Exchanging Ideas on BookWeb

ABA member booksellers who haven't taken a recent look at BookWeb.org's new Idea Exchange are missing out on the camaraderie of a vibrant, insightful bookseller virtual community. Every week booksellers are posting comments about the industry, seeking advice, and offering great ideas.

This week, for instance, discussion threads included the topic headings "Booklog vs. Visual Anthology (or anything else for that matter)" and "IBID and Charitable Giving Bookclubs" in the Inventory Control forum; and "Jewelry as Sideline," "Harry Potter Party Ideas" and "Ten Year Anniversary Ideas" in the General Forum. Other recent postings to the Idea Exchange include a request for updated book sales statistics in the Ask ABA forum, and in the BookSense.com area, a bookseller has a question about the Web site's database. To access these and other Idea Exchange threads, click here.

As another example of the usefulness of the forums, booksellers who are planning to attend one of the upcoming toy, gift, or food trade shows can use the Idea Exchange to hook up with other colleagues who have plans to go. There are two upcoming trade shows at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City: the New York International Gift Fair will be held from January 29 - February 3, and the American International Toy Fair will be held from February 20 - February 3. A query posted to the Idea Exchange can help booksellers find each other prior to the shows.

Booksellers should also note that they don't have to remember to check the Idea Exchange each day. The new software can bring the forums to booksellers by allowing users to add a particular forum thread to their very own "favorites" list or add an e-mail "watch" to a particular thread through the "My Profile" link at the top of the Idea Exchange homepage.

Access to the forums is open to all ABA bookstore and provisional members and provides them with a valuable professional development tool. (Booksellers who do not already have a BookWeb Account will need to create one; to do so, click here.)