A Letter From ABA’s President

To My Fellow Book Buds in Arms,

I have a huge favor to ask all of you: If you haven’t submitted your financial data to the ABACUS Survey, I strongly urge you to do it! For those of you who have never participated in ABACUS, I can’t tell you what an incredible tool it has been to my business, as well as many other of your fellow indie booksellers.

ABACUS — All I can say is, don’t say WHY, say WHY NOT! It is such an incredible tool! It’s easy to report. And the detailed, informative report you receive is FREE! But it’s only free if you participate. Don’t be apathetic and assume that others will do this — join in. We are stronger when more of us take part. More data – better results!

ABACUS truly is the only resource we have for benchmarking and analysis in our part of the book trade. I can use this report to slice and dice so much information to see how we are doing compared to other stores of our size and sales. We use it every year to look into our payroll, sales per square foot, occupancy rates, gross margins, advertising costs compared to gross, rent /occupancy rates compared to profit, and so much more! It is the best piece of information that we use to make adjustments to the way we operate our stores on an everyday basis. We share this report with our accounting firm, and just recently they used it to value our business — something we do on a regular several-year cycle.

No worries about confidentiality — all of your data and information is kept totally private. You will receive a detailed report for your individual store, a report sent to you alone. The aggregated report of all ABACUS participants will also be sent to you.

Don’t delay: The deadline is August 15!

As long as I’m asking for favors: Why not ask for more of you to report your sales to BookScan. It’s confidential, it’s easy, and the more of us who report, the truer the evidence is that we are the first to put books on the map. This is totally a reflection of our tastes, the way we handsell and put eyeballs on what we are passionate about and love. We have and will continue to stay relevant to the publishing world, authors, and readers. We are the buzz creators — but we need as many of us as possible reporting to BookScan so that our numbers will make the buzz a noisy racket! While you’re at it: If you don’t report to the New York Times, this is an easy add-on. Publishers love to know that you are a reporting store. This is leverage, and the benefits are huge for all of us.

As we head into fall I can’t encourage you enough to attend one of the regional trade shows. It’s a great way to catch up with friends, share best practices and concerns, and get some needed answers. Education at the shows is always great, and ABA programming this year will cover the big question of where we are going with an e-book solution. A key issue in children’s bookselling will be the focus of another ABA-sponsored program. And, again this year, booksellers who stop by the ABA booth at the shows will have a chance to win a scholarship to the Winter Institute. All you have to do is leave your business card to be entered into a drawing at the end of the trade show season for a trip to Wi8, in Kansas City, Missouri, in February 2013. At the regionals, you’ll also be able to learn more about ABA’s new e-book solution and your IndieCommerce website. If you are from GLIBA or MIBA, they are partnering for a combined show up in Minneapolis that is creating some fun and unique opportunities and programming!

Just prior to the GLIBA/MIBA show in October, ABA will be hosting its first-ever Events Specialty Institute. You’ll find an announcement about the opening of registration for the Events Institute elsewhere in today’s BTW, as well as a reminder about the approaching registration deadline for the second IndieCommerce Institute, which will be held in White Plains, New York, in September.

Find Waldo Local! All I have to say is WOW! What a great program — fun for so many ages, easy, sold tons of books, and united our communities in one of the best outreach programs we have ever done with our fellow independent businesses. Thanks to Candlewick for making this such a success and also to Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts, for her creativity in coming up with this idea! This is a perfect example of summer fun!

I hope all of you have gotten in some kind of true summer for yourselves personally, and that your store sales continue to be on an upward track! Thanks again for all your continuing support of ABA. As always, the more we collaborate and share, the stronger all of us and our communities become.

The best to you all,

Becky Anderson, ABA President
Anderson’s Bookshops
Naperville, Illinois