Marketing

ABA member bookstores can once again purchase the popular Mary Engelbreit gift certificates, which bear the tagline “A Book Is a Present You Can Open Again and Again.”

Bookstores can add to the season’s festivities with Winter Holiday designs for banners, posters, and bookmarks archived in the Bookseller DIY’s Designs & Downloads. 

To date, more than 700 authors will be handselling their favorite titles at over 400 bookstores as part of Indies First, the grassroots movement launched by author Sherman Alexie.

The full catalog of limited-edition, word-based items developed exclusively for NCIBA and SCIBA bookstores to sell on California Bookstore Day, May 3, 2014, is now available. Orders are due no later than December 1.

ABA has created press release templates and sample social media posts and tweets that stores can use to create their own publicity outreach for Indies First and Small Business Saturday. An interactive map of participating Indies First stores and their visiting authors is now live.

Here’s both a look at some of the clever and creative ways ABA members rewarded customers during last year’s inaugural Thanks for Shopping Indie promotion and a peek at a plan or two for this year. Let us know what you’re planning for 2013!

Our annual holiday preparations checklist includes reminders about merchandising, marketing, and promotional efforts as well as updates to websites, blogs, and social media, along with other helpful hints.

More than 375 authors and 300-plus bookstores will come together to celebrate independent bookstores as part of the Indies First movement on Small Business Saturday, November 30. Sign up now to join in!

Based on input from booksellers on ABA’s Marketing Task Force, the logo and other materials for this year’s Thanks for Shopping Indie promotion have been totally redesigned. The new graphics include a new logo, web banners, and a letter-size poster.

Bookstores have just one more week to sign up for the Spring 2014 Indies Introduce Debut Authors promotion. Booksellers across the country have worked tirelessly to pick out the best and brightest of upcoming debuts for the spring selling season.

Starting today, BTW will be presenting a weekly Q&A with up-and-coming authors who are part of the Indies Introduce Debut Authors promotion. Indies Introduce is a multi-publisher promotion that highlights the top debut authors of the season, as selected by two panels of booksellers.

In order to participate in the spring 2014 Indies Introduce Debut Authors promotion, ABA member stores must select their titles by October 25. Independent booksellers across the country, doing what they do best, have discovered and championed these 20 titles as the best new talent to share with customers this spring.

More than 285 authors and 225 bookstores have signed up for the Indies First grassroots movement, which will celebrate the unique value of independent bookstores on Small Business Saturday, November 30.

Enthusiasm is revving up across the Golden State as preparations continue for the first California Bookstore Day, on May 3, 2014. Last week, booksellers at the NCIBA trade show learned about some of the limited edition, word-based items available exclusively for the day of the event.

The sign-up deadline for stores that are new to the Thanks for Shopping Indie promotion is Monday, October 14. The promotion, which launches on Small Business Saturday, offers more than 80 of ABA members’ favorite titles, each with its own built-in holiday present to share with customers.