ABA is renewing its #BoxedOut campaign in response to Amazon’s Prime Day shopping promotion on June 21 and 22! Here are some new social media assets that highlight reasons to shop with indie bookstores. Share these assets with your followers using the hashtags #BoxedOut and #ShopIndie, and send the press release to local media outlets!

Children’s Institute (Ci9) registration is open now! Ci9 will take place virtually from Monday, August 30, through Wednesday, September 1. This is an institute you won’t want to miss — and here’s your final chance to contribute to the topics that will be discussed during the Ci9 roundtables!

Submit your application by Friday, June 25, for a scholarship to ABA’s next Winter Institute (Wi2022), which will take place February 13–16, 2022, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The winning booksellers will be announced in July.

Complete the Independent Bookstore Day sell-thru survey by Monday, June 21. Help us plan for next year’s event — let us know how many of each exclusive item your store has sold to date for Bookstore Day 2021.

Monday, June 21, at 6:00 p.m. ET: Booksellers and bookstore owners who identify as a member of the Disability community are invited to gather for connection, support, community, resources, and networking. The term disability includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses. Sign up at the bottom of the ABA Meetups page to join the Disability Community Meetups mailing list. To ensure that this space belongs to the attendees, ABA staff will not be in attendance and another attendee will act as the host. This meetup is for people who identify or think they may identify as a person with a disability. Allies are asked not to attend.

Tuesday, June 22, at 4:00 p.m.: This ShopTalk is for members working at stores with cafes/restaurants to come together for connection, support, community, and resources. Come discuss the unique issues you experience within your business. Register in advance.

Wednesday, June 23, at 12:30 p.m. ET: U.S. Books Industry Analyst Kristen McLean will present the webinar “Understanding Trends in the U.S. Kids’ Book and Licensing Market.”

Wednesday, June 23, at 1:00 p.m. ET: The IndieCommerce team is hosting a webinar on “Keeping Up With New Features.” This webinar will go over the latest feature updates to your IndieCommerce site, with a live demo on how to use these features.

Thursday, June 24, at 8:00 p.m. ET: This evening ShopTalk offers an open forum for booksellers and bookstore owners to share best practices, talk about their business, and crowdsource ideas and solutions to problems. ABA will send the meeting link to the entire bookstore membership a few hours before the event.

Juneteenth is tomorrow! Planning to celebrate? Share your pictures with socialmedia@bookweb.org!

As compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also applies to websites, booksellers are encouraged to test their website at WebAccessibility.com and make improvements as soon as possible. Several bookstores recently received legal notice that their sites are inaccessible; the time to act is now! Accessible websites support people who may use assistive technology to navigate the internet, foster a more welcoming environment within the book community, and help to reach a greater population.

Did you start your ABACUS financial survey just under the wire? For those who have begun, you have until Sunday, June 27, to complete your submission. Need a little help? Watch this recording of ABA CFO PK Sindwani discussing strategies for filling out the survey.

Check out the Indie Sci-fi/Fantasy Bestseller List, based on sales at independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending June 13, 2021.

Claim your Constant Contact rebate! If you signed up for the program, we sent your store an email with the subject “Your Constant Contact Rebate” with instructions to receive your reimbursement. Visit our Business Partnerships page to learn more about the program.

Booksellers are encouraged to look through this list of federal COVID relief options available for small businesses, along with accompanying deadlines. While some options have been exhausted, others are still available. Look through the list to ensure you are not leaving money on the table.

Get discounted registration — $69 — for the 2021 ALA Annual Conference’s Library Marketplace. Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will open the Library Marketplace on June 23. This offer only applies to The Library Marketplace, not the full conference. If interested in attending the full conference, upgrade your registration by clicking any session not included in the Library Marketplace to receive further instructions.