Recent articles in BTW have highlighted an amazing opportunity for ABA member stores to receive a scholarship to Children’s Institute 10 [4] at the Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, by making some edits to settings in their Point of Sale systems. These edits require only a few minutes of time for many stores and are necessary due to upcoming changes to the sales reporting system operated by ABA and NPD BookScan [5].

ABA member stores on qualifying POS systems have been sent instructions in recent weeks. Stores that make the required changes before April 26, 2022 will be entered into the Ci10 drawing.

The Children’s Institute 10th Anniversary promises to be an extraordinary experience and a welcome reunion with industry friends from across the country. Beyond the chance to attend this wonderful event, reporting stores also benefit from their contributions to the industry. The Indie Bestseller lists and NPD’s BookScan industry tracking tools, which rely on ABA member store data, are vital to the health of the independent bookstore channel. Reporting also contributes to a store’s eligibility for box mailings and entitles stores to access BookScan’s industry tracking tools, providing valuable insight into what titles are selling best regionally and nation-wide.

Stores were emailed their unique credentials along with the instructions for their POS. Stores who have not received their credentials or have further questions are invited to contact [email protected] [6] as well as to review the instructions posted on BookWeb [7].