A Letter from ABA CEO Allison Hill

Dear Booksellers,

It’s full steam ahead to the December holiday season, otherwise known as the Olympics of Bookselling. As you're getting ready for the holiday season and to Get Out The Vote next week, I wanted to touch base.

Several members of the ABA team and I recently returned from the summer/fall regional shows. We visited dozens of stores, met with hundreds of booksellers, and enjoyed every minute hearing about your stores, your challenges, and your successes — of which there were many. 

We were struck by the independence of independents, which never ceases to amaze me: your different store sizes, models, curation, personalities, histories, and missions. 

And we heard some common themes as well: A longing for the days before email and the dreaded inbox existed. Unprecedented cash flow struggles and bandwidth issues. And still, an unwavering commitment.

We were glad to hear that some of our asks of publishers in our annual spring meetings a few months ago had already paid off — stores benefiting from better Indies First terms, and more extended dating and discounts — and we were able to share some things for booksellers to look forward to from those meetings as well: middle grade readers with fewer pages, faster paperback releases, more graphic/text hybrid content, and lighter content in response to our plea for what booksellers need to reach these readers; more marketing support for Black, Indigenous, AAPI, Latino/a/x, Hispanic, and LGBTQIA2S+ authors to warm the chilling effect caused by book bans; participation in Batch, the (free to booksellers) platform to streamline invoicing for the industry; a demonstrated commitment to content generated by human beings instead of AI; and assistance from the Book Industry Study Group to help us solve the “on sale date dilemma” by introducing universal language for the industry.

“The industry.” It’s a funny term, isn’t it? It sounds so official and corporate and non-human for, in this case, the extended community of people who share a love of books and a common desire to share them. 

As we head into this holiday season, may we remember all that we have in common. May we have the opportunity to share the books we love. And may your hearts and register tills be full.

Please reach out if any of us at ABA can be of assistance. We’re here for you. 

—Allison