This is a BIG sale on our membership program!

This is a BIG sale on our membership program. In February 2019, we increased the yearly membership fee for the first time since we started the program in 2007. The membership is now $30 a year. BUT!! BUT!! BUT!!! for this weekend's sale, on Friday April 5 and Saturday April 6, the membership fee is only $20.

All the benefits our members get:

OUR PHENOMENAL MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM!!
(updated Feb 1, 2019)

COST: $30 for 12 months, covers your household:
(defined by people who live together in one domicile)


ALL YOUR AWESOME BENEFITS!!

DISCOUNTS:
*receive 20% off new paperback books & 25% off new hardcovers

*receive special, deeper discounts off new audio books and off certain big-ticket preorder items (like some new releases)

*discounts on entry fees to certain events!

*20% off card games, jigsaw puzzles, craft kits, novelty mugs, plush, and many other fun in-store items!

*30% off all board games!

SPECIAL SALES:
*"members-only" sales on used books, double points earnings, or 30-50% off special sale items!


DELIVERY:

*free delivery within a five-mile radius of the bookstore

*we regularly deliver to the Laurels, Fellows Town Apts, Pinnacle Towers, the hospital, downtown businesses, the Green Home, and Tioga County Prison! We're happy to add your home or business to our "local" list!

PLUS:

TWO different ways to earn bookstore credit!!

***bring 3-5 books in for trade-in ANY time, no appointment necessary

*** "punch card" program: $10 spent = 1 punch: 10 punches => $10 gift certificate for our store!


**If you are planning on spending more than $50-60 with us in a 12 month period, it is less expensive to pay our $30 fee and get all of your membership discounts than it is to pay full price on books.... and that does not take into account all the credit you can earn by trading books in or further discounts you receive by using the punch card!**

Author Event: Charles Fergus, 7 to 8:30pm, Warehouse Theater

We are so happy to welcome Charles Fergus on his 2019 late winter/early spring tour of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. A longtime Pennsylvania native, Fergus is well-known in the outdoor and nature-writing genres, having published many books over the years, notably several nature guides with Stackpole Books.

He and his wife have in recent years retired to the northern kingdom of Vermont, where Charles has been hard at work on a new genre of writing -- historical fiction, mixed with a suspenseful tale and plenty of outdoor ambience.

He has also kept his hand in writing outdoor guides, with a new Stackpole title. We will be featuring both these new titles at his Wellsboro event, along with a smattering of his backlist, where possible.

The event will be held Tuesday evening, April 9th, at the Warehouse Theater Gallery, from 7 to 8:30pm. The author will be reading from the first book in his new "Gideon Stoltz" mystery series. There'll be plenty of time for a question & answer period, as well as mingling and light refreshments.

Books will be available for sale at the event, at the Warehouse Gallery, or beforehand at From My Shelf Books & Gifts. Since this event is being offered FREE to the community, with no charge from either From My Shelf or from the Deane Center.

We ask that you do NOT bring books purchased elsewhere for Mr. Fergus to sign, unless they are older copies that are now out of print. Remember, local stores and organizations are the people who continue to bring you events! Thanks!

Amazon Smile is a Scam

I have seen posts on Facebook reminding people that shopping Amazon with Amazon Smile supports their charity or organization, and giving clear instructions for how to do so.

As a local retailer, I wish I could harness this amount of free advertising for my own business and for my colleagues who operate small, family-owned businesses in Wellsboro.

Amazon Smile's contribution of one half of one percent of these purchases in exchange for your promotion of their business hardly seems worthwhile, considering the cost to our local economy, and thus to our school district.

I hope in the future you will refrain from using your platforms to actively promote a company that thrives on the erosion of local economies like Wellsboro's, and contributes so minimally to your cause.

My fellow local retailers and I, along with our landlords, contribute a significant proportion of the property taxes which support public education in Wellsboro.

Many of us are able to provide not only far better personal service than Amazon's algorithms, but also offer competitive order delivery speeds, and, in the case of From My Shelf Books & Gifts, generous discounts to members of our community.

Most of us also field dozens of requests annually from fund drives, community projects, and extracurricular booster groups and respond with our support in the form of gift certificates, gift baskets, volunteers, windows for flyers, and other contributions.

Amazon does collect state sales tax in Pennsylvania, which contributes to state coffers and ultimately contributes to education funding, but it does not contribute to the local property tax levy that supports the Wellsboro Area School District.

Your promotion of Amazon as a great way to support the local organizations, or groups is at the cost of support for local retailers, who not only help make our community special and contribute to our kids' quality of life, but contribute directly and significantly to the resources our children enjoy in the classroom through our local levy. Is it worth it?

