IndieCommerce

Most retailers have been hurt by the ongoing recession, but there is one retail sector that appears immune to the struggling economy: Internet retailers.

With consumer interest in e-reading on the rise, it's important to let customers know that they can buy e-books from you, through your store's ABA IndieCommerce website. Now, a time-tested selling tool -- the Indie Next List -- has been tapped to help in the effort.E-books also benefit from the unique touch of the independent bookseller. Customers still need good book recommendations, and the Indie Next List brings together favorite handsells from independent booksellers across the U.S.

Plans to make Sony eReaders available for purchase from independent bookstores in time for this holiday season will not come to fruition despite the best efforts of the American Booksellers Association and others in the book industry. Work is ongoing, however, to provide indie booksellers with the ability to sell eReaders sometime in the future.

On Friday, November 27, the New York Times' lead editorial urged other states that collect sales tax to follow New York's example and pass e-fairness legislation.

Holiday catalogs from the New England, Northern California, and Southern California independent booksellers associations are now available through Drupal-based ABA IndieCommerce websites. The catalogs are already installed and ready to go -- all that IndieCommerce sites need to do is link to the appropriate one:

The American Booksellers Association has made several announcements regarding its IndieCommerce and BookSense.com products:

Lars Townsend, who oversaw the launch of the Politics & Prose website on ABA IndieCommerce's Drupal platform, recently shared some thoughts on the benefits of having an e-commerce site in general and the advantages of the new Drupal platform specifically.

E-book sales are rising rapidly, revolutionizing the publishing industry, and creating new opportunities for independent bookstores. Stores with ABA IndieCommerce sites are now fully equipped to sell more than 220,000 titles on their websites -- the key is getting the message out there.

By Len Vlahos, ABA Chief Operating Officer "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been." --Wayne Gretzky

Participation in IndieBound.org's Affiliate Program, which pays generous commissions on sales referred to ABA IndieCommerce sites, has been growing steadily. Last week, in fact, the Huffington Post became one of the newest IndieBound.org affiliates ... but not without encouragement from a number of indie booksellers as well as ABA.