BA should be IndieBound
<p>I am pleased to see that the Booksellers Association is at last creeping towards being more overtly supportive of independent booksellers by harnassing the services of the US IndieBound website (<a href="../../news/103517-booksellers-association-to-import-us-indiebound-initiative-to-uk-.html">theBookseller.com 22nd November</a>).</p>
<p>Although the detail is lacking at the moment, let's hope it will mean, finally, that some bite is evident in the BA's support of specialist terrestrial bookselling outlets, against a backdrop of deeply troubled chains.</p>
<p>Now is the last opportunity for the BA to act for specialist booksellers and become politicised. If the media reports are accurate WHS will be the only serious fighter in the ring by the start of 2011, and with retail analysts now saying that chains need a mere 150 stores plus a website to achieve national coverage, there is ample opportunity for good independents to succeed in martket towns overlooked by the chains - if only they can rely on trade support to realise their potential.</p>
<p>This year I have moved to bigger premises and am trialling my own book tokens with customers, so dismayed am I at the disinterested stance of the BA amid the evident decline of specialist outlets.</p>
<p>If, by the end of 2010 nothing much has changed, I for one, will not be renewing my BA membership, but going it alone.</p>