ABA Education for Booksellers

ABA hosts two national education conferences per year. 

• Winter Institute: ABA's premiere four-day annual industry conference featuring educational programming for independent bookstores, as well as keynote talks, author receptions, publisher parties, and dedicated time to network with booksellers, authors, and publishers from around the country. As the largest gathering of bookselling professionals in the US, Winter Institute attracts over 900 booksellers, along with hundreds of authors, publishing professionals, international booksellers, and industry partners. The 20th annual Winter Institute (Wi2025) will be held in Denver, Colorado from February 23 to 26, 2025. 
• Children's Institute: A three-day event offering unique education for children’s booksellers in addition to general education sessions, roundtable discussions, networking events, and author appearances. The 13th annual Children's Institute (Ci2025) will be held in Portland, OR from June 12 to 14, 2025.

In addition to ABA's national conference education, ABA presents specially-designed education at the annual Regional Indie Bookseller Associations Tradeshows.

• Fall 2024:  Prioritizing Cash Flow: 10 Areas to Review for Improved Cash Flow and Profitability: The true key to being in control of your business is to be in control of your cash. A bookstore’s financial stability is dependent on far more than just profitability, and cash flow determines your store’s ability to cover day-to-day expenses, such as purchasing inventory, paying suppliers, and meeting operational costs. In this session, ABA will discuss cash flow tools briefly then guide stores through ten essential steps to improve your store’s cash flow, financial stability, and long-term resilience. After traveling the country presenting education at the 2024 Fall Regional Association Tradeshows, ABA's Lee Hooyboer will present a live virtual encore of Prioritizing Cash Flow on Thursday, October 24 at 3pm ET.
• Fall 2023: This is a Fire Drill: Preparing for and Avoiding Crises: Join ABA staff at the Fall Regional Tradeshows as we review some of the top crises stores have experienced this past year. From cybersecurity threats to a car driving into the store, we will provide resources and tips to prepare for and, when possible, avoid these crises at your store. Topics will include: fire, flood, and natural disasters; protesters, break-ins, and ransomware, credit card fraud, and more. Throughout the session, we’ll explore ways to respond to these crises, prioritize employee communication, and mitigate the risk of these events occurring at your store. Think of this session as insurance and take this time to invest in protecting your business.
• Fall 2022: Decoding the P&L for Booksellers, Managers, and Owners: A bookstore’s profit and loss statement (P&L) is a critical tool for evaluating a store’s overall performance. Join ABA staff on a walk-through of a bookstore P&L statement as we lay a groundwork for understanding bookstore financials, decode individual line items to identify opportunities for improved profitability, discuss how to use ABA’s ABACUS Report, and consider ways to share financials with staff in a meaningful and cooperative manner.

Browse our collection of education sessions recorded virtually and at ABA Institutes, including:

• Children's Institute 2024
• Winter Institute 2024
• Bookseller Lightning Talks

The Bookstore Resource Library is a collection of customizable templates and resources specifically designed for bookstores. From Consignment Applications to Daily Checklists, we’ve collected essential bookstore forms and documents that you can edit to meet the particular needs of your store, along with toolkits on everything from Advocacy to ABACUS.

Virtual meetups are an opportunity to network and learn from fellow booksellers on a range of topics relevant to bookselling today. View upcoming virtual meetups here.

• Book Biz Book Club: Join fellow booksellers to discuss selected business books, ranging from retail strategy and customer engagement, to time management and workplace dynamics. The Book Biz Book Club meets on the third Wednesday of every month at 3:00 pm ET. Register here.
• Bookseller Lightning Talks: ABA's Bookseller Lightning Talks series features booksellers presenting 5-10 minute talks on tech tools, organizational strategies, communication methods, or innovations they’ve made in their stores. Each presentation will be followed by time for Q&A and discussion. Lightning Talks take place on the second Thursday of every month at 3:00 pm ET. Register here.
• ShopTalks: Open conversation format to share best practices, talk about business, and crowdsource ideas & solutions to problems. ShopTalks are held bimonthly on Tuesdays. Dedicated ABA Children's Group ShopTalks meet quarterly.
• New Member Series: The three-part New Member Series runs quarterly, with meetups dedicated to Intro to ABA Benefits, Store Ownership 101, and Business Services.
• ABA Board Office Hours & ABA Open Houses: These forums offer an opportunity for booksellers and bookstore owners to talk directly with ABA board members and ABA staff to ask questions, share concerns or experiences, and/or express their needs for support.
• Affinity Groups: ABA has created Affinity Groups to allow members an opportunity to gather for connection, support, community, resources, networking, etc. ABA is not present during these sessions and the discussion topics are completely up to those in attendance. These closed sessions are available only for those individuals who identify as members. Ally support is greatly appreciated while attendance is not.

Tune in to audio recordings from past ABA education sessions! New episodes will be added each week, so be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app for updates when a new episode drops. 

Bookselling is a wonderful and fulfilling profession. Owning your own store may seem a natural and attractive idea if you love books; however, passion and knowledge have to be combined with business acumen if your bookstore is to succeed. Like any other retail business, you will have to meet the cost of rent, utilities, compensation, and payments to your vendors, all while striving to make your bookstore profitable. It's not always easy, but ABA and our community of booksellers and industry professionals are here to help you each step of the way. Our Opening a Bookstore Tool Kit includes information on Provisional ABA Membership, Prospective Booksellers School, and developing your business plan.

ABA Education strives to meet the needs of ABA Member Bookstores through peer-driven and expert-led conference and virtual programming. In order to serve the diverse needs of our membership, we actively welcome all ideas for future education programming, panelists, and speakers for ABA Conferences and virtual programming. As an industry trade organization, we rely on the generosity and expertise of individual booksellers to provide peer-to-peer professional development and operational support with the bookselling community at large. Submit your ideas and suggestions for forthcoming education through this form or reach out to the ABA Education Team directly at [email protected].