The American Booksellers Association recently presented their 2024 Annual Report to their membership. The leading organization for independent bookstores had some good news to share. “The vitality of independent bookstores was undeniable in 2024. ABA’s membership grew by 18%, and 323 new brick-and-mortar, pop-up, and mobile stores opened across the US. This marks the fourth consecutive year with more than 200 new store openings,” wrote Allison K. Hill, ABA’s CEO, in her opening letter.

The challenges of running a small business were also acknowledged during the May meeting. Tegan Tigani, the outgoing ABA Board President and children’s book buyer for the Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle, noted many stores are still recovering from the shutdowns of the pandemic years according to the Publisher Weekly‘s coverage of the annual meeting. Still only 37 bookstores closed in 2024, a drop in closures of approximately 60% according to ABA.

A complete copy of the report can be found at the ABA website: https://www.bookweb.org/

Eastern Washington’s biggest book event returns in April. Get Lit! is a four-day festival, Thursday through Sunday, which includes full days of readings, writing workshops, craft classes, panel discussions, literary happy hours, a book fair, and more.

For the 2025 festival, April 10 through 13, the festivities kick off on Thursday with readings throughout the Spokane area including the popular 21+ and over event, Pie & Whiskey, at The Washington Cracker Building. At Pie & Whiskey, A limited number of chapbooks containing work from the readers, including Spokane’s Mayor, will be sold. Designed by Lost Horse Press, printed by Gray Dog Press, and hand-stitched by EWU students and alumni, the chapbooks are a small press celebration of the event.

Friday and Saturday brings more readings and writing workshops. The Book Fair on Saturday will be held at the Montvale Event Center. The Book Fair features 20+ local and regional booksellers, small presses, non-profits, and other organizations including Girl Noise Press, Talking River Review, Makeout Creek Books, Melanie Hewitt AKA LibroBuch, Washington Center for the Book, Books to Prisoners, Latah Books, Willow Springs Magazine, Willow Springs Books, Rock & Sling, Spokane Print and Publishing Center, Lost Horse Press, Lynx House Press, Western Colorado University, Fugue, Spark Central, Spokane Arts, SpokAnimal, Page 42 Bookstore, Spokane Public Radio, Jupiter’s Eye Book Cafe, Foray for the Arts, Gray Dog Press, and Wishing Tree Books. 

All events on Sunday are virtual and can be watched on the Get Lit! YouTube channel.

Further information on the festival can be found at https://inside.ewu.edu/getlit/.

Get Lit! is a nonprofit housed within Eastern Washington University. In addition to the festival, Get Lit! also helps to promote EWU’s Visiting Writers Series and works closely with EWU’s Writers in the Community program, which places graduate students into local spaces of need to teach creative writing. Virtual events from 2025 and previous years can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/@ewusgetlitprograms1998.

The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association announced two events designed to help connect regional publishers with Northwest booksellers. In 2025, the organization will hold a spring meet up in Oregon and their fall trade show in Washington.

The 2025 Spring Pop-Up will take place in April with events in Sisters and Bend, Oregon. The 2025 Fall Tradeshow will be held in Spokane, Washington, in September.

For the Spring Pop-Up, PNBA is currently taking proposals for authors to do featured presentations or be part of the author reception at Paulina Springs Books in April. Attendees can stay at the Best Western Ponderosa Lodge in Sisters, Oregon, and discounted room rates are available through the PNBA website. For more information on the two-day Spring Pop-Up, see the website at https://www.pnba.org/spring-pop-up.html.

Recently announced dates for the Spring Pop-Up are April 15 and 16. The Fall Trade Show will be held September 28 through 30. More information will be published soon at pnba.org.

As announced in November, the Independent Book Publishers Association is set to merge with PubWest’s membership into their organization. The merger should be completed by July 2025 and will also combine the staff and boards of the organizations. Until then, organizations plan to continue their previously scheduled events as usual. PubWest 2025 will take place in New Orleans, February 11–13, and IBPA’s Publishing University, also known as PubU, will meet in St. Paul, May 15–17.

The 2025 PubWest conference features the theme of “Innovative Ways to Finance” and will be held in conjunction with BMI (Book Manufacturers Institute) at Caesars New Orleans Hotel. Further information is available at https://pubwest.org/PubWest-Conference.

Established in 1977, PubWest represents about 150 publishers while IBPA has more than 3,000 members. IBPA has been championing indie authors and publishers since 1983. In their joint press release, both organizations stressed that the 2025 merger is being designed to be beneficial for all sizes of independent publishers.

“The combination of IBPA and PubWest will unite our strengths and provide even greater opportunities for independent publishers to thrive. This allows us to better support our members through expanded resources, stronger advocacy, and a unified voice that champions the vital role of independent publishers,” said IBPA Board Chair Tieshena Davis in November.

IBPA is hosting multiple “Get to Know Your IBPA Member Benefits” webinars over the next few months designed to introduce new and current members to the organization’s popular discount programs. These include:

• February 18 – Learn Expert Tips about the Importance of Selling Books to the International Market with StreetLib
• March 20 – Revolutionize Your Title Management, Royalty Calculations & More with WorkingLit
• April 22 – Best Practices to Partner with Printers & Distributors through Perfect Bound

To find out more about IBPA and PubU, visit https://www.ibpa-online.org/.

Worldcon 2025 is seeking books for its “freebies lounge,” an area where convention attendees can hang out and find new (to them) tales of science fiction and fantasy. The convention takes place August 13-17, 2025. The 87th Worldcon will be held at the Seattle Convention Center. Expected attendance is between 5,000 and 10,000 (the Worldcon 2024 had 7,000+ attendees).

The convention’s centrally-located “Freebies Lounge” is being touted as a place for discovering new authors.

Seattle Worldcon is actively seeking book donations from traditional publishers, small publishers, and self-published authors. Publishers and authors are encouraged to donate new releases or backlist items.

Books should be in the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres, adjacent historical fiction, or nonfiction relevant to SFF readers. Adult, young adult, middle-grade, children’s books, and graphic novels are all welcome.

Books can be shipped to the convention organizers prior to convention dates. Limited pickup in the Seattle area may be available. Authors or publishers attending Worldcon can drop books off at the Freebies Lounge during the event.

For more information or to request the shipping address, contact Freebies@seattlein2025.org.

To learn more about Worldcon 2025, go to https://seattlein2025.org/