BookED

ABA's  Lightning Talk series features booksellers presenting short talks on tech tools, organizational strategies, communication methods, or innovations they've made in their stores. On November 14, 2024, Flannery Buchanan of Bluebird & Co (Crozet, VA) discussed Building Community. Session Video & Resources   Additional bookstore education resources can be found at  www.bookweb.org .   Theme by  C...

From the Archive: Recorded January 21, 2020 at Winter Institute 2020 (Wi15) in Baltimore, MD If you lost an important resource when Baker and Taylor left the indie community, this is a session you will not want to miss. The panelists will review the benefits of ordering direct from publishers and tips for organizing your resulting paperwork. Also on the panel will be booksellers who have accounts...

"Co-op" is a word booksellers often hear from publishers, but it can be quite confusing to try to decipher what it is. In this session, Jenny Cohen of Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River, OR provides an overview of cooperative advertising: what it is, where it comes from, and how a store can maximize their spending using accrued co-op dollars from publishers. Session Video & Resources   Recorded June...

Charlie Jane Anders ( Victories Greater Than Death and Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak ) gives a rousing closing keynote that examines bookstores as portals to other realms and speaks to the importance of putting the right book in the right reader's hand at the right time. Session Video & Resources   Recorded June 22, 2022 at Children's Institute 2022 (Ci10) in Phoenix, AZ Additional bookstore educa...

In this session, bookstores with experience with the media will share how to to make your store media ready, including creating an About Us section that will attract press, how to build a media kit, which components are key, and how to select the assets to share to highlight your bookstore's individuality in the press. Session Video & Resources   Recorded June 22, 2022 at Children's Institute 2022...

Free Expression Friday is an interview series from ABA's  American Booksellers for Free Expression  celebrating the amazing work of booksellers, organizers, and book people in general fighting for the right to read. As a children's book author who also works for an independent publisher, Ashley Mireles-Guerrero wanted to create a space for marginalized literature that included small-press and indi...

ABA's  Lightning Talk series features booksellers presenting short talks on tech tools, organizational strategies, communication methods, or innovations they've made in their stores. On November 14, 2024, Mekhala Villegas-Rogers of Tombolo Books (St. Petersburg, FL) discussed curating Spanish-language titles. Session Video & Resources   Additional bookstore education resources can be found at  www...

From book banning challenges and troll attacks to stores faced with defending their store mission, business decisions, or mistakes, the past two years we've seen stores impacted by social media and PR crises. Effective crisis communication management starts long before an issue arises. In this session, learn how to create a plan to mitigate and respond to risk, and how to handle things when the pl...

Learn the ins and outs of TikTok in a workshop environment. Participants will gain a better understanding of TikTok lingo, how to record and produce video, as well as basic to intermediate editing tools that will help bookstores attract customers a drive sales. Session Video & Resources   Recorded June 20, 2022 at Children's Institute 2022 (Ci10) in Phoenix, AZ Additional bookstore education resou...

Free Expression Friday is an interview series from ABA's  American Booksellers for Free Expression  celebrating the amazing work of booksellers, organizers, and book people in general fighting for the right to read. Mosaics Community Bookstore & Venue is unique — unique in Utah, and unique, period. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, Mosaics has repeatedly faced incredible hardship on top of t...

ABA's  Lightning Talk series features booksellers presenting short talks on tech tools, organizational strategies, communication methods, or innovations they've made in their stores. On November 14, 2024, Chris Steib of Transom Bookshop (Tarrytown, NY) walked us through how to DIY your profit and loss statement (P&L). Session Video & Resources   Additional bookstore education resources can be foun...

Dr Faith Harper, licensed professional counselor and author of Unf*ck Your Brain and the YA adaptation Befriend Your Brain ( Microcosm Publishing ), leads booksellers on a session on mental health and self-care in a "post" pandemic world. Session Video & Resources   Recorded June 21, 2022 at Children's Institute 2022 (Ci10) in Phoenix, AZ Additional bookstore education resources can be found at  w...

