Australian Booksellers Association
The Australian Booksellers Association (also known as BookPeople) promotes the interests of booksellers in Australia. The association has its origins in state associations formed early in the 20th century, which later amalgamated into a federal association.
In 1985 the association was incorporated in Victoria and now acts as the national body representing Australian booksellers. Members range from independent bookshops to chain and franchise shops, as well as specialist, second hand, academic and educational booksellers. The ABA is governed by a Statement of Purposes and Rules, which is available on request.
The purposes of the ABA include providing a range of training and educational programs for members; establishing bonds between booksellers all over Australia; enhancing the unique role of books in our society; fostering and encouraging the selling of books; providing a national forum for member booksellers; providing technical advice and information to booksellers;
The association has a management committee elected by the membership. Members of the committee have a 'stewardship' role towards the membership as a whole and are expected to apply their skills to this task. The management committee assists in improving the association's policy, activities and administration to help the association achieve its objectives. The ABA has a permanent staff under the responsibility of the chief executive officer. The ABA is represented on most book trade councils and committees.
In 2023, the association went through a rebranding to establish a more consumer-friendly persona that would tie in with their modernisation of the Australian Book Voucher scheme which became the BookPeople Gift Cards.
The new name, BookPeople, was another evolution for the association as the place where Bookselling Business meets Bookselling Culture. They are a sustainable and strategic retail partner for their members, representing the booksellers’ uniqueness, individuality, and expertise. They nurture positive relationships with all their stakeholders and promote professional and ethical practices. They are a not-for-profit and exist exclusively for the benefit of their members.
They have been advocating for bookshops, books and reading for over 100 years, and has evolved with their members along the way.
BookPeople undertakes numerous major projects each year for the benefit of members: the annual national conference in June, three seasonal Reading Guides (Spring, Summer, Autumn) and two Kids' Reading Guide each year, and their annual 'Love Your Bookshop Day' which generally falls in October. The Reading Guides are full-colour lists of recommended new releases and classics reviewed by booksellers and specialist children's booksellers who are passionate about literacy.
BookPeople also manages the annual BookPeople BookData Book of the Year Awards which more recently has expanded to include three different categories: Adult Fiction Book of the Year, Adult Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and Children's Book of the Year, given to the Australian new releases that booksellers most enjoyed reading, marketing and hand-selling during the previous year.