“Talk to ABA”: BTW Highlights Interactive Elements of Redesigned ABA Website

Booksellers now have access to a variety of communication tools via the American Booksellers Association’s newly redesigned BookWeb.org website, tools that allow members to interact with the association — and the association with them — and to share best practices with their colleagues.

The new BookWeb homepage

Over the last year, ABA has focused on reworking the association website on the basis of suggestions from member booksellers and association constituents. BookWeb.org was designed to be as flexible as possible and now includes a dynamic homepage with timely messaging and links, a bookseller portal for keeping ABA updated on store changes, and new features that let booksellers to interact with the site.

Booksellers can use the resources in the For Booksellers menu block to keep the association in the loop when it comes to substantive changes at their store, which will ensure they are included on important ABA e-mails and messages. The menu’s “Update Store Data” section contains links to forms where booksellers can create a Store Profile, adjust their E-mail Preferences, and update their current Store Buyers.

The For Booksellers main page also includes a place to submit bookseller tips by clicking the “Add Yours” button, located on the red stripe that bisects the page. It also includes a section for “Featured Shelf-talkers.” In addition, by clicking the page’s “Submit One” button, booksellers can send in images of actual shelf-talkers from their stores as well as a transcription of the text.

“Version 2.0” of BookWeb.org also allows booksellers to interact with the site on the homepage via the “Bookstore Showcase,” where bookstores active on Instagram are profiled. Booksellers can submit their store for consideration by clicking on the “Tell ABA About Your Store” button to send an e-mail.

Booksellers can also interact with the association in many other ways apart from its website, including by following ABA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and ABA will follow you back. Another way to interact is by submitting site feedback that will allow ABA to add information in real-time and make practical changes based on user suggestions.

To weigh in, booksellers can click on the “Submit Site Feedback” link in the footer of each page, or send an e-mail to Membership and Marketing Officer Meg Smith or Director of ABA Technology Greg Galloway.