Sales Reporting Instructions

In coordination with Circana (formerly NPD), ABA has made some changes to the underlying technology of weekly sales reporting. As of October 2022, ABA is BookScan’s official aggregator for independent bookstore data. Several POS vendors offer an automated process to submit sales files weekly to the ABA FTP server. These include

• Anthology
• Basil
• Bookmanager
• Booklog
• IBID
• iMRCHNT
• Wordstock

Below are instructions specific to each of these vendors to get set up for automation.

ABA member stores that report sales via File Upload or Manual Entry on BookWeb.org do not need to make any changes to their reporting method, unless they would like to switch to automated reporting and are using one of the POS systems detailed above.

If you have multiple branches, each reporting branch of your store will have unique reporting credentials. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions or need credentials for another branch.

Anthology

Requests for automation should be sent to Anthology support [email protected]. Anthology will coordinate with ABA to obtain the store's FTP credentials to set up the automatic weekly process.

Basil

Automated reporting setup with Basil is a part of their customer onboarding process questionnaire and is implemented by coordination with ABA. Additional questions can be submitted to [email protected].

Booklog

Please contact Booklog support to set up automation.

Bookmanager

Requests for automation should be sent to Bookmanager General Support [email protected]. Bookmanager will coordinate with ABA to obtain the store's FTP credentials to set up the automatic weekly process.

IBID

Requests for automation should be sent to [email protected], 800-458-1996 Ext 230 or [email protected], 800-458-1996 Ext 204. IBID will coordinate with ABA to obtain the store's FTP credentials to set up the automatic weekly process.

iMRCHNT

If iMRCHNT is your POS system and you are currently reporting your weekly sales via Bookweb.org and wish to start transmitting files through their automated ftp process, please do the following to update iMRCHNT to send your reports to ABA’s server.

Accessing the BookScan interface

• Go To: Interfaces > Nielsen BookScan.
• You will need to set up your BookScan parameters for each store in your chain from which you want to report sales data to BookScan.
• Select a store to establish the BookScan parameters — the Nielsen BookScan window will appear.
• The Week Ending field always defaults to the previous week (seven days ago).
• Generally, you will run the BookScan report every week, on Sunday or Monday.
• If you need to change the date in this field, either key in the new date or click on the arrow at the right of the field and select the desired date.
• The information for all of the remaining fields has been or can be provided by ABA.
• You should only need to fill these fields in once for each reporting store.
• Each reporting store will have unique reporting credentials. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions or need credentials for another branch.
• To send your sales data to ABA BookScan (if your reporting is not already automated):
• Click on the Send Report button at the lower left of the BookScan window.
• A message box appears telling you either that the report has been sent, or that a problem occurred and that it was not sent.
• Send the BookScan report for each applicable store in your multi-store chain.
• The report should include sales occurring during the week beginning 12:01 am Sunday through midnight Saturday and be submitted no later than 1:00 pm ET each Monday.
• Requests for automation should be sent to iMRCHNT Support: [email protected] or by calling 603-298-5721. iMRCHNT will coordinate with ABA to obtain the store's FTP credentials to set up the automatic weekly process.

WordStock

Requests for automation should be sent to WordStock Support: [email protected] or by calling 1-800-444-7224. WordStock will coordinate with ABA to obtain the store's FTP credentials to set up the automatic weekly process.

Reporters have two options for manually entering sales data into the Indie Bestseller System. From the main-menu, you will see them listed under the heading of "Manually enter sales data."

Option One: All Titles

You can use this option to report all of your sales information at once.

1. Enter ISBN numbers and quantities into the available fields for all of your sales. If you make a mistake, just press the button marked "C" next to any row and that entry will be cleared.
2. If you have reported previously the fields will be pre-populated with your last reported list. Since many of the same books will most likely be represented for the current week, you can simply correct the quantities and add any new ISBNs that were not on the previous list.
3. When you are done, press the Review button at the bottom of the page.
4. Select the number of outlets/branches your sales data is for, and press Save. Your information is now reported.

Using this method, there is no need to presort your sales data into categories. Our database will automatically sort the ISBNs into the correct categories and sub-categories.

Option Two: By Category

You can use this option if your POS system automatically reports your sales based on categories. The categories we report are hardcover fiction, hardcover nonfiction, trade paperback fiction, trade paperback nonfiction, mass market, and children's.

1. Choose the category you wish to report.
2. Enter ISBN numbers and quantities into the available fields for all of your sales. If you make a mistake, just press the button marked "C" next to any row and that entry will be cleared.
3. If you have reported previously the fields will be pre-populated with your last reported list. Since many of the same books will most likely be represented for the current week, you can simply correct the quantities and add any new ISBNs which were not on the previous list.
4. When you are done, press the Review button at the bottom of the page.
5. Select the number of outlets/branches your sales data is for, and press Save. Your information is now reported.
6. Repeat this procedure with each of the categories.

