About Bookselling

In March, Old Firehouse Books’ Jacqie Hasan told customers that the Fort Collins, Colorado, bookstore was having a “lean spring,” and she suggested a concrete way for customers to help. By the end of April, sales were up eight percent.

Last month San Francisco State University Bookstore launched an app to streamline their buyback process. A first in California, the buyback app allows SFSU students to scan the barcodes of used textbooks with their smartphone and instantly find out how much the bookstore will pay for their books.

At the session “Selling Non-book in the Children's Department," ABA President Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois, moderated a panel discussion with Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City and Andrea Vuleta of Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop in La Verne, California, about their ordering tactics and top picks for toys and games.

Michael Tucker, the co-owner of San Francisco’s Books Inc., talks about his experience during two terms as ABA president and some of the accomplishments, challenges, and surprises of working on behalf of indie booksellers across the country.

On Friday, May 6, Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group (USA), and Simon & Schuster announced plans to launch Bookish, a new digital platform for readers, sometime this summer.

From helping occasionally with offsite events to weekly shelving and organizing, many customers are more than willing to give their local indies some free love. Here Jessica Stockton Bagnulo of Greenlight Bookstore, Susan Weis-Bohlen of breathe books, and Sara Look of Charis Books talk about running active volunteer programs.

ABA is inviting prospective booksellers to a free, full-day “Introduction to Retail Bookselling” Seminar, on Sunday, May 22, at the Holiday Inn at 57th Street, in New York City.

In celebration of National Volunteer Week, which runs from April 10 - 16, booksellers from Indigo Bridge Books and Open Books talk about the logistics of working with a team of community members happy to donate their time.

This week BTW launches “Booksellers Diary,” an occasional feature of first-person accounts of bookseller’s experiences on the frontlines. The first entry is from Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

On March 25, about 100 customers participated in a community discussion about the book business and how Vermont’s Northshire Bookstore can continue to thrive as the industry changes.