About Bookselling

On Friday, May 6, Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group (USA), and Simon & Schuster announced plans to launch Bookish, a new digital platform for readers, sometime this summer.

From helping occasionally with offsite events to weekly shelving and organizing, many customers are more than willing to give their local indies some free love. Here Jessica Stockton Bagnulo of Greenlight Bookstore, Susan Weis-Bohlen of breathe books, and Sara Look of Charis Books talk about running active volunteer programs.

ABA is inviting prospective booksellers to a free, full-day “Introduction to Retail Bookselling” Seminar, on Sunday, May 22, at the Holiday Inn at 57th Street, in New York City.

In celebration of National Volunteer Week, which runs from April 10 - 16, booksellers from Indigo Bridge Books and Open Books talk about the logistics of working with a team of community members happy to donate their time.

This week BTW launches “Booksellers Diary,” an occasional feature of first-person accounts of bookseller’s experiences on the frontlines. The first entry is from Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

On March 25, about 100 customers participated in a community discussion about the book business and how Vermont’s Northshire Bookstore can continue to thrive as the industry changes.

Sandi Torkildson recently figured that if A Room of One’s Own sold just five more books a day, it could comfortably commit to a new lease.

In an era of retail when bigger isn’t necessarily better, Russo's Books in Bakersfield, California, has lopped off about one-third of its footprint. Customer response has been overwhelmingly positive.

With QR codes going mainstream, indie booksellers are increasingly integrating them into their shelf-talkers and newsletters. Among the results has been the opening of conversations between customers and staff about e-books, new technologies, and customer service.

Richard Howorth, co-owner of Square Books, in Oxford, Mississippi, recently gave a presentation to Italian booksellers as part of the Scuola per Librai (School for Booksellers), which convenes every year in Venice.

Becky Anderson was “blown away” by the scope of Germany’s Nürnberg Toy Fair, where she recently found several new toy lines for Anderson’s Bookshops and came away with ideas for how indie booksellers can share information about favorite products.

On Monday, February 28, ABA indicated its strong support of the decision by Random House to adopt the agency pricing model for the publisher’s e-books. Under the agency model, a publisher sets a retail price for a specific book, which establishes a level playing field for all resellers.

Cynthia Compton of 4 Kids Books & Toys in Indianapolis and Fishers, Indiana, uses the lion’s share of her advertising budget to give away $5 gift cards. And she can rattle off half a dozen reasons why it’s a good idea.

Left Bank Books, Pudd’nhead Books, Subterranean Books, Main Street Books, and The Book House have formed an alliance to help raise awareness of their stores and their unique contributions to their local communities.

To boost Oskaloosa, Iowa’s buy local movement, Nancy Simpson of the Book Vault has partnered with other indie businesses to offer “A Day for Divas,” an afternoon of shopping, sampling, and indulging.