Bestseller Reporting Is Crucial

The weekly Indie Bestseller List showcases titles selling at ABA member stores, brings attention to favorite authors, and helps keep a focus on indie booksellers in both the halls of publishers and the minds of authors. In order to sustain the indie bookstore buzz created by the Bestseller Lists in store, in print, and online, the American Booksellers Association urges all members to report sales each week to the list.

Regular reporting is also necessary to continue receiving publisher-sponsored White Box mailings.

Bestseller reporting is easy and confidential, and booksellers have a choice of three methods of reporting. The preferred method is through BookScan [1] via a bookstore’s POS system. In addition to helping compile the Indie Bestsellers, stores that report through BookScan receive valuable weekly sales data that allows them to follow trends and note break-out titles.

POS systems compatible with BookScan include Anthology, BASIL, Books-in-Store, BookLog, Computac, IBID/IBIDie, UBIC, and Wordstock. Questions about BookScan can be sent via e-mail to Rachel Ehrentreu [2] or by phone at (646) 654-7750.

Other reporting methods include

• ABA manual entry [3] (entering your top sellers by hand)
• ABA file upload [4](upload a simple file from your POS system)

More information about the ABA manual and file upload methods is available here. [5] Technical support can be contacted via e-mail. [6]

Every bookstore’s participation in bestseller reporting is invaluable. No question is too big or too small, so don’t hesitate to ask. ABA looks forward to hearing from you.