Forum at Brookline 'Enjoyable and Productive'

On Wednesday, March 10, approximately 40 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) at the Massachusetts' Brookline Booksmith. ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher conducted the forum, and among the key topics were the Book Sense Gift Card program, changes to the Book Sense 76, store security, and efforts to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

"I thought today's was an especially good ABA Forum," said Rusty Drugan, NEBA's executive director. "There were good vibes, much information and learning, and widespread participation. It was an enjoyable and productive day."

Forum programming started with a Book Sense Gift Card demonstration. Domnitz and Teicher explained how the gift card works and how easy it is to get started. Following the gift card demo was an open forum.

For attendee Dan Chartrand of Water Street Books in Exeter, New Hampshire, the highlight was "how interested and positive booksellers there were about the Book Sense Gift Card program," he told BTW. A participant himself, Chartrand noted that, after rolling out the program in full in January, gift card sales have increased by 50 percent so far in 2004. "I think the gift card program potentially offers some of the greatest impact of any program that's been offered.... The ultimate success of this program hinges on how many booksellers join -- we need a full, vibrant network of booksellers selling these…. This is the closest thing I know of to a no-brainer."

NEBA President Eric Wilska of The Bookloft in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, noted that he is planning to join the gift card program. "We had an attractive gift certificate [program] here for 30 years," he said, "but ABA's doing a good job on getting the cost [of participation] down. It's abundantly clear from [bookseller] testimonials that you will sell more [gift cards than certificates]."

Betsey Detwiler of Buttonwood Books & Toys in Cohasset, Massachusetts, echoed Wilska's sentiments, and noted that she has heard bookseller success stories through the grapevine. "I wasn't sure how [the gift card program] worked -- I needed to see a demonstration to get a better picture of how it works," she told BTW. "I think we're going to join. It is the trend -- it is the way it's going."

NEBA's Drugan noted there was also a discussion regarding the changes to the Book Sense 76 list. Attendees there felt that, by slimming the list down and going to a monthly format, the list would more merchandisable, he said. "There was a lot of enthusiasm," Drugan said.

"Folks felt like augmenting paper with a Web list would allow us to do more titles," Chartrand said. "For some stores, [the changes] make it less overwhelming. There is a huge upside to roll that way."

Another topic of discussion was the Campaign for Reader Privacy, a national petition campaign looking to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. "Oren talked about how close we are to having success [in amending 215]," Chartrand said. "Some folks, including myself, grabbed petitions, and we'll get that up and running."

The movement to amend the Patriot Act "clearly has a lot of momentum," Wilska said. "It's a hot button issue with a lot of Americans."

ABA's Domnitz also asked attendees how they would feel if BookScan were to release title-specific, non-store specific, sales data on the independent bookselling market to publishers. Chartrand said the consensus was that this would be a good idea. "Avin made the point that we out-perform our market share on titles that are just beginning to be recognized," he said. "Publishers would see the power of the independent bookseller."

Buttonwood's Detwiler said another key topic was security and fraud. "We know we've had books stolen by professionals," she said.

Forum attendee Gloria Griffiths told BTW that she opened her bookstore, The Book Vault in Wallingford, Connecticut, in October, and this was her first forum. "It was very interesting," she said. "I enjoyed meeting other bookstore owners. It answered a lot of questions and generated even more! Avin and Oren are very knowledgeable and very helpful."

Chartrand summed up, "It's such a great format, where you can disseminate and collect information and network.... I can't imagine not attending a forum each year. It's so valuable." --David Grogan