A Recap of ABA's Town Hall & Annual Membership Meetings

Outgoing president Gayle Shanks and incoming president Michael Tucker at the ABA Town Hall Meeting.

Among the topics discussed at the American Booksellers Association's Town Hall Meeting -- held on Friday, May 29, at BookExpo America -- were this year's trade show programming and new initiatives, prospects for healthcare reform for small businesses, progress on the Internet sales tax front, and problems in the enforcement of publishers' lay-down dates. The informal meeting, designed to allow booksellers to ask questions and share views on any industry-related topic, was led by outgoing ABA President Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore.

The meeting began with a brief convention update from BEA Vice President and Show Director Lance Fensterman, who, before opening up the floor to questions, reported that the number of ABA members participating in this year's BookExpo America is "nearly identical" to the bookseller attendance at the last New York show, in 2007 (See related story). "They say the sky is falling, but apparently it's not falling for independent booksellers," said Fensterman. "We appreciate our partnership with ABA."

Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, asked what the response had been to having ABA's Day of Education back at the convention center. For the past two years, the Day of Education was held at Hotel ABA. "That's a great question," said Fensterman, who noted that BEA and ABA were working very closely regarding this issue. "We're going to have to take your temperature [after the show] to find out what's best for ABA members. We wanted ABA under the big tent, but I understand the sense of community [at Hotel ABA]; we need to know how this went."

Fensterman also discussed plans to move the show to a midweek schedule next year, which he predicted would garner "more consistent participation from publishing houses" and noted that he expected that "we won't take you out of your stores on the biggest day of the week." He said BEA was considering the possibility of a Tuesday evening trade show preview just for booksellers, "but we're not sure how we would do that yet. We're quite open to good ideas."

In addition, BEA is looking into providing digital video for those who could not attend BEA. "There is an effort this year to catch a lot more content on video," explained Fensterman. "As for streaming it live simultaneously, we're close, but it's still fairly cost prohibitive. It might be doable to take on one event -- something that was highly relevant."

Miah Olmsted of Back to Books in Hudson, Wisconsin, asked about ABA's advocacy efforts regarding health insurance policies for small businesses. Oren Teicher, the incoming CEO of ABA, responded that President Obama's proposed healthcare reforms offered the potential of giving small businesses greater access to affordable healthcare. And he noted that Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, had noted that making healthcare more affordable was a key priority.

Teicher urged booksellers to attend Saturday's session "How the SBA and the Federal Stimulus Package Can Help Your Business," featuring Ana M. Ma, chief of staff at the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Michael Goldman, a counselor for the New York City chapter of SCORE and a past member of its executive committee. The session would provide booksellers with a unique and powerful opportunity to let SBA know which issues, such as healthcare, are most important to independent booksellers," Teicher explained. "SBA categorizes a small business as $50 million in annual sales with 500 employees or fewer; so, we need to educate SBA that there are businesses that are a lot smaller. This is an important message to convey."

Catherine Weller of Sam Weller's Books in Salt Lake City, Utah, inquired as to the status of ABA's e-fairness efforts. Teicher reported, "We've worked really hard this past year to get New York-style legislation passed.... We have efforts in about a dozen other states. We're going to keep plugging away and ... we're going to win -- not just because we're right, but because of the financial crisis in so many states. It would be preferable to deal with this nationally, but in the absence of a federal solution, we'll continue our efforts at the statewide level. I predict there will be a few more states with Internet sales tax legislation by next year."

Bob Contant of St. Mark's Bookshop in New York, noted that he had a dilemma with his competitors ignoring publishers' lay-down dates and wondered what ABA and publishers were doing in regards to this issue.

"We're all struggling with that," Shanks said. "Our whole industry is in a transition. Publishers are trying to figure out what they are doing, and we are trying to figure out what we are doing. It's not that we haven't been talking about it. ABA's Mark Nichols and David Walker have discussed this with publishers often."

Following the discussion on lay-down dates, Olmstead gave "major props" to the association for the IndieBound iPhone application.

The Town Hall meeting concluded with a query from Todd Dickenson of Aaron's Books in Lititz, Pennsylvania, who wondered if anyone had any experience filing a claim with LIBRIS. "How good are they?"

"This goes back several years when we had a water issue," said Chuck Robinson of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington. "[LIBRIS] were incredibly responsive and quick to deal with it."

Matt Miller of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado, told attendees that he is on the LIBRIS Board as is Books & Books' Mitchell Kaplan. "If you have problems, obviously first call LIBRIS. But if you are having any problems with LIBRIS, let me or Mitch know."

Following the Town Hall, outgoing ABA President Shanks called the association's Annual Membership Meeting to order. Board member Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas, delivered the Report of the Nominating Committee, which noted the election of new Board member Betsy Burton of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the re-election of Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois, and Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York to second three-year terms on the Board. The association membership also ratified the Board's choice of Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco to serve a one-year term as ABA president and Anderson to serve a one-year term as vice president/secretary.

