News - Regional

On March 20, at Transitions Learning Center -- the event space for Transitions Bookplace -- in Chicago, 37 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum from noon – 2:00 p.m. and, later, 27 attended a financial seminar presented by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, from 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Regarding the forum, ABA’s Domnitz said that booksellers attending were "deeply engaged … It was one of the best discussions of strategic planning we have had at any of the forums."

On April 1, Small Press Distribution (SPD) and Poets & Writers, Inc. (P&W) will be launching the second annual "Underground California." Funded by the California Arts Council (CAC), the week-long event has two goals: to strengthen the bond between independent California bookstores, California writers, and California independent publishers; and "to get the message out there that California has its own literary identity," said Brent Cunningham, sales and Web manager for SPD.

In conjunction with ABA’s 2002 Spring Bookseller Forums scheduled in March and April, Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA CEO, will be leading four special financial sessions for booksellers. 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.

The 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists were announced on Friday, March 2. Established in 1980, the Times’s annual Book Prize rewards excellence in English-language writing in nine different categories, ranging from biography to fiction to history to poetry. And, notably, several Book Sense 76 picks are among in the list of 45 finalists (including three of the five titles in the first fiction category).

ABA bookstore members in the Great Lakes, Mountains and Plains, and Pacific Northwest regions will have the opportunity to talk with representatives of the ABA Board and senior staff at Booksellers Forums held in conjunction with regional booksellers association meetings in March. Booksellers are encouraged to come to ask questions, express opinions, and hear from their colleagues. This year, members have the chance to offer input into ABA’s new strategic plan, as priorities and new directions for the Association are developed.

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.

Awards Celebrate Five Titles by Northwest Authors On February 15, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) announced the winners of its Pacific Northwest Book Awards 2002, which gives special recognition to five titles written by regional authors that were published in 2001.

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.

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].

As part of an ongoing campaign, Windstone Editions, a company located in North Hollywood, California, supports independent bookstores with an unusual profit-sharing program: It donates 10 percent of the company's profits from the sale of its line of cast stone bookends to independent booksellers associations. Windstone is the exclusive vendor of bookends, figurines, candleholders, sconces, and other sculptural items designed by artist M. Peña.