We want to hear from you!

Please take a moment to fill out our annual Membership Survey. The information we gather in this survey helps us make sure we’re providing you with the education, resources, and opportunities you find most valuable. The data you share helps us with government relief advocacy, publisher conversations about terms and the needs of bookstores, and press inquiries about the indie channel. 

The deadline to complete this survey is Monday, March 4, at 11:59 pm ET.

• Thursday, February 1 at 2:00 pm ET: Neurodiverse Community Affinity Group
• Monday, February 5 at 2:00 pm ET: LGBTQIA2S+ Affinity Group Meeting
• Tuesday, February 6 at 3:00 pm ET: New Member Series: Store Ownership 101
  

Attendees, check your inboxes for “Wi2024: Pigs Fly & Skyline Chili Reigns in Cincinnati” sent from [email protected] on Monday. This itinerary email — written by Courtney Wallace, our Cincinnati-based Marketing Manager & Independent Bookstore Day Program Director — points out some of the exciting programming we have lined up for Winter Institute!

What is ABA doing in terms of advocacy to address on-sale date violations?

Everything we can! 

• Contacting publishers about every on-sale date violation that comes to our attention.
• Spot-checking chain stores by attempting to make purchases ahead of on-sale dates.  
• Providing a “hotline” for members to send receipts for books purchased prior to strict on-sale dates — [email protected]. 
• Working on a proposal for our annual publisher meetings in May with the goal of clarification and consistency around where stores look for on-sale information, the language used for strict on-sale dates, and what the repercussions are for violations.

Some things to note:

• Many on-sale violation rumors turn out to be false. Please check your sources and/or confirm. (For example, if a customer reports an on-sale violation to you, ask to see the receipt and take a picture of it.)
• Unfortunately, there are on-sale violations by indies and chains. Sometimes it’s just human error — a new employee trying to offer the best customer service, someone hooking a friend up with a book ahead of time — and not a conspiracy.
• On-sale dates were put into effect decades ago to protect indie bookstores. The system may be imperfect but it’s far better than the wild west we had before they were implemented and all of the indies consistently lost sales to the chain stores.
  
• The most recent on-sale violations were immediately addressed with the publisher. They appreciated our input as they were not aware of the problem and they have since been able to address systems issues that caused the on-sale violations at both accounts. They are trying very hard to remedy these issues before the next big on-sale date for Kristin Hannah.

Not only does Black History Month start tomorrow, the first week of February is also Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week. We’ve collected a few children's titles that were written and/or illustrated by Black creators to start off the month!

• So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole (a Kids’ Indie Next List pick)
• The Last Stand by Antwan Eady, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey (a Kids’ Indie Next List pick)
• Like So by Ruth Forman, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa (a Kids’ Indie Next List pick)
• Ghost Roast by Shawneé Gibbs and Shawnelle Gibbs, illustrated by Emily Cannon
• How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith, Jr. (February 2024) (an Indies Introduce title)
• The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon (May 2024)
• My Antarctica: True Adventures in the Land of Mummified Seals, Space Robots, and So Much More by G. Neri, illustrated by Corban Wilkin (March 2024)
• Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston (a Kids’ Indie Next List pick)
  

Advocacy is on the road this week for a day on the Hill, talking to US Senators in support of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA). The CCCA would introduce competition into the credit card processing fee market, ultimately lowering fees that represent an average of 2.5% of the typical bookstore’s net income. With our coalition partners, ABA staff will lead a team of about 20 members in meetings with more than 60 Senators’ offices. The team has additional meetings scheduled to discuss anti-trust and free expression issues. 

The American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) additionally briefed our contacts in Utah about the threat posed by HB 29, a bill that would allow three successful book bans on the district level to translate into a statewide ban under certain circumstances. We also sent written testimony to the New Hampshire Senate’s Education Committee urging them to reject SB 523, a clone of the READER Act (aka HB 900) in Texas.