Special ABACUS Session on May 30 at BookExpo America

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Booksellers attending BookExpo America (BEA) are encouraged to attend a special ABACUS session to be held on Friday, May 30, from 9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. in Room 303A/B. This long-awaited session will present, for the first time, an in-depth and detailed report on the project's first-year results, and all ABA members are invited to attend. ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz will moderate.

For a number of years, the ABACUS study on the financial operations of independent bookstores provided valuable information for those interested in comparing their company's performance against an industry standard. For various reasons, the study was discontinued. For those who valued and needed this kind of analysis, a considerable void was created.

Now, thanks in great part to the participation of over 190 independent booksellers, ABACUS is back. The rich data showing the performance of all participating stores, as well as "data slices" grouped by profitability levels, sales levels, areas of the country, and much more, will be presented at this session at BEA. Close attention will be paid to those drivers of success that are clearly revealed by the study.

As a bonus, bookstores participating in the ABACUS study will be given access to a personal review of their store's performance compared to all relevant segments contained in the study. Participating stores do not have to be at BEA to receive their data -- all submitting stores will receive this information.

Booksellers who attended preliminary previews at the ABA Booksellers Forums over the past few months were presented with just part of the ABACUS results and reported being quite impressed. The session planned for BEA will provide booksellers with much more analysis of the complete ABACUS data.

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