Education Resources

904 results. Results may be paginated. Select one or more topics and filter by tag, format, or conference to focus results. Some resources are visible only to logged-in, ABA bookseller members. Visit the Education Hub for additional resources.

Bookstore Resilience: Stories from Venerable Booksellers

Bookstore Resilience: Stories from Venerable Booksellers (February 14, 2024)
Content related to the education session Bookstore Resilience: Stories from Venerable Booksellers, Winter Institute 2024.
Watch video from this event.
Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • 101
Description
Nearly half of small businesses fail within the first five years, and only 25% make it to 15 years or more - and bookselling can be a particularly tough industry to crack. This makes it all the more impressive when a bookstore manages multiple decades in business, with no sign of stopping. This panel features five indomitable booksellers with more than 100 years of combined bookselling experience. They will share their stories and the ups and downs of their careers in bookselling, what motivates them to keep going, and their hopes for the future of the industry. Come learn from our bookselling veterans!
 
Speakers
Kris Kleindienst, Left Bank Books - St. Louis, MO
Janet Jones, Source Booksellers LLC - Detroit, MI
Rick Simonson, Elliott Bay Book Company - Seattle, WA
Brein Lopez, Children's Book World - Los Angeles, CA
Shirikiana Gerima, Sankofa Video and Books - Washington, DC
 
Files & Links

Developing De-escalation Skills

Developing De-escalation Skills (February 14, 2024)
Content related to the education session Developing De-escalation Skills, Winter Institute 2024.
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Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • 101
Description
As booksellers continue to be on the front lines of many consumer and human rights issues, the need for professionally-led training to keep booksellers safe has never been more important. In this session, participants will learn essential de-escalation skills and strategies to gracefully handle difficult customer interactions and defuse tensions while prioritizing staff safety. Empower yourself with the tools you need to navigate challenging situations with confidence and professionalism, fostering a welcoming and supportive atmosphere in your bookstore.
 
Speakers
Chasity Rush, Talbert House - Cincinnati, OH
 
Files & Links

Strategies for Employee Retention

Strategies for Employee Retention (February 14, 2024)
Content related to the education session Strategies for Employee Retention, Winter Institute 2024.
Watch video from this event.
Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • 101
Description
The heart of a bookstore is the bookseller in the stacks, on the floor, behind the counter, or in the back room. These are the dedicated professionals who create the welcoming environment your community experiences every day. How do you keep this team? This session will cover important factors that impact employee retention today. You will be asked to consider your store culture, the openness of store-wide communication, your diversity and inclusion efforts, and conditions around compensation, among other important factors that drive employee satisfaction and retention. Come prepared to listen, engage, and leave with the beginnings of an action plan.
 
Speakers
Suzanna Hermans, Oblong Books - Millerton, NY
Jamie Thomas, Women & Children First - Chicago, IL
DJ Johnson, Baldwin & Co. - New Orleans, LA
Lyn Roberts, Square Books - Oxford, MS
 
Files & Links

Getting Clarity: What Business Are You In?

Getting Clarity: What Business Are You In? (February 14, 2024)
Content related to the education session Getting Clarity: What Business Are You In?, Winter Institute 2024.
Watch video from this event.
Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • 101
Description
The changing landscape of bookselling brings new challenges every day, and it is essential to learn how to respond without losing sight of your goals or purpose. Join Bonnie Wan, author of The Life Brief, for a workshop that creates space to declare your ambitions/focus for 2024 and design a brief for how you will achieve growth, engagement, and concentrate on what matters most deeply to you and your business.
 
Speakers
Bonnie Wan, author of The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living (available now from Simon Element)
 
Files & Links

Tracking ROI for Events

Tracking ROI for Events (February 14, 2024)
Content related to the education session Tracking ROI for Events, Winter Institute 2024.
Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • Events
 
Although you may be creating events that look successful, your return on investment might not be. Come to this session to learn what information you should be tracking, how to track it, and how to analyze this data so you can evaluate whether or not an event is worth your staff’s time.
 
Speakers
Cindy Dach, Changing Hands Bookstore - Tempe, AZ
 
Files & Links

Banned Book Preparedness

Banned Book Preparedness (February 13, 2024)
Content related to the education session Banned Book Preparedness, Winter Institute 2024.
Topic:
  • Advocacy
Tags:
  • ABFE
 
This session presents practical ways to prepare to fight book bans before they come to your area. Staff from the American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), ABA’s free expression initiative, will advise attendees on what they can do locally: how to engage with their community and local government, and what actions to take if attempted book bans do arrive. Presented by the ABA Children’s Group.
 
