Tarrytown Forum Features Much Give & Take

Approximately 20 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) on Wednesday, April 14, at ABA's offices in Tarrytown, New York. ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher hosted the forum, with ABA Board member John Bennett of Bennett Books in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and other ABA staff members in attendance. Among the topics discussed at the forum were the Book Sense Picks list, co-op advertising, the Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP), bestseller reporting through Nielsen BookScan, and ABACUS.

Eileen Dengler, NAIBA's executive director, said of the forum, "It was well-attended, and it was great to see that there were [booksellers from] two new bookstores -- Sages Pages in Madison, New Jersey, and A Novel Idea in Bristol, Rhode Island…. It was a friendly meeting -- with a lot of give and take."

At the Book Sense gift card demonstration, which began the day's events, Bennett noted, "There's definitely an industry transition going on [from paper gift certificates to plastic gift cards]. You don't want to be selling buggies when everyone else is selling cars."

And regarding gift cards, Walter Effron of the 600-square-foot bookstore The Three Arts in Poughkeepsie, New York, told BTW, "I learned quite a bit that I hadn't known…. It makes more sense now … having heard how other booksellers were doing. For a store our size, I will just have to study the costs … but it seems like there are a lot of plusses."

Following the gift card demonstration, the Booksellers Forum began with a lengthy discussion of the new Book Sense Picks list and how important it is that booksellers nominate titles. "It is really important that we emphasize [to publishers and consumers] that books get on the list because booksellers nominate them. And we encourage all of you to nominate titles for the Book Sense Picks lists," Teicher said.

Dan Cullen, director of the ABA information department and editor-in-chief of the Book Sense Picks list, noted that any bookseller, regardless of writing ability, can nominate a book for the Picks list. "If you are enthusiastic about a book, you can nominate it," he said.

Added Domnitz, "If you send us nothing but your staff recommendations, it would be a huge step forward."

Another topic of discussion was co-op advertising. Dick Hermans of Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, New York, wondered how publishers might make the co-op process simpler, since different publishers have different rules.
"We talk to publishers all the time about ease of use," said Domnitz, who added that it is "as big a quagmire for publishers as it is for booksellers."

Len Vlahos, BookSense.com director, noted that, for BookSense.com stores, the BookSense.com Reimbursement Program makes claiming co-op "fairly easy," and Bennett explained that the program "helps pay for our Web site costs, and it sells a lot of books. Every month, we get better and better results."

Teicher gave attendees a report on the Campaign for Reader Privacy (www.readerprivacy.com/), a grassroots petition drive that seeks to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. "This is an issue that we can win," he said. "It is important to have collected signatures from across the broadest network of stores…. Not only has there been no resistance from customers at bookstores -- people are actually thanking booksellers [for giving them the chance to sign the petition]. We can win this fight, but we need your help. If you're not yet participating, please do so."

Domnitz reminded booksellers that the ABACUS deadline is April 30 and urged everyone in attendance to send in their financial information.

In addition, Domnitz 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. "From our point of view, we do a good job selling books, but we get no credit because we don't tell anyone," he explained. Most booksellers in attendance agreed that offering aggregate data to publishers would be beneficial to independent booksellers.

A number of attendees stressed how easy it is to report to the Book Sense Bestseller List via BookScan. Scott Meyer of Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook, New York, said it was much easier than other formats, and Bennett noted, "It takes two keystrokes to report." --David Grogan