As part of the “Good Books Come To Those Who Shop Early” fall campaign, we are looking for booksellers to submit a photo or three-second video showing a book they are recommending to gift this holiday season. Feel free to recommend backlist titles or new releases! Submissions will be compiled into carousels or videos on social media with stores tagged throughout the shopping season.

Nominate a Bookseller (or Yourself!) for the ABA Board. What does the ABA board do? The ABA Board sets policy for the association, monitors the performance of the CEO — who is responsible for formulating and executing a strategy to meet the ends policies of the organization — and futurecasts for industry trends to inform the membership and ABA’s work. Directors on the ABA Board meet several times over the course of the year, primarily virtually with one or two in-person/hybrid events, and serve on board committees.

Binc has issued an appeal to the industry to contribute funds for bookseller relief after Hurricane Ian devastated southwest Florida this past week. In a release, Binc stated that “dozens of bookstores and comic shops” have closed temporarily, while others are trying to stay open despite having no power and dealing with damaged fixtures and lost inventory. Bookstore owners and employees in Florida are also contending with having to pay rent and buy essentials while also dealing with lost income due to Ian’s impact. This past weekend, Binc started receiving requests for assistance from Florida booksellers in need and the organization anticipates that it will receive many more such requests in the coming weeks and encourages booksellers in need to contact the organization.

Applications are now open for the Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activist. The scholarship gives an independent bookseller the opportunity to attend two bookselling events as well as receive a $1,000 grant to make their community stronger. 2023’s award will be the fourth Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activists awarded by the Friends of Carla Gray Committee and the Binc Foundation. This professional development scholarship is intended to help a bookseller with fewer than five years of experience connect with other booksellers, publishers, and authors and establish the long-term relationships that keep the book industry thriving. 

Check out American Booksellers for Free Expression's (ABFE) ongoing work providing booksellers with free expression resources and protecting the right to read. Booksellers can find ABFE's quarterly updates under the "Free Expression Work" header on the ABFE page. We continue to urge booksellers to sign and share ABFE’s banned books petition. Everyone in stores can sign the petition. You do not need a BookWeb login. The petition is for independent booksellers to collectively condemn the growing partisan attacks on books and offer support to schools and libraries. Questions can be sent to ABFE Director David Grogan at [email protected].

Banned Books Week may be over, but sadly, challenges and book bans have not slowed down. Show your support for free expression and Banned Books Week by purchasing an "I Read Dangerously" T-shirt. All sales go to support ABFE, ABA's free expression initiative. Let everyone know you support the right to read! ABA also has the temporary, waterless "I Read Dangerously" tattoos available that booksellers can sell in their stores. All net profits from sales go to the American Booksellers for Free Expression. To order or inquire, please email [email protected].

With open enrollment for health insurance beginning on November 1, 2022 in most states, ABA wants to remind booksellers about its partnership with LIG Solutions. LIG Solutions is a health insurance concierge service offering customers in-depth knowledge about health insurance solutions available in their state. LIG provides a centralized location for answers to health insurance questions. Booksellers can purchase health insurance policies through LIG. Contact ABA’s membership health insurance partner, LIG Solutions for a no-obligation health insurance assessment.

Medicare’s Open Enrollment starts October 15, 2022. Booksellers eligible for Medicare can enroll in health and drug plans through December 7, 2022.  Interested booksellers continue reading to learn more and sign up.

Here are the 25 Indie Next List and 6 Now in Paperback picks on the November 2022 Indie Next List flier. Top pick? We Are the Light by Mathew Quick. And, to mark the start of a new month, October Indie Next List social media assets are live on BookWeb.

Maggie Horne is the author of the novel Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One, a Summer/Fall 2022 Indies Introduce middle grade selection. Here, Horne and Melissa Taylor of E. Shaver, Bookseller in Savannah, GA and Nicole Brinkley of Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY, discuss Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One.

• 1804 Books
• A Room of One’s Own Bookstore 
• Atlanta Vintage Books 
• Bookmarc Alliance 
• Blue Cypress Books  
• Bronx Bound Books
• Femme Fire Books
• King’s Books
• Little Visioneers 
• Montana Book Co.
  

• Orca Books
• Pride Book Café
  
• Resist Booksellers
• Rooted MKE
• Sistah Scifi
• Strive Bookstore
• The Filling Station
• The Resistance Bookstore
• Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop 
  
• West Side Books & Curios
  

Here is the Comics & Graphic Works List, now including the Manga Bestseller List, based on sales at independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending October 2, 2022.

October 11 is National Coming out Day! Here is a LGBTQ2SIA+ reading list of books to celebrate. These authors and their books have also faced censorship bans and attacks, and we continue to recognize and uplift banned books throughout the year. 

• Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin 
• And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson 
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
• Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
• The Dirt She Ate by Minnie Bruce Pratt
• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Celebrating Hispanic/Latinx authors and books through store community events is a great way to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated Thursday, September 15, through Saturday, October 15. October is also National Book Month, which is a great time to share and display favorite books from your team throughout your store. Here are five favorite books from ABA’s Accounting Coordinator, Ana Gonzalez. Ana said, “It brings me joy to see my heritage represented and celebrated in a book as a main character, instead of the racist stereotypical minor roles such as the maid or drug trafficker. Latinx books that empower a young adult to dream big and educate other communities about my culture are my favorite to read.” 

1. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo 
2. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo 
3. Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo 
4. Undercover Latina by Aya de León
5. Death Comes in through the Kitchen by Teresa Dovalpage

This year Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated on Monday, October 10. It is a day to recognize and celebrate Indigenous communities, cultures, and histories. Indigenous Peoples’ Day was first proposed during the 1977 Geneva United Nations Conference. South Dakota became the first state to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 1989. Berkely, CA then became the first U.S. city to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day in 1992. In celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, ABA is proud to highlight some Indigenous owned bookstores in our membership ranks.

• Birchbark Books & Native Arts
• Books & Burrow 
• Eleanor’s Bookshop 
• Green Feather Book Company
• Libélula Books & Co.
• Libros Bookmobile 
• Red Planet Books & Comics 
• Paperbacks & Frybread Co.