Who Gets What -- and When -- With IndieBound

June 25, 2008

When IndieBound, the new movement celebrating the value of independent bookstores and other locally owned indie retailers, was launched by the American Booksellers Association at end of May, all independently owned member stores were automatically included in the program. A Literary Liberation Box with posters, decals, buttons, bookmarks, and lots of other rallying materials was sent to all locally owned ABA member stores. But the Liberation Box and the plethora of IndieBound marketing materials available via BookWeb.org are just the beginning.

Over the course of the year, several more IndieBound mailings will be sent to all independently owned member stores unless they choose to opt out of the program via an opt-out form on BookWeb.org.

New bricks-and-mortar ABA bookstore members that sell some amount of new books and booksellers that were previously Book Sense stores will also automatically receive the Red Box, featuring the Indie Next List fliers plus publisher-supplied items such as shelf-talkers, bookmarks, posters, catalogs, and time-sensitive marketing materials by the 15th of each month.

The quarterly Children's Box and the monthly White Box, which contains galleys, ARCs, and finished books supplied by ABA Publisher Partners, will be sent as long as a bookstore participates in ABA marketing programs in at least two of the following ways:

• Regularly reporting to the Indie Bestseller List (three out of four weeks monthly)
• Nominating titles for the Indie Next List (one nomination per quarter)
• Offering ABA Gift Cards
• Using the ABA E-commerce Solution
• Creating a Indie Next List store display and sending a photo that ABA can share with Publisher Partners (twice yearly)

New stores will be exempt from the White Box requirements for the first three months of membership; however, to continue receiving White Box mailings after that time, they must participate in the ABA Marketing Program as described above.

All independently owned member stores that were not previously Book Sense stores will receive a mailing of Indie Next List fliers during the months of July, August, and September unless they opt out of IndieBound. And those who would like to begin receiving the Red and White Box mailings can do so by participating in ABA's marketing programs in any two ways as outlined above. Even if stores don't want to receive the Red and White Boxes, they can continue to receive the Indie Next List fliers beyond September by contacting ABA via an e-mail to Sarah Rettger at sarah@bookweb.org.

Additionally, twice each month ABA sends more than 1,200 bookstores an Advance Access e-mail featuring news of galleys, reading copies, and finished books available from publishers for review. ABA member stores not currently receiving Advance Access can sign up to receive the bi-monthly announcement by sending an e-mail request to ABA's Peter Reynolds at peter@bookweb.org. Free reading copies available via Advance Access help booksellers make purchasing decisions, as well as find titles to nominate for the Indie Next List.

Booksellers with questions about any aspect of IndieBound are encouraged to contact Paige Poe, IndieBound outreach liaison, at paige@bookweb.org or (800) 637-0037, ext. 6668.

Publishers can learn more about becoming an ABA Publisher Partner, and about Advance Access, via BookWeb.org or by contacting Mark Nichols, senior director of publisher initiatives. Questions about Advance Access can also be directed to peter@bookweb.org.

Topics: News - Bookselling, IndieBound,