Bookselling Update: First Impressions of the Impact of COVID-19, with John Mutter of Shelf Awareness

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed American life overnight. How are booksellers faring, what kinds of issues do they face, and what measures are they taking to survive? John Mutter of industry newsletter Shelf Awareness makes some initial observations.

Topics Covered

• The plight of booksellers and their employees
• Is relief in sight?
• Do stores already doing online selling have an advantage?
• The logistical challenge: you can sell, but can you ship?
• Resources at hand: the ABA, BINC
• How can authors and booksellers support each other?
• Virtual author tours and events and other strategies for staying afloat
• Is bookselling an “essential” business?
• Ingram’s major role in sales and fulfillment

Links

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/
Shelf Awareness newsletter

https://www.bincfoundation.org/
Book Industry Charitable Foundation
https://www.bookweb.org/
American Booksellers Association

https://www.ingramcontent.com/retailers/direct-to-home
Ingram Direct to Home shipping service

https://www.aer.io/
Sell your books online with Ingram fulfillment

https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2020/03/reference-supporting-booksellers-in-these-dark-times/
Publishers Lunch guide to supporting booksellers

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/82823-bookstores-seek-essential-exemptions.html
US booksellers fight against closures and develop new ways of serving customers 

Participants

John Mutter is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the book industry and reader newsletter Shelf Awareness. Before that he was the longtime executive editor of bookselling at Publishers Weekly and executive editor of the former PW Daily for Booksellers. John is a former Board member of IBPA.

Peter Goodman (host) is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California. He began his publishing career in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976. A longtime member of IBPA, he has served on the IBPA board and as IBPA board chair.

For more information, go to IBPA at https://www.ibpa-online.org/.