If Wellsboro organizations spend $25,000 on eligible purchases through Amazon Smile, that organization will receive $125. Imagine the impact on our Wellsboro economy if even half that amount was spent locally.

Throughout the year. I hope local organizations will consider promoting the efforts of all your local retailers at least as widely as you have the .5% gift you receive from Amazon on designated purchases. The goodwill and real dollars your efforts will net will be well worth the change.

Will You Vote For Wellsboro?

by Kevin Coolidge

My family goes back several generations in Wellsboro, and I was born at Soldiers and Sailors hospital, right in Wellsboro. We've mostly been blue collar workers, farmers and factory workers and truck drivers. It's not always an easy way to make a living. I remember when the local glass plant went from Corning Inc., to GTE, to Osram-Sylvania to closed.

A lot of my family worked there. I worked there myself for five years. Factory work can be hard on the body, but it was a job that put me through school. I moved away from Wellsboro for that schooling, but moved back, because I love my hometown.

That's why I nominated Wellsboro for the Main Street Pennsylvania contest. If Wellsboro wins, the $25,000 will go to the local Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce. I don't know what the money will be used for. $25,000 doesn't go as far as it used to. I'm hoping it will go to a shop local campaign, or maybe used to attract a company that can put Wellsboro and Tioga County back to work.

Sure, I have a vested interest in the area. I have a business that I approach with the same working class ethic I was born to. I work every day, if the bookstore isn't open, I'm working on my writing. My books are set in Wellsboro and Tioga County. The first rule of writing is write what you know. I also write where I know.

One of my goals with my books is to put Wellsboro into the national spotlight. Wellsboro already does so much right with the Laurel Festival, and Dickens of a Christmas, and has that feeling that just says home. I want to continue on the hard work of those who came before, that milked the cows, that picked the cullet, that promoted the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.

So, vote for Wellsboro. It's easy. Just click on the photo of Wellsboro and you can vote once every 24 hours until April 21rd. You can vote up to 25 times per IP address. Then we get to see if Wellsboro moves to the next round, but most importantly, vote for Wellsboro in other ways.

Buy your shoes in town if you can, or your underwear. If you buy a book, buy it from my store, From My Shelf Books & Gifts. I put that money right back into the community like my family has been doing for generations. Don't do it for me, or your neighbor, or yourself. Do it for everyone. Do it for Wellsboro and Tioga County.


SHARE THIS NOMINATION WITH FRIENDS TO HELP WELLSBORO MAIN STREET PENNSYLVANIA GET MORE VOTES:

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO BE TAKEN TO THE WEBSITE TO VOTE!!!

You Can Help Rural Literacy

"The Totally Ninja Raccoons" is a series of early chapter books about raccoons who become ninjas because they already have the masks.

I'm a co-owner of From My Shelf Books. I've been a bookseller for 13 years. I noticed that if a child doesn't start embracing reading around 2nd grade that they start falling behind their peers.

My solution is the Totally Ninja Raccoons. Short chapters, humor, adventure, and one picture per chapter keep kids feeling a sense of engagement and accomplishment as they plow through these stories and ask for more!

This grant would help me reach more rural schools. I could do more school visits, but the costs of time and gas interfere. This would help. I also could create more Totally Ninja Raccoon books with the help of my illustrator, and reach more children in rural schools.



CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO BE TAKEN TO THE WEBSITE TO VOTE!

Huck & Finn Bookstore Cats Picture Book

The best bookstores have a cat. First, From My Shelf Books & Gifts had Hobo. Hobo was our bookstore cat from 2006 to 2014. Hobo passed and then we adopted Huck & Finn, two brothers.

Huck & Finn have been featured in "Bookstore Cats" by Brandon Schultz. Huck & Finn have also been side characters in "The Totally Ninja Raccoons" written by Kevin Coolidge

Hobo had his own picture book, and it's still popular with children. It's time for their own picture book. Kevin sat down and wrote the book, and now we just have to raise the funds to pay the illustrator.

Kevin is going to go with the same illustrator that helped bring "Molly, the Dog with Diabetes" to life.

We want to give the illustrator enough time for creativity. So, our target is July. She's already a proven artist and the artwork on Molly is beautiful.

For every seven dollars, plus three dollars for shipping. You can be among the first to receive a signed copy of "Huck & Finn, Bookstore Cats"


CLICK ON HUCK & FINN'S PHOTO TO BE TAKEN TO THE CAMPAIGN