The American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute conference in Seattle opened on Sunday night with a party at Elliott Bay Book Company hosted by industry newsletter Shelf Awareness. The event drew several hundred booksellers and other industry members together for the first time since January 2020, when the last Winter Institute was held in Baltimore.
Official programing for the conference began on Monday, as booksellers spent the day on full- and half-day tours of the Emerald City’s many bookstores, as well as meeting with publishers. A roundtable networking session, structured around conversation-starting table signs, invited attendees to sit down with fellow "First Timers," "Small(ish) Stores," "BIPOC," and "LGBTQiA+" contingents. (There were even tables labeled "Bookstore Cats" and "Bookstore Dogs.") As ABA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access manager Elisa Thomas reminded the group, quite a few industry folks identify as introverts, so the table topics broke the ice.
Monday also included a half-day event hosted by the Independent Publishers Caucus. A pair of panels addressed the local Seattle reviewing culture and, second, the current state of events and programming at booksellers. High on the agenda was the question of how to make books from independent presses more discoverable. Advice from reviewers underscored the need for the author to have a compelling story; authors with unconventional paths to publication or interesting backstories tend to be looked upon more favorably for non-review coverage, particularly profiles and Q&As. The panelists agreed that while space for reviews was drying up, there are other opportunities for publishers to promote books, including festivals, radio, and podcasts, as well as social media platforms such as TikTok.
Events are returning to bookstores, though publishers are favoring larger stores with robust events programs. Some larger and more active stores, such as Elliott Bay, are back to as many as five events a week and audiences are returning post-pandemic. Third Place Books, which has three locations in the Seattle area, hosted more than 200 events, with half of those from small, independent, or university presses.
The panelists emphasized that events were not just about selling the book of the author who was presented at the event, but rather, about getting customers to come to the store and purchase multiple items, many of which they did not anticipate wanting or needing. For this reason, booksellers have shown a willingness to host local, self-published authors, especially as a demonstration of the store's commitment to building community. Some booksellers advocated for the flexibility virtual events offered—the ability to convene multiple people from different time zones and to collaborate with other booksellers, for example—but acknowledged that virtual events do not often lead to book sales. In that regard, they are largely a brand-building and marketing exercise.
The IPC addressed best practices for promoting their books in a market saturated with titles from Big Five publishers. Participants agreed that perhaps the strongest tool of all was a handwritten note from a publisher or editor, directly to a bookseller or reviewer, stuck into a galley. To this end, the IPC is working to create a database tool that will enable booksellers and others to opt into direct marketing missives from IPC member publishers.
In addition, the IPC is looking at establishing an indie ambassadorship to function as a full-time liaison to the industry, be it visiting bookstores or attending conferences. This could include indie press nights, which have been employed by a range of publishers, including Workman, New Directions, Restless Books, Open Letter Books, and others.
To end the day, ABA members, publishers, and author guests thronged the WI2023 Welcome Reception, co-sponsored by W.W. Norton, which celebrates its centenary in 2023. ABA CEO Allison Hill greeted the assembly, then turned the mic over to Norton chairman and president Julia Reidhead, who's also the new chairman of the board of the Association of American Publishers. As a slideshow screened the publisher's top titles and book industry blurbs—for the likes of Andrea Barrett's Ship Fever, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker, and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club--Reidhead cheered Norton’s support of and gratitude for independent bookstores.
