In ABA's Online Forums This Week

Every week dozens of booksellers seek and share advice and information about bookselling and the book industry on BookWeb's Idea Exchange Forums. Open to the owners and staff of all ABA member bookstores, the forums are a great place to ask for input from other booksellers and to bring comments and questions to the attention of the ABA Board and staff.

Topics under discussion this week in the Bookseller-to-Bookseller Forum include:

• Magazine distributors
• Book signings by self-published authors
• Sources for French-language literature
• Romances featuring Native Americans
• Buy-back programs, and
• Fun titles for back-to-school displays

In the Ask ABA Forum, there are queries, and responses, about Hotel ABA 2007, next year's Winter Institute, and a new Standard Chart of Accounts.

ABA member booksellers are also invited to join in discussions in the Ask BookSense.com, Inventory Control, and Education forums. Forms and other business-related documents can be shared among booksellers through an enhancement added to the Education Forum earlier this year. In addition, the Bookstore Photo Gallery is the place to upload and view photos of member stores and featured displays.

Participants can customize their forum experience through a "My Profile" feature, which, among other things, allows booksellers to create "Watches" of their favorite forums and threads. When a "Watch" is created, booksellers will receive a daily e-mail notification whenever there is activity on any of their favorites.

The Idea Exchange Forums are open to ABA bookstore and provisional members only. Booksellers who do not already have a BookWeb Account will need to create one in order to access the forums. An ABA ID number will be required to establish the account.