ABACUS, ABA’s free annual financial benchmarking survey, is now available! Check your email for the subject line “ABACUS Benchmarking Survey” to find the link. Booksellers have until July 23 to submit their responses.

If you would like assistance, or are participating for the first time, ABA CFO (and former bookstore owner) PK Sindwani will offer ABACUS workshops with step-by-step instructions for the ABACUS questionnaire. Multiple sessions are available in June and July; check the ABA Events Calendar to find the date that works best for you.

Join us Thursday, June 29, at 3:00 pm ET for Board Office Hours/ABA Open House.

These forums offer an opportunity for booksellers & bookstore owners to meet directly with ABA Board Members and ABA staff to ask questions, share concerns or experiences, and express their needs for support. 

ABFE is extremely disappointed that Governor Abbott ignored the outpouring of opposition from booksellers and Texans across the state and signed HB900 into law.

From the day this bill was introduced, ABFE and independent bookstores in Texas have fought against HB900. Now that HB900 has been signed into law, ABFE will pursue every option available to ensure independent bookstores do not suffer its consequences. 

ABA’s health insurance partner, LIG Association Health Program, recently announced exciting news regarding new products and programs available exclusively for ABA bookstore members.

In addition to the new products and programs, ABA's partnership with LIG Solutions offers our members access to major medical health coverage, Medicare, employee coverage options, dental, vision, critical illness, and other supplemental coverage plans with solutions available at any time of the year. 

This Juneteenth, listen in as Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Frederick Joseph explore the meaning of the holiday, their personal relationship with it, and the future of Juneteenth now that it is federally recognized. This session was recorded at Ci10 in Phoenix, Arizona.

To celebrate this Pride month, ABA team members have compiled a list of LGBTQIA2S+ titles that have been meaningful to them and helped them feel seen.

Here is a preview of the titles on the July/August 2023 Kids’ Indie Next List flier, arriving at stores in the upcoming Kids’ Box mailing. Top pick? The Skull by Jon Klassen.

The Summer Reading Group Guide is now available! This guide includes the following categories: Dazzling Debuts, Family and Coming of Age, Historical Fiction, Other Worlds, and Thrills & Chills.

Claudia Cravens is the author of Lucky Red, a Summer/Fall 2023 Indies Introduce selection. Here, Cravens and Rachael Conrad of PRINT: A Bookstore in Portland, ME, discuss Lucky Red.

Alejandra Oliva is the author of Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration, a Summer/Fall 2023 Indies Introduce selection. Here, Oliva and Alana Haley of Schuler Books in Grand Rapids, MI, discuss Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration.

K. X. Song is the author of An Echo in the City, a Summer/Fall 2023 Indies Introduce Kids’ selection. Here, Song and Zsamé Morgan of Babycake's Book Stack in St. Paul, MN, discuss An Echo in the City.

Here is the Indie Romance Bestseller List, based on sales at independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending June 11.

Late last week, a bipartisan group of Senators and Congress members introduced the Credit Card Competition Act in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

The Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 would enhance credit card competition in order to reduce excessive credit card fees. It would require the largest credit card issuers in the country to enable at least two credit card networks to be used on their credit cards instead of just one. At least one of those must be a network other than the Visa/Mastercard duopoly.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is providing additional measures to accommodate COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) borrowers who are experiencing short-term financial difficulties.

This program, the Hardship Accommodation Plan, allows eligible borrowers to make reduced loan payments for six months. However, interest on these loans will continue to accrue, which may increase or create a balloon payment at the end of the loan term.