Speakers
Cathy Berner, Blue Willow Bookshop - Houston, TX
Leah Johnson, Loudmouth Books - Indianapolis, IN
Philomena Polefrone, American Booksellers Association - White Plains, NY
Angela Cooper, ACLU of Kentucky - Louisville, KY
 
Files & Links

Batch for Books: The Easy Invoice Management Solution

Batch for Books: The Easy Invoice Management Solution (February 13, 2024)
Content related to the education session Batch for Books: The Easy Invoice Management Solution, Children's Institute 2024.
Topic:
  • Finance
Tags:
  • Technology
 
Every bookseller in the UK uses Batch to simplify their Accounts Payable and publisher invoice management and over 300 US booksellers (and growing!) are now using it. Come learn more about this free platform to:
  • Automatically and electronically organize publisher invoices to reduce paperwork and free up time.
  • Provide access to invoice information 24x7, enabling you to manage invoices when it’s most convenient for you.
  • Provide electronic invoices, allowing you to verify shipments and raise claims for damages or shortages at the point of delivery.
  • Allow payments to be prepared and remittances received and stored electronically.
  • Link with QuickBooks, enabling automated entry of invoice data directly into QuickBooks.
The more booksellers that sign up for Batch, the more publishers that will sign up! Saving everyone time and money.
 
Speakers
Kathy Burnette, Brain Lair Books - South Bend, IN
Kate Layte, Papercuts Bookshop - Boston, MA
Zachary Matelski, McLean and Eakin Booksellers - Petoskey, MI
Nathan Halter, Batch for Books - Hartford, CT
 
Files & Links

Leading Leaders: Developing Staff Leadership Skills

Leading Leaders: Developing Staff Leadership Skills (February 13, 2024)
Content related to the education session Leading Leaders: Developing Staff Leadership Skills, Winter Institute 2024.
Watch video from this event.
Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • 101
Description
Investing in the leadership skills of your staff has both short-term and long-term benefits, from building a better culture for your team to identifying potential successors when you retire. In this session, Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor and the forthcoming Radical Respect, will teach you how to nurture staff into leadership roles, and evaluate the process for success!
 
Speakers
Kim Scott, author of Radical Respect : How to Work Together Better (On sale May 7, 2024 from St. Martin's Griffin)
 
Files & Links

Making Numbers Count: Quantifying Success with KPIs

Making Numbers Count: Quantifying Success with KPIs (February 13, 2024)
Content related to the education session Making Numbers Count: Quantifying Success with KPIs, Winter Institute 2024.
Watch video from this event.
Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • 101
Description
You’ve meticulously curated your inventory, designed the perfect displays, and developed an events program for your community — but how will you know if what you’re doing is working? Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will give you the answer. KPIs are specific outcome-based targets that support your strategic plan and can be measured quantitatively, such as inventory turnover ratios, sales per square foot, and average transaction value. By the time you leave this session, you will: (1) understand the meaning and value of critical retail KPIs and how to track them, (2) understand how to compare your store’s KPIs against financial metrics found in the ABACUS report, and (3) be able to apply this data to create an improvement plan for at least one area of your store’s performance.
 
Speakers
Cynthia Compton, MacArthur Books - Carmel, IN
Melissa DeMotte, The Well Read Moose - Coeur d'Alene, ID
Candice Anderson, Tombolo Books - St. Petersburg, FL
 
Files & Links

Featured Talk: Beyond the Binary

Featured Talk: Beyond the Binary (February 13, 2024)
Content related to the education session Featured Talk: Beyond the Binary, Winter Institute 2024.
Watch video from this event.
Topic:
  • Bookselling Essentials
Tags:
  • 101
Description
Contemporary fiction increasingly invites the reader to see race, gender, and sexuality not as binary identities, but as a vibrant spectrum of diversity. This year's new fiction is opening up space for new ideas about how we might expand our understanding of identity and what myriad of relational dynamics are possible beyond the normative concepts of race, gender, and sexuality. In this keynote panel, four authors share their thoughts and experiences writing for a world that has moved beyond the traditional binary definitions of identity and belonging.
 
Speakers
Miranda July, author of All Fours (On sale May 14, 2024 from Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House)
Danzy Senna, author of Colored Television (On sale September 3, 2024 from Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House)
LaDarrion Williams, author of Blood at the Root (On sale May 7, 2024 from Labyrinth Road/Penguin Random House)
Maysoon Zayid, author of Shiny Misfits: A Graphic Novel (On sale April 16, 2024 from Graphix/Scholastic)
Anton Bogomazov, Politics and Prose Bookstore - Washington, DC
 
Files & Links

About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.

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