Live From Portland, Oregon -- ABA Winter Institute, Day 2

The second day of the 2007 ABA Winter Institute featured lots more education, peer networking, and even some breaking news about the importance of independent retailing to Main Street America.

The eight-hour-plus schedule included nine educational panels, a breakfast session where booksellers joined in the planning process for the next ABA strategic plan, more rep picks of upcoming adult and children's trade titles, and a "New Media Lunch," which looked at the pervasive effects of digitalization on the book world.

For most of the institute's 500 registered booksellers, the day began with French toast and conversation at the "ABA Strategic Planning Breakfast." ABA Vice President Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, welcomed attendees and joked that the price of the breakfast would be a completed strategic planning survey to ensure that their input was included in the formulation of the association's next strategic plan. Underscoring the importance of the process, she emphasized that "the strategic plan is what the Board and staff will use" to guide the association for the next five years.

After the breakfast, booksellers headed for the four morning educational panels. Among them was Keri Holmes of The Kaleidoscope bookstore in Hampton, Iowa, who told BTW, "I am so, so impressed with the quality of the education sessions.... The value of ABA membership is immeasurable."

The day's opening seminars included the new panel "Getting the Most Out of Your Staff," which drew more than 180 booksellers. Moderator Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA CEO, covered a wide range of topics related to creating a work environment that motivates bookstore staff, including recognizing an employee's unique abilities and hiring booksellers whose skills augment those of their colleagues. Among the advantages that independent booksellers have over chain stores, said Domnitz, is the ability to be more accommodating to an employee's needs. "A chain store has a hard time with flexibility.... You schedule for the benefit of the store, but, at the same time, you do have the ability to be flexible."

At the panel "Coping With Disaster," Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, and author of Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Need to Do Now (Knopf), and Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books in Miami, Florida, joined ABA COO Oren Teicher to discuss disaster-preparedness. Despite the daunting implications of the day's headlines (which featured stories about both global warming and a 122 poorly maintained levees nationwide), Redlener counseled booksellers to avoid the extremes of panic and denial and, instead, to work "someplace in the middle," beginning first with efforts to make sure that their families and communities were prepared to deal with disasters. In addition, he and Teicher stressed that booksellers often underestimate the potential of their efforts to affect public policy. Not only would public officials listen, but, Teicher noted, "In the bookstore we have a bully pulpit to influence these issues. We can play a role in helping educate the public that [they] can influence these things."

Another morning panel was "How to Be the Story: Developing and Implementing a Public Relations Plan," where Meg Smith, ABA's director of membership marketing, discussed how a comprehensive marketing plan can boost a store's success even more than advertising. At "Getting the Most Out of the ABA," Book Sense Marketing Director Mark Nichols and ABA Marketing Director Jill Perlstein presented booksellers updates about a number of programs and services available to ABA member booksellers, including the Book Sense marketing program, the Book Buyer's Handbook, and Constant Contact. BookExpo America Show Director Lance Fensterman also spoke with booksellers about the many opportunities at this year's BookExpo America in New York City.

In addition, for a second day, sales reps from the Winter Institute's publisher sponsors presented booksellers with a look at new titles from their Winter - Spring lists at three "Rep Picks" sessions.

Following the morning panels, booksellers filled the hotel ballroom for the "New Media Lunch," where moderator Scott Rosenberg, co-founder of Salon.com, joined panelists Amanda Edmonds, strategic partner manager of Google Book Search; C.J. Rayhill, chief information officer for O'Reilly Media; and Madeline McIntosh, senior vice president, publisher of Random House Audio Publishing, in a discussion about the dramatic effect such technological developments as the digitization of content and online social networking are having on independent booksellers and their customers.

If the elephant in the ballroom was the question of whether the age of the printed book was ending, the consensus of the panel seemed to be that even during a period of rapid technological development and pervasive experimentation, the trade title in hard copy was not facing an imminent demise. "I'm not sure that there's anyone on the stage who thinks that there will be a tipping point for the printed book," said Google's Edmonds. However, all the panelists said they believed that consumers wanted a number of options regarding information, and that the traditional book would increasingly coexist with many other forms of complementary media. A point made repeatedly was that booksellers should work to stay informed regarding the implications of digitization and begin to experiment with such low-cost resources as blogs and other online tools.

Booksellers were also advised to differentiate themselves in an increasingly online world by offering shoppers a unique and valued experience. "You are an in-person bookstore. Your community knows your face, and they are coming into your store for a reason -- to see a person," said McIntosh, who urged booksellers "to do the best job possible of owning [their] customers."

After lunch, another new panel, "Building and Rewarding Customer Loyalty," drew a large number of interested booksellers. Daniel Goldin, buyer at Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, and Nicole Magistro, owner of The Bookworm of Edwards, in Edwards, Colorado, joined ABA's Domnitz in discussing the question of just what customers are looking for in a bookstore -- and how booksellers can build customer loyalty. Key to a bookstore's efforts, stressed Domnitz, was "capturing information to increase the share of loyal customers' purchases and to turn potentially loyal customers into loyal customers."

The importance of independent retailing was brought home at the session "How to Create an Independent Business Alliance in Your Community." David Nimkin, former executive director of the Utah Small Business Development Center and cofounder and vice president of Local First Utah, and Dan Houston and Matt Cunningham, the cofounders of Civic Economics, joined moderator Oren Teicher, ABA COO, to provide booksellers with new data about the importance of shopping locally. Houston and Cunningham discussed the results of their latest study, this one on behalf of the San Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Alliance, which further proved that a diverse retail base significantly contributes to the health of a local economy. The study again showed the presence of what they termed "the local premium" -- the greater positive effects on a local economy of dollars spent in locally owned businesses. Initial findings showed that for $1 million of retail book revenue realized in independent bookstores in San Francisco, $321,000 would be reinvested in the local economy. In the case of the same amount of revenue in San Francisco's chain stores, the reinvested amount would be only $188,000.

In addition, they noted that if 10 percent of total sales in San Francisco shifted from chains to locally owned businesses, an additional $190 million would be reinvested in the local economy, and the local economy would see the creation of an additional 1,290 total jobs.

The afternoon also featured two sessions on Above the Treeline (ATL), the online software product designed to help bookstores improve finances by optimizing inventory selection. One, moderated by Bob Steele of ATL, presented an introductory session to booksellers, and in the other, designed for current users, ATL founder John Rubin was joined by booksellers Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, and Chris Morrow of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont.

As they left their final panels, booksellers were already discussing their plans for the third annual Winter Institute, which ABA's Teicher announced would be held in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 24 - 26, 2008.

Watch upcoming issues of BTW for more on this year's Winter Institute. --Dan Cullen and Rosemary Hawkins