Winter Institute Town Hall Sparks Conversation on Online Sales, Diversity, and Other Concerns

Updated: February 13, 2016

The American Booksellers Association hosted a Town Hall meeting at the 2016 Winter Institute on Monday, January 25, and invited all booksellers to share their comments, questions, and concerns about the association and the book industry at large with the ABA Board and staff.

The Town Hall meeting was facilitated by ABA President Betsy Burton of The King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Vice President Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington. The two were joined by the entire ABA Board of Directors, including Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books and Café in Wichita, Kansas; John Evans of DIESEL, A Bookstore, with three locations in California; Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas; Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books in San Francisco, California; Matthew Norcross of McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan; Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut; and Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves ... Books in Buffalo, New York.

The first bookseller to address the Board was Christin Evans of The Booksmith in San Francisco and Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, California, who inquired about the status of the test that ABA launched in October on IndieBound.org as a way to increase traffic to member stores and their e-commerce sites. The test allows consumers to purchase books directly through IndieBound.org in an effort to improve their online shopping experience for an initial purchase, and then directs customers to several independent bookstores in their area for future purchases.

“I was very concerned that the ABA decided to expend resources on getting into the bookselling business. I oppose it on a philosophical and a practical basis,” said Evans. “Philosophically, I think the ABA should not be competing with its member bookstores and selling books. Practically…those resources would be better allocated to projects to benefit the member bookstores.”

Responding for the Board, Sindelar emphasized that the most important thing to know about the IndieBound test site is that it is a test, and that the test is still in progress, so results are not yet available. He noted that a significant factor in the decision to launch the test was data showing that very few visits to IndieBound were resulting in sales on members’ IndieCommerce sites, a reality that was the focus of a meeting of the ABA Digital Task Force.

“At the end of that we decided that there was enough support to try a test program,” said Sindelar. The task force concluded that the test’s results would indicate whether changes could be made to increase sales on IndieBound, and, if so, how to carry them out would be discussed.

Mulvihill added, “This test on IndieBound was in no way a distraction from ABA’s focus on improving IndieCommerce sites. This task force really informed the ABA staff as to what the priorities were for IndieCommerce and its continued development.”

“The Board takes this test very seriously,” assured Norcross. “We’re really hoping that anything we learn from here is going to help all of the membership.”

Kevin Gillies of Denver’s City Stacks Books & Coffee referred to that morning’s release of the results of a Civic Economics study on Amazon’s impact on retail nationally and asked about ABA’s work in conjunction with the regional associations to coordinate messaging about the importance of small businesses.

“ABA has been involved in this in a very visceral way since day one,” said Burton, and important work continues to be conducted with Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “We are deeply committed, and I urge all of you to not only support ABA and what we do, but to do the same work in your own communities.”

The report that was shared at the session “Amazon & Empty Storefronts: A Civic Economics Study” is available now on the Civic Economics website and will also be available to members on BookWeb following Winter Institute as will a video recording of the session and additional information and materials.

Tinsley Kampmier-Williamson, who is looking to open a bookstore in Swansea, Massachusetts, near a community in which Amazon will soon be opening a distribution center, asked for suggestions as to how to get residents in the area excited about supporting small businesses while not offending a community that is relying on the jobs provided by Amazon.

Noting that this was an issue that he himself grapples with as a Seattle bookseller, Sindelar encouraged Kampmier-Williamson to talk with bookstores in the Seattle area, where Amazon is headquartered, to discuss with them how they approach that sensitive situation.

“Part of the reason for Amazon’s dominance is that there are major cities in the United States that don’t have independent bookstores at all,” said Michael Herrmann of Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, New Hampshire, who asked if there has been any effort to encourage prospective members to open bookstores in those underserved markets.

“There’s a resurgence that we’re all monitoring but it isn’t keeping pace with the need for independent bookstores in more communities around the country,” said the Board’s John Evans, who added that one way to improve this situation is to make sure bank loans and other funding are more accessible, particularly for new booksellers. Burton noted that the Board was discussing different ways to address this important issue, and, in addition, she suggested booksellers share the Civic Economics study with city and state government officials when they discuss relevant issues.

Alison Reid of Diesel, A Bookstore, who attended Sunday’s featured talk, “Authors, Agents, and Booksellers—United for A Fair Marketplace,” suggested that ABA help create legally worded petitions that booksellers could circulate in their communities to collect signatures to send to the Department of Justice to show the extent of the support for its investigation into the business practices of Amazon.

George Kiskaddon of Builders Booksource in Berkeley, California, noted the high costs and swipe fees for credit card processing and said that he believes the credit card industry has fallen into practices that possibly violate antitrust laws. He asked if there was a way to put pressure on the Department of Justice to look into the industry’s current practices. Burton said the Board would look into working with other retail associations on the issue.

