Industry News

Over the course of four days last week, the ABA Board of Directors met in Austin, Texas, to consider a range of issues of concern to independent booksellers.

During its June meeting, the ABA Board approved committee appointments, revised the association’s Ends Policies, discussed ways to improve educational programming and the Indie Next Lists, and considered myriad other issues.

Based on sales in independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending June 5, 2011.

The ABA Board of Directors held its spring meeting on May 21 and 22, prior to BEA 2011. Over the course of the two days, the Board  welcomed the association’s newly elected officers and directors and worked on a range of issues.

On Thursday, January 20, the ABA Board of Directors met with President Obama in the Oval Office for the presentation of the ABA White House Library, a selection of current titles given to each presidential administration since 1929, for the reading pleasure of the First Family.

The American Booksellers Association’s Board of Directors held its 2010 fall meeting in Tarrytown, New York, from Sunday, October 17, through Wednesday, October 20.

Inspired by last year’s positive response to its Banned Books Week display, Michigan’s Literary Life Bookstore & More has expanded plans for this year’s September 25 - October 2 celebration of the freedom to read.

The American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors held its summer meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, from Thursday, July 15, through Sunday, July 18.

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors held its spring meeting on Sunday and Monday, May 23 and 24, in New York City, prior to BookExpo America 2010.

"Word-for-word a well-crafted shelf talker can be the most effective means of recommending a book to an avid reader," said Joe Drabyak of Chester County Book & Music Company in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors and senior staff held meetings from Sunday through Tuesday, January 31 - February 2, 2010, just prior to the Fifth Annual Winter Institute, at the Doubletree hotel in San Jose, California.

Among its activities during the two and a half days of meetings, the Board:

This past weekend, several ABA staff members joined front-line booksellers at celebrations marking the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Here are reports filed by ABA COO Oren Teicher at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona; ABA Information Director Dan Cullen at Other Tiger in Westerly, Rhode Island; and Book Sense Marketing Director Mark Nichols at The Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, Connecticut.

By ABA COO Oren Teicher at Changing Hands Bookstore

The ABA/Book Sense Lounge at BookExpo America (BEA) -- Room 401 at the McCormick Place Convention Center -- is the place to go to learn about Book Sense Bestseller reporting. ABA staff will be on hand from Thursday, June 3, through Sunday, June 6, to explain how easy it is to report your weekly sales figures through the Nielsen BookScan, ABA Upload, or ABA Web Data Form methods.

As the trade and consumer recognition of the Book Sense Bestseller list grows, bookstores that do not yet regularly report to the list have the potential of significantly helping to widen the scope and awareness of the list. Publishers already look to the Book Sense Bestseller lists as an accurate barometer of trends within the independent bookselling community, and consumer awareness of the bestseller lists (and the Book Sense program in general) is growing rapidly.

ABA recently launched a new set of features on the Book Sense Bestseller List reporting Web site, bestsellers.bookweb.org, designed to simplify the reporting process for booksellers who choose the manual-entry method each week.