Read a recap of ABA’s Annual Meeting and Town Hall, held last Thursday, May 27.

ABA’s Board of Directors met on May 12–13 to address a number of issues. Read a report here.

Register now to join Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust Chair Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who will answer questions on pressing issues for small businesses during a June 8 virtual event co-hosted by ABA and the Small Business Rising Coalition. Breakout sessions will offer a place to share your experiences with your peers.

Register for an upcoming education session called “Consigning Books and Other Products to Local Retailers,” which will take place on Thursday, June 17, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET. Booksellers will share tips for getting started and suggestions for maintaining a vibrant business through consigning products.

And take a look at this roundup of education sessions ABA held in May.

Read a Q&A with Indies Introduce author Paul Mendez, author of Rainbow Milk.

Interested in having your store featured in the Bookstore Showcase on BookWeb.org’s homepage? Let ABA know.

There’s only one week left to nominate children’s book titles for the annual ABC Best Books for Young Readers consumer catalog. Booksellers, nominate through Edelweiss or by using the form on Bookweb.org.

From June 6 to July 7, all proceeds generated from the indie-focused documentary The Bookstour will benefit the Book Industry Charity Foundation (Binc). Learn more here.

Juneteenth is a nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. While the Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, legally freed enslaved African Americans in Confederate states, it wasn’t until June 19, 1865, that some of the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were informed by Union Army General Gordon Granger. Learn more about the day, find reading lists, and see how bookstores are planning to celebrate.

The ABACUS deadline has been extended to Wednesday, June 16, so there is still time to fill out the survey. If you have previously participated, your account information has been carried forward. If you are a new participant, you will need to create an account to access the site (we recommend using an ID and password that is different from your ABA login credentials). The ABACUS reports let you compare your operations against those of other bookstores by such criteria as profitability and sales volume — and give you the ability to benchmark your store’s overall performance to ensure that you are managing the key drivers of profitability to greater success. Here’s more information about ABACUS.

ICYMI: In April, ABA offered free sessions from the Center for Anti-Violence Education on microaggressions in the workplace and de-escalation strategies. The recordings will be available until June 15. Watch them before they’re gone!

The Professional Bookseller Certification Program has opened registration for a new module on inventory management. Aimed toward owners and/or buyers, this module is designed to break down the inventory management process. Space is limited; only one person from a store may apply to attend. Review the syllabus before registering. Find more information here.

Following the June 1 centralization of IPS distribution, Ingram reps will hold weekly Zoom sessions to help booksellers through the process. Find more information here.

The federal health insurance marketplace and most state exchanges are open for a Special Enrollment Period through August 15. Booksellers can also take advantage of newly expanded subsidies enacted under the American Rescue Plan. Learn more here.

The U.S. Book Show is now available on demand. Register for free access to the event’s programming, and check out a panel called “How to Sell More Books Online in 2021,” which featured ABA’s Phil Davies, Bookshop’s Sarah High, and Libro.fm’s Mark Pearson. Recordings will be available through August 31.

Here is the Indie Romance Bestseller List, based on sales at independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending May 30, 2021.

Shelf-talkers for the June and July Indie Next List picks have been posted to BookWeb.org.

Interested in launching an IndieCommerce or IndieLite website? There is no more waiting list. Please submit your contract here. The IndieCommerce team will reach out with confirmation and next steps to get started as soon as possible.

Reminder: The deadline for IndieLite stores to switch to their own credit card processor is Friday, July 30. Take a look at this guide for more information. ABA also held a two-part webinar on the topic. View part one and part two.

For this week’s E-commerce Update, the IndieCommerce team looks at the sales trend for the past two weeks, compared to the same period pre-COVID in 2019. Also, take a look at this ransomware alert from IndieCommerce.