Wi8 Breakout Session Presenters Unveiled

This week, the American Booksellers Association updated the Winter Institute 8 website [1] with the names of presenters and panelists for the educational program’s breakout sessions, to be held on Saturday, February 23, and Monday, February 25.

“None of the Winter Institute programming would be possible without the generous sharing of knowledge and experience by all the participating booksellers and other panelists,” said ABA Content Officer Dan Cullen. “We are enormously grateful.”

The booksellers and others presenting at the breakout sessions include:

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23

2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. BREAKOUTS

Managing a PR Plan With Limited Resources

• Linda McLoughlin Figel, {pages} a bookstore (Manhattan Beach, CA)
• Sue Boucher, Lake Forest Book Store (Lake Forest, IL)
• David Shallenberger, Little Shop of Stories (Decatur, GA)

Beyond the Traditional Author Event

• sweet pea Flaherty, King’s Books (Tacoma, WA)
• Lauren Savage, The Reading Bug (San Carlos, CA)
• Lacey Dunham, Politics & Prose Bookstore (Washington, DC)

Buying and Selling High-End Sidelines

• Calvin Crosby, Book Passage (Corte Madera, CA)
• Cindy Dach, Changing Hands Bookstore (Tempe, AZ)
• Ann Leyhe, Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary & Garden Arts (Berkeley, CA)

The ABA eBook Solution

• Neil Strandberg, ABA (White Plains, NY)
• A Kobo representative

Working With Self-Published Authors: Providing Services for Profit

• Jeffrey Mayersohn, Harvard Book Store (Cambridge, MA)
• Paul Hanson, Village Books (Bellingham, WA)
• Ron Smithson, Ingram Content Group (La Vergne, TN)

4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. BREAKOUTS

Media Training to Prepare You for Any Story at Any Time

• Kiona Gross, Curious Cup Bookstore (Carpenteria, CA)
• Jamie Fiocco, Flyleaf Books (Chapel Hill, NC)

Where to Start With Sidelines

• Linda Barrett Knopp, Malaprop’s Bookstore & Cafe (Asheville, NC)
• Wendy Manning, Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park, WA)
• A third panelist to be announced

Nonfiction Buying With Core Curriculum in Mind

• Kenny Brechner, Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers (Farmington, ME)
• Richard Buthod, Turtleback Books (St. Louis, MO)
• Becky Anderson, Anderson’s Bookshops (Naperville, IL)

Best Practices for Increasing Sales With Genre: Romance, Science Fiction, and Mystery

• Kit Little, Towne Book Center (Collegeville, PA)
• Jason Kennedy, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI)
• Cheri LeBlond, Mysteryscape (Overland Park, KS)

E-Commerce: A Fresh Perspective

• Matt Supko, ABA (White Plains, NY)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25

10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. BREAKOUTS

Banned Books, Censorship, and YA Literature

• Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak (Square Fish)
• Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little Brown, Books for Young Readers)
• Mitchell Kaplan, Books & Books (Coral Gables, FL)
• Chris Finan, ABFFE (New York, NY)

  Book Fair Best Practices

• Christie Olson Day, Gallery Bookshop (Mendocino, CA)
• Ann Seaton, Hicklebee’s Children’s Books (San Jose, CA)
• Heather Hebert, Children’s Book World (Haverford, PA)

  Best Practices for Planning a Successful BEA

•  Barbara Theroux, Fact & Fiction (Missoula, MT)
• Paul Kozlowski, Other Press (New York, NY)
•  Steve Rosato, BookExpo America (Norwalk, CT)
• Bill Cusumano, Nicola’s Books (Ann Arbor, MI)

Auditing Your Store Operations for Improved Financial Performance

• Nicole Magistro, Bookworm of Edwards (Edwards, CO)
• Fran Keilty, The Hickory Stick Bookshop (Washington Deopt, CT)
• Shawn Wathen, Chapter One Book Store (Hamilton, MT)

Small-Community Roundtable

• Moderator to be announced

2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. BREAKOUTS

The ABA IndieCommerce Challenge:  Is Your IndieCommerce Website as Well Executed as You Think?

• Scott Nafz, ABA (White Plains, NY)
• Valerie Federici, ABA (White Plains, NY)

 Addressing the Special Needs Market

• Tami Furlong, Fundamentals Parent-Teacher Bookstore (Delaware, OH)
•  Jonah Zimiles, [words] Bookstore (Maplewood, NJ)
•  Lauren Peugh, Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop (LaVerne, CA)

 Marketing That Moves the Needle

• Jill Miner, Saturn Booksellers (Gaylord, MI)
• Julie Wernersbach, BookPeople (Austin, TX)
• Meg Smith, ABA (White Plains, NY)

 Evaluate Your Remainder Buying

• Amy Thomas, Pandora’s Books Inc. (Berkley, CA)
• Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore (Tempe, AZ)
• A third panelist to be named

Urban Community Roundtable

• Moderator: Pete Mulvihill, Green Apple Books (San Francisco, CA)

 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. BREAKOUTS

 The ABA eBook Solution

• Neil Strandberg, ABA (White Plains, NY)
• Kobo representative

 Re-examine Your Business Plan: Review Your Brand and Aspirations

• Presenters to be announced

Toy Market Trends

• Suzanna Hermans, Oblong Books & Music (Rhinebeck, NY)
• Jonny Girson, The Learning Tree (Kansas City, KS)
• Carle Wunderlich, Best Toys (Lisle, IL)

Tracking Turns to Maximize Profitability

• Andrea Avantaggio, Maria’s Bookshop (Durango, CO)
• Joe Foster, Above The Treeline (Ann Arbor, MI)

Resort Community Roundtable

• Moderator to be announced

The Winter Institute website, wi8.bookweb.org [1], is the source for comprehensive, up-to-date information on next month’s event. Resources on the site, including the schedule, session descriptions and presenters, plenary speakers, participating authors and more, are being updated on an ongoing basis.

In addition, follow ABA on Facebook [2] and Twitter [3] to get late-breaking Wi8 news.

For information about things to see, places to eat, and lots more about Kansas City, visit www.visitkc.com [4].