Cross-promotions are great vehicles for reaching new customers and spreading the Buy Local message and goodwill, both with fellow merchants and customers. And costs are usually shared, if not minimal or nonexistent. BTW spoke with Susan Weis of breathe books; Cindy Dach of Changing Hands Bookstore; Heather Duncan of Tattered Cover Book Store; and Kerry Slattery of Skylight Books about one of the most cost-effective ways to promote their indie businesses.
"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.
ABA's Curriculum Guide on BookWeb.org offers member booksellers more than 100 free educational resources, covering everything from formulating a business plan and conducting a store survey to creating killer events and stocking a graphic novels section.
Three savvy indie booksellers shared their ideas for using online tools to promote book sales with a packed house at the Fifth Annual Winter Institute education session "Handselling 201: Using the Digital Age to Your Advantage." Panelists Andrew Getman of Politics & Prose, Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore, and Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books presented real-life examples of how they have boosted sales via their store websites, in-house videos, Twitter campaigns, e-newsletters, and more.
The American Booksellers Association's Fifth Winter Institute (Wi5), to be held from Wednesday through Friday, February 3 - 5, 2010, in San Jose, California, will offer many benefits for attending bookstore and provisional members. Those who have not registered yet are urged to do so.
O'Reilly Media, Inc., is offering ABA members a 25 percent discount on its upcoming, online Tools of Change for Publishing Conference. The conference will be held online on Thursday, October 8, from noon to 3:20 p.m. EDT.
Registration opens today for the American Booksellers Association's Fifth Annual Winter Institute (Wi5), to be held from Wednesday, February 3, through Friday, February 5, 2010, at the Doubletree San Jose in San Jose, California. The education event, sponsored by Ingram Book Company/Ingram Publisher Services, is open exclusively to ABA bookstore and provisional members.
Today the American Booksellers Association provides a first look at programming for its seventh annual Day of Education, to be held on Thursday, May 28, at BookExpo America. This year, the Day of Education, sponsored by Ingram Book Group/Ingram Publisher Services, returns to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center as part of a series of innovations designed to invigorate the convention and to give booksellers and other industry professionals more networking opportunities.
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"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 
