Winter Institute 2018 Program

Begin your Wi13 journey in Nashville with Ingram! Mix and mingle on January 21, tour the Ingram campus on January 22, then hop on a one-way charter bus to Memphis!

Click here to learn more and register for Ingram Tour.

Pick up your badge, the official Wi13 welcome bag from Candlewick, and a full schedule of Institute events. Group and table assignments are printed on bookseller badges. (If you are registered for the IndieCommerce Institute, the Paz Workshop, or the Principles of Bookstore Finance Seminar, your badge and other Wi13 materials are in your session room.)

SOLD OUT
Pre-registration required; $65 fee per person (includes lunch); space is limited.
Travel the “Blues Highway” with guide Jamie Kornegay as he points out significant historic Civil Rights and Delta blues sites between Memphis, Tennessee, and Greenwood, Mississippi. The tour will stop at Greenwood’s Turnrow Book Co. for time to explore the store followed by a down-home Delta lunch at Fan & Johnny’s, with surprise guest authors appearing at both locations.
Meet at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel “fountain” entrance. The tour will end at approximately 4:30 p.m. at the Sheraton, with a stop beforehand at the Cadre for Wi13 scholarship recipients to disembark for the Meet and Greet.

Pre-registration required; $59 fee per person per seminar; space is limited; attendance at Winter Institute is not required.
The IndieCommerce Institute is an interactive, classroom-style workshop for users of ABA's IndieCommerce platform. Attendees can register for either a morning or an afternoon seminar for $59 each, or for both morning and afternoon seminars for $118. Each seminar will include step-by-step instructions for each topic covered. Detailed description is here. Register now for IndieCommerce Institute.

Pre-registration required; $119 fee per person; space is limited; lunch provided.
A one-day seminar for anyone interested in opening a bookstore. Students will receive a crash course on the essentials of opening a new bookstore or buying an existing one. The workshop is open to ABA Provisional members and employees of Regular member stores, and is limited to three booksellers per ABA member company. The workshop will be facilitated by Donna Paz Kaufman and Mark Kaufman of Paz & Associates Bookstore Training Group (Fernandina Beach, FL). Registration has closed.

Pre-registration required; $45 fee per person; space is limited.
A full-day guided tour that will take booksellers to Oxford, Mississippi, to tour the town and visit Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner, and Square Books. Highlights include Faulkner's grave, the Lyceum (site of the Ole Miss riot of 1962), the James Meredith statue, and historic Oxford Square, featuring three Square Books locations, boutiques, and many places to eat lunch. Most of the tour is guided, but guests will have several hours to explore historic Oxford Square on their own before returning to Memphis.
Meet at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel “fountain” entrance. The tour will end at approximately 3:45 p.m. at the Sheraton. Register here for Yoknapatawpha County Tour. Registration closes when the tour reaches capacity.

This 101-level seminar covers the fundamentals of budgeting, understanding cash flow, business financing, bookkeeping, and financial statements. The workshop includes a segment focusing on strategies for achieving higher profits and improving cash flow. The program concludes with an interactive group discussion, working through an example of how booksellers can use their store’s financial information to make sound business decisions. The seminar concentrates on bookstore finances as opposed to bookstore accounting, and though it is helpful for attendees to be familiar with basic bookstore finances, deep financial experience is not required.

Winter Institute scholarship recipients and their sponsoring publishers meet to say hello and thank you prior to the Wi13 Welcome Reception. The Meet and Greet will be held at the Cadre, 149 Monroe Avenue in Memphis. Shuttle buses will run between the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel and the Cadre every 15 to 20 minutes between 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Everyone receiving a scholarship should plan to attend the Meet and Greet.

The historic Cadre is the location for ABA’s 2018 Winter Institute Welcome Reception, co-sponsored by Shelf Awareness. Enjoy cocktails, snacks, and the company of your colleagues from around the world. The Cadre is located at 149 Monroe Avenue in Memphis. Shuttle buses will run between the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel and the Cadre every 15 to 20 minutes between 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

If you are a new or young professional in the book business, this party is for you! Talk to members of Indies Forward, an organization dedicated to supporting young booksellers, make new friends, and experience the Winter Institute together. This is a great opportunity for fun and engaging conversations about bookselling. Sponsored by Lit Hub/Bookmarks, Typewriter Rodeo (Andrews McMeel), and the National Book Awards, with help from NEIBA, NAIBA, SIBA, GLIBA, MIBA, MPIBA, PNBA, NCIBA AND SCIBA.

Pick up your badge, the official Wi13 welcome bag from Candlewick, and a full schedule of Institute events. Group and table assignments are printed on bookseller badges. Member Relationship Managers Elizabeth Roberts and Daniel O’Brien can answer any questions about ABA or Wi13.

Mentors and mentees will meet at assigned tables for keynote breakfasts. Table assignments are noted on attendee badges.

Sarah Jessica Parker is an American actress, producer, and designer. She recently launched SJP for Hogarth in partnership with Molly Stern, publisher of Crown and Hogarth. In this new role, Parker acquires and curates works of fiction that reflect her own taste as a reader. She is directly involved in the editorial and publishing process for each book issued under her imprint.

Pamela Paul is the editor of the New York Times Book Review and oversees books coverage at the New York Times. She is also the host of the weekly podcast Inside the New York Times Book Review. Her latest book is My Life With Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues. She is also the author of four other books: By the Book; Parenting, Inc.; Pornified; and The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony. Prior to joining the Times, she was a contributor to Time magazine and the Economist; her work has appeared in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Slate, and Vogue.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s online platforms for marketing events and author appearances as well as selling books and other merchandise. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule a one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Space is limited, but walk-ins are welcome. Hours are offered Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Details and signup are here.

