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about us

The British Columbia Booksellers Association is the voice of independent booksellers in British Columbia. The Association and its members work to: promote the cultural importance of books by partnering together with publishers, writers and other associations in the Canadian book industry; contribute to B.C.'s annual Book Prizes; organize literary and writers' festivals in their own communities; and host many author readings and out-of-store events throughout the year... read more

why you should join

Independent Booksellers Meeting Together: The B.C. Booksellers Association (BCBA) offers the only opportunity you have to meet together with your fellow independent booksellers from across the province every six months to exchange information and ideas, to enjoy peer support and best practices ideas, and to discuss industry news, issues, concerns, and solutions.

Professional Development: The BCBA offers its members full day programs for professional development at the February Book Fairs. Our seminars include presentations introducing entry level and advanced social media solutions for your business, as well as up-coming trends; panel discussions on current topics with CEOs of major Canadian publishers and informed booksellers; best practices seminars; member participation in round table discussions; and opportunities to build relationships with your fellow booksellers.

Building Industry Partnerships: As the book industry rapidly morphs and changes, presenting independent booksellers with so many challenges, it is apparent to all of us that it is more important than ever that we need to work together. BCBA is committed to building better relationships with our industry partners, publishers and distributors, the Western Book Reps Association, authors, and other groups, thus enabling all of us to help each other to survive and thrive.

Communications: Quarterly e-newsletters keep BCBA members informed and up-to-date with what the Association and its members are doing, circulating industry news, and offering professional development opportunities. Our bcbooksellerforum@yahoogroups.com gives you a place to hear from and be heard by other booksellers on your opinions, issues, and concerns of the day. Our website offers the public an easy way to find our independent bookstore members across B.C. and provides interesting news and link. Join our Facebook page and become part of the conversation.

Personal Member Support: For new bookstores, the expertise and experience of longer thriving members can be valuable when shared. Long-time book-sellers welcome the enthusiasm and technology know-how of our newer members. Together, we embrace our future challenges by sharpening and celebrating the image of who we are within our own communities.

Management Tools to Help You Get Ahead: BCBA offers opportunities to link with marketing, management tools, and other programs, such as The American Booksellers Association IndieBound initiative, The Canadian Booksellers Association, providing advocacy with suppliers and government, and working toward access to new technology markets, that will help grow your business.

bc bestseller list
January 17th, 2011

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in the news...

DON'T MISS THE BCBA SEMI-ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2011
9:30 a.m. - 12 noon

HARBOUR ROOM
Laurel Point Inn, Victoria

Come and hear what your talented Board of Directors has been doing on your behalf over the past six months since our last meeting in July. We've been working hard to put the ideas you gave us into reality.

Agenda
9:30 - 10:45 am
Business meeting and Members' discussion

11:00 - 12 noon
Meeting with members of the Western Book Reps Association to discuss the future of the Book Fairs and how we can work together

Please plan on attending - we need your ideas and your input to take our Association forward!

BCBA Education Day
Offers an Exciting Program for Everyone

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2011
9:00 am - 4:30 pm

MERINO ROOM
Laurel Point Inn, Victoria

It's not too late to register for BCBA's Education Day!

BCBA's Education Day Planning Team, under the fine leadership of Chair, Lee Trentadue, has put together an exciting program to kick off the Spring Book Fair. The Day has purposely been designed to include publishers and distributors as well as booksellers, and if you look at our program you'll see why:

8:00 - 9:00 am
Registration outside Merino Room

9:00 - 10:30 am
Keynote Speaker : Claude Legrand, co-author of Innovative Intelligence: Leading a New Wave of Innovation in your Organization (John Wiley).    Claude Legrand, president of Ideaction Inc., will address the kind of sustainable innovation and change management that booksellers and publishers need to embrace in the face of economic downturn and other industry challenges. Q&A session included. You won't want to miss what Claude has to say. We are grateful for John Wiley & Sons' sponsorship for this speaker.

10:30 - 10:45 am
Coffee break

10:45 - 12 noon
Publishers/Booksellers Forum.  Taking Claude Legrand's address a step further, a panel will be discussing the challenges that each of us is facing in our industry today, what we are doing to meet these challenges and how we can better work together. Panel members include: Duncan Shields (Random House Canada), Mike Bryan (Penguin Books Canada), Paddy Laidley (Raincoast Books), Kate Saunders (Simon & Schuster Canada), Andrew Woodridge (Orca Books), Dave Hill (Munro's Books), Jennie Ash (Jennie's Book Garden), Lee Trentadue (Galiano Island Books). The Moderator will be Jim Schmidt (Galiano Island Books).

12 noon - 1:30 pm
Lunch will be provided

1:30 - 2:30 pm
Best Practices Workshop led by Trish Petrie (Black Bond Books) with lots of sharing of ideas from you!

2:45 - 4:30 pm
Keynote Speaker: Guy Steves, Constant Contact Metro Vancouver regional director. Guy's presentation will show how to do e-newslettrs, e-vites, surveys and other fantastic ideas, including social media integration for small business. He'll also tell us what he sees as the next 'hot' innovation in social media.  Don't forget to bring your business card for Guy's door prize!

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