Paul Yamazaki of City Lights Books in San Francisco requested that an ongoing discussion be maintained about race and class in the book business, and suggested that ABA partner with the American Association of University Presses (AAUP) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to establish a cultural equity grant.

Noting that “[diversity] was a big topic at our last Town Hall meeting,” Burton updated booksellers about recent ABA Board activities, including changing the association’s Ends Policies to sharpen its focus on diversity, increasing the size of the Board by one member — thereby increasing opportunities for diversity — and by offering diversity scholarships.

Yamazaki also asked about the current work ABA is doing with AAUP to improve business relationships between university presses and independent bookstores. Responding for the Board, Welch noted that ABA had met with AAUP regarding the issue, and that additional outreach was being explored.

Steven Sparks from Green Apple Books said he would like to see passion for the indie spirit translate into support for independent publishers. Welch pointed out the growing number of small and independent publisher sponsors and authors at Winter Institute this year, and he suggested ways that booksellers could support independent publishers, including recommending titles from indie publishers to the Indie Next Lists and ordering titles from among the Indies Introduce selections. “All of us can do that — read more, read more widely, read more diversely, put more diverse books into your stores, and then we will see that our audience, our readers, start to adopt those books. It’s a grassroots thing. It’s the only way it’s going to work,” Welch said.

Jescia DeHart of BookPeople of Moscow in Moscow, Idaho, expressed frustration at the lack of search engines available for finding books online, commenting on how popular Amazon and Goodreads have become as sources for information and recommendations for books. “Is there something that IndieBound or the IndieCommerce platforms could do so that we’re drawing everybody there and that those are our go-to places not only as customers but as booksellers?” she asked.

Lacy Simons of hello hello books in Rockland, Maine, asked about the likelihood of being able to incorporate used book inventory onto IndieCommerce websites. “So many of us are in communities where it’s not really feasible to exist without used books,” said Simons, stressing how important used books are to her community of readers.

IndieCommerce features regarding used books are among those changes being evaluated, said Sindelar, who noted that all development was prioritized using IndieCommerce user input. Fiocco suggested that Simons look into attending the education program sponsored by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance at the Great American Bargain Book Show (March 2—4, 2016) in Atlanta, where Fiocco said there would be plenty of conversations about used books. Nathan Montoya of Village Lights Bookstore in Madison, Indiana, reminded booksellers of ABA’s affiliate partnership with Biblio.com, an independently owned online marketplace of rare and collectible books.

Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Miami reminded booksellers about the League of Independent Book Retailer Insurance Services (LIBRIS) insurance company. Kaplan, who sits on the LIBRIS board, said, “I know insurance is an extremely complicated, diverse vehicle, and it varies from state to state, but I would really hope that you would at least give LIBRIS potentially the final look when you are asking for bids on your insurance.”

Philbrick — a LIBRIS policy holder — shared her positive experience with LIBRIS when Bank Square Books was flooded during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. She also spoke about the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc), which helped the store’s employees pay rent and utilities while the store was closed during the cleanup process. “They are out there to help all booksellers and bookstores. They are just a really generous organization,” she said.

The American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) is also a critical organization in bookselling, said Welch, who asked booksellers to consider becoming ABFE members when they renew their ABA dues. “ABFE has been tremendously helpful to stores when books get challenged,” he said.

Kimberly Daniels Taws of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina, expressed concern about the proliferation of self-publishers and asked that ABA focus attention on what their growth means for the future of bookselling and the book industry as a whole.

Coming from a very small store, Janet Geddis of Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia, said more education for smaller stores would be helpful to her business. “We have actually quite a few [sessions] this time at this Winter Institute — we have more than ever before focusing on small stores. That’s definitely an ongoing discussion among the Board,” said Koehler.

Kesly April of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut, asked for advice on how to get more publishers to add their titles to Edelweiss and in a more timely manner. Burton suggested, “Bookseller by bookseller, talking to the reps and telling them this is urgently desired by all of us might help.”

Neal Sofman of Bookshop West Portal in San Francisco expressed frustration over books from publishers arriving damaged at the store. “When we’re talking about publisher visits, it is our chance to talk to publishers about things that make a difference to us,” said Burton, who encouraged booksellers to inform their sales reps when such issues arise, and also to participate in publisher programs coordinated by ABA to further strengthen those bookseller-publisher relationships. “Your participation and your ability to show them our power, that our knowledge moves the needle in the whole industry, not just for us, is critical,” Burton said.

Lucy Kogler from Talking Leaves ... Books requested that ABA’s current Ends Policies be revised, explaining that “Members will have multiple networking opportunities that foster a constructive exchange of ideas” should also include that members will have opportunities for an “open” exchange of ideas.

Correction: This report has been updated to reflect the following correction: Kimberly Daniels Taws of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina, expressed concern about the proliferation of self-publishers and asked that ABA focus attention on what their growth means for the future of bookselling and the book industry as a whole. She did not request more education about productive business relationships between booksellers and self-published authors.