Regional Independent Bookseller Associations Promote Regional Bookselling

Many independent bookstores are supported by one of a number of regional trade associations across the country. These regional bookseller associations, like the national organization American Booksellers Association (ABA), promote retail bookselling and the business of independent booksellers, but on a regional basis.

Members of regional independent bookseller associations generally include locally owned and operated independent bookstores; book publishers, distributors, sales representatives, and vendors who do business with bookstores in the respective regions; as well as other individuals and businesses allied to the book industry.

Regional independent bookseller associations support their respective member bookstores, regional authors, and regional books with a variety of programs such as: book retail business education; trade shows; book awards; customized in-store holiday catalogs or other point-of-sale programs; consolidated advertising programs.

Regional independent booksellers organizations include:

GLiBA — Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association
GLiBA was formed in late 1989 as the Michigan Booksellers Association in response to censorship legislation in that state. The association grew include the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio as well as Michigan and changed its name to Great Lakes Booksellers Association, now Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. GLIBA hosts a fall trade show, publishes a Holiday Catalog and sponsors the Great Lakes, Great Reads book marketing program, which enhances the visibility of local authors while increasing booksellers’ sales.

MBA — The Midwest Booksellers Association
The Midwest Booksellers Association was established in 1981. MBA has over 200 members in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They host a trade show, sponsor book awards, produce a Winter catalog and promote regional authors in their Midwest Connections program.

MPIBA — Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association
MPIBA is a resource for booklovers as well as booksellers and publishers. Its over 300 members are divided equally between bookstores and other industry professionals. Its core member booksellers are located in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. MPIBA hosts an annual trade show, produces a Winter Catalog, provides free materials on the First Amendment, and presents Literacy Grants to support non-profit literacy programs.

NAIBA — New Atlantic Independent Bookseller Association
Member states include New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia. NAIBA’s mission statement includes clauses about protecting the First Amendment rights of free speech and promoting the cause of literacy.

NCIBA — The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association
NCIBA has over 500 members (about 300 of them booksellers). NCIBA hosts a trade show the first week of October which includes over 1000 booksellers from Northern and Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. Among other promotions, the association sponsors the Book of the Year Award, which honors local books in seven categories and produces a “Holiday Showcase” catalog, which is distributed via member booksellers and key media insertions.

NEIBA— New England Independent Bookseller Association
NEIBA has over 500 members and represents over 350 bookstores in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Among a number of bookseller promotions, NEIBA sponsors an annual trade show and the New England Book Awards; and produces a Holiday Catalog. They also award an annual Rusty Drugan Scholarship to emerging leaders in New England bookselling. The scholarship is in memory of the former Executive Director of NEIBA.

NOGSBA — New Orleans-Gulf South Booksellers Association
NOGSBA is a modestly-sized organization comprised of primarily of independent bookstores in the New Orleans “who have a deep love and devotion, not only to books, but to their community and its residents, as well.”

PNBA — Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association
PNBA represents the interests of literacy, free speech and independent bookselling in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The resources they offer to their members range from signage and literacy grants, to a trade show and book awards, to handselling how-to videos.

SCIBA — SoCal Independent Booksellers Association
SCIBA draws its membership mainly from Southern California and Southern Nevada. In addition to presenting Book Awards and producing a Holiday Catalog, SCIBA hosts an annual Authors Feast and Trade Show, and Children’s Books and Literacy Dinner (Winter) and Brunch (Fall), and sponsors the Glenn Goldman Booksellers Scholarship as well as a bookseller mentor program.

SIBA — Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance
SIBA has more than 300 booksellers and hundreds more bookselling-affiliated members. In addition to the typical regional bookseller association programs such as a trade show and holiday catalog, SIBA has Southern-centric resources and promotions such as “Find A Southern Author,” and the seasonal regional title promo called Okra Picks: Great Southern Books Fresh Off the Vine.