About ABA

Special ABA programming on Saturday, May 4, at the 2002 BookExpo America (BEA) in New York City will offer a wide range of networking opportunities with other booksellers, and a chance to learn the latest on ABA programs from association staff.

On Tuesday, February 12, approximately 20 booksellers attended a Booksellers Forum held at the Westford Regency, in Westford, Massachusetts, from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. The Booksellers Forum followed a meeting of the New England Booksellers Association Advisory Council.

Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA CEO, will be holding three financial sessions through March and April 2002 in conjunction with ABA’s 2002 Spring Bookseller Forums across the country. The sessions, "Basic Bookstore Finances," will discuss operating within a system of financial controls to help predict performance and measure outcomes against those predictions, and cash flow control. Attendees will receive a computer disk with worksheets, which will help them integrate the session’s ideas into their everyday business.

On Thursday, February 7, about 30 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum at Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Representing ABA at the forum were Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA CEO; Len Vlahos, director of BookSense.com; and Karl Pohrt, ABA Board member, from Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor. Among the key topics discussed at the forum were ABA’s new strategic plan and BookSense.com’s new marketing initiative.

Since launching online last month, Bookselling This Week is available free of charge. Our expanded, daily coverage of bookselling and the publishing industry is available with no password restrictions at the BTW home page (http://news.bookweb.org) -- and all bookstores are encouraged to sign up their staff (either work or home e-mail address) to receive their own copy of the weekly BTW e-mail edition, which is sent every Thursday.

The ABA Bylaws provide a procedure for candidates for the Board of Directors to get on the ballot via petition, in keeping with the association's strategic plan that "the nomination and election process [be] open and fair." However, all petitions must be submitted by February 28, 2002. For more information on the petition process, click here. For more information on the work of the ABA Nominating Committee, click here.  

Fundamentals of Independent Bookselling -- Strategies for Understanding and Growing a Profitable Business Wednesday, May 1 from 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Thursday, May 2 from 9:00 a.m. - Noon and 2:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; and Friday, May 3 from 9:00 a.m. - Noon.

A number of ABA bookstores members have provided the Association with credit card information to keep on file to allow for the automatic charging of various fees and expenses. Some are charged at regular intervals and some only when a particular expense is incurred. In addition, when ABA products and services are ordered, these may be charged to a credit card number provided at the time the order is placed.

With BookExpo America and the ABA Annual Convention back in New York for the first time since 1991, ABA is inviting bookseller members from around the country to visit the association offices on Wednesday, May 1, 2002, from 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. The offices are located just 20 miles north of New York City in the village of Tarrytown, along the historic Hudson River, and just across from Washington Irving's home. The ABA Board of Directors and ABA staff will be on hand at the open house to show booksellers around.

On Tuesday, February 12, there will be an ABA Booksellers Forum from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. in Westford, Massachusetts. The forum will provide ABA member booksellers an opportunity to meet and talk with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA COO Oren Teicher, and Len Vlahos, director of BookSense.com. The forum will follow the New England Booksellers Association Advisory Council meeting and will be held at the Westford Regency, 219 Littleton Road, Westford, Massachusetts [(978) 692-8200].