Expanding Frontiers was an apt theme for the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association fall conference. Held from October 15-17 at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Md. Tthe name, which was originally chosen to refer to educational sessions, could just have easily referred to the increased attendance at this year’s show.
While the region’s membership numbers have remained flat, going from 156 in 2015 to 151 today, the number of booksellers attending the show grew. Forty more booksellers came to this year’s event, according to NAIBA executive director Eileen Dengler. Enough, she noted, to hold a separate late night celebration.
Booksellers from new and about-to-open stores also contributed to the show’s vibrancy. Among them were: Rebecca Fitting, co-owner of 7-year-old Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, which will add a second location this fall; Rachel Wood, founder of Scrawl Books in Reston, Va., which is opening a second pop-up store for the holidays while it looks for a permanent home; Jennifer Morrow, who will open Bards Alley in Vienna, Va., in April 2017; and Jinny Amundson, who is readying Old Fox Books & Coffeehouse in Annapolis, Md., for a November opening.
“There’s a lot of great energy at the show,” commented Jason Rice, part of the Baker & Taylor sales team. Lucy Kogler, manager of Talking Leaves…Books in Buffalo, N.Y., and a former NAIBA president, agreed. “It’s a great show,” she said. “There are a lot of young people, there’s more diversity, and the programming is great.”
Erin Matthews from Books with a Past in Glenwood, Md., singled out the programming as strong. “The keynote was particularly good,” she said, referring to a session on Advocacy Today with Dan Cullen, senior strategy officer for the American Booksellers Association. During the talk Cullen gave an update about getting online retailers to pay sales tax. Eighty percent of ABA stores are in states that collect sales tax from online sellers, he said.
To push sales tax fairness and other issues concerning indie booksellers, Fitting and Ksten Lavelett, executive director of Local First Utah, encouraged booksellers to reach out to their elected officials. "We’re in a growth industry. We have this golden opportunity. We support minimum wage, sick pay, maternity leave. So much has been take away from our bottom line. It’s time for something to be given back,” said Fitting.
The exhibition piece of the show was equally strong. Despite its abbreviated four-hour length, the exhibits added 20 more tables this year, including an exhibit by Coralstone Press, which is distributed by IPG’s Small Press United division. “It’s been so great connecting with booksellers,” said Coralstone's Jessica Salans.
Mark Wren, assistant sales manager of Texas Bookman, a 33-year-old remainder house, which exhibited at NAIBA for the first time this year, said that it’s been “very productive." He also exhibited at the Mountains and Plains show and plans to attend more shows next year.
Of course, no conference would be complete without the authors. Booksellers were hard pressed to find a favorite among those who attended, including Maria Semple (Today Will Be Different), Hannah Tinti (The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley), Brendan Wenzel (They All Saw a Cat), and Taylor Branch (winner of a NAIBA Legacy Award).
But Laurie Halse Anderson (Ashes), who already has an enormous NAIBA following, won over even more booksellers with her breakfast speech. “America would not be what it is today without you guys,” she said. “Your struggle is so worth it.”
