Winter Institute Waitlist Now Forming

The American Booksellers Association’s 15th annual Winter Institute (Wi15), which will take place January 21–24, 2020, at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, reached capacity less than 24 hours after registration opened on Wednesday, September 18.

Booksellers who registered for Wi15 should have received an e-mail confirmation with the subject line “Winter Institute 2020”; a confirmation was sent for each individual bookseller registrant. Booksellers who did not receive an e-mail confirmation (and who have checked that it is not in their spam folder) should contact [email protected].

Booksellers can visit BookWeb.org to be added to the waitlist. The event fee is $159 per bookseller, with a maximum of three booksellers per ABA member company.

The ABA hotel room block for booksellers will open on Tuesday, October 1; booksellers should watch their inboxes that morning for an e-mail containing the reservation link, which will go live at 1:00 p.m. ET. ABA will be in touch with sponsors directly regarding accommodations.

While registration for the full event is at capacity, booksellers can still register for the Winter Institute Day Pass option, which will give booksellers access to the institute on Friday, January 24, in addition to the Author Reception on Thursday, January 23, at 5:15 p.m. The day pass will cost $75. In addition to regular education sessions, special events taking place on Friday, January 24, include a bookselling bootcamp, an employee manual workshop, and Baltimore-area bookstore tours.

Booksellers should arrive in Baltimore on Monday, January 20, if they plan to take part in any special events ahead of the Tuesday evening opening reception, including an Antitrust Symposium in Washington, D.C.; the new Publishers by Appointment program; tours of the Penguin Random House warehouse in Westminster; the Paz & Associates Workshop “Introduction to Retail Bookselling”; the IndieCommerce Institute; and educational programming on the lifecycle of the book, used books, and buying for small stores.

Visit the Winter Institute page on BookWeb to learn more about the event. Questions about Winter Institute can be directed to [email protected].

Refunds will be given for event cancellation requests received by 9:00 p.m. ET on November 22, 2019. Thereafter, there will be no refunds except if ABA cancels the event for any reason. All cancellation requests should be e-mailed to [email protected].

For questions about accessibility or to make a request, contact ABA Meetings & Planning Officer Jill Perlstein at (914) 406-7542 or [email protected].