Dear Booksellers,

We’re rounding up the week...

Advocacy

• Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) Reopen: On Monday, June 15, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reopened the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) portal. If you have not yet applied for EIDL, now is the time. Businesses that apply are also eligible for an up to $10,000 grant ($1,000 per employee up to $10,000). The grant does not need to be repaid. The loan has a maximum term of 30 years and an interest rate of 3.75 percent for small businesses. If you have not already applied, apply here.

• New Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Forgiveness Applications: The SBA released new PPP forgiveness applications on Tuesday, June 16, to reflect changes made to the program as a result of the PPP Flexibility Act, which was signed into law on June 5, 2020. Notably, there are now two forgiveness applications, one of which is a “simple” application for certain borrowers and one of which is more involved. ABA published an updated article in BTW yesterday to reflect these changes. Read the new PPP loan forgiveness information here.

• Important Changes to PPP: Below are the main changes to PPP as a result of the PPP Flexibility Act. These are the changes reflected in the updated BTW article. Note that if you have not yet applied for PPP, the last day the SBA will approve a PPP loan application is June 30, 2020.

  • Set the minimum loan maturity to five years: This change only applies to loans made after June 5, 2020. However, if you are interested in extending your pre-existing loan term from two years to five years, contact your lender. You and your lender can mutually agree to extend the loan term.

  • Extend the program to December 31, 2020: PPP was set to expire on June 30, 2020.

  • Extend the eight-week time period to 24 weeks: The “covered period” was originally eight weeks. Now, the time period for borrowers to use PPP funds and seek forgiveness is the earlier of 24 weeks after loan origination or December 31, 2020. If you have not yet taken out a PPP loan, you will have to limit your loan amount to what you will be able to spend by the end of the year if you want to seek forgiveness. (Borrowers who took out loans before this change can elect to use the original eight-week time period.)

  • Add exemptions based on employee availability: There are new exemptions to loan forgiveness reductions where borrowers can document (1) an inability to rehire individuals who were employed on February 15, 2020, and an inability to hire similarly qualified employees for unfilled positions on or before December 31, 2020, OR (2) an inability to return to the same level of business activity as before February 15, 2020, due to government requirements or guidance related to sanitation standards, social distancing, or other COVID-19-related requirements.

  • Alter the 75/25 rule to 60/40: PPP borrowers seeking forgiveness now must use at least 60 percent of the loan for payroll costs (this is a change from 75 percent). If you spend less than 60 percent of the loan on payroll costs, the loan will still be eligible for partial loan forgiveness so long as payroll costs constitute 60 percent of the forgiven amount.

  • Extend deferral period: Payments of principal, interest, and fees on the loan are deferred until loan forgiveness is determined. Borrowers who do not apply for forgiveness will not begin repayment until 10 months after the last day of the covered period (either the eight-week period, 24-week period, or December 31, 2020, depending on the individual circumstance).

  • Delay payment of certain employer payroll taxes: Borrowers who have PPP loans forgiven are now allowed to delay the payment of the employer portion of social security taxes. Fifty percent is payable on December 31, 2021, and 50 percent is payable on December 31, 2022. See more information.here.

Events

• Virtual Children’s Institute. Booksellers! These two days of virtual programming (July 15–16) include a panel on representation in young adult and middle grade sci fi and fantasy; a panel on using your store voice to drive online sales and reach new customers; a presentation of the Indies Introduce debut titles for young readers; IndieCommerce one-on-one meetings; publisher rep picks presentations; and an antiracist training (limited to 100 booksellers, but there are still a few spots left). All for $20. Register for Children’s Institute and please help us spread the word about this opportunity for education and support to other booksellers.

• School Marketing Meetup. On Thursday, June 25, at 1:00 p.m. ET, join us for a Marketing Meetup session that revisits the topic of “Marketing Your Store to a School,” previously covered in March. This new session will focus on doing business while in various states of being open and as events are largely occurring virtually instead of in-person. Registration is required.

