Economic Relationship Between Booksellers and Publishers Focus of ABA Education at Fall Shows

At each of this year’s eight fall regional trade shows, the American Booksellers Association will be presenting “The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers,” an all-new education session highlighting the interdependency between booksellers and publishers. With the belief that understanding all sides of the industry will make booksellers and publishers better at their jobs, ABA has asked leading publishing executives to provide booksellers with important insights into the financial realities they face every day. Likewise, at Winter Institute 11, ABA will offer a complementary session that will introduce publishers to the financial concerns of independent booksellers as reflected in their Profit and Loss statements.

During the session “The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers” at the regional shows, a publisher will walk booksellers through the Profit and Loss statement of a new trade title and, in the process, will introduce booksellers to the key financial realities of publishing and delineate the many factors that affect both the bookstore channel and consumers. Important P&L line items, such as suggested retail price, production costs, marketing, and returns, will be discussed, as well as broader themes that impact the day-to-day cost of publishing, including the rise of e-books and the implications on reprint decisions. An ABA Board member will moderate this session and facilitate a discussion following the presentation.

The session presenters will be:

• George Gibson, Publishing Director, Bloomsbury USA (SIBA, NAIBA, and NEIBA)
• Matty Goldberg, President of Publishing and Client Sales Development, Perseus Books Group (Heartland GLIBA/MIBA combined show) and SCIBA)
• Steven Pace, Sales Director, Workman Publishing (PNBA, MPIBA, and NCIBA)

The eight trade shows and ABA’s education sessions will be held as follows:

Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA): Friday, September 18 – Sunday, September 20, 2015
Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown, 3415 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, North Carolina
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Friday, September 18, 8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA): Friday, October 2 – Sunday, October 4, 2015
DoubleTree by Hilton Somerset & Conference Center, 200 Atrium Drive, Somerset, New Jersey
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Sunday, October 4, 9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA): Friday, October 2 – Sunday, October 4, 2015
Holiday Inn Portland Airport, 8439 NE Columbia Boulevard, Portland, Oregon
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Friday, October 2, 2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.

New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA): Tuesday, October 6 – Thursday, October 8, 2015
Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street, Providence, Rhode Island
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Tuesday, October 6, 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association (MPIBA): Thursday, October 8 – Saturday, October 10, 2015
Renaissance Denver Hotel, 3801 Quebec Street, Denver, Colorado
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Saturday, October 10, 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Heartland Fall Forum (GLIBA/MIBA): Friday, October 9 – Sunday, October 11, 2015
Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, 70 Yorktown Center, Lombard, Illinois
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Saturday, October 10, 10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA): Thursday, October 15 – Friday, October 16, 2015
South San Francisco Conference Center, 255 South Airport Boulevard, South San Francisco, California
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Thursday, October 15, 11:00 a.m. – Noon

Southern California Independent Booksellers Association (SCIBA): Friday, October 23 – Saturday, October 24, 2015
The Beverly Garland Hotel, 4222 Vineland Avenue, Los Angeles, California
The Economics of Publishing and How They Impact Booksellers: Friday, October 23, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

In conjunction with PNBA and NEIBA, ABA will be offering a separate Human Resources Workshop, which will be presented by Dr. John Sherlock, director of the Master of Science in HR program at Western Carolina University.

The workshop in conjunction with PNBA will be held on Thursday, October 1, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., just prior to the trade show.

The second workshop, in conjunction with NEIBA, will take place over two days: on Tuesday, October 6, from 1:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., and on Wednesday, October 7, from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at the Biltmore Hotel Providence.

Learn more about the Human Resources Workshops here.

Watch for more details on the regional shows in upcoming editions of BTW.