The Indie Community Needs You!

This week, the American Booksellers Association is a launching a short-term test of the new "Indie Community" on IndieBound.org and, over the next 10 days, the association needs booksellers to test it out and provide feedback. The mission of the Indie Community is to aid customers in their search for unique, independently owned businesses. By connecting indie-conscious people with local businesses, ABA looks to boost local economies nationwide.

To ensure that the Indie Community site is as diverse and rich as possible, ABA is asking booksellers to create their own Indie Community account on IndieBound.org, to explore the site, add their favorite indie stores in their community (all ABA member bookstores are already listed), and provide comments -- and ask their fellow independent retailers to join too.

"The Indie Community area of IndieBound.org is based on the ideas of 'share' and 'find.' Share information about indie retailers, and connect to bookstores and the other favorite businesses of like-minded people. It also gives users the chance to connect to each other based on interests and locations. The area is still evolving, but, by setting up their profiles now, our members will have the opportunity to play a role in the site's development," said Meg Smith,ABA chief marketing officer.

At the Indie Community, users who have created accounts on IndieBound.org can do a number of things:

• Post comments on retail stores, whether it be a review of each store, a personal experience there, some recommendations -- anything that can help other people learn more about that store;
• Edit existing stores to add more information -- store hours, pictures of the store, etc.;
• Add interest tags both to their own accounts and to stores ... tags like "southern literature" or "vegan" help connect users and stores, and help everyone discover new things;
• Become fans of stores they know and love -- so that other people can find stores through their user profile;
• Add new stores -- great indie retailers they're familiar with; and
• Add other users as friends, and leave notes for other users.

In addition, users can earn "user points," which are a way of measuring how active a user is in the Indie Community.

For more information on the Indie Community, please contact ABA Web Content Coordinator Matt Supko via e-mail at matt@bookweb.org.