ABA to Independent Booksellers: See You at the Regionals!

This fall, when ABA joins independent booksellers attending the regional trade associations' shows, there will be a special emphasis on education and on showcasing two major ABA initiatives, the online ABA Book Buyer's Handbook and the enhanced options for reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List.

The educational programming that will be offered by ABA at regionals this fall features:

• Budgeting and Monitoring Workshop: This seminar, conducted by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, will present booksellers with a series of Excel worksheets that will allow them to integrate into their operations a system of financial controls, which will enable them to predict bookstore performance and then to measure outcomes against those predictions. This seminar, which is modeled after Domnitz's popular financial seminars that were offered at BEA and across the country this past year, will be presented in conjunction with the Mid-South, Pacific Northwest, and Northern California regional association trade shows. Advance registration is necessary to ensure the preparation of adequate seminar materials. Plans are currently under way to make this seminar available in the winter and in spring 2003 across the country.
• Succession Planning: This session will address a number of key issues regarding valuing and selling businesses, including insights from booksellers and industry professionals who have been involved in the process of exiting various-sized businesses. The panel at the sessions will include both recent sellers and purchasers of bookstores. (This program is modeled on a well-received session offered at BEA in New York City this past spring.) The session will be presented at the Mountain and Plains, Southeast, New England, Upper Midwest, Northern California, New Atlantic, and Southern California regional association trade shows.

The ABA programming related sessions will feature:

• How to Use the New Electronic Book Buyer's Handbook: This session will offer the latest info on the new ABA Book Buyer's Handbook online, now updated throughout the year. Booksellers will learn more about the Handbook's flexible search features, and they will be able to preview a major new feature, the listings of publishers' special short-term offers. This is the place to ask questions and to explore how better to use this important new resource. The session will be offered at the New England and the Great Lakes regional trade shows.
• What's New at Book Sense: This session will offer the latest major news about developments at Book Sense. Booksellers will learn the latest on reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List in a matter of seconds, and about the up-to-the-minute data reporting stores receive. There will also be updates on key book promotions (Lord of the Rings and the History Channel), new Book Sense 76 plans, and regional bestseller lists. There will also be a preview of exciting new Book Sense marketing ideas -- generated by fellow booksellers -- that emanated out of the dynamic marketing session with Doug Hall at BEA. This session will be offered at the Mountains and Plains, the Upper Midwest, and the Great Lakes regional trade shows.
• Combined Handbook and Book Sense Sessions: This panel will cover both the Handbook and Book Sense and will be offered at the Mid-South, Southeast, and Southern California regional shows.

In addition, the ABA exhibit at the regional shows will feature scheduled, live demos of the enhanced reporting options to the Book Sense Bestseller List and the online ABA Book Buyer's Handbook, and booksellers can get answers to questions regarding these programs, as well as any other ABA issues, throughout the shows.

BookSense.com will also be represented at the regionals, and is currently setting up appointments with stores participating in the free BookSense.com trial offer, current users, and other interested bookstores. For more information, or to set up an appointment at a regional show, e-mail BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos at len@booksense.com.

Check BTW 's ongoing coverage for more information regarding the regional trade shows, beginning this week with the Mid-South Booksellers Association trade show.

For a schedule of all the fall regional trade shows, click here.