QUICKSTART Directions

1. Export a TXT or CSV file from your POS system composed of one line for each title sold during the Sunday through Saturday of the reporting period detailing, for each book, the ISBN and the quantity sold separated by a tab (see image of example at right).
2. Open bookweb.org/bestsellers/report/upload
3. Click "Browse" and select your reporting file
4. Click "Submit"
5. The page will display a table including several rows of your report lead by two columns, "Select ISBN" and "Select Quantity." If the buttons in each of these columns correctly identify the ISBN and Quantity columns in your report, click "Submit Query." Otherwise, correct the selections in the first two columns to correspond to their appropriate details in your report and click "Submit."

EXPANDED DIRECTIONS for specific POS systems

How to export and upload a file from your POS system.

Please select your POS system from the list below:

• Anthology
• Visual Anthology
• Booklog
• BookWizard
• Computac/Square One
• IBID
• Prose
• Wordstock
• All Others

Anthology

1. Go to Reports
2. Go to Sales History
3. Change the dates on the screen to reflect the previous week
4. Under Which Report? - change this to Bestsellers
5. Under Send Report Where? - answer file (not printer) and label it

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created. 

Visual Anthology 4.X

Part I

• Go to REPORTS --> SALES HISTORY REPORT
• Click Bestseller List
• Select Top 999
• Click Show Qtys
• Set proper Dates (Sunday through Saturday)
• Click Print
• Click "Output To"
• Select the directory by clicking ellipses
• Give the file a name
• Choose *.XLS
• Click Print

Part II

• Open file in Excel
• Eliminate all columns but ISBN and Quantity
• Save as [file name].txt or [file name].csv

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.

Booklog

1. Go to Reports | Report Pick List.
2. The Report Pick List will open.
3. Find the ABA Bestsellers Report and click on it to select it.
4. The reports parameter window will open.
5. In the Rows Displayed field, change the 10 to a large number, such as 10000. This will ensure that all of your sales are displayed, not just the top 10.
6. In the Department field, select your book department.
7. In the Sales Period field, select the last week, from Sunday through Saturday.
8. Click OK to run the report.
9. You will see the report on your screen, showing a list of ISBNs and the number of copies of that ISBN that you sold during the sales period.
10. Click on the Export icon in the toolbar.
11. The Save As window will open.
12. In the Save in: field, choose a location that will be easy to find later.
13. In the File Name: field, enter a file name that easily identifies this file.
14. In the Save as type: field, choose Text with headers.
15. Click Save.
16. Your file is now saved to your computer and ready to be uploaded.
17. Upload the file to the File Upload page. This page will only be accessible each week from Saturday, 3 PM ET to Tuesday, 3 AM ET..

1. Run the report multiple times, exporting each time. Make sure that the names of your exported .txt file include the department name.
2. Open the first export and copy the contents of the .txt file to a new .txt file. Call the new file "Complete" or "Combined".
3. Open the second export and copy the contents of the .txt file to the new combined file.
4. Continue until you have copied each department's values into the combined file.
5. Upload the file to the File Upload page. This page will only be accessible each week from Saturday, 3 PM ET to Tuesday, 3 AM ET..

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.

BookWizard

Step 1: From the Main Menu, select "SKU Activity Report" from the Process drop-down menu. Select the desired date range, and click OK. It is essential to name the Report when prompted. Click Cancel when the Print Dialogue window opens.

Step 2: Immediately go to the Merchandise module (the selection will be the SKUs with sales activity during the period of time selected for the report) and select Print Report from the File drop-down menu. This opens the Report Editor window.

Step 3: Select the ready-made "Report.SKU 6 Mo History" from within the BW Reports folder, delete all of the columns except for "SKU" and the calculation column labeled "C 1Wk," and then saved this modified report as "Report.SKU 1 Wk History" so that in subsequent weeks, it will be ready to go. (Future updates of Bookwizard will include this ready-made report.)

Step 4: Select "Disk File" as "Print Destination" from the File drop-down menu. Then, from the same menu, select Print. You will then be prompted to place and name the file. Save the file in a handy place using a descriptive name. You will see a progress bar as the computer writes an ASCII file onto its hard drive.

Step 5: You've now created a tab-delimited text file that can be uploaded through your web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape).

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.

Note: There is no need to limit the number of ISBNs to only the titles that sold multiple copies. In fact, we would prefer to collect information on sales of single items in order to increase the depth of the bestseller data.