ABA's  Indies Introduce  interview series spotlights debut authors handpicked by booksellers from around the country. In each episode, a bookseller from the Indies Introduce panel interviews an author featured in the program to celebrate the release of their book. In this episode, Lisa Swayze of Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca, NY interviews Tom Newlands, author of Only Here, Only Now , available N...

Community partnerships are an untapped source of income for many stores. They can have a profound impact on a store's bottom line as well as the soul of the store and its community. A panel of booksellers who work closely with community partners will share how to make initial contact, what format a partnership can take, and how to manage expectations without taking on too much. Attendees will have...

Free Expression Friday is an interview series from ABA's  American Booksellers for Free Expression  celebrating the amazing work of booksellers, organizers, and book people in general fighting for the right to read. Lindsay Schultz didn't open The Spine Bookshop looking for a hill to die on, but she wasn't going to back down when book banners came to town and started threatening librarians. She fo...

CoverHound is thrilled to present a special four-part webinar series for ABA members: Insuring Success: Business Insurance for Bookstores . On September 26, CoverHound presented part four of this series,  Safeguarding Our Stories: Leveraging Insurance to Navigate Book Bans,  a webinar designed to help bookstore owners navigate book bans and censorship challenges. Discover how insurance coverage ca...

Understanding financial benchmarks within your children's bookstore or children's departments can help you maximize space, optimize non-book gifts and sidelines, improve profitability, and more. This session is for children's-only bookstores or general bookstores with a children's department. Attendees will also learn more about ABACUS — how to participate, how to use this important tool for your...

Activist and author Karen Walrond (author of The Lightmaker's Manifesto ) opens Children's Institute 2022 with a keynote conversation with ABA Director of Education Lee (Kim) Hooyboer on how booksellers can maintain their spark while continuing to work for change in their communities and the world at large. By identifying tools and practices that can help booksellers define and refine their missio...

Free Expression Friday is an interview series from ABA's  American Booksellers for Free Expression  celebrating the amazing work of booksellers, organizers, and book people in general fighting for the right to read. Lee Wind (he/him) of the Independent Book Publishers Association knows all about how literary censorship impacts independently published books by authors from marginalized communities....

ABA's  Lightning Talk series features booksellers presenting short talks on tech tools, organizational strategies, communication methods, or innovations they've made in their stores. On October 10, 2024, Ally Kirkpatrick of  Old Town Books (Alexandria, VA) discussed Crafting Non-bookstore Partnerships. Session Video & Resources   Additional bookstore education resources can be found at  www.bookwe...

After traveling the country presenting education at the 2022 Fall Regional Association Tradeshows, ABA presented a virtual encore of Decoding the P&L for Booksellers, Managers, and Owners . A bookstore's profit and loss statement (P&L) is a critical tool for evaluating a store's overall performance. Join ABA staff on a walk-through of a bookstore P&L statement as we lay a groundwork for understand...

After traveling the country presenting education at the 2024 Fall Regional Association Tradeshows, ABA's Lee Hooyboer presents a virtual encore of Prioritizing Cash Flow: 10 Areas to Review for Improved Cash Flow and Profitability . The true key to being in control of your business is to be in control of your cash. A bookstore's financial stability is dependent on far more than just profitability,...

Free Expression Friday is an interview series from ABA's  American Booksellers for Free Expression  celebrating the amazing work of booksellers, organizers, and book people in general fighting for the right to read. Kay Kerimian can usually be found in a park in Brooklyn, standing next to a bright pink cargo bike that has been turned into a book display, shouting: "Free books! They're gay!" Founde...

ABA's  Lightning Talk series features booksellers presenting short talks on tech tools, organizational strategies, communication methods, or innovations they've made in their stores. On October 10, 2024, Leah Johnson of Loudmouth Books (Indianapolis, IN) discussed Boozy Book Fairs. Session Video & Resources   Additional bookstore education resources can be found at  www.bookweb.org .   Theme by  C...

This session is for those new to children's bookselling (or those who want a refresher). Long-time children's booksellers will demystify and clarify important FYIs and other details you won't know until someone tells you! Topics discussed will be sales rep relationships, opening accounts versus ordering from a wholesaler, and more. You will leave feeling comfortable with a foundational toolbox tha...