Professional Booksellers School Logo

Storyselling


The Storyselling Course explores the intersection of storytelling, display, and marketing to create a bookstore experience customers will return for time and time again. The course is applicable to brick and mortar, pop-up, mobile, and pocket stores; it is not intended for online-only models. Stores must already be open to be eligible for this course.

The course is a read/practice/reflect learning model. It contains 3 workshops, each with a work book of articles to read and field work assignments to complete in your store before coming together to discuss, share, and learn together.  Your experimentation and measurement is key.  Show and tell: what did you do and what did you see when you tried it?  

Live classes meet via Zoom. The course uses Discord as our platform for information, chat, and homework. Discord is free to join, and an invitation will be emailed to students after registrations.  Students also receive a weekly newsletters with information about the classes.

Each class explores a different way of understanding your store:

  1. Confidence: Knowing Your Store

  2. Curiosity: Knowing Your Customers

  3. Creativity: Unforgettable Together

 

View the 2025 Syllabus

Course Instructors

Lisa Uhrik is cofounder of Plenty Bookshop and co-owner of Franklin Fixtures — organizations that share a dedication to elevating reading.  An SPHR (senior professional in HR) and organizational development facilitator, her career has been about helping businesses thrive with innovative structures and systems.  As a bookstore advocate, she has devoted the last decade to understanding sustainable models and best practices, leveraging her unique access through Franklin to a broad array of successful bookstores.

You bring stories to your community: one of them is your bookstore itself.  When we think about bookstores like a publisher thinks about a book, we get clearer about our big idea and the experience we hope to give our customers.  

Steve Wax is a narratologist and the former board chair of Heyday Publishing. He draws from a long career in advertising, film and commercial production. Steve founded, or cofounded three advertising agencies, including Campfire Media, where he and his colleague used viral marketing from the Blair Witch (diary) Project long before that was an understood method of influence. For the past three years, he and Lisa Uhrik have been working on a project called Beyond Bookstores, aimed at empowering bookstores with fresh, innovative, timeless ideas.   

Membership

Being an active member of the bookselling industry is a critical step in growing a bookstore and shows commitment to your chosen profession. Stores with students in all Professional Booksellers School courses are required to be Independent Bookstores and current members of their regional trade association and/or the American Booksellers Association. Students must also be enrolled in PBS, which is free.

Course Schedule & Cost

Live Classes are on Wednesdays @ 12:30 pm ET / 11:30 am CT / 9:30 am PT on October 21, October 28, and November 04. Each class is 90 minutes.

The course is limited to 20 students at the cost of $275 with discounts available for members of most regions. Find out what support your Regional Trade Association offers on our website.

Course Structure
The Storyselling Course explores the intersection of storytelling, display, and marketing to create an unforgettable bookstore experience. 

The course is a read/practice/reflect learning model. It contains 3 workshops, each with a work book of articles to read and field work assignments to complete in your store before coming together to discuss, share, and learn together.  Your experimentation and measurement is key.  Show and tell: what did you do and what did you see when you tried it?

In the three live classes, the first hour will be elaboration on the education included in that week's workbook, a deep dive into the concepts, and practical applications that support the education. The next 20 minutes will be small group breakouts without instructor to discuss what was learned in fieldwork and how to apply the information from that fieldwork and the class to affect positive change

Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Design a book haven space that connects with customers through storytelling
    • Move from transactional book-selling in favor of engagement through experience 
    • Articulate a clear market position and story
    • Align store layout, displays, and media with a compelling Big Idea
    • Apply persona-driven strategies to marketing, curation, and customer engagement
    • Integrate store atmosphere, sensory elements, and display techniques to drive browsing and purchasing.
    • Develop a holistic approach where marketing, events, displays, and book curation work in alignment
    • Experiment with radical, out-of-the-box marketing strategies that strengthen engagement and community connections.
Course Schedule

The course consists of three classes, each focusing on a different aspect of display and marketing strategy. Readings for thought/response are assigned in advance, so live classes can be discussions and learnings.

  1. Confidence: Knowing Your Store

  2. Curiosity: Knowing Your Customers

  3. Creativity: Unforgettable Together

Final Project Deliverables
  1. Big Idea Statement – Clearly articulate your store’s unique identity.
  2. Persona Analysis & Engagement Strategy – Define customer personas and how displays, marketing, and events cater to them.
  3. Customer Journey Planogram – Map the customer experience through the store.
  4. Storytelling Display Prototype – Implement and analyze a persona-driven display.
  5. Integrated Marketing & Display Plan – Create a final project that connects storytelling, marketing, and customer experience into a seamless, engaging strategy.