In 2022, the idea was born to celebrate an international “Buy A Horse Book Day.” Piggybacking on the idea of “Buy A Book Day” (September 7), Trafalgar Square Books (TrafalgarBooks.com) and HeelsDown (HeelsDownMag.com) thought it would be fun to borrow the concept to encourage people to read about horses for pleasure and education. The idea was to not only celebrate TSB books and authors, but to encourage discoverability of and appreciation for all horse books and horse book authors. By joining together in a day of sharing about equestrian literature, we lift each other up, find new followers, and form new connections.
It is now year three of our effort, and organic participation has ballooned worldwide! We hope to make Buy A Horse Book Day 2024 even better by celebrating one of the greatest horse book authors of all, Marguerite Henry! Henry was remarkably prolific with 59 books published, millions of copies sold, and nearly 80 years of her life spent writing them—or responding personally to the stacks of fan mail she received—at her typewriter. Her books, most meticulously researched historical fiction about influential horses and the hosts of fascinating characters who surrounded them—to name just a few, her Newbery Award winner King of the Wind, the book that changed an island Misty of Chincoteague, and the glowingly reviewed Justin Morgan Had a Horse—have had an outsized influence on those who grew up reading them. In the week running up to Buy A Horse Book Day, we are encouraging participants to post about their favorite Henry books and characters. HeelsDown is hosting a survey HERE where fans can share their love of Henry, and TSB will award gift cards to our favorite posts running up to and on May 10th as we build excitement for the international release of the Marguerite Henry biography DEAR READERS AND RIDERS by Wall Street Journal columnist Lettie Teague at the end of the month.
Here’s the goal for Buy A Horse Book Day: Generate lots of excitement for the day by encouraging others to buy a horse book on May 10th (wherever they like to buy books—from their favorite bookstore, tack shop, author, or online retailer), post selfies with their orders and pics of their favorite horse books, support local tack shops and bookstores that carry horse books, and celebrate the amazing horse book author Marguerite Henry in all kinds of ways, all tagged #buyahorsebookday.
TSB will be running online sales at TrafalgarBooks.com on May 10th, as well as following those who post and tag, sharing and reposting, and giving away autographed copies of books and gift cards throughout the day. We encourage others who love, sell, or write horse books to do the same!
TSB has created assets for use on social platforms that all are welcome to use. Reach out to Rebecca Didier (rdidier@trafalgarbooks.com) if you would like them on hand. If you prefer to create your own graphics, or wish to share photos of your book, or you horse with your book, or your store’s shelves full of horse books, that’s great, too! Just remember to share and tag your posts on May 10th with #buyahorsebookday and add @HorseandRiderBooks and @HeelsDownMag and @HeelsDownHappyHour so we can like and repost on our channels.
Questions? Ideas? Contact Rebecca Didier (rdidier@trafalgarbooks.com)
We look forward to celebrating horse books and the amazing authors who write them on May 10th!
Trafalgar Square Books, the industry authority in equestrian publishing, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont. TSB has been publishing books “for the good of the horse” since 1985.
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