ABA Board of Directors Election! Cast your vote by April 23.
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Wednesday, March 26, 2025
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Last Chance: Sign up for Indie Bookstore Day now!
Check out the 2025 Q2 marketing calendars.
Booksellers Advisory Council! Nominations Now Open!
Nominate Booksellers for the Booksellers Advisory Council!
 

Nominations are now open for the Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC)!

The BAC serves an important role in ABA’s work. BAC members provide feedback about ABA programs and services as they are being developed; offer suggestions to help ABA improve programs and better serve bookselling communities; bring concerns of booksellers and bookstore owners to the ABA staff and Board; and generally assist ABA.

Booksellers are invited to nominate themselves or other booksellers!

If you want to be a part of the BAC, visit BookWeb to check out the BAC guidelines and fill out the nomination form.

Nominations are due by April 11, 2025.
 
Nominate Booksellers
Independent Bookstore Day Advisory Council
Join the Indie Bookstore Day Advisory Committee!
 

Do you have an idea for next year’s Independent Bookstore Day? Join the Indie Bookstore Day Advisory Committee!

The Advisory Committee provides feedback on ideas for proposed items as well as event promotions from now through next April. 

This committee includes booksellers from each regional association, with members typically serving for two years.

To submit your name for consideration, complete the Advisory Committee Google Form by Monday, April 7.
 
Submit Form
 
Save the date for these upcoming events:
 
 
Visit Events Calendar
 
ABA Staff Update

We are thrilled to announce Geetha Nathan’s promotion to Associate Director of IndieCommerce and Development!

For 21 years, Nathan has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to supporting independent bookstores through technology solutions. 

Her tenure at ABA has been marked by excellence in her development of both the IndieCommerce 1.0 and 2.0 platforms, her consistent achievement of her performance goals, her dedicated support of the IndieCommerce team, and the ways she’s used her voice to make ABA and our work better. 

Her work ethic, dedication, intelligence, and professionalism have earned her the respect of members, staff, and management.

These past two years Nathan has overseen a multi-faceted development project. Her excellent development skills paired with her ability to oversee a development & migration team of 15 people from all over the world have helped bring the vision for a modern, enterprise-level e-commerce solution for indie bookstores to life. 

Please join us in congratulating her on this achievement!
 
Out of all your Wi2025 galleys, which book are you most excited about?
Publisher Survey
Take Our Annual Publisher Survey

Our annual Publisher Survey is your chance to be heard by publishers!

Your survey responses determine what concerns, comments, and suggestions we will bring to our 2025 publisher meetings.

Last year’s survey responses resulted in additional discounts for Indies First and the holiday season, publishers signing on to Batch for Books, improvements with damages, critical changes in middle grade readers, and publisher participation in IGNITE at Winter Institute 2025. 

Please take a moment to fill out the survey before Monday, April 7.
Take Survey
ABA Board Office Hours
ABA Board Office Hours

Join us Monday, April 14, at 3:00 pm ET, for the ABA Board Office Hours!

Board Office Hours are an opportunity for booksellers and bookstore owners to talk directly with ABA Board members to ask questions, share concerns or experiences, and/or express their needs for support.
Register Now
ABA Board President Tegan Tigani
125 Years of ABA: Q&A with Tegan Tigani

This year marks ABA’s 125th year of helping indie bookstores thrive. As part of our 125th anniversary celebration, we’ll be sharing interviews with key figures in the industry and exploring how the organization has changed since its inception in 1900.

Tegan Tigani is the current ABA Board President. Her election in 2023 was a milestone, as she is the first Board President that is not a bookstore owner. Tigani has more than twenty years experience in bookselling, and is currently the children's book buyer at Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle, WA. Her term as President will end later this year.

This week, Tigani sat down with Bookselling This Week to discuss her time on the Board, the industry changes she's witnessed over her bookselling career, and her hopes for the future.
Read Interview
Indies Introduce author Emma Pattee beside her debut april indie next list title, "Tilt."
A Q&A with Emma Pattee, Indies Introduce Author of the April Indie Next List Top Pick “Tilt”

Independent booksellers across the country have chosen Winter/Spring 2025 Indies Introduce selection author Emma Pattee’s Tilt as their top pick for the April 2025 Indie Next List.

Here, Desirae Wilkerson of Paper Boat Booksellers in Seattle, WA, talks with Emma Pattee about Tilt.

You can also visit the ABA podcast, BookED, to listen to this interview.
Read Interview
ZingTrain
ZingTrain Increases ABA Member Discount

Zingerman's Training (ZingTrain) provides in-person seminars, virtual workshops, and private training for teams designed to equip you with effective tools that strengthen your business systems and foster a vibrant and healthy organizational culture. 

ZingTrain has announced they are increasing their special discount for ABA members!

“We're updating this discount to 25% because we genuinely love working with bookstores,” ZingTrain announced. “We've also revamped our pricing structure, and we want to continue offering ABA members a greater discount than what's accessible to the general public.”
Learn More
The Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize
Apply for the Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize!

The Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation is now accepting applications for the Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize!

This prize is designed to help support booksellers as they work on a full-length manuscript. 

Do you qualify? Learn more about the program and apply now on the Binc website!

Booksellers have until April 22 to submit an application.
Apply Now
International Transgender Visibility Day
International Transgender Day of Visibility

Monday, March 31, is International Transgender Day of Visibility!

Take this opportunity to feature some of your favorite titles by trans authors.

Need some suggestions? Check out this reading list from American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE)!

There’s also still time for you to join this year’s Trans Rights Readathon!  Visit their website to join the readathon, find advocacy groups, and download assets.
Learn More
National Arab American Heritage Month
National Arab American Heritage Month

April is Arab American Heritage Month!

This month, consider highlighting a few titles by Arab American authors and supporting any Arab American-owned businesses in your community.

If you would like your store to be featured for National Arab American Heritage Month, please email [email protected] with a few photos and tell us about your store.
Email Editorial
Eid Mubarak! Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan on March 29.
Advocacy Updates
Advocacy Updates
 

Iowa Injunction Restored

In Penguin Random House, LLC et al. v. Robbins et al., Judge Locher of the District Court for the Southern District of Iowa reinstated a preliminary injunction against Iowa SF 496, which had been remanded to the District Court after the Eighth Circuit Appellate Court lifted the injunction in August. American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) congratulates the plaintiffs and will watch the progress of the case with interest. 

Book Ban Legislative Update

ABFE has been active in and/or monitoring legislation related to book censorship in Florida, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, and West Virginia.

ABFE Hotline

ABFE has a direct support hotline available for booksellers who need advice on dealing with free expression challenges. 

That could include any of the following in response to your curation, events, or mission: your store being targeted with coordinated harassment, call/email campaigns, threats, or vandalism; coordinated online abuse; protests or threats of protest. You should also feel free to call if you have a dilemma related to free expression that you want to talk through.

Visit BookWeb to learn more about the hotline. You’ll find it listed under Free Expression Resources. You will need to be logged in to see these resources.
 
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