In the Report of the President, Shanks began by noting, "I probably don't have to tell any of you in this room that this has been a tough year both for member stores and for ABA." However, she said that "ABA staff and booksellers across America have no intention of giving up the good fight to create the literary landscape and to maintain our market share and our place in our community's hearts." Among the highlights of the year, Shanks noted: alliances with other indie trade associations, a task force on interactive electronic catalogs, "expanding the possibilities for our booksellers to use IndieBound in new and creative ways," and increasing the use of social media ("the [ABA] staff is Twittering up the wazoo, helping and learning from booksellers how to be more effective in this medium").

Shanks told the membership that "perhaps one of the biggest jobs this board took on this year was hiring a new CEO" and noted that "it took us quite a while to get our brains wrapped around the idea that [CEO Avin Mark Domnitz] was retiring." Turning to Domnitz, she said, "Avin, in this public forum, on behalf of the current Board, previous Boards, and the entire membership, I'd like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation for the amazing job that you have done for this organization." Members in attendance then offered a standing ovation in support of her words. Explaining that the search committee for a new CEO had received more than 100 applications and had "interviewed seven serious contenders," Shanks said the hiring of current ABA COO Oren Teicher to serve as the association's new CEO gave ABA "the person we thought best to lead [the association] into a new era ... his intelligence, his passion, his experience with our programs, and his commitment to open communication with members and the board make him the perfect successor to Avin." In her last report, Shanks said, "Life and presidents move on," and she expressed her confidence that the Board would "continue to guide and lead the organization moving forward. Thanks so much for the opportunity to serve you as your president the past year."

Shanks then presented to the membership proposed revisions to ABA Bylaws to allow for ballot distribution and voting by electronic means, and they passed unanimously.

Incoming ABA President Tucker reported on ABA's membership figures, which, as of April 2009, numbered 1,880, down from 2,117 the year before, and he noted that, even in difficult economic times, the association's retention rate remains high.

In the CEO's report, Domnitz noted that the year-old IndieBound program had established "resonance with booksellers and publishers" and that, despite the severe economic downturn, "clearly has resonance" with consumers. He reported that IndieBound.org averaged 180,000 visits per month and 600,000 page views per month. The IndieBound iPhone app has 50,000 downloads to date and had risen to number two among Free Book Apps on iTunes.

Domnitz told the membership that "the number-one priority at ABA remains education." He noted that this year's Winter Institute, held at Salt Lake City, Utah, had more than 500 total attendees at the nadir of the economic downturn and that the Day of Education offered at BEA remained a central focus for ABA. He noted, too, that ABA webinars to help booksellers respond to the recession had been well received and that "you can expect, I think, to see more and more distance learning" initiatives from ABA. The association had conducted a membership outreach program, he said, with ABA staff e-mailing and/or calling all ABA members to assess how they were handling these tough economic times and to provide a free "Surviving Tough Times" webinar, which reached more than 100 booksellers.

Domnitz reported that participation in the ABACUS financial survey had significantly declined this year. Encouraging booksellers to submit their numbers to ABACUS, he said, "This would be the time we need to see the numbers" because "you hold the raw materials" to begin to gain important insights in these tough times. On the digital front, Domnitz noted that IndieCommerce staff has just completed development of a new open-source website solution that is more stable, much faster, and has many new features, and he updated members on the associations efforts regarding e-book sales.

The Shop Local movement also continued to grow with a pre-Winter Institute Conference on Local First/Shop Local Initiatives, and an Indie retailer post-holiday survey. The survey showed the positive effects of independent business alliances, which Domnitz characterized as "a competitive force" for indie businesses. He also updated members on the advocacy efforts of the past year in support of e-fairness and sales tax equity, outlining efforts in 12 states.

Addressing the association's finances, Domnitz said, "This is the proverbial rainy day" and explained how the "absolute collapse of the economy" had affected ABA. "Our portfolio is down significantly," he said, but noted that "by a good measure we are outperforming the indexes." He outlined the steps that ABA had taken to address the current financial situation -- including rebudgeting every ABA department, cutting all discretionary spending, freezing wages, and suspending employer contributions to the association's 401(k). Reviewing ABA's financial year, Domnitz said the auditor had given the association "a clean opinion," that the association had no debt, and that, even in a severe recession, "ABA cut dues, and increased services to the members, and we will continue to do so." (The 2007 - 2008 Consolidated Financial Statements for ABA and its Subsidiaries and the Annual Meeting handout are also available to ABA members via BookWeb.org.)

In concluding his report, Domnitz said, "Thank you for allowing me to serve you. You will be well served in the future by Oren Teicher ... and I just hope you will be as supportive of Oren as you have been of me." --David Grogan and Dan Cullen