Throughout ABA’s history, independent bookstores have faced numerous existential threats, from the rise of chain stores to Amazon to the pandemic. PW spoke with American Booksellers Association CEO Allison Hill about the resilience of booksellers over the past 125 years.
What is it about the bookselling community that has allowed booksellers to not just survive but grow stronger?
The independent bookselling community is extraordinary in the ways that indie booksellers support one another. That has been one of the indie channel’s unique strengths. It’s also been an effective strategy for survival and sustainability. We teach each other the ropes, share best practices, support each other through crises. Equally important is the value proposition indies offer—providing space for readers to discover books, passionate championing of debut and diverse authors, authentic third-place experiences, personal book recommendations, and character and personality in neighborhoods. And like any robust ecosystem, the channel has grown stronger as it’s grown more diverse in terms of racial representation of store ownership, as well as store formats, models, and missions. Indie bookstores have been each other’s strength in many ways.
For example?
There are countless examples. In New York City, after Yu & Me Books in Chinatown burned down, the community came together. Book Club Bar in the Village lent space for their book clubs, Brooklyn’s Archestratus Books & Foods hosted a bake sale, Books Are Magic hosted events for them. After Hurricane Helene last fall, bookstores in North Carolina and Florida launched GoFundMe campaigns to raise money for relief. During the recent fires in California, stores like Reparations Club and Octavia’s Bookshelf pitched in to help. And I can personally think of three bookstores where booksellers from other indies stepped in to help run them when their owners were facing medical emergencies.
So, in this sense, there’s more of a family culture in bookselling than might be in other businesses.
Yes, many of the booksellers I know are great friends with each other. Whether they are local or across the country, they think of each other as colleagues and a community, rather than competitors. I can speak personally to the deep connections booksellers have with their peers: as a former bookseller for over 20 years, some of my closest friends and colleagues worked at other bookstores. Those people were my sounding board, my support system, and my inspiration as a bookseller.
Are community and camaraderie enough to help booksellers face future challenges?
In the future, climate disasters will be more frequent, Amazon’s stranglehold will tighten without government intervention, and there will be stuff we cannot imagine that will feel insurmountable when faced alone. But indies have demonstrated again and again the power of community and collaboration. Even when the odds have been stacked against them, they still come through. It’s why I’ll bet on the indies every time.
This year also marks the 20th Winter Institute. What does it mean to you?
I still remember the cozy gathering of booksellers in Long Beach that first year. It was small, but exciting to have a bookselling event just for the indies. Twenty years later, Winter Institute is one of the book industry’s largest events and hottest tickets as well as a beloved tradition. As a bookseller I was often reminded how lucky we were to have our own trade association to support and champion us. And looking back at ABA’s long history, it’s clear that this association, fueled by generous bookseller volunteers and board members and an incredibly dedicated and talented staff, has made a big difference in the trajectory for independent booksellers.
125 Years of the American Booksellers Association
The ABA has witnessed many changes since it was founded in 1900: new book formats, increased competition from chain stores and online retailers, and the evolution of independent bookselling from a cottage industry into one of the most powerful and influential forces in the book business.
- July 24, 1901 The first ABA Convention is held, with 748 founding members paying $2-per-year dues. The mission: organized advocacy for independent booksellers.
- 1913 The first booksellers school launches in New York City, establishing training standards under Van Wyck Brooks, marking bookselling’s evolution into a profession.
- 1916 The 90% returns system is introduced, allowing stores to return year-old stock for credit—a revolutionary change that spread risk between publishers and retailers.
- 1919 Children’s Book Week debuts, transforming children’s bookselling into a distinct category.
- 1927 Book club battles begin as subscription services threaten traditional retail. ABA launches a competing “Bookselection Plan,” but fails with a $17,500 deficit.
- 1929 During the Great Depression, ABA commissions the landmark Cheney Report, analyzing industry economics and pioneering the first data-driven approach to bookselling.
- 1947 Buyers’ Book Browse, the first industry trade show and a predecessor to BookExpo, rolls out, revolutionizing publisher-bookseller relations.
- 1956 ABA executive director G. Roysce Smith’s speech at the annual trade show convinces bookstores to embrace paperbacks, fundamentally changing inventory mix and democratizing book access.
- 1962 The model bookstore exhibition establishes standards for store operations, including display, promotion, and inventory management.
- 1968 Ernst & Ernst study reveals that a third of stores are unprofitable, spurring an industrywide focus on business operations and profitability.
- 1969 The first Manual on Bookselling is published, codifying professional practices and standards.
- 1973 ABA joins the Media Coalition, marking the group’s first organized commitment to First Amendment advocacy and establishing booksellers as defenders of freedom of expression.
- 1995 ABA membership peaks at 5,500 members with 7,000 stores, but...
- 1998 ...membership sharply declines to 3,300 individualnmembers, reflecting the impact of competition from major chain stores and online retail.
- 1999 The Book Sense marketing program and BookSense.com, the first industrywide digital response to online competition, launch.
- 2006 The first Winter Education Institute is held January 26–27 in Long Beach, Calif., which was free and attracted 400 attendees.
- 2008 Book Sense transitions to the IndieBound program, modernizing independent bookstore marketing.
- 2009 ABA membership hits a low of 1,401 members across 1,641 locations.
- 2010 The Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) merges with ABA.
- 2015 Independent Bookstore Day kicks off as a national celebration.
- 2020 ABA invests in Bookshop.org, the bookselling platform that gave many stores a lifeline when they were shuttered during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
- 2022 ABA rebounds with 2,178 members at 2,593 locations, demonstrating growth despite pandemic challenges.
- 2025 ABA celebrates 125 years with the 20th Winter Institute, held in Denver, and introduces a pilot pre-conference program, Ignite, exclusively for BIPOC booksellers.
