The Year Is . . .

Hannah Schwartz

of

in Haverford, PA!

Hannah was nominated by long time Shrinking Violet liquidambar (aka writerjenn) and seconded by a couple of Very In-The-Know Industry Professionals, so we couldn't be more happy to welcome Hannah into the illustrious halls of SVP Fame!

We actually profiled CHILDREN'S BOOK WORLD during last year's Indie Parade, and Jenn herself has raved about them on her own blog.

From their gorgeous website:

"Children's Book World has long been a place for a meeting of the minds. In our eighteen years of business, we've brought together parents and children, teachers and classmates, authors and illustrators, and above all, stories and imaginations. Bringing people together to share in the joy of reading is our passion, and we strive to make our store the meeting place for just that. Whether you're a child, a parent, an educator, or a book lover, you'll see the difference that quality makes in our selection, our staff, and our service."

CONGRATULATIONS, Hannah! Like most booksellers, Hannah works quietly behind the scenes, so we don't know too many details about her other than she is a dynamite bookseller, but we'll get a profile of her up soon, so you can learn all about this year's incoming Bookselling Queen!

We had a lot of very amazing nominees this year, and we felt a Special Mention should go to Dr. Zizic of Crocodile Pie as a special Indie Hero! Her love of books and timely action saved a twenty year old bookstore from certain death!

Our deepest thanks to all of you who nominated booksellers this year, and everyone who participated in our National Independent Bookstore Month!

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A couple of other things. Mary and I will be taking the Twitter Plunge here shortly and would love if some other Twitter-less Violets would be willing to take the plunge with us! Remember there's safety in numbers! Email us at Shrinking Violets, if you're interested...

And secondly, Mary and I have been doing a lot of talking about what kind of presence we want Shrinking Violets to be in your lives. When we first started this blog three years ago, there were no where near the number and wealth of writing and marketing sites that there are now. The truth is, it's pretty easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer avalanche of information out there. Or at least, we do. And more than anything else, we want this blog to be about creating one less demand in your lives. With that thought in mind, we're feeling a need to reduce the cyber-clutter in our lives and thought maybe you all might be feeling the same thing, so we are going to be adjusting our blog schedule so that we only post once a week instead of twice, that way you have just one less thing to worry about or catch up on each week. We'll still have our standard combination of inspiration and practical information, generously seasoned with a profile or interview, or two. But we'll only pop up on your To-Do List once a week, beginning in July.