Reporting to Bestseller Lists

Join other NAIBA members in reporting your weekly sales - it's a great way to make our voices heard and prove that independent bookstores are still a valuable part of the bookselling landscape.
Reporting to the Indie Bestseller List and NAIBA Indie Bestseller List

Gathered every week by the ABA, the Indie Bestseller list aggregates sales figures for ABA’s member bookstores throughout the country. A print-ready version of this list is available on ABA’s IndieBound page to download and post in your store. Those figures are further divided into regional lists, and we email that list to NAIBA members weekly and also post it here on our website.

Reporting is both easy and confidential. Just follow the steps below:

1) Choose one of the three ways to report:

  • ABA manual entry
  • ABA file upload
  • To BookScan via your POS

You can review the reporting options here. The vast majority of stores choose the BookScan reporting method because:

  • It’s nearly automatic and drawn directly from your POS
  • You also contribute to BookScan’s important sales data, which drives publishing decisions.

The BookScan compatible POS systems include Anthology, Basil, Book Manager, Books-In-Store, BookLog, Computac, IBID/IBIDie, Square One/iMerchant, Word Stock, and UBIC. However, as long as the system is capable of creating the report in the necessary format, BookScan can also use indepedent and other point of sale systems. Contact Ajantha Jesuraj at ajantha.jesuraj.ap@nielsen.com directly for instructions and to receive the appropriate software bridge.

2) If reporting via the ABA manual entry or file upload methods, create a login and password for the ABA reporting area on BookWeb.org. If your store doesn’t have a BookWeb.org account, you can create one here. (You will need an ABA ID number to create the account, so if you’re not yet an ABA member, please join ABA.)

3) Your report should include sales that week beginning 12:01 am Sunday through midnight Saturday.

4) If reporting via BookScan, transmit the weekly report no later than 10 pm each Monday.

5) If reporting via one of the ABA methods, transmit the weekly report no later than 3 am EST each Tuesday via the ABA reporting site. The reporting site opens each week at midnight Saturday.

For questions, visit the ABA Indie Bestseller FAQ page. For technical support, contact Peter Reynolds at peter@bookweb.org.
Reporting to The New York Times Bestseller List

The New York Times Bestseller List, released every Sunday in the paper’s Book Review, reflects sales reported by vendors offering a wide range of general interest titles. The sales venues for print books include independent book retailers; national, regional and local chains; online and multimedia entertainment retailers; supermarkets, university, gift and discount department stores; and newsstands.

It’s increasingly important for independent booksellers to make their voices heard on a national level. Please, demonstrate the importance of the indie sales channel by reporting your sales to this important national outlet for book news.

To report your sales to The New York Times, please fill out this online request form.

Every Tuesday, you’ll receive:

  • An email letting you know what titles are in the Book Review that weekend, giving you advance notice to order these titles for your loyal readers.
  • The Times Digest with the pdf containing the Best Sellers Lists a week and a half before it hits the printed edition.
  • A complimentary copy of the printed Book Review sent directly to your store.
For more detailed information, visit the Best Sellers List reporting site.