General Marketing Resources
ABA offers members a variety of promotional programs and resources.
Indie Promotions | Advance Access | Book Awards | Digital White Box with NetGalley | Gift Certificates | Red and White Box Mailings | LGBTQ, Grief and Acceptance Title List
Indie National Promotions
Each year ABA presents a series of national promotions, in conjunction with publishers and other partners, exclusively for its bookseller members. These consumer-focused initiatives share the goal and intent of promoting the curatorial and community value of independent bookstores, furthering shop local efforts, and supporting Main Street retailers.
Indies First
Indies First is a year-round campaign in support of independent bookstores by authors, publishers, and readers. Please visit the Indies First page to learn more about the campaign, which includes the publisher specials for ABA member bookstores.
Indies Introduce
Independent booksellers across the country twice yearly discover and champion twenty titles as the best new talent to share with customers. Indies Introduce highlights 10 adult and 10 children’s debut titles, selected by teams of booksellers. Participating stores select at least eight of the twenty titles to market through in-store displays, in newsletters, and on store websites and social media. Publishers provide varying incentives for titles chose to be in the Indies Introduce program. See terms, details and title archive here.
View Debut Author Q&A videos here.
Advance Access
Advance Access is a complimentary twice-monthly email sent by ABA to member bookstores containing offers from ABA Publisher Partners to receive galleys, reading copies, or finished books for review. After receiving the title from the publishers, stores can decide whether to carry it, and nominate the title for the Indie Next List. For complete details regarding the Advance Access program, as well as for member bookstores to opt-in to receive the emails, contact Pete Reynolds at peter@bookweb.org or at 914-406-7535.
Book Awards
The annual Indies Choice Book Awards and E.B. White Read Aloud Awards honor best-loved titles of indie booksellers. The Indies Choice Awards recognize the handselling expertise of independent booksellers, and the Book of the Year winners and Honor Award recipients are all titles nominated by ABA member booksellers to the Indie Next Lists. The E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards honor books that reflect the universal appeal to a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White’s collection of beloved books. Book sticker and logo design files for the Indies Choice winners and honor books, as well as the E.B. White winner and honor books, are available in Designs and Downloads. For past winners, click here.
Digital White Box with NetGalley
NetGalley and the ABA have partnered to introduce more booksellers to new titles from a variety of publishers.
Gift Certificates
Red and White Box Mailings
Bookseller members may receive the Red Box and the White Box monthly mailing, as well a quarterly Children's White Box. The Red Box is an in-store marketing action kit containing materials provided by Publisher Partners, as well as copies of the following month's Indie Next List pamphlet. The White Box contains selections of ARC's and books from publishers for review. All IndieBound participants receive the Red Box, but the White Box must be "earned" by submitting regular nominations to the Next List and participating in IndieBound programming, by, e.g. regularly reporting to the Indie Bestseller List and creating in-store POP displays. Participating in IndieCommerce and membership in the ABC Children's Group at ABA are also factored into determining box contents. The more a store participates in these programs, the more robust their box mailing. Contact your MRM for more details on your mailing, or to change the amount of Next Lists you receive each month.
LGBTQ, Grief and Acceptance Title List
List of LGBTQ, Grief and Acceptance titles suggested by ABA member booksellers