In the Spotlight: Gayle Shanks, Candidate for ABA President

April 23, 2008

Gayle Shanks

The past year has been a busy one for the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors, said Vice President Gayle Shanks, who is currently up for approval by membership to serve a one-year term as president starting this June. "We have spent time clarifying our expectations -- what we are as an association, how we can better serve our members, and at what cost. We have redesigned the way we think about strategic planning and adopted a set of goals that guide our decisions."

Shanks and her husband, Bob Sommer, founded Tempe, Arizona's Changing Hands in 1974. "I thought I'd play in the book business for a year or two!" Shanks told BTW. "I never dreamed it would become my life." The business has moved and grown from 500 square feet to 13,000 square feet over the years, and in 2007 Changing Hands was named Publishers Weekly Bookseller of the Year. In January 2008, Cindy Dach, the