The ABA, American Booksellers Association has been the backbone of the bookselling industry especially Indie Bound and Independent Booksellers.
“Founded in 1900, the American Booksellers Association is a national not-for-profit trade organization that works to help independently owned bookstores grow and succeed. ABA’s core members are key participants in their communities’ local economy and culture, and to assist them, ABA provides education, information, business products, and services; creates relevant programs; and engages in public policy and industry advocacy. The Association actively supports and defends free speech and the First Amendment rights of all Americans. A volunteer board of 11 booksellers governs the Association. ABA is headquartered in White Plains, NY.” Excerpt for the American Booksellers Assn website.
There are different tiers and membership levels in the ABA. It is also known for Advocacy Issues and Free Expressions such as pressing issues affecting a new or current bookseller, Issues like Sales Tax, Minimum Wage, Healthcare, Small Business Working Capital and even the fight on the Amazon monopoly as well as big box businesses.
With the onset of Amazon rules the Internet as well as policy and legislations that affect every bookstore owner today, one cannot find the cruel challenges faced by a small independent bookseller without the conglomerative efforts of the ABA. There are also the professional chapters under the association’s umbrella. Though, there are other associations in the books industry aside, we know for a fact that ABA is indeed the main umbrella in terms of organization.
At Affordable Books @ ADLE International we extremely proud having ABA on our backs. The Indies first program and the different learning bookselling institute had help us increase our knowledge base and education. And proudly we can say that the American Booksellers Association is our association per se.
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