• Use these holiday assets to tell customers to “Start the Season at Your Indie Bookstore!”
• Check out the Indie Bookstore Day Planning Guide and start planning your 2027 celebration!
• Take advantage of this year’s Indies First publisher specials. 
• Check out the 2026 Indie Gift Guide for Genre Lovers Preview.

Encourage your shoppers to “Start the Season at Your Indie Bookstore” with our new holiday campaign assets!

For the early shoppers. The last-minute shoppers. The “I’m just browsing” shoppers. The devoted readers. The people who haven’t picked up a book in months. Indie bookstores have a place for all this season. 

These holiday assets are now available for download on BookWeb, along with suggested language, to help you promote holiday shopping!

In the photo above, you’ll see a sneak peek of some of the 2027 Indie Bookstore Day exclusives!

The full catalog of exclusives will be available for preview next week, and the Indie Bookstore Day Exclusives order form will open on Thursday, October 1. Keep an eye on BTW for more details.

Don’t forget to check out the Independent Bookstore Day Planning Guide! This guide is full of tips, ideas for how to celebrate, and strategies for sharing the word about Indie Bookstore Day.

• Thursday, September 24 at 3:00 pm ET: AI: What We Know
• Thursday, October 1: Indie Bookstore Day 2027 Exclusives Order and Participation Form Opens
• Thursday, October 1 at 3:00 pm ET: Opting In or Opting Out of AI

Registration for the Paz & Associates Seminar at Winter Institute 2027 (Wi2027) will open on Monday, September 21, at 1:00 pm ET/10:00 am PT.

ABA’s 22nd annual Winter Institute (Wi2027) will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 10–14, 2027.

The Paz & Associates Seminar: So You Want to Own a Bookstore? Business Best Practices for Future Store Owners will take place on Thursday, February 11, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. 

This session is designed specifically for aspiring or new bookstore owners. Pre-registration is required. 

Members who have already registered for Winter Institute may add a Paz registration to their event registration for $299. 

Provisional members may register to attend the Paz Seminar, but they must also register for the full event or a Thursday Day Pass.

• Registration for the full event + Paz: $794
• Thursday Day Pass + Paz: $409

Voting, for some, is tradition. It is something they do every time an election is held. Voting for others is complicated. The folks that fall into the latter category often feel marginalized or even disenfranchised. These are people often without community and hope. 

As community centers and third spaces, bookstores are the perfect places to create an environment of activism and action. This is one of the many reasons why we partnered with the League of Women Voters (LWV), so that you, our members, can engage those in your community looking for an opportunity to get involved. You can be a catalyst for the estimated 89 million registered voters who did not exercise their voting rights in the last election. You put books in their hands and open new worlds. You create safe spaces and spaces of community. You can also make a difference ensuring that the Right to Read remains a freedom. 

Reach out today and create your plan of action for your community. There are endless possibilities, but one solid opportunity for you and your community to share your voice.

Summer/Fall Regional Trade Shows

This week the Advocacy team joined several other ABA staff members at the summer/fall regional trade shows. 

ABA’s Director of Free Expression, Advocacy & Public Policy David Grogan appeared at NEIBA’s Fall Conference on a panel covering some of the pressing issues facing booksellers right now, like ADA website compliance lawsuits, swipe fee reform, and federal bills looking to censor books on race and gender.

At the panel discussion, Grogan noted the federal censorship bills did not appear to have any life at the present moment. “But with Halloween right around the corner...I view these bills like the killer in a horror movie,” he said. “Just when you think the killer is dead, when they’ve dumped five tons of dirt on him and you think there is no way they could still be alive...suddenly a hand pokes through the ground. We can’t have that happen with these bills. We need to make sure they stay dead by making sure our lawmakers know these bills are deal-breakers.”

He urged booksellers to go to BookWeb.org/Advocacy to reach out to their lawmakers.

Banned Books Week Social Media Display Contest

The 4th annual Banned Books Week Social Media Display Contest will take place this year! Start thinking of the best ways to use your Banned Books Week kits (which should arrive this week) to make an unforgettable display. Details will be featured in an upcoming edition of BTW.

Experiencing Harassment?

ABA has heard from a few stores who are experiencing harassment.

If your store is experiencing harassment, you can always reach out to [email protected] for assistance. You can also refer to resources like our Toolkit for Navigating Bookstore Harassment, Threats, and Intimidation.

ABA Joins Groups in Support of Rolling Back SBA’s Green Card Restrictions

ABA recently joined with Small Business Majority and a number of other organizations in strong support of S. J. Res. 202/H. J. Res. 207. The resolutions would roll back the latest version of the US Small Business Administration’s (SBA) harmful citizenship restrictions on the 7(a) and 504 loan programs eligibility for small businesses that are owned, or partly owned, by green card holders (lawful permanent residents).

On March 1, the SBA implemented changes to its lending guidelines that restrict access to entrepreneurship. The new loan eligibility criteria specifies that all direct and indirect owners of a small business must be US citizens or nationals with principal residence in the United States to be eligible for the 7(a) and 504 programs. Since April 1, these restrictions also apply to the agency’s Microloan and Surety Bond programs. These restrictions will have grave consequences for the small business community and the broader economy: in FY25 alone, green card holders received an estimated 5,700 loans through the 7(a) and 504 programs, totaling $5.7 billion and supporting more than 80,000 jobs.