Winter Institute

Registration for ABA’s 12th annual Winter Institute is set to open next Tuesday, September 13. Registration and hotel reservations are expected to sell out quickly, so booksellers are strongly encouraged to register and book a room as soon as possible.

The American Booksellers Association is currently accepting applications from booksellers for publisher-sponsored scholarships to the 2017 Winter Institute.

Booksellers interested in applying for a chance to win a publisher-sponsored scholarship to the 2017 Winter Institute can do so now via a form on BookWeb.org.

As development continues on Winter Institute 12’s educational programming, booksellers who have expertise related to specific session topics are asked to contact ABA.

Booksellers who are thinking about their travel plans to Winter Institute 12 should be aware that before the event officially kicks off with an opening reception on Friday evening, January 27, there will be much happening earlier in the day.

ABA will award the Avin Mark Domnitz Scholarship to attend the upcoming Winter Institute to the owner or an employee of a bookstore that submits its 2015 financial data to the ABACUS-15 Survey before the July 1 deadline.

ABA encourages member booksellers and publishers to offer suggestions about authors and other professionals who would make enlightening and inspiring Winter Institute speakers.

To help formulate programming for Winter Institute 12, ABA would like to hear from booksellers who have experimented with customer loyalty apps or other online customer loyalty platforms.

Five- to 10-minute interviews of Winter/Spring 2016 Indies Introduce authors, conducted by booksellers at Winter Institute 11, are now on ABA’s YouTube channel.

Following a Skype consultation with author and brand-building expert Martin Lindstrom, the staff at Avid Bookshop made changes in the interior and exterior of the store that have resulted in a boost in sales and many compliments from customers. 

Off the Shelf’s video compilation of bookseller interviews from Winter Institute’s first annual Backlist Book Swap is now available on YouTube. 

Bookseller panelists at the Winter Institute 11 education session “Working With Self-Published Authors” shared best practices for creating partnerships that benefit both self-published authors and the bookstore’s bottom line.

At Winter Institute 11, an education session presented by the ABC Group at ABA looked at the special challenges that booksellers face in managing inventory for young readers’ series in both general interest and children’s bookstores. 

Panelists at the Winter Institute 11 education session “Creating a Bookstore Café” shared tips and best practices for start-up, staffing, and overall management of a café.

At a Winter Institute education session presented by the ABC Children’s Group, a panel of booksellers and publishers offered tips for repurposing advance reading copies to generate sales while staying within publishers’ guidelines for sharing ARCs.