On Demand Education Sessions

Marketing strategy refers to a business’ overall plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of your products or services. We will help you learn how to identify your ideal target market and the appropriate marketing mix to drive growth. It will be most productive if you come to the session with the attached documents filled out. However, it is not a requirement.

If you are interested in prioritizing community engagement for societal change, this is a conversation you will not want to miss. A panel of booksellers who represent stores with strong missions will take you behind the scenes of the media coverage and social media posts that reflect the success of their work. They will discuss the very real and substantive processes they have in place to create change. If you want to hear about the actionable steps mission-driven stores take for success, this is the conversation for you!

This roundtable is your opportunity to socialize, network, and learn from booksellers who run mobile and pop-up operations. Whether you represent a mobile or pop-up store or are new to this model, this conversation will provide you with valuable insights and new connections.

While 2020 and 2021 were arguably the toughest years in recent memory for stores, 2022 continues to bring challenges. Upheavals in society produced a number of short-term temporary changes for businesses, as well as some lasting ones. What short-term changes have become permanent fixtures in your approach to your business and to bookselling? Come to this roundtable to share your experiences and hear from your colleagues.

There has been a dramatic increase in books by BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ authors that feature their experiences being challenged and banned. In this discussion, booksellers will share available resources, effective ways to address challenged books with customers, and how bookstores can support K-12 educators, librarians, and children.

“...poetry began when somebody walked off of a savanna or out of a cave and looked up at the sky with wonder and said, ‘Ahhh.’ That was the first poem.” —Lucille Clifton
 

Join bestselling author and Grammy Award-winning recording artist Alicia Keys in conversation with Donya Craddock co-owner of The Dock Bookshop in Fort Worth, Texas, as they discuss Keys’ new graphic novel, Girl on Fire; the complex ways race shapes the realities that young people, especially young women of color, face today; and the importance of the written and illustrated word.

With Girl on Fire, Keys shines a light on the challenges of growing up in a world that seems intent on making young Black women feel powerless, and gives voice to a generation ready to stand up for what they know is right.

Alicia Keys is a 15-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, producer, an accomplished actress, a New York Times bestselling author, a film/television and Broadway producer, an entrepreneur, and a powerful force in the world of activism. Since the release of her 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor, Keys has sold over 65 million records, scored six Top 10 singles, and built an unparalleled repertoire of hits and accomplishments. Her eighth album, Keys, was released on December 10, 2021. Girl on Fire was co-written with Andrew Weiner, founder and CEO of Inner Station, a multimedia entertainment company focused on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and motion pictures, and illustrated by Brittney Williams, a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant recipient and a Luminarts Fellow.

Toni Morrison famously said, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” Join authors Jennifer Egan, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and Celeste Ng in conversation with author/bookseller Emma Straub for a discussion on how recent shifts in culture, isolation, and technology have affected what they want to read and what they want to write.

Your strategic plan is the business map that leads to the success of your store and staff, and the stability of your business. If you don't have a strategic plan, or if you need to refresh the plan you have, you will benefit from this planning session. Attendees will be guided through the process of stepping back from day-to-day operations to ask where their business is headed and what its priorities should be. This event will include a worksheet for strategic planning to guide attendees and designated time in the session for attendees to begin the process of creating a plan. Additional follow-up sessions will be offered for attendees who want to dig a little deeper into this topic. In addition, private consultations will be available at a cost. More details on this future programming will be announced in Bookselling This Week in the coming weeks.

Guaranteed to be both fun and informative, bookseller moderators will kick off the conversation by sharing their favorite frontlist and backlist genre titles, briefly discuss how the sale of these titles impacts their stores, including marketing and buying, and then invite you to join the conversation. What’s your hottest genre seller? What genre event are you the most proud of? And what titles can you not help but handsell?

This roundtable is your opportunity to socialize, network, and learn from booksellers who run microstore operations. Whether you represent a microstore or are new to this model, this conversation will provide you with valuable insights and new connections.

Join Danny Caine, bookseller, poet, owner of Raven Bookstore (Lawrence, KS), and ABA Board Member, as he moderates a conversation with celebrated poets: Linda Gregerson, Ecco at HarperCollins; Saeed Jones, Coffee House Press; Ada Limón, Milkweed Editions; Paul Tran, Viking Press; and Amber McBride, Feiwel & Friends at Macmillan Children’s Publishers.

Join a panel of booksellers as they examine the intersections of race, literature, and entrepreneurship. The panelists will explore the importance of their contributions to the bookselling ecosystem, activism, and what is required to create diverse, equitable environments.

Bookstore-branded merchandise is an important way to capitalize on the story and personality of your store. If you have had success with various vendors or specific merchandise, come share your experiences with your colleagues! And if you are considering offering branded merchandise, but aren’t sure where to start, this is the perfect space to ask for recommendations. Come prepared to crowdsource ideas, best practices, and resources — and to learn.