BTW - Week of July 17, 2019

17 Jul

April–June 2019: ABA Members Opened/Sold

The second quarter of 2019 saw 30 ABA member store openings and five sales of existing businesses to new owners. Among the openings are a romance bookstore, a bookmobile, and new branches of established bookstores.

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17 Jul
Hand holding a book

American Booksellers Association to Take Over Management of Independent Bookstore Day

At the fall regional trade shows, ABA will host an educational program that will offer an overview of the event and tips from booksellers who have successfully made the best of the national celebration.

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16 Jul

Face Out: ABA Board Member Jenny Cohen on Her Life Among Books

Waucoma Bookstore co-owner Jenny Cohen, who joined the ABA Board this past May, talks about her earliest experiences with books and reading, her goals as a new Board member, and more.

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17 Jul

Help ABA Plan for the 2020 Children’s Institute

Booksellers who attended the 2019 Children’s Institute are encouraged to fill out the post-event survey and sign into the Children’s Institute app to complete session evaluations.

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16 Jul

ABA Seeks Bookseller Innovators for Winter Institute Session

The hour-long “Innovation Arena” session will consist of four TEDx-style talks from booksellers who have had significant “aha!” moments over the past year.

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17 Jul

ABA Launches Survey on Environmental Sustainability

The American Booksellers Association is looking to gauge the interest of bookstores on environmental issues.

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16 Jul

ABA Seeks Information on How Stores Ship Online Orders

The eight-question survey looks at shipping providers, packaging materials, and shipping software.

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17 Jul
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Sign Up to Join ABA’s Marketing, Technology Meetups

These live online discussions feature expert booksellers sharing tips, tricks, advice, and insight with attendees.

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17 Jul
Snail on the Wall bookstore owner packing up books with her dog

Indie Booksellers Celebrate Shopping Local Instead of Amazon’s Prime Day

On July 15 and 16, indie booksellers across the country came up with creative social media posts and in-store promotions to remind shoppers of the importance of local businesses.

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17 Jul

BTW News Briefs

Amazon workers strike on Prime Day; Quad denied expedited trial in DoJ case; B&N sends deal information to shareholders; HarperCollins and Sony partner with Fox 2000; HarperCollins to launch HarperAlley; Arcadia to launch children’s imprint; University of Chicago Press adds three clients; Casemate to distribute Mercier; Personnel changes at Abrams & Chronicle, AAP, Crown, Bookazine; RNA’s Joan Hessayon Award contenders announced

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16 Jul

Retail Sales at Bookstores Down in May

Retail sales at U.S. bookstores were down by 0.7 percent in May 2019 compared to May 2018, according to preliminary figures from the Bureau of the Census. As of July 10, the year-to-date sales among ABA member stores, as reported to the weekly Indie Bestseller Lists, are down 0.5 percent over 2018. Compound annual growth among ABA member stores is 7.5 percent over the past five years. 

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17 Jul
Advocacy logo

ABA Calls on FTC to Look Into Amazon Monopoly

In its letter, ABA illustrated how “industry trends and data clearly indicate that Amazon is well on its way to becoming a tech industry monopoly, and it is already a monopoly in the book industry.”

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17 Jul

House Antitrust Committee Holds Hearing on Market Power of Online Platforms

The subcommittee heard from two panels of witnesses, including Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance as well as representatives from Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple.

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17 Jul

Ci7 Education: The Art of Reading Aloud

During the session, attendees not only learned about how to implement a fun and engaging story time in their stores, but participated in a story time themselves. 

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16 Jul

Ci7 Education: Advanced Bookselling — Author Event Grids

In this session, attendees heard tips for the perfect pitch, how to create a great general event profile, how to request access to author grids, and more.

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17 Jul

Marketing Meetup Recap: Catching the Romance Reader

Here are some of the tips the speakers shared on how indie booksellers can better welcome and promote romance books in their stores.

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16 Jul
IndieCommerce logo image

IndieCommunication: IDing Fraudulent Orders, Taking Webinar Requests, Rolling Out New Features

The most recent IndieCommunication included details about red flags for fraudulent orders, a call for topics for upcoming webinars, and highlights of new features and updates for IndieCommerce sites.

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17 Jul
The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele

An Indies Introduce Q&A With Kimi Eisele

Indie booksellers have called Kimi Eisele’s debut, The Lightest Object in the Universe, “hopeful,” “heartbreaking,” and “a story that will stick with you.”

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17 Jul

The Indie Biography & Memoir Bestseller List

The American Booksellers Association’s specialty bestseller lists provide a current snapshot of what’s selling in indie bookstores nationwide.

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16 Jul

A Summer Update From Libro.fm

Libro.fm is running a variety of listener promotions this summer, including the company’s #AudiobookSwitch campaign and its Summer Listening Challenge.

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17 Jul
The "40 Years of Book Posters from Square Books" opening at Southside Gallery.

Around Indies

Semicolon, Fables now open; Book Club, Commonplace Reader to open this year; Womrath under new ownership; Loyalty plans second location; Bartleby’s, Covered Treasures, Pageturners celebrate anniversaries; Square Books hosts art installation at local gallery; Yankee, Run for Cover, Riffraff, Sundog, I Know You Like a Book, Lit. On Fire, The Book Nook, The Bookshop, Charis featured in local news. 

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About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.

Contact

PRESS INQUIRIES: [email protected]

INDIECOMMERCE: [email protected]

ALL OTHER INQUIRIES: [email protected]

 

 

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