• ABA Coffee Break. Starting this month, the ABA Coffee Break schedule is every Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. ET and the last Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. ET (that means June 25!). Booksellers who do not have the Zoom meeting ID and password can email [email protected] to get details. 

IndieCommerce 

Booklog, IBID, and Anthology are now fully integrated with IndieCommerce! Bookstores are able to export orders from their IC site and import them to their POS. Watch for next week’s BTW article for more information about further progress.

Diversity Resources

• Consider Conducting a Diversity Audit (from the 2019 Children’s Institute)

• Learn more about Representation in Store Culture and Why It Matters (from the 2019 Children’s Institute)

• Learn more about Representation in Publishing: Why it Matters and Where Publishing Is Headed (from the 2019 Children’s Institute)

• Reimagine the Backlist Canon for Our Time (from the 2020 Winter Institute)

• Think about Black Female Entrepreneurship: Bookselling and Literacy as Resistance (from the 2020 Winter Institute)

• Learn the history of Bookselling and Liberation: Black Bookstores in America, from the '60s to the Present (from the 2020 Winter Institute)

• Watch Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Conversation with Ibram Kendi and Jason Reynolds (from the 2020 Winter Institute)

• Visit ABA’s Black Lives Matter page

• Learn more about ABA’s efforts on Diversity and Inclusion

And… #JuneteenthBookFest: Celebrate Black American stories and writers on Friday, June 19. Juneteenth is the holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S.

Follow-ups to Questions and Comments from ABA’s Town Hall

• Christian Books and Gifts. Stores feeling the loss of Lifeway may want to check out Spring Arbor, a Christian division of Ingram, for Christian books, supplies, gifts and games, etc. Ingram can also provide data on best-selling items in this category for stores wanting to expand their selection. See your Ingram rep for details. 

• Bestseller Reporting. Don’t forget the new ways to report sales to the New York Times and Indie Bestseller Lists.  

• Diversity Statement. ABA is working on a diversity statement for the association. Bookstores working on their own diversity statements may want to consider some of these examples, or the list of principles used by American Sustainable Business Council.

• Employment Statement. Here’s the ABA employment statement that was mentioned during Town Hall: The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age; ethnicity; color; race; religion; sex; sexual orientation; gender identity and/or expression; neurodiversity; marital, civil union or domestic partnership status; past or present military service; physical, mental, or sensory disability; national, social, or ethnic origin; pregnancy; family or parental status; and/or genetic information (including family medical history). ABA celebrates and values diversity. We believe diversity and diverse perspectives make our organization stronger and we’re committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

• Lighthouse Health Insurance. ABA, along with a coalition of other organizations, announced a health insurance partnership with Lighthouse Insurance Group (LIG) Solutions.

• Indie Next List. Printing of the Indie Next List resumes with the August list being sent out in July. 

• Bylaws Vote. Voting ends tonight for the two proposed bylaws changes. Vote!

• Genre Fiction Programming. The Virtual Children’s Institute programming includes a panel on representation in young adult and middle grade sci-fi and fantasy.

• Antiracism/Diversity. Cultures Connecting (CC), an organization dedicated to race relations, will be conducting an antiracism training for the ABA team (staff) on June 22 and the ABA Board on June 29. ABA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee resumes meeting in July. ABA has launched an internal task force to develop initiatives centered around antiracism, inclusion, equity, and representation for bookstore members as well as for the association itself. Watch for more in the coming months. 

• Hiring a Diverse Team.

Celebrate Pride!

• Lambda Literary has some amazing literary events to celebrate Pride this month.

• Check out the 32nd Annual Lambda Literary Award winners.

• From We Need Diverse Books: 5 Authors Share About Their Books for Pride Month

• From USA TODAY: Want to honor Pride Month? 5 ways you can be an ally to the Black LGBTQ+ community and 10 LGBTQ books to read for Pride Month

• From Buzzfeed: 31 Brand New LGBTQ YA Books to Devour This Summer

ABA is here for all of you. Please reach out if there is anything we can help with. We are an incredibly creative, resilient, supportive industry. We’ll get through this, together.

Best,
Allison