About ABA

ABA staff will be at this weekend's Upper Midwest Booksellers Association (UMBA) Trade Show at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minneapolis, to present the results of 2003 ABACUS study and to provide demonstrations of the new electronic gift card program.

On Saturday, October 4, a blustery day more suited to mid-November than the first week of October, more than 70,000 booklovers gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the third National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush.

This coming weekend is a busy one for ABA and for booksellers in the Mountains & Plains, Great Lakes, and Northern California regions. Full schedules of educational programming and lively trade shows are planned by MPBA (October 2 - 5 at the Marriott Denver Tech Center in Denver; GLBA (October 3 - 5 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Michigan); and NCIBA (October 3 - 5 at the Oakland Convention Center/Oakland City Center Marriott, Oakland, California).

Monday, October 6, is the deadline for receipt of nominations of candidates to serve on the ABA Board of Directors. Any ABA member may submit nominations to the Nominating Committee, chaired by Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Booksellers in the Great Lakes, Mountains & Plains, and Northern California regions will be gathering next week for fall regional trade shows featuring extensive educational programming and a number of special author events.

ABA will be providing educational sessions at each of the shows, as well as ongoing demonstrations of the new Book Sense Gift Card Program at the ABA/Book Sense booth on the trade show floors.

The deadline for responses to ABA's semi-annual sales revenue survey has been extended to Monday, September 29. Bookstores participating in the Book Sense marketing program were sent the survey in an e-mail on Wednesday, September 10.

Responses to the survey provide the association with a picture of how its members are performing and enables ABA to answer questions from the press and other interested parties about the performance of independent bookstores as a group. All individual store responses are kept confidential.

This coming weekend is a busy one for ABA and for booksellers in the Pacific Northwest, Southeast, and New Atlantic regions. Despite predictions of bad weather caused by hurricane Isabel on the East Coast, the Southeast Booksellers Association will be meeting on September 19 - 21 in Jekyll Island, Georgia; the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association will be hold its fall trade show on September 21 - 22 in Atlantic City, New Jersey; and on the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association began its fall show today through September 20.

Response to a special e-mail sent to ABA bookstore members on September 9 announcing reservation information for the Hotel ABA/Chicago, the exclusive host hotel for ABA bookseller members at BookExpo America 2004 (BEA), has been very positive, and rooms are now being reserved on a first come, first served basis.

Bookstores participating in the Book Sense marketing program were recently sent an e-mail requesting a response to ABA's semi-annual sales revenue survey. Responses to the survey, which was sent on September 10, provide the association with a picture of how its members are performing and enables ABA to answer questions from the press and other interested parties about the performance of independent bookstores.

ABA is asking booksellers to respond to the survey by September 24.

All responses are kept confidential.

There is still time to nominate candidates to serve on the American Booksellers Association Board of Directors. Any ABA member may submit nominations to the Nominating Committee, and all nominations will be held in the strictest confidence by the committee, which is chaired by Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz. Nominations must be received by October 6.

On Wednesday, September 10, bookstores participating in the Book Sense marketing program were sent an e-mail requesting a response to ABA's semi-annual sales revenue survey. ABA is encouraging all stores to respond to the survey, whose results provide the association with a picture of how its members are performing and enables ABA to answer questions from the press and other interested parties about the performance of independent bookstores.

All responses are kept confidential.

A response to the survey is requested by September 24.

Booksellers in the Pacific Northwest, New Atlantic, and Southeast regions will be gathering next week for fall regional trade shows featuring extensive educational programming and a number of special author events next week. ABA will be providing educational sessions at each of the shows, as well as ongoing demonstrations of the new Book Sense Gift Card Program at the ABA/Book Sense booth on the trade show floors.

The American Booksellers Association Nominating Committee, chaired by Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz, is seeking qualified candidates to serve on the ABA Board of Directors. Any ABA member may submit nominations -- and all nominations will be held in the strictest confidence by the Nominating Committee.

Under ABA's bylaws, the terms of three members of the nine-member board expire each year, and at least one of the three candidates cannot have served on the current board. Board members are eligible to be elected for two three-year terms.

In just over a week's time, this fall's regional trade show schedule will kick off with the 2003 Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association (MSIBA) Trade Show, held September 4 - 7 at the Renaissance Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas.