Inaugural ABA/SEBA Program at Bargain Book Show a Success

On Friday, February 25, in Atlanta's Renaissance Concourse Hotel, ABA presented a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) and Bargain Books News' Spring Book Show, which was held from Friday through Sunday at the Georgia International Convention Center.

The education sessions started after breakfast on Friday with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz's presentation of "The 2% Solution." Domnitz led booksellers in an examination of the drivers of a bookstore's profitability and how they can be reworked to move a business to greater profitability. The session covered sales, gross margin, total compensation, and occupancy expenses, as well as the results of the ABACUS Study of independent bookshop operations, which showed that the average profitability of all respondents was a negative 1.4 percent.

Margaret Osondu, co-owner of Osondu Booksellers in Waynesville, North Carolina, had found the content of a previous presentation of "The 2% Solution" so useful, she was attending it for the second time at the Atlanta meeting. "Before I owned the store, I heard Avin Domnitz speak at the Booksellers School [at BookExpo America in June 2004] about 'the two percent solution,' but I didn't have a context in which to place it," she told BTW. "It didn't all jell until I took over the store. The information was even more valuable the second time around."

Sally Brewster, co-owner of Park Road Books in Charlotte, North Carolina, and SEBA president, also found her second time attending "The 2% Solution" very enlightening. "I learned new things, I wrote down new things," she said.

The entire day was a great success according to Brewster. "The biggest complaint I got was that it was noisy. That means people were talking and participating and that's good. We had an interesting mix of booksellers -- including Internet-only merchants, newbies, educational supply shops -- we had some very exciting discussions."

The ABA/SEBA Booksellers Forum was led by ABA's Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher; ABA Bookseller Advisory Council members Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, and Philip Rafshoon of Outwrite Books & Coffeehouse in Atlanta; and SEBA Executive Director Wanda Jewell.

On Saturday morning from 8:00 am - 10:00 a.m., SEBA hosted a Resource Roundtable Discussion and Breakfast, where booksellers were able to question experts from various segments of the industry.

Jewell told BTW that "SEBA's partnership with the Spring Book Show, to deliver education to attendees, was a first this year, and it will not be the last. We had over 60 attendees at each session, and the feedback was quite positive. This is an opportunity for SEBA to reach more booksellers and for booksellers to learn more about how to sell more books." --Nomi Schwartz