Booksellers are invited to participate in a one-night virtual event with authors Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter to celebrate the publication of In the Heights: Finding Home (on sale June 15). Find more information and sign up here.

ABA just launched a new advocacy campaign to urge your state lawmakers to support independent retailers as we begin the recovery phase of the pandemic. Your advocacy has the power to drive public policy. Take action now with our one-click tool. (It only takes 2 minutes!)

Today, April 27, is the final day to cast your vote in the ABA Board of Directors election. If you’re the designated voter for your store, submit your store’s ballot now. Watch for Bookselling This Week on Friday, April 30, where winners will be announced.

Sign up now for the Buzz Books Editors Panel. The virtual event will be held on Wednesday, May 19, at 7:00 p.m. ET. Bestselling author Emma Straub, co-owner of Books Are Magic, will host. Find more information about the event and register here. 

ABA is asking all bookstores that participated in Independent Bookstore Day to provide feedback about the event via this survey by Friday, May 7.

ABA’s A Universe of Wishes four-part virtual reading series for indie bookstore customers and in support of We Need Diverse Books will conclude on April 28. Find more information about the event here.

Join in on a session called “Business Models: Nonprofits” to hear from booksellers who will provide information on starting a new nonprofit bookstore or transitioning an existing bookstore to a nonprofit on Thursday, April 29, at 3:00 p.m. ET. All booksellers are invited to register now.

Share best practices, talk business strategy, and crowdsource ideas and solutions to problems at this month’s ShopTalk in the Evening on April 29, from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET. ABA will send the meeting link to the entire bookstore membership a few hours before each event.

On Friday, April 30, Oprah and her latest book club pick, Marilynne Robinson, will discuss the second in the Gilead novels quartet, Home. Remind your customers to stop by the Oprah Book Club website to watch.

Booksellers, continue nominating titles for the annual ABC Best Books for Young Readers consumer catalog through Edelweiss or by using the form on Bookweb.org.

ABA is exploring interest in space for our LGBTQIA+ booksellers and bookstore owners to come together for connection, support, community, resources, and networking. Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey by Sunday, May 2. Allies and those who do not identify as LGBTQIA+ should not respond to this survey.

Over the weekend, stores celebrated Independent Bookstore Day with virtual events, author signings, giveaways, and more. Check out the #IndieBookstoreDay and #BookstoreDay tags on social media to see more.

Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) 2021 online sales were up 12.58 percent versus IBD sales in 2020. IBD 2021 also had the highest e-commerce conversion rate (the percentage of online shoppers that complete a transaction) we’ve seen in April. Here’s more insights into how this year’s IBD surpassed IBD 2020.

Your store received an email from Michael Becher of Industry Insights, with the subject line “ABACUS Benchmarking Survey,” which has all information necessary for you to begin filling out your ABACUS financial survey. Participating member stores will receive free reports that provide detailed information about where your store falls across a range of areas, including profitability, productivity, and financial management. ABACUS will highlight areas that need improvement, areas in which your store is succeeding, and everything in between. Here’s more information on ABACUS.

At the Matchbook Marketing Indie Next List page you can join the free newsletter program for bookstore customers. This transition is also the perfect opportunity to clean up your email list. Stores that were previously in the Shelf Awareness newsletter program should request their unsubscribe list from Shelf Awareness to share with Matchbook Marketing. Find more tips for cleaning up email lists here and take a look at more information about the Indie Next List e-newsletter here. 

The June Indie Next List is now available on BookWeb.org. It can also be found as an Edelweiss collection here.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the Supplemental Targeted Advance of $5,000 for businesses in a low-income community that suffered a greater than 50 percent economic loss and have 10 or fewer employees. The SBA will contact eligible businesses to apply and applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Eligible bookstores should remember to take advantage of the Employee Retention Tax Credit (worth up to $5,000 per employee for 2020 and $28,000 per employee for 2021). The tax credit can be claimed on quarterly tax filings. Learn more here.