Resources, statistics, opportunities, and inspiration 
​for independent booksellers

Top of Mind for May 10-16, 2021

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• The deadline to apply for a Survive to Thrive grant from the Book Industry Charitable Foundation is Monday, March 10 at 5pm Eastern. The grant fund can award up to 200 recipients up to $10k for stores that can demonstrate economic harm due to the pandemic and a solid recovery plan moving forward. Read more here.
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• Registration for the book industry's two new industry events, Publishers Weekly's US Book Show on May 25-27, and Edelweiss Bookfest on June 8-9, are both open and both cost $35 for booksellers (early bird discounts are available). Read a side-by-side comparison of the events here.
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• The ABA's ABACUS survey is now live. There is no greater tool at bookstores' disposal, and the more bookstores who contribute their information, confidentially and securely, the more useful ABACUS results will be toward improving your business. Complete the survey by May 31. Read more here.​​

About The Independent Bookseller

​I founded The Independent Bookseller™ in 2018 as a way to make some of the resources I'd built for myself available to booksellers all over the country.To be clear, I am not "The Independent Bookseller" -- that would be you, for whom this site is dedicated. This is a website for and about booksellers.

The resources, content, and opinions found on The Independent Bookseller™'s website, social media pages, and weekly newsletter are intended to be purely supplemental and complementary to the work of all book industry associations, publications, and service providers, without which nothing on this site or in this industry would be possible. If you have any questions about the methodology behind anything on this site, please contact me.

Robert Martin

Founder/Director

​​Robert Martin is the executive director of the Independent Booksellers Consortium. He has worked as the director of operations for the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and managing editor for Rain Taxi Review of Books. Before working in the book industry he was the senior editor for Masterplans, a business consulting firm that guides entrepreneurs through the startup process. He is a writer, musician, backpacker, and father.

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