About ABA

A series of meetings involving ABA and booksellers will be held in Santa Monica, California, from January 11 - 18. Included will be a meeting of the ABA Board, of ABA representatives and leadership of the regional booksellers associations, of the ABA Booksellers Advisory Council, and of the recently established BookSense.com User's Council. In addition, the first two ABA Booksellers Forums of 2003 are scheduled for that period. Watch BTW for further coverage.

This week many booksellers nationwide received an e-mail from ABA COO Oren Teicher regarding the American Booksellers Association's efforts to achieve greater equity regarding the collection of sales tax on online sales. The e-mail noted the letter that ABA recently sent to the U.S. governors in the 45 states that collect sales tax. In that letter, ABA again called on states to fully enforce existing regulations by ensuring that retailers with a physical presence in their state collect sales tax on online sales.

The bookstore training and consulting group of Paz & Associates, in conjunction with the American Booksellers Association, is offering a spring workshop for those interested in, or already involved in, the process of opening or buying a bookstore. "Opening a Bookstore: The Business Essentials" will be held on March 23 - 28 in Fernandina Beach, Florida. Participants will learn:

The American Booksellers Association has once again called on the U.S. governors in the 45 states that collect sales tax to fully enforce existing regulations by ensuring that retailers with a physical presence in their state collect sales tax on online sales.

By Patrick Haller, Program Manager, LIBRIS

Here is an outline of the most recent changes to the ABA Book Buyer's Handbook online. Publishers with questions about access to the editing features of the Handbook online should send an e-mail to handbook@bookweb.org or call (800) 637-0037, ext. 1263 or 1261.

The 2003 American Booksellers Association Booksellers Forum schedule kicks off with two forums and ABACUS Sneak Preview sessions to be held in California prior to ABA's January Board meeting. The first forum and ABACUS session will be held in cooperation with the Southern California Booksellers Association on Tuesday, January 14, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the DoubleTree Guest Suites -- Santa Monica, 1707 Fourth Street, Santa Monica.

In recent weeks, usage of the new online ABA Book Buyer's Handbook has continued to increase dramatically. The number of successful requests for information in October increased 61 percent over the previous month, and usage has grown over 140 percent since the online launch in May.

BookSense.com recently announced that it has created the BookSense.com User's Council (BUC). The council was established, in part, as a result of the suggestions of numerous booksellers, and, while it is not a governance body, it will provide valuable feedback and will play a key role in helping ABA staff determine the future direction of BookSense.com. "We do seek a lot of bookseller feedback, but we thought it would be nice to formalize the process," said Len Vlahos, BookSense.com director.

The American Booksellers Association recently introduced its new Auxiliary membership category. This membership class, meant for businesses or individuals who want to support independent bookselling, was created, in large part, at the suggestion of booksellers at ABA's Town Hall Meeting at BookExpo America (BEA) this past May. The Auxiliary category replaces the individual, institutional, and international categories.