Dear Booksellers,

A few updates and some information today:

Advocacy

• TOMORROW, June 30, is the Deadline for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP): If you have not yet applied for a PPP loan and are still interested, the last day a PPP loan application can be approved is tomorrow, June 30. 

• ICYMI, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced an online tool dedicated to matching small businesses with smaller asset lenders like Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs). Learn more here.

• Updated PPP Loan Forgiveness Information: On June 26, SBA, in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, updated its guidance to assist businesses in calculating their payroll costs for purposes of determining the amount of a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. The update includes information to help the self-employed who were not in operation between February 15, 2019, and June 30, 2019 — but were in operation as of February 15, 2020 — to determine their maximum PPP loan amount.

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

IndieCommerce and IndieLite 

• Refund Requests 
  The IndieCommerce customer support team is handling a huge number of refund requests from stores that use ABA’s credit card merchant account for processing their online credit card orders. In order for us to expedite your refunds request(s), please follow these instructions when submitting a refund request to [email protected]:
  • Please format the subject line of your email like this: REFUND, store name, order ID
  • In the body of your email, please include a link to the order that is being refunded
• Best Practices 
  When online orders are backordered or delayed, such as for antiracist titles, send customers messages like these to encourage them to refrain from cancelling their orders: “Thank you for keeping your business with us and waiting for this order,” “Thank you for supporting not only independent bookstores but antiracist education,” or “We appreciate you waiting for your order with us as cancelled orders are very problematic for us. While you’re waiting, allow us to recommend these alternative titles and resources.”

Events

• Finances During COVID: Tomorrow’s regular Coffee Break (June 30 at 3:00 p.m. ET) has been reprogrammed as “Finances During COVID.” ABA CFO PK Sindwani will hold a Q&A session for members around financials and determining post-COVID benchmarks. (Due to antitrust guidelines, finances specific to individual stores should not be disclosed during the session. Store owners who would like to discuss specifics can email [email protected] to schedule a time for an individual call.)

• A space for BIPOC members (both owners and booksellers): July 2 at 6:00 p.m. ET. For connection. For support. For community. For resources. For networking. For whatever attendees want this to be. (To ensure that this space belongs to the attendees, this will be a non-hosted event without an ABA facilitator or staff person present.) Booksellers interested in attending should email [email protected] for the Zoom information. Please note: This session has a session-specific password, so please email for details.

• Marketing Meetup: On July 2 at 1:00 p.m. ET, learn about “Marketing Ideas From Small Stores.” In this session, you’ll hear from six guest speakers from small bookstores, who will share what works for their stores in a variety of marketing areas, including social media, newsletters, events, and general marketing. Registration is required.

• Virtual Children’s Institute. We’re two weeks away from Children’s Institute, coming up July 15–16. Programming includes 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; and publisher rep picks presentations (the antiracist training is full). All for $20.

Assistance Needed

• If you signed up for the antiracist training at Children’s Institute and are unable to attend, please notify ABA as soon as possible at [email protected] so we can open your spot to a bookseller on the waitlist.

FAQ

• I’m talking to my landlord about renewing my lease. How do I figure out how much rent I can afford? How do I anticipate what the rest of 2020 and beyond will look like financially?
  
  We’ve heard from several stores in this position. The uncertainty makes these questions difficult to answer, and ABACUS benchmarks are not accurate post-COVID. This and other post-COVID financial considerations will be covered in the above-mentioned “Finances During COVID” session with ABA CFO PK Sindwani, during Tuesday’s regular Coffee Break, on June 30 at 3:00 p.m. ET. 

• Can I post a recording of an author event my store hosted? What about if a publisher has asked to use it?
  
  Recorded author events are copyrighted in three ways: the recording, the performance (the authors reading or the panelists), and the book(s). If you recorded the event, then you own the copyright to the recording; however, you can’t grant anyone permission to use the recording without getting the performer’s permission (the authors or panelists) and the book copyright holder’s permission since the recording is a derivative work of the book. If someone else wants to use the recording of your event, and you are granted permission by the other copyright holders, you can grant someone permission to use the recording and you can also charge for it.

• What’s the deal with IndieCommerce and credit card processing? Why are we doing this now? What do I need to do?
  
  The crisis brought to light that ABA couldn’t continue doing credit card processing for IndieCommerce stores. We managed to avoid making a change in the last few months, but we are now forced to. The good news is that this change will require very little effort on the store’s part: ABA will notify the store and transition the store to a new credit card processor that has already been vetted and negotiated with, and the store will be asked to provide information to Stripe to set up their own account. The store’s ecommerce will not be disrupted and there will be only a few minor changes in the store’s procedures and for customers. Later, a store may choose to find their own credit card processor and negotiate their own rate, but this plan buys the store time to do that at their convenience. We will be recommending a couple of different merchants, but stores have the option to pick their own.

• Why didn’t I receive my order for The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton?
  
  ABA is looking into reports that some stores didn’t receive their Bolton book orders. Stay tuned for more information. 

ABA is here for all of you. Please reach out if there is anything we can help with. 

Best,
Allison