For Booksellers

Happy New Year! We hope that your holiday season was successful, rewarding, and not too stressful.

We’re starting early on planning for the 2026 MI Book Hop. We’re changing some things that we hope will make things easier for participating stores and encourage customers to visit stores more widely. Here’s this year’s registration form for your store to participate, but please read on for more info about what to expect.

If you participated last year, feel free to jump ahead to read about what’s new this year.

MI Book Hop is a volunteer-run Book Hop across Michigan, organized and administered by fellow Booksellers. It kicks off on Independent Bookstore Day and runs through Memorial Day weekend – Saturday, April 25 through Sunday, May 25, 2026. To play, customers complete bookish activities and visit participating stores to gain entries to win.  The MI Book Hop was created to generate fun around Independent Bookstore Day, extend the excitement a little farther and introduce new customers to stores. The goal is to make it as easy and fun for both stores and participants.

As a participating store, you’ll share in marketing MI Book Hop by posting on your social media channels, featuring the event in store emails, and providing customers with BINGO cards. There is a small buy-in fee for stores to participate, which is used to purchase prizes and manage administrative expenses.

The MI Book Hop has seen exponential growth both in stores and customers participating each year. We anticipate more growth with changes in 2026 that will make it even easier for customers and stores to participate.