Independent retailers nationwide are celebrating “Small Business Saturday” this weekend and direct sales to you, our readers, are the lifeblood of our business. Every book you buy goes directly to fund our mission of fostering and disseminating original independent writing about the Rust Belt. This weekend, and for many weekends to come, we have a host of opportunities for you to shop from us IRL. If you’re in Cleveland, Chicago, or Buffalo, please come say hello — and bring your wallet!
- This Sunday, November 27, Belt joins a host of comics artists, zine makers, and other indie publishers for Cleveland’s eighth annual Genghis Con convention of small presses. It’s at the Lake Erie Building in Lakewood and admission is free.
- On Thursday, December 1, join us to celebrate the release of Edward McClelland’s How To Speak Midwestern at 7 pm at the Book Cellar in Chicago.
- On Saturday, Dec. 3, we’ll be hunkered down from 11 am to 8 pm in the Vendor Village at Cleveland’s Light Up Lakewood, while our Chicago bureau sets up shop the Bloodshot Records Holiday Pop-Up Shop from noon to 7 pm.
- On December 10 we’ve got not one but TWO book release parties: Clevelanders can share local slang at the Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern at a second release event for How To Speak Midwestern, while in Buffalo, editor Jody K. Biehl and contributors gather from 4 to 6 pm at Market Arcade to hail the release of Right Here, Right Now: The Buffalo Anthology.
- On Sunday, December 18, we’ll be doing backflips around our books at the Aloft Circus Arts Party and Market in Chicago.
- Procrastinators can look for us again in Chicago on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at the 18th annual Hideout Holiday Sale, which runs from 6 to 9 pm at Chicago’s coziest bar, and in Cleveland at the LEAF Holiday Market, from 5:30 to 8 pm at Garfield Middle School.
- And last but not least, we’ll be at the Holiday Retail Lab pop-up in Tremont all month long!
