• Check out the Indies First Planning Guide for resources, tips, and ideas for planning your 2026 Indies First celebration!
• Nominate yourself or another bookseller for the ABA Children’s Group Advisory Council!
• Order your 2026 Best Books for Young Readers catalogs now!

The Indies First Planning Guide is now available on BookWeb!

This guide is full of resources, tips, and ideas to help you make the most of your Indies First celebration.

Indies First, held every year on Small Business Saturday, is a national campaign designed to celebrate indie bookstores and help customers see them as an ideal spot for holiday shopping. 

For additional ideas, join us on August 20 for ShopTalk: Holiday Shopping Starts Here: Preparing for Indies First. This session covers practical ways to build excitement, create gift-focused experiences, partner with local businesses, and make the most of increased holiday foot traffic. 

• Tuesday, August 11 at 3:00 pm ET: New Member Series: Store Ownership 101
• Tuesday, August 18 at 3:00 pm ET: New Member Series: Meet the Partners
• Thursday, August 20 at 3:00 pm ET: ShopTalk: Holiday Shopping Starts Here: Preparing for Indies First
• Friday, August 21 at 2:00 pm ET: Board Office Hours

Thank you to African American Literature Book Club (AALBC) and the Black Book Accelerator for partnering with ABA to bring their BLK Bestseller List to IndieCommerce!

Integrating the BLK Bestsellers List into IndieCommerce gives independent booksellers immediate access to trusted, Circana BookScan-backed sales data focused on books by and about Black people! It takes the guesswork out of discovering titles with proven reader demand, helping stores better serve their communities while expanding the visibility of Black literature. 

This list is available on all IndieCommerce sites, and will automatically update monthly. There are 8 categories available: Adult Fiction (Hardcover), Adult Fiction (Paperback), Adult Nonfiction (Hardcover), Adult Nonfiction (Paperback), Juvenile Fiction, Juvenile Nonfiction, Young Adult and Poetry. Stores can choose to include all of these categories or just specific ones.

Stores with IndieCommerce sites can access their BLK Bestsellers landing page by adding /blk-bestsellers-list or /blk-bestsellers to the end of their website URL. (For example, 44thand3rdbookseller.com/blk-bestsellers-list is the BLK Bestsellers landing page for 44thand3rdbookseller.com.)

Stores may contact [email protected] for assistance.

Eighth Circuit Reverses Arkansas Free Speech Victory

The Eighth Circuit court reversed the district court win against Arkansas Act 372, ruling for the State on all claims. Act 372 establishes the criminal offense of “furnishing a harmful item to a minor,” defining harmful materials to include books, films, and live performances depicting sexual conduct or nudity and classifying the knowing provision of these items as a Class A misdemeanor.

For more than three years, ABA and its coalition partners, have been fighting in the courts to defend both the First Amendment and independent bookstores by having AR Act 372 overturned.

ABA and its coalition partners are currently assessing next steps regarding the court’s ruling.

Arkansas members: ABA is waiting for information from our attorneys to share with you in the next week. Watch your email and BTW for updates.