For the first time since the early 1990s, many independent booksellers expressed optimism about the future, in part because of new ABA marketing and online bookselling programs, as well as a sense that indies are finally holding their own against chain superstores and online booksellers. As ABA president Richard Howorth, of Square Books, Oxford, Miss., put it: "These aren't exactly the glory days of bookselling, but I feel we are turning a corner."

Booksellers were cheered even by a mild but significant milestone: the ABA reported a net increase in core membership in March, the first month this has happened in some years. (The ABA's main-store membership dropped to the current 3400 from a high of 5200 in 1993.) ABA CEO Avin Domnitz agreed with Howorth's optimism: "You can feel the energy here.... It's going to be tough and heart wrenching at times, but we feel in the air that things are changing."

Calling last year "a great year for the ABA," Howorth noted that the association had taken "an incredible number of initiatives," the primary ones being the ongoing lawsuit against Barnes &Noble and Borders, the campaign against B&N's purchase of Ingram, the creation of Book Sense and BookSense.com and the development of new bylaws.

Under the new bylaws, passed unanimously at the annual meeting, the ABA board will shrink from 20 to nine, and two advisory councils -- one comprising a variety of booksellers and the other a range of people in the book industry -- will be created.

There was another indication that the ABA has changed: when asked why the association had agreed to become a retailer of the Rocket eBook through BookSense.com, Domnitz declared that the ABA believes e-books will be a popular product. "For once, we want to be out there on the edge of the wave," he added, "rather than be washed over by the wave."

Andy Ross, of Cody's Books, Berkeley, Calif., introduced a resolution encouraging writers to support independent booksellers -- and suggested that Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt return his 1997 ABBY award and apologize to independents for appearing in a B&N.com TV ad. This engendered some spirited discussion; most speakers expressed support for the underlying issue but thought the resolution was unfairly personal, even petty. After a lively debate, the resolution was voted down. Howorth will, however, write letters to McCourt and to Barbara Kingsolver -- considered a true friend of independents.

At the town meeting, several booksellers decried "bait-and-switch tactics" whereby Web surfers seeking information about a bookstore on a search engine find a purchasing hyperlink that leads them to the Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com site rather than to the independent bookstore. One bookseller defined this as "hijacking."

Concerning the question of online booksellers and sales tax, raised by many irate booksellers at the town meeting, Domnitz said that the association believes Barnesandnoble.com and Borders.com should charge sales tax across the U.S. because they have "a nexus in every state," by virtue of having stores in 50 states. Even though the chains argue that the online entities should be exempt from sales tax because they are incorporated separately, Domnitz called this illegal. On the other hand, Amazon.com fully complies with the law (charging sales tax in the states where it has offices and warehouses), even if the law seems unfair.

Other indies complained that the major online booksellers advertise many titles for delivery in two to three days, when in fact the books usually take two to three weeks. Domnitz explained that while he couldn't divulge details, the association was taking action on this "false advertising issue" and "should have resolution soon."