ABA Forums Head to West Coast in April

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The American Booksellers Association is inviting booksellers to three Booksellers Forums to be held on the West Coast from April 7 to 12: in Lake Forest Park, Washington, on April 7; in North Hollywood, California, on April 9; and in San Francisco, California, on April 12.

Booksellers are encouraged to come to the Booksellers Forums with their questions and concerns. These discussions are an opportunity for booksellers to share thoughts with colleagues and with ABA, and for ABA to garner meaningful feedback on a wide range of topics.

Each event will also feature the new ABA education session “Exploring New Markets,” which examines how thoughtful innovation, combined with organized planning and execution, is key to successfully tapping new — and profitable — markets. A number of opportunities in both customer demographics and sales and marketing initiatives will be reviewed with an emphasis on practical steps necessary to implement appropriate programs in your store.

Here’s a look at the schedule for each of the forums:

Tuesday, April 7, 2015: Lake Forest Park, Washington
In conjunction with the
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association

Booksellers are invited to join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington, for the education session “Exploring New Markets” and an open forum discussion over lunch:

  • Exploring New Markets:  10:30 a.m. to Noon
  • ABA Booksellers Forum:  Noon to 2:00 p.m.

From 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., there will be an author reception, PNBA Authors on Tap, next door at Lake Forest Park Bar and Grill. The event will feature seven Pacific Northwest authors as well as beer, wine, and snacks.

Authors on tap for the reception are:

  • Jonathan Evison, This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! (Algonquin)
  • William Ritter, Beastly Bones: A Jackaby Novel (Algonquin)
  • Stephanie Kallos, Language Arts (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
  • Ryan Boudinot, The Octopus Rises (Fantagraphics)
  • Christopher Robinson, War of the Encyclopaedists (Scribner)
  • Tommy Wallach, We All Looked Up (S&S for Young Readers)
  • Jay Rubin, The Sun Gods (Chin Music Press)

ABA forum programming is free and open to all booksellers, members and non-members alike.

For planning purposes, those who will be attending the Booksellers Forum program are asked to RSVP to ABA Member Relationship Manager Nathan Halter by March 31.

Third Place Books is located at 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, Washington 98155.

Thursday, April 9, 2015: North Hollywood, California
In conjunction with the
Southern California Independent Booksellers Association

Booksellers are invited to join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen at the Beverly Garland Hotel for the education session “Exploring New Markets” and an open forum discussion over lunch:

  • Exploring New Markets: 10:30 a.m. to Noon
  • ABA Booksellers Forum:  Noon to 2:00 p.m.

SCIBA will also be hosting a meeting and a reception directly after lunch, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

ABA forum programming is free and open to all booksellers, members and non-members alike.

For planning purposes, booksellers who will be attending the forum program are asked to RSVP to ABA Member Relationship Manager Nathan Halter by April 3.

The Beverly Garland Hotel is located at 4222 Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood, California 91602.

Sunday, April 12: San Francisco, California
In conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association

Booksellers are invited to join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen at NCIBA’s offices at The Presidio for an open forum discussion and the education session “Exploring New Markets”:

  • ABA Booksellers Forum:  9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
  • Exploring New Markets:  10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

ABA forum programming is free and open to all booksellers, members and non-members alike.

ABA programming is part of the daylong NCIBA Spring Gathering, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sign-up for NCIBA programming is required and will cost $30 per person ($50 for non-members) at the door. Full event details are in the NCIBA program available here. The day includes breakfast, lunch, NCIBA education, an author reception, and a California Bookstore Day reception.

Those who are planning to attend should e-mail the sign-up form to [email protected] by April 3.