I hope those of you who joined us in Pittsburgh will continue to draw from the joy and community you found at Winter Institute 2026 to support you in the important work you’re doing in the world. And I hope those of you who were not able to join us are finding joy and community in other ways that sustain you.
At Wi2026, attendees arrived in Pittsburgh having made it through both metaphorical and literal storms in the days, weeks, and months leading up to the event. Before the opening keynote, I spoke about the incredible journey independent booksellers have been on this past year and the increasing importance of your work.
We started the event this year by introducing some big questions for attendees to discuss and consider throughout the week (and beyond). During the Industry Big Questions session, I talked with industry colleagues (Andy Hunter, Bookshop.org; Brein Lopez, Children’s Book World; Nic Bottomley, Mr. B’s Emporium of Reading Delights and the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland; and Phil Davies, ABA) about two of the biggest challenges our industry is facing: Artificial Intelligence and the Decline in Reading. These are both existential threats to our industry and they represent significant opportunities as well.
To start, I shared an image of Seascape by Gerhard Richter and talked about the painting as a metaphor.
“I love this painting. I love that there’s no orientation, no anchor of narrative or representation of any kind. It’s completely open to interpretation; its own Rorschach test. How many of you look at this and think a storm just ended? How many of you think a storm is coming? The painting begs the question of what happens next. Are we looking at danger? Or are we looking at possibility?
“I think this is where independent bookstores stand today, this ambiguity — this tension between threat and possibility. We’re facing what seems from one view, to be existential threats, and from another view, perhaps tremendous opportunities. That subjectiveness and that tension calls for us to be asking Big Questions about our industry, and different questions perhaps than we’ve asked in the past.”
Independent booksellers have been talking about the decline in reading for a while and doing incredible work to promote reading, grow readers, and support literacy, yet we need to ask new questions to find new answers to this problem, which is exciting.
When it comes to AI, some of you told us we should not be talking about AI because of the significant and obvious dangers it represents for our industry and the world. Others thanked us for talking about AI because you see it as a tool that can help your bookstore be more sustainable, and you predict it will be necessary to stay competitive and to meet customers’ expectations. Both these concerns and opportunities can be true at the same time. We can and should express concerns about the environmental, ethical, and equity impacts of AI, demand regulation, champion authors and illustrators, and support the Authors Guild’s human authority certification initiative. And we can and should share information about AI as a tool for bookstores — to potentially streamline operations, enhance discovery, support staff capacity, deepen customer engagement, and level the playing field. We need to be talking about it all. Independent bookstores will make their own choices and it’s ABA’s job as your trade association to provide information and resources to inform and support those decisions.
Neither AI nor the Decline in Reading is imminent, they’re here. It’s no longer about bracing for a storm ahead, it’s about recognizing the water we’re already in and using our curiosity, critical thinking, and values to build a stronger boat.
Throughout Wi2026, I spoke with booksellers and bookstore owners about these two issues as well as other topics of concern. Damages continue to be a significant problem for the industry. There’s a need for more transparency around credit limits with publishers and concerns about on-sale dates — in terms of books arriving in time, clarity, and competition. There’s alarm about the chilling effect of book bans and challenges. And there are growing worries about the long-term sustainability of bookstores, along with the need for publishers to help ensure that this critical channel and important part of the industry ecosystem remains sustainable. To name just a few.
As we prepare for our annual meetings with publishers to advocate for your needs, our agenda will be informed by those conversations as well as our annual publisher feedback survey for members. Thank you to everyone who participated in the annual Publisher Survey.
And thank you to those of you who participated in ABA's annual membership satisfaction survey. We hope you'll also join ABA’s Annual Meeting and Community Forum on Thursday, May 28, to share more about your experiences and needs. Your input helps us find more ways to support you in your work and we're grateful for that opportunity.
If you weren’t able to attend Winter Institute this year, we hope you’re able to join us next year for Wi2027 in Minneapolis. We’re working on ways to increase bookseller capacity, and you can watch BTW in the fall for scholarship opportunities that secure you a spot. We also always recommend joining the waitlist if we sell out. For Wi2026, we were able to register 100 booksellers who were initially waitlisted.
In the meantime, we hope you’ll join us for Children’s Institute in Schaumburg, IL, this June. Registration opened March 19. Whether you’re a children’s bookseller, a children’s bookstore owner, or a bookseller or bookstore owner focused on another speciality or general interest bookselling, Children’s Institute has much to offer. While we’ll be celebrating children’s books and bookselling all week, the programming is valuable for every bookseller and the spirit of Children’s Institute is, well…you won’t want to miss this very special event.
For now, take good care of yourselves and your bookstores as best you can. And reach out to [email protected] if ABA can help.
—Allison Hill, ABA CEO