There is one such bookstore tucked away in Hamilton’s Westdale Village (by McMaster Unviersity).  Bryan Prince is the name of this little piece of heaven.  What makes this bookstore so extra special that I am writing about it now?  Well, usually when as an author you sell a book to a bookstore, they take 40 – 50% of the sale of the book and the author gets 50 – 60%, much of which goes to printing costs and other expenses, so as you can imagine, the author sees very little at the end of the day for the months or sometimes years they spent writing.  Well, Bryan Prince has a policy of only taking 20%, whilst the author sees 80% to cover their printing costs and time.  Why do they do this in an age where indie bookstores are struggling to survive? To encourage local authors, who have their own struggles, to find the time and money to write. You can’t imagine how pleasantly surprised this made me when they bought our Reading is Sexy Calendar just days before Christmas. So if you are in the Hamilton/Dundas area, make a point of stopping in this little slice of heaven, at Bryan Prince Bookseller (1060 King Street West, Hamilton, ON), buy a book or calendar and support a local author.

I would be remiss here if I didn’t highlight a few other indie bookstores, who have beautiful spaces and have been incredible to me this past month:

• Ben McNally Books (366 Bay St, Toronto, ON) – who hosted our Toronto Calendar Kissing over the Christmas rush.
• Duthie Books (2239 West 4th Ave, Vancouver, BC) – who were the first bookstore to pick up the Reading is Sexy Calendar and who, as it was for a good cause, offered us a great deal on calendar sales.
• The People’s Co-op Bookstore (1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC) – who similarly offered us a great deal on Reading is Sexy Calendar sales.
• Biz Books (302 West Cordova St, Vancouver, BC) – who is carrying the Reading is Sexy Calendar.
• Blackberry Books (Unit 3 – 1666 Johnston St., Net Loft Building, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC) – who is carrying the Reading is Sexy Calendar and who gave me some great marketing advice on calendars for future years.

I’d be remiss here if I didn’t mention our two non-bookstore retailers of the calendar:

• O’Hares Beer & Wine Store (5031 Steveston Hwy, Richmond, BC)
• Gundrun Wine & Cheese Bistro (150 – 3500 Moncton St, Steveston, BC)

An enormous thank you to all!

Photographer: Robert Shaer

Really excited to be at Ben McNally Books in Toronto kissing Reading is Sexy calendars  from 1 – 3 pm on Saturday December 19, 2009 to promote literacy and raise money for The International Association of Dyslexia.

Photographer: John Biehler

Would love to meet some of you sexy TO cats there and if you are still kicking around at 3 pm, I plan on hitting up one of the local pubs and kicking off the festivities with a few pitchers of beer for the table and a couple of plates of nachos.

Calendars are $18 at the event or $20 (if you want to kick in an extra $2 to dyslexia). We will be accepting cash or cheque.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

In other words, a most special thank you to all of you that helped promote, were a part of or sent well wishes for the Reading is Sexy Launch Party and Literary Celebration at Gudrun this past Thursday evening.  What a delightful group of the sexiest of cats!  And such a perfect atmosphere in Gudrun!  An enormous thank you to Patrick and the gang at Gudrun – Alison, Josh and Upton.

And again, thank you! Thank you for helping to promote literacy and supporting The International Association of Dyslexia!

Here are some of my pics from the night:

And some much better shot pics of John Biehler’s:

Thanks John!

A few highlights from the night included:

• seeing the men of the calendar (Patrick, Raul and Mark) pucker up for literacy
• teaching an incredibly bashful Mark Leiren-Young to put on lipstick (you’d think a man that had written a book entitled, Never Shoot A Stampede Queen, would have already learned how)
• readings from Mark, Rayne and Raul
• Mooty winning for the funniest responses in our little contest (go read them, they had me chuckling)
• the auctioning off Rob’s Pics of Patrick
• and of course, a whole lot of calendar kissing

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

PS Stay tuned for a Calendar Kissing near you!  Next one is this Thursday Dec 10th at 5 pm (likely at a Gastown pub) as Monica and Monique pucker up for charity.

So to read between the lines, we are promoting literacy and raising funds for The International Dyslexia Association, and hosting a little party to celebrate that and the launch of 2010 Reading is Sexy Calendar.

Party Details

Cost: Free

Local: Gudrun Wine & Cheese Bistro (150-3500 Moncton Street, Steveston, BC)

Date: Thursday December 3, 2009

Time: 7 pm until late

Festivities:

• general revelry and enjoying of Gudrun Goodies (I will buy a few plates for the room, but bring some money with you to enjoy more Gudrun Goodies and some of the yummy wines and beers)
• readings from a few of our authors (Ian Ferguson, Mark Leiren-Young, Richard Yearwood, Lorraine Murphy, Rayne … to name a few … I may even read something from my yet to be finished novel)
• calendar signings by the ‘models’ on hand (really, just because I think this would be bloody hilarious…. I’m thinking of signing in lipstick)
• auctioning of some of Robert Shaer’s photos from the shoot for charity
• …and I plan on dancing ….even if nobody else joins me

Why Gudrun? Because Patrick is in the calendar, I adore him and it’s my secret writing hideaway.

One Added Perk: If you so choose (although certainly not required), you can do a bit of your Holiday Shopping at the event as we will have the 2010 Reading is Sexy Calenders (with $4 of sales from each calendar sold at the event going to The International Association of Dyslexia) and books and CDs of some of our authors on hand.

Hope to see you there!

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

PS So I can give Patrick an idea of numbers, can you please RSVP on facebook or in the comments below. Thank you, all you sexy things!