The shop early, shop local campaign is underway! Thanks to stores who have hung posters, posted on social media, and shared the non-bookstore versions with your neighbors. We’ve shared design assets for everyone to use, and we appreciate your support spreading the word. 

And the 4th quarter has officially begun. Start your engines.

Announcements

By Black Conference, October 14-16, 2020
The By Black Conference (virtual) is produced in partnership with the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. The conference, running from October 14-16, will provide empowerment tools from a network of Black-owned media outlets and businesses. In addition to networking opportunities, the conference will have sessions on Black health and wellness, creating Black wealth in a post-pandemic world, access to capital, and more.
Register here.

UPS Coupon
Access a 20 percent off UPS coupon from the Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week Conference. Offer expires December 31, 2020.

Meet IndieCommerce’s October 22 Deadline: Only 20 more days until all IndieCommerce stores need to be transitioned to their own credit card processor to avoid disruption in receiving their IndieCommerce funds from online sales and to avoid paying an additional 4.5% service fee on top of the 1% IndieCommerce fee and on top of the store’s credit card processing fee! If you’ve been putting this off or haven’t had time, now is the time to take the first step: You can find answers to some of your questions here and instructions for setting up your own account here. You can also email [email protected] with any questions or if you need recommendations for a credit card processor. 

Next Week’s Events

New Member Coffee Break: Monday, October 5, at 1:00 p.m. ET
The New Member Coffee Break, a new quarterly session for new and provisional bookstore members, will include a tutorial on navigating BookWeb.org to ensure a better understanding of where to find the information most vital for members. The presentation will look at education resources, networking and community, business affinity partnerships, indie marketing, advocacy, and much more. The second half of the session will offer booksellers an open forum during which they can ask questions and talk with ABA staff. Registration is required.

Coffee Break: Tuesday, October 6, at 3:00 p.m. ET
Join us for an opportunity to share support, ask questions, and trade best practices. All booksellers are welcome. If you’ve never attended this event before, it’s a great way to hear what’s working well at other stores and crowdsource solutions to any challenges you’re facing at your store. Email [email protected] for Zoom login details.

Technology Meetup: Shipping Tools: Thursday, October 8, at 1:00 p.m. ET
This session will feature booksellers discussing what shipping platforms and software they are using, what their process is, and useful tips. Guest speakers are:

• Suzanna Hermans of Oblong Books in Rhinebeck and Millerton, New York
• Alison Gwinn of Changing Hands in Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona
• Kathy Burnette of Brain Lair Books in South Bend, Indiana

Sign up and learn more about ABA meetups here. Recordings of previous meetups are available in the Education Resources section on BookWeb.

Thursday, October 8, at 3:00 p.m. ET, Q4 Top 10 Things to Know About: Leveraging ABA’s Fall Marketing Campaign
The next session in the Preparing for Q4 series will focus on the second fall marketing campaign, to be announced next week. Registration is required. If you can’t attend, we’ll be sharing takeaways in next Friday’s update.

ABA is here for all of you. Please reach out if there is anything we can help with. Members can contact me directly, or email the Membership, Advocacy, or IndieCommerce teams.

Best,
Allison