Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Congratulations to the Banned Books Week Display Contest Winners!

We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s Banned Books Week Display Contest! We received over 60 artistic and powerful submissions this year and we want to thank each store that participated. Thank you for exercising your right to free expression in support of the freedom to read!

Without further ado, this year’s winners are:

1st Place: Odyssey Bookshop in Port Angeles, WA (pictured above)

2nd Place: Books & Books in Coral Gables, FL

3rd Place: West Main Coffee and Books in Toulon, IL

Thank you again to everyone who participated and we hope to see your displays again next year!

AI Resources and Education

“As a trade association, we play an important role in helping our members in the age of AI. From our vantage point, we can see the serious concerns about AI. We share those concerns. We recognize the opportunities AI presents to help level the playing field and ensure competitive and sustainable small businesses. And we recognize the contradictions of technology that both threaten equity and access and create opportunities for it. There will be rough waters ahead for our industry as we navigate all of this but two navigation points will keep us steady: AI regulation is critical. And above all else we must continue to champion the authors, illustrators, and artists who create books — creators who spin their human experience into gold — something that AI can never do,” said Allison Hill, ABA CEO

With that in mind, we have created some resources and education to support our members. 

• ABA AI Guiding Principles: The 10 principles that ABA is using in our own approach and evaluation of AI.
• ABA AI Advocacy Priorities: A list of legislation related to AI that you should be aware of.
• Sample AI Policies for Members: A collection of sample AI policies designed to help you build one for your own store.
• ABA AI Education Webinars: A series of four webinars designed to give you a bigger understanding of how AI works and is being implemented in the industry. These are recordings of webinars that took place in September/October 2026.

These documents may change as we all continue to learn more and as AI develops, but they’re a starting point for all of us.

Last Chance: Order Your Indie Bookstore Day Exclusives

Have you ordered Indie Bookstore Day exclusives for your store yet?

Tomorrow, November 5, is the last day to place your orders, so don’t wait! Order exclusives through your Member Dashboard now.

You must be a logged-in ABA member to access the form.

Stores that order exclusives will automatically be included in our Indie Bookstore Day 2027 map of participating stores. If you don’t want to carry exclusives, but still want to appear on the 2027 Indie Bookstore Day map of participating stores, you can also sign up from your Member Dashboard.

Apply Now for a Ci2027 Scholarship!

Apply for a Children’s Institute 2027 (Ci2027) scholarship by November 19!

Scholarship recipients will receive waived registration fees to Children’s Institute 2027, a comped hotel room during the Institute, and up to $600 reimbursement for travel to and from the Institute.

Ci2027 will take place June 11–13 in Albuquerque, NM.

Visit BookWeb to see the full eligibility requirements and submit your application!

The Indies First Map Is Live!

November is here and we’re just weeks away from the biggest shopping weekend of the year — Indies First and Small Business Saturday!

The interactive map of stores participating in Indies First is now live on IndieBound! Share it with your customers so they can plan their Indies First shopping. 

And don’t forget to check out the Indies First Planning Guide, download Indies First assets, and take advantage of this year’s Indies First publisher offers!

Skill Swap: Pop-Up Bookstores on Book Fairs

Join us on Monday, November 9, at 1:00 pm ET, for a webinar on book fairs!

“Skill Swap: Pop-Up Bookstores On Book Fairs” will discuss how you can start planning a book fair at your bookstore or how to improve the book fairs you already host. 

This discussion will feature Nicole Johnson of Baltimore Read Aloud (Baltimore, MD), Mike Brewer of The Book Fair Co. (Liberty, MO), and Stephanie Reed of MiJa Books (Long Beach, CA)!

Register for Upcoming Professional Booksellers School Courses

The Professional Booksellers School (PBS) offers training and professional certifications for booksellers (and taught by booksellers!). 

Registration for their upcoming courses opens on November 16.

The Inventory Management course teaches owners and buyers how to create buying strategies and routines, while the Profitability course is designed to give students actionable steps to increase store income and decrease expenses.

Registration discounts are available for members of regional booksellers associations who are PBS donors.

Want to Support Binc?

If you want to support the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation, head to their Bonfire page to grab merch commemorating 30 years of Binc!

The 30 Years of Binc design is available on hoodies, tote bags, and coffee mugs.

You can also check out Steerforth Press’ new Bonfire design by Tad Stoermer, “A Resistance History of the United States.” They will be donating all proceeds to Binc.

November/December KNL Q&A with Daniel Nayeri

Independent booksellers across the country have chosen Daniel Nayeri’s This Is a Door (Stonefruit Studio) as their top pick for the November/December 2026 Kids’ Indie Next List.

Here, Bookselling This Week and Nayeri talk about This Is a Door.

Indies Introduce Q&A with Sharon Choe

Sharon Choe is the author of Queen of the Spirit Woods, a Summer/Fall 2026 Indies Introduce selection.

Here, Choe and Alyssa Raymond of Copper Dog Books in Beverly, MA, discuss Queen of the Spirit Woods.

You can also visit the ABA podcast, BookED, to listen to this interview.

December Indie Next List Preview

Here are the 25 Indie Next List and 6 Now in Paperback picks on the December 2026 Indie Next List flier.

The top pick? Tiger’s Mouth by Lucy Tan. 

And, to mark the start of a new month, November Indie Next List and November/December Kids’ Indie Next List social media assets are live on BookWeb.

Indie Politics & Current Events Bestseller List

Here is the Indie Politics & Current Events Bestseller List, based on sales at independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending November 3.

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