Dear Booksellers,

While preparing for a trip last year a friend’s son-in-law said, “We need to gather the best conditions.” In other words, prepare now in a way that will create the best conditions and outcome for the upcoming travels. I ask myself that question periodically: Am I gathering the best conditions? Sometimes I think about it in terms of your stores -- am I doing things in my role now that will help ensure the best future for your bookstores? Making sure I don't get bogged down in the details or the day-to-day, but preparing for the future. Sometimes I think about it in terms of my own self care. Am I doing the things I need to do to take care of myself? Which in turn helps me be as effective as possible in my job. As we move into the holiday season at full speed now, I pose that question to all of you: Are you gathering the best conditions? 

Tips

• Ask your local UPS driver to ask their hub managers to mark your business as “open” for deliveries on Saturdays, suggests Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books. Your shipments may be spending weekends at their warehouse and slowing down your deliveries at the beginning of the next week. If it’s possible, given your hours and staffing, receiving shipments on Saturdays keeps shipments flowing.

• Update your About section on your website. As customers search for local businesses and find your website, the About section is one of the first clicks they’ll make. Make sure you’ve said you’re independent. Show your photo and talk about why and how you started your store. Show your team working behind the scenes to remind customers of the people who are your store -- their neighbors, friends, and families. MahoganyBooks' About Us page is a great example. 

• Make your operational status -- curbside only, by appointment, open with limited capacity -- as clear and easy to find on your website as possible. A few times lately I’ve looked up places I’ve needed to go and was unable to figure out from their website whether they were open or whether they were safe to visit. Here’s a great example from the top of Changing Hands’ homepage:

• Use a video on social media and on your website to show what it’s like to shop in your store in the age of social distancing and the precautions you’ve taken to help customers feel safe shopping with you. This example is from an author. (If your store has one I’d love to see it!)

• Communicate with your customers. Are you having trouble keeping up with orders? Let them know. If your store is struggling, let them know. The more customers know the more they can be part of the solution to your problems.

• Incorporate handselling into all communication with customers. On an ABC call this week Kathy Burnette, owner of Brain Lair Books, mentioned that when she emails a customer about their order she always recommends a couple of other books she thinks the customer might like and sometimes offers them a coupon to use for those books on their next order--a good example of handselling not being limited to the sales floor.

• Practical Ecommerce recently highlighted a study by Zeno Group, a public relations firm, that revealed that consumers are 4x more likely to buy from a brand they believe has a strong purpose and at least 4x more likely to recommend the store to their friends and family. I know how generous indie bookstores are during the holidays in all kinds of ways, including holiday book drives. Share what you're doing with your customers to inspire them to support your business and to inspire their own generosity in the world. 

• Based on 2019 sales and traffic for IndieCommerce and IndieLite going into the holidays, and based on sales trends we’re currently seeing in this new ecommerce-driven pandemic world, we estimate that sales for 12/1 - 12/21  could be as much as 8% higher each day, year over year, than our highest volume day during the pandemic -- in June following the antiracism and police violence protests. Presumably we’re all more prepared now for this increase, but now is the time to make sure you've reviewed IndieCommerce improvements that have been put in place since then (see New Features & Updates in this right-hand column on BookWeb) to help improve your efficiency, that staff is trained (and cross-trained) on the most efficient workflows and ways to process orders, and that you have contingency plans -- if demand exceeds your in-store fulfillment capacity are you prepared to run some sales through CDF or through a BookShop page? Toggling between fulfillment options will help prevent a bottleneck of holiday orders. 

• As some areas of the country are facing shut downs again take a moment to review your contingency plans in general and discuss those plans with your booksellers: What will your store do if an employee gets sick? What if your store has to close to the public? 

Events

• NAIBA’s Professional Bookseller Certification, Events Management course
  Booksellers can register here for the first of six courses that are part of the certification program. For more information, visit NAIBA’s FAQs page.

• Coffee Break: Tuesday, November 17, 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.    

Health Insurance Deadlines

• 65 and Over -- Medicare Open Enrollment Deadline: Monday, December 7, 2020

• Individual Health Insurance Policies -- General Open Enrollment Marketplace Deadline: Tuesday, December 15, 2020 in most states. 

• For more information on open enrollment in general, and options outside of open enrollment, see this article on preparing for open enrollment this fall.

• For information about LIG, ABAs health insurance partner, visit www.bookweb.org/lig-health-insurance and learn more about the program, watch the ABA/LIG recorded webinar, and schedule an appointment to speak with a licensed advisor, or call 866-732-3028 to speak to the LIG team of licensed advisors.

• If you’re contacting LIG for either health insurance please note that the sooner you contact them the better, preferably before 12/1, since they will need time to get you set up before the deadlines.

#BoxedOut/Press

• I’ve been contacted by several students from universities all across the country who are writing stories about #BoxedOut for their school newspaper. They are very interested in indie bookstores and what they represent. Think of ways to reach this target market by sending a press release about your store to student newspapers -- high school or college. The pitch doesn’t even have to be about #BoxedOut specifically, it can be as simple as your indie bookstore’s struggle and value during the pandemic. Or the hook could be how the biggest book of the year (A Promised Land) is doing locally. Offering a student discount this holiday season could be a way to double down on that press. 

• Mitchell’s Book Corner in Nantucket, Massachusetts, is a good example of how stores can continue to subtly share the #BoxedOut campaign message during the holiday season.

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