ABACUS Deadline Extended to April 30

Following a significant increase in the submission of bookstore financial data to the ABACUS project, ABA has extended the deadline for bookstores to contribute data to the first year's study to April 30.

Instructions and an online form for submitting data are available at www.bookweb.org/read/5786. Questions about ABACUS should be addressed to ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz at [email protected].

Booksellers who have attended previews of the ABACUS results at ABA Booksellers Forums over the past few months have reported being quite impressed with the project's results. (For more on the latest ABACUS preview, click here.) Importantly, as more bookstores contribute data to ABACUS, the project will become an increasingly valuable tool for members.

There will be a special session on ABACUS at this year's BookExpo America on Friday, May 30, from 9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. The session will present an in-depth report on the project's first year's results, and all ABA members are invited to the session.

In addition, all member bookstores that have submitted data to the project will receive their own store's results compared to relevant "data slices" from ABACUS. For instance, stores will be able to compare their results to stores in the same sales range, region of the country, or profitability range. Participating stores do not have to be at BEA to receive their data -- all submitting stores will receive this information.