How to Heartland 2021: Notes for our industry partners

Welcome to a new year of Heartland, crafted to be responsive to the needs of the bookselling industry. ​We've made some changes to our programming to best capture attention spans in a time when virtual events are flourishing, while also complementing the wide array of industry resources already out there. We're excited to shake things up and bring unique resources to our Midwest booksellers. 

First, mark your calendar for our return to an in-person show. We'll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Heartland on October 12-14, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch. 

Until then, here's whats new for 2021.

Streamlined registration
Register at our website and you're in! There will be no need to save registration links for each individual event. 

Floating dates
Heartland's 2021 events will happen in the months of August, September, and October and will be scheduled as they are produced. We are striving to offer fresh and unique content in every event we offer by being responsive to your ideas, authors, and schedules. Be creative with us!

We're placing authors on a rolling basis, so pitch ASAP to get premiere event placement. Last day to pitch authors is July 9.

Seasonality
Due to the pandemic, last year, we compressed the timeline of discovery, as booksellers' hands were full responding to their stores' unique needs during shutdowns. This year, we're expanding the timeline, but perhaps not quite as far as it was pre-pandemic. 

Guideline: We ask that the majority of titles we promote in Heartland 2021 be published this calendar year. For marquee authors and big-budget titles, we will accept titles published in January-March 2022. 

Exhibits unboxed, content unleashed
This year, the book industry has already offered opportunities to create amazing virtual exhibit spaces. To complement that style of outreach and take it a step further, we're aiming to create a diverse cross-publisher experience for our booksellers by "unboxing" exhibits and delivering your content directly to attendees. How will we do that?

• Fresh author events. Every author event we host will be a fresh experience our attendees can’t get anywhere else. We will play matchmaker with the authors you pitch us to produce creative pairings that make for irresistible events. As a result, the quantity of authors we place won’t be as high as previous years.
  
  Read more and pitch authors here -->
  
  
• Call for education. When you pitch your ideas to us, don't stop at authors.
  
  ​Event moderators. We always need talented hosts and moderators who are good on camera and can think on their feet.
  
  Education leaders. Do you have an author of a nonfiction book who can lead an education session? In-house publishing staff who can educate booksellers on topics such as marketing, social media, or important ideas regarding DEI?
  
  Submit education ideas -->
  
  
• Book room. Think of the book room as the ultimate hub for Midwest booksellers to learn about titles to stock this year. Each book will feature the author photo and book graphic with corresponding icons to regionality, sales rep picks, Edelweiss, and more. 
  
  Submit book room titles here -->
  
  
• Rep picks unleashed. Rep Pick events are fun, but it can be challenging to capture the individual pitches for each book. To address that, we're asking reps to pre-record their picks and submit them to us timestamped for each book. That way, every time we refer to that book or author, we can link to the presentation and also feature it directly alongside each title in the book room for instant rep pick access.
  
  Submit rep picks here -->
  
  
• Free opportunities! Submit your show specials and set up meetings with our booksellers. Upon request, we will consult with you about our member list and help you build connections with new stores and those you aren't connected with. 
  
  
• ​Exclusive sponsorship and advertising opportunities. Last but certainly not least, our virtual show this year will be driven by industry sponsors, who offer an important foundation of support and indie bookstore celebration. If sponsorship isn't the right match for you, advertising your titles and programs with us is also a win-win situation, as it gets the word out about your product and also supports the indie bookselling industry. 
  
  Act on our sponsorship options -->
  Book your advertising -->