Computac / Square One

Use the Book Sales Analysis Report in the Sales Analysis sub-system:

 Step 1 - Run a single report for all book departments that includes all titles that sold 1 or more copies during the week (Sales From 1 to 99999). Use the Current Week or Back 1 Week depending on whether or not the Weekly Sales Roll has been done. When setting up this report - choose to create a spreadsheet at the "output section" - change the N to a Y for yes in response to both the "Spreadsheet" and "Headings" questions. The pathname I use is: /u/sq1/tmp/indiebound and I reuse the file name "indiebound" each week.

Step 2 - Use FTP (file transfer protocol) to move the file from the "remote system" (mine is: /u/sq1/tmp) to the local system (I send mine to a
specified folder on my C: Drive).

Step 3 - Open the file that you've created - check the dates to make sure it contains the most recent week's sales information - delete all the extra information until you have just 2 columns: ISBN & quantity sold.

Step 4 - Save this file with a name that includes the week ending date. The filename I use is: 01indieboundXXXX - with the last 4 Xs replaced by the week ending date.

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.

Users should contact Mike Hartman, [email protected], with questions.

IBID

1. From the MAIN MENU, press F12 Report Menu
2. Press F5 Bestseller report
3. Set the parameters as usual - Category, Sales Period (Min=01, Max=02, Seq=W). This sets the date range to the previous week.
4. Press F12 to process (make sure the dates in MIN and MAX are the correct time period)
5. When list of titles is ready, press F (format)
6. Press F11 and create a new report with the only fields being SOLD and ISBN/ITEM
7. Escape out once, give the format a new name, change the output device to F (file) and press F1 to add this new format (I call ours IndieBound)

        8. Press F13 to print the report to a file. Write down the name of the file (it will end with .RFA) and then press Yes. When it asks "Do you want a memo?," press N, and if it asks if you want to append the file, press N. The file is now in IBID and has to get to IndieBound. Escape out to an IBID prompt.
        9. Put a blank floppy disk into the IBID computer
       10. At the IBID prompt, type COPY then a space, then the file name ending in .RFA then a space and then A: and press enter

The bestseller file should now be on the disk and ready to be uploaded.

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.

Prose

1. From the main PROSE menu, select "Ordering" F3

2. From the "Ordering" menu, select "Review Sales" F1

3. Enter starting and ending dates for the period in question at the prompts.

4. Press F1 to select.

5. When the sales log appears on the screen, press F6 to export.

A file named SALESOUT.DAT will be created in your PROSE directory. This is the file which needs to be uploaded.

Important: Please do not to forget to select "Prose" before submitting your file through this uplod method.

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.

WordStock

I. SETUP

You should only need to perform these steps once.

Part One: Creating the Report.

1. From the Main Menu, choose "REPORTS".
2. From the Reports menu, choose "DESIGN REPORTS".
3. Choose option "CREATE SORT INCLUDES".
4. When asked which data to use, select "INVENTORY".
5. Choose a name for the report. This can be whatever name is convenient for you.
6. Set parameters to "Week 1 sales greater than but not equal to 1".
7. Set no additional parameters.
8. Save the report.

Part Two: Creating the Export Format.

1. From the Main Menu, choose "EXPORT".
2. From the Export Menu, select "CREATE EXPORT FORMAT"
3. When asked which data file to use, select "INVENTORY"
4. Choose a name for the export format, This can be whatever is convenient for you.
5. Choose fields "ISBN and SKU", no need to change the field widths.
6. Select "WEEK 1 SALES"
7. Save the export format.

II. WEEKLY REPORTS

Once the above steps are completed, the following procedures can be used each week to generate the files for the Indie Bestseller Lists.

Part Three: Running the Sort

1. From the main menu, choose "REPORTS"
2. From the reports submenu choose "SORT A DATA FILE"
3. Choose the report created in Part One.
4. Choose a name for the sort.
5. Run the sort.

Part Four: Exporting the File to disk.

1. From the Main Menu, Choose "EXPORT".
2. Select "EXPORT AN EXISTING SORT".
3. Choose the sort created in Part Three (above).
4. Choose the export format created in Part Two (Above)
5. Insert a blank DOS formatted floppy disk into the drive.
6. Run the export.

This will create a file on the disk named "Exinv1.txt" containing a list of ISBN numbers and SKU numbers for the previous week's sales.

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.

All Others

Even if your POS System is not specifically listed in our instructions, this system can still accept an uploaded file provided it is in the correct format.

Simply create a report for one week of sales containing only ISBN numbers and quantities (do not include any other data such as price, author, publisher, quantity on hand, etc, as this will cause the upload to fail).

Once you have verified that the report contains only ISBNs and quantities, save it as a .TXT or .CSV file to your disk. When prompted by the reporting system, select this as the file to be uploaded, and click the "Submit" button.

Please use this link to upload the file you've just created.