Winter Institute 2018

Thanks to the generosity of ABA’s publisher sponsors, many authors and illustrators will be on hand to chat with booksellers and autograph new and forthcoming titles at the Author Reception. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

If your store is less than 1,000 square feet, you face a unique set of challenges. This discussion will offer a space for booksellers to review and share successful tips with colleagues.

While it might be tempting to concentrate solely on fiction and creative nonfiction, your store’s sales also rest on such sections as history, biography, and science. How can you expand your efforts to reach consumers who want to engage on a deeper level with our fact-based world and the subjects of the day? Expert booksellers and publisher panelists will discuss fostering a nonfiction community, promoting frontlist and backlist titles, best practices for handsellling, and more.

Developed for author guests at Winter Institute, this lunch panel features booksellers who have formulated best practices for creating events that benefit both stores and authors. This session will cover a number of issues, from author publicity to dealing with pre-event nerves.

International guests are invited to lunch with their colleagues and participate in an informal discussion about bookselling developments and trends from around the world. All countries represented at Wi13 will be given an opportunity to provide a short country report. Take a break, relax, and enjoy an informal — but hopefully informative — discussion with other international bookselling colleagues.

Enjoy lunch with reps and learn about great upcoming titles from the Winter Institute’s publisher sponsors. Seats are assigned; table numbers are printed on bookseller badges.

Pre-registration required; for owners and managers only.
Morten Hansen, co-author of Great by Choice (Simon & Schuster) with Jim Collins, is a professor of management at the University of California, Berkeley. His forthcoming book, Great at Work, which draws on a longitudinal study of more than 5,000 managers and employees, has already been hailed by organizational psychologist Adam Grant as “the definitive guide to working smarter.” Professor Hansen will lead an interactive workshop on how bookstores and booksellers might find more success not by doing more—not by joining another social media platform, by trying to sell nonbook merchandise, or by trying to be the “everything store;” that Amazon has become—but by identifying the work that their bookstore does best, and then effectively obsessing about it.His forthcoming book, will lead a discussion for owners and managers who want to maximize their time and increase their job performance. Hansen will share his “Seven Work Smarter Practices” and provide an opportunity for booksellers to identify ways to apply them to their daily business lives.
Advanced Education registration is closed.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s online platforms for marketing events and author appearances as well as selling books and other merchandise. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule a one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Space is limited, but walk-ins are welcome. Hours are offered Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Details and sign up are here.

Begin your Wi13 journey in Nashville with Ingram! Mix and mingle on January 21, tour the Ingram campus on January 22, then hop on a one-way charter bus to Memphis!

Click here to learn more and register for Ingram Tour.

Daniel H. Pink is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers Drive, To Sell is Human, and A Whole New Mind. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 35 languages. He lives with his family in Washington, DC.

Implementing a system to manage store finances is key to the survival of any business. A good financial system allows you to confidently meet financial obligations, from payroll to event budgets and more. This session will highlight a few tactics booksellers can use to create a better system to approach and manage store finances with confidence.

Booksellers experienced with successfully operating used bookstores will compare and discuss the financial model, including acquiring, selling, and trading used books for credit. This panel, for booksellers who are interested in offering used books, assumes you have a working knowledge of general bookstore financial operations.

Are you looking for better checklists and forms to help you organize your store operations? Or do you already have procedures for self-published authors, special orders, or other store operations that you can’t live without? Here’s an opportunity to crowdsource solutions for you and your fellow booksellers. Come to this idea exchange with a number of copies of your “best loved” forms and exchange them with “best loved” forms from other stores.

Pre-registration required; for owners and managers only. Registration is closed. Exiting a much-loved business can be difficult to consider, but whether you are preparing to retire or you expect to own your store for many years to come, it is important to have a plan in place for your business and to consider all succession options. A bookseller who has gone through the process of selling a store as well as a representative from a local financial group that offers business valuations will lead a conversation on how to prepare for this important step in the life of your store.