On March 8, representatives of ABA (Board members and senior staff) will be hitting the road for the first in this year’s series of 10 spring Booksellers Forums. These open forums are designed to provide member booksellers with the opportunity to share ideas, discuss industry issues, and receive updates on various association projects. Each will also feature an educational session drawn from the recently concluded Winter Institute.
The Center for Fiction and ABA have announced a partnership to promote the seven shortlisted novels in the center’s annual Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. Four hundred-and-fifty ABA member stores focusing on literary fiction will receive promotional materials for the seven novels, and 50 booksellers across the country will be asked to be first-tier readers for the prize.
World Book Night has extended the sign-up deadline to midnight on Monday, February 6, for book givers and for stores and libraries that would like to serve as book pick-up locations for the April 23 celebration of reading.
Dozens of national organizations and several ABA member booksellers have joined together to protest the banning of books used for the Mexican American Studies program in the Tucson Unified School District.
ABA is urging members to meet with their federal lawmakers in person in their local, district offices to express their support for bipartisan sales tax fairness legislation currently under consideration.
In an economy where it can be difficult for small business owners to secure loans from traditional sources, an increasing number of start-ups are finding alternative sources of funding via social media and community outreach. “Is Alternative Financing an Option?” was the question explored at last month’s Winter Institute.
Data from two studies presented by Len Vlahos, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, at this year’s Winter Institute, provided booksellers with an overview of an industry clearly in flux.
Any bookseller currently in business will tell you that retail bookselling requires knowledge specific to the book industry as well as the necessary skills to run a successful small business. Two pitfalls that prospective booksellers should avoid is lack of training and inadequate funding.
Weller Book Works recently placed hundreds of free books for people to find throughout Salt Lake City in a guerrilla marketing campaign aimed at promoting both the store’s new location in Trolley Square and “the concept of the book.”
Book Passage owner recounts Winter Institute optimism; Wisconsin booksellers discuss World Book Night on public radio; Kepler’s prepares for the future; RiverRun sets reopening date; Duck’s Cottage to open branch in Manteo
Small business owners offer opinions on access to credit; B&N says it won’t sell books from Amazon Publishing; NRF contest encourages retailers to tell their story and “win big”