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is pleased to host the Hospitality Suite at this year’s Winter Institute. Stop by for a chance to decompress, grab a beverage, and refuel before heading back out to join your peers. Open to booksellers from all regions.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s online platforms for marketing events and author appearances as well as selling books and other merchandise. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule a one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Space is limited, but walk-ins are welcome. Hours are offered Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Details and sign up are here.

Daniel H. Pink is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers Drive, To Sell is Human, and A Whole New Mind. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 35 languages. He lives with his family in Washington, DC.

To encourage further interaction between booksellers and publishers, booksellers will have the opportunity to meet with Wi13’s sponsoring publishers in small groups to discuss issues of common interest and mutual concern. Booksellers will be assigned to a specific table for this session; publishers will move from table to table. Table assignments are printed on booksellers’ badges.

Wi13 lead sponsor Ingram hosts an open reception to close day one of the Institute. Join your colleagues for drinks and nibbles.

Enjoy drinks and desserts at the Scholastic Meet & Treat After Party. Scholastic authors and illustrators will be on hand to sign books and say hello. Open to all Wi13 attendees.

Member Relationship Managers Elizabeth Roberts and Daniel O’Brien await your questions about ABA and Wi13.

Junot Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. A graduate of Rutgers University, Díaz is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge, and is the Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His new picture book, Islandborn, will be published in March 2018 by Penguin Young Readers.

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is pleased to host the Hospitality Suite at this year’s Winter Institute. Stop by for a chance to decompress, grab a beverage, and refuel before heading back out to join your peers. Open to booksellers from all regions.

The Town Hall is an opportunity for open discussion about industry and association issues. ABA Board President Robert Sindelar (Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA) and Vice President Jamie Fiocco (Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC) will facilitate the meeting. The full ABA Board will respond to questions and comments from all booksellers; booksellers who would like to send questions in advance can e-mail [email protected].

Indies Introduce is about what independent booksellers do best: Discover exciting debut authors and share the best with readers across the country. You will hear from the bookseller panelists who curated the “diverse list of fabulous books that every American should read,” as Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books called it. Many of this season’s debut authors will be present to read a short passage and answer a question posed by a panelist.

Thanks to the generosity of ABA’s publisher sponsors, many authors and illustrators will be on hand to chat with booksellers and autograph new and forthcoming titles at the Author Reception. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

Member Relationship Managers Elizabeth Roberts and Daniel O’Brien can answer any questions about ABA or Wi13.

Ship your galleys from Wi13 instead of lugging them home. This service is offered through PartnerShip/FedEx. To speed up the process, please bring pre-printed labels with you.

Enjoy breakfast while hearing about great upcoming titles from Winter Institute’s small and university press sponsors. Seating is unassigned for this breakfast.

The always-popular Galley Room is filled with upcoming title ARCs from Wi13 sponsors. A limited supply of book bags will be on hand. The room will be closed during the morning keynote sessions and Rep Picks lunches.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s online platforms for marketing events and author appearances as well as selling books and other merchandise. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule a one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Space is limited, but walk-ins are welcome. Hours are offered Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Details and signup are here.

Immediately following their breakfast presentations, reps from participating small and university press sponsors will be available to meet with interested booksellers for further discussion.

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is pleased to host the Hospitality Suite at this year’s Winter Institute. Stop by for a chance to decompress, grab a beverage, and refuel before heading back out to join your peers. Open to booksellers from all regions.

Amy Webb is a quantitative futurist. She is a professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and the Founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading future forecasting and strategy firm that researches technology and answers “What’s the future of X?” for a global client base. She is the author of three books, including The Signals Are Talking: Why Today’s Fringe Is Tomorrow’s Mainstream (PublicAffairs, December 2016) which explains how to predict and manage technological change. It was selected as one of Fast Company’s Best Books of 2016 and was a Washington Post Bestseller. Her bestselling memoir Data, A Love Story (Dutton/ Penguin 2013) is about finding love via algorithms. Her TED talk about Data has been viewed more than 6 million times and has been translated into 32 languages.

Enjoy lunch and meet more than two dozen authors from Winter Institute’s small press sponsors.

Booksellers have the opportunity to meet with small- and mid-size publishers for informal conversations. These publishers, many of which are first-time ABA event sponsors, will have sample copies of their books, as well as additional copies for giveaways at their discretion. See the list of Meet the Presses participants here.

The Consultation Station offers booksellers the opportunity to meet with representatives from ABA’s affiliated business solution partners, POS vendors, and other service providers. See the full list of Consultation Station participants and contact information.

Gary Shteyngart is the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Little Failure (a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist) and the novels Super Sad True Love Story (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize), Absurdistan, and The Russian Debutante’s Handbook (winner of the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction). His books regularly appear on best-of lists around the world and have been translated into twenty-nine languages. Lake Success will be released in September 2018 by Random House.

A self-guided exploration of your Wi13 educational experience. Set goals and create actionable steps for improving your business.

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour is coming to Memphis with a very special lineup of guests! Thacker Mountain ​Radio,​ a weekly live radio show featuring author readings and an array of musical performances, is broadcast on Mississippi Public Radio.
For this special performance, Elizabeth Acevedo will talk about her upcoming title, The Poet X (HarperCollins Publishers); Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain (Grove Atlantic), will discuss his new release, Varina (HarperCollins Publishers); and singer Dar Williams, author of What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities — One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time (Basic Books), will perform music and discuss her book. House band The Bo-Keys will add musical entertainment throughout the hour.
Thacker Mountain Radio​ is ordinarily taped live at ​ABA member store ​Off Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi.

Join your colleagues for the final reception of Wi13. The Thacker Mountain guests will be on hand to sign books and chat with booksellers. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.