ABA CEO Sends Booksellers Congratulations and a Call to Be Counted

ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz

On Monday, June 30, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz sent a congratulatory e-mail to stores with Book Sense for the "extraordinary achievement" of having a record-breaking number -- 441 -- stores report their sales for the week ending June 22. Those sales are reflected in the Book Sense Bestseller Lists of June 26.

While this is "a remarkable milestone," Domnitz continued, "it points to the enormous untapped potential we have as a group." There are currently more than 1,250 independent bookstores with Book Sense, and "that means that 65 percent of the eligible reporters didn't make the effort to join with their colleagues to let people know just how important we are…. Sixty-five percent of our friends don't take the time to join with each other to proclaim who we are and what we mean to the spirit and the economics of the industry."

Domnitz's e-mail stressed that while independent bookstores staged great events surrounding the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that were covered in both the local and national media, much of the media coverage about the number of copies sold focused on the B&N, Borders, Amazon, and Wal-Mart.

"Which do you think really catches the attention of those in the publishing world, the media, and the consuming public?" Domnitz queried booksellers. He noted that independent booksellers did sell huge quantities of Harry Potter V, and that, "in fact, we probably sold well more than our market-share numbers would indicate that we should have."

The e-mail concluded, "The time has come for every Book Sense store to join us and to be a part of our combined ability to verify, every single week -- to the publishing community, to the media, and to the public -- that we are indispensable to the success of the book business!" (To read the e-mail in full, click here.)

Reporting to the Bestseller Lists takes less than two minutes utilizing the Neilsen/BookScan method of reporting or the ABA electronic upload method, Domnitz noted. (For more on Book Sense Bestseller List reporting methods, click here.) -- Rosemary Hawkins