Industry Voices

Former ABA President Russ Lawrence, who sold his interest in Montana’s Chapter One Book Store and, along with his wife, Jean, joined the Peace Corps in 2009, checks in from the town of Chivay in Peru, where, among other things, they’re busy developing a “local-first”-style campaign.

Meryl Halls, head of membership services for the Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom & Ireland, talks about her experience at Wi6, the value of collective brainstorming, the challenges facing booksellers in the U.K., e-books, and more.

ABA President Michael Tucker answers questions about a proposed bylaws amendment that, if approved, would move the association from a nine-person Board to a 10-person Board by making the position of Board president a separate and distinct position that serves one two-year term.

Booksellers came away from last week’s Winter Institute armed with plenty of practical ideas to improve their businesses; energized by the many networking opportunities with colleagues from across the country; and looking forward to handselling titles shared by publishers and authors at the event.

Becky Milner, owner of Vintage Books in Vancouver, Washington, shares her experiences at last week’s Winter Institute in Washington, D.C.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher writes about his recent visit to Shenzhen, China, where he participated in the city’s 11th annual Reading Month festivities at the invitation of Shenzhen’s “Reading Month Committee.”

ABFFE President Chris Finan talks about the recent controversy regarding Amazon.com’s decisions to sell and then pull from its website a constitutionally protected work that is, nonetheless, abhorrent to many.

ABA COO Len Vlahos writes about his recent trip to New Zealand and Australia, where he was invited to speak on the digitization of the U.S. book market.  While in Auckland and Sydney, he visited area indies, made many new friends, and learned a lot about the similarities, and differences, in the three book markets.

When Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books tried to buy gift cards via the websites of several major indie bookstores in another city, he was very surprised by what he found.

Booksellers and former booksellers let off some steam this week, sharing their odd, aggravating, and all-too-common bookstore moments.

IndieBound has now expanded to the Southern Hemisphere. The Australian Booksellers Association (OzBA) is launching an Oz-based IndieBound this July.

Kate DiCamillo, winner of the 2010 Indies Choice Book Award for "Most Engaging Author," offers a message to booksellers from her acceptance speech at ABA's Celebration of Bookselling Luncheon at BEA. "Booksellers Make the Difference" is presented here and as a downloadable two-page PDF.

This year's Indies Choice Book Award winners explain how independent bookstores have helped shape their careers while providing some memorable experiences along the way.