Winter Institute

Kristen McLean, former ABC executive director, now a consultant to ABA, offers insights and action points for booksellers based on the “The Children’s Book Consumer in the Digital Age,” a joint study by Bowker Pubtrack and ABC.

Among the good news coming out of last month’s Winter Institute was the announcement that the Ingram Content Group would continue its commitment as the lead sponsor of ABA’s educational programming for the next three years.

Among the events held in conjunction with Winter Institute 6 was a meeting hosted by ABA for the leaders of the booksellers associations of Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland, New Zealand, and Canada. This week, BTW talks with one of the participants – Lee Trentadue, vice president of the Canadian Booksellers Association – about building “new friendships and co-operative liaisons.”

Here’s one last look at the record-breaking number of authors who participated in this year’s Winter Institute.

At Wi6’s  “Exploring New Partnerships Between Indie Booksellers and Authors,” Books & Books’ Mitchell Kaplan and The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza’s Susan Novotny revealed how they have used their curatorial skills to help publish authors (especially debut authors) and create new business models that improve a bookstore’s bottom line.

Wendy Hudson of Nantucket Bookworks, Jakob Wolf-Barnett of Revolution Cycles, and Rick Karp of Cole Hardware discussed the advocacy process and how vital it is for independent bookstores during Legislative Day at Wi6.

Two sessions on how to sell e-books drew full houses on Friday, January 21, at Winter Institute 6. Topics included how to introduce customers to e-readers and e-books, marketing tips and tactics, and the importance of capturing e-book market share.

With an assortment of red balloons, a stuffed pig, and a chocolate cake, nationally recognized business strategist Bob Phibbs demonstrated to booksellers at Wi6 that presentation matters, and by having fun you can grow your sales and customer base.

Booksellers came away from last week’s Winter Institute armed with plenty of practical ideas to improve their businesses; energized by the many networking opportunities with colleagues from across the country; and looking forward to handselling titles shared by publishers and authors at the event.

On Wednesday, January 19, hundreds of booksellers at Winter Institute 6 heard PBS NewsHour’s Jim Lehrer interview Karen Mills, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, about the challenges and opportunities facing small businesses today.