Spring Forums Coming Up in SIBA, MIBA, and NAIBA Regions

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2018 ABA Spring Forums logoOver the next week, the American Booksellers Association is hosting Spring Forums in three locations around the country: this Friday, March 23, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; on Monday, March 26, in St. Paul, Minnesota; and on Wednesday, March 28, in New York City.

“Attendance and participation at the three forums held so far, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, have exceeded expectations,” reported ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, “and we eagerly look forward to the remaining seven. Booksellers have contributed multiple additional items to the annual calendar being presented during the ‘A Year of Bookstore Profitability’ session, and, as always, the open forums have generated lots of interesting and helpful conversations.”

All independent booksellers — ABA members and non-members alike — are invited to attend the forums, which are being held in conjunction with the regional bookseller associations.

Each program will feature an open forum discussion of industry issues plus the new education session “A Year of Bookstore Profitability.” The session will present a year-long calendar of effective steps that bookstores can implement — as well as key cost-saving programs — to boost sales and improve the bottom line. This session is applicable to all bookstore employees, and booksellers will be invited to join the conversation and share the initiatives they use to improve profitability each quarter.

As part of the open forum segment of the program, booksellers will have the opportunity to discuss any of their concerns related to ABA, the book industry in general, and other issues. The spring forum discussions are a critically important vehicle for ABA to gather feedback from members, and all are encouraged to come prepared to discuss their concerns.

Try Out an ABA Membership

Non-member booksellers attending one of the forums are invited to sign up to test drive an ABA membership for free through August 31. This offer applies to stores that have not been ABA members in the past two years.

Between March 15 and May 15, booksellers can enter the code “Spring2018free” in the new member application on BookWeb.org to sign up for the free trial. Following the trial period, stores will have the option to convert their membership to regular status until the end of the dues year (January 31, 2019) for a prorated portion of the new member rate of $199.

Need a Store Website?

Stores that sign up for an IndieLite website between March 15 and April 30 will receive the first three months of their subscription for free (a $150 value). To participate, stores must be a current ABA member. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call (800) 637-0037 (option 2).


Upcoming Spring Forums

The March 23 Spring Forum in Chapel Hill will be held in conjunction with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher, Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen, and Board Vice President Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books for the ABA education session (10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.), lunch and an open forum discussion (11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.), and a SIBA/ABA session on “Talking About Amazon and Localism in Your Community” (1:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.).

The event will be held at Flyleaf Books, located at 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Chapel Hill.

Booksellers planning to attend are asked to RSVP to SIBA Member Relationship Manager Daniel O’Brien.


The March 26 Spring Forum in St. Paul will be held in conjunction with the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association. Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher, Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, and Board Vice President Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books for the ABA education session (10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) and lunch and the open forum (12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.), followed by MIBA programming from 1:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The event will be held at Amsterdam Bar and Hall, located at 6 West 6th Street in St. Paul. Attendees are invited to an afterparty at Subtext Books.

Booksellers planning to attend are asked to RSVP to MIBA Member Relationship Manager Liz Roberts.


The March 28 Spring Forum in New York City will be held in conjunction with the New Atlantic Indpendent Booksellers Association. Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher, Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen, Education Manager Lisa Winn, Member Relationship Manager Liz Roberts, and Board Member Christine Onorati of WORD bookstores for an education session, lunch, and an open forum.

The event will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Marks Paneth LLP, located at 685 3rd Avenue in New York City. A photo ID is required.

Booksellers planning to attend are asked to RSVP to NAIBA Member Relationship Manager Liz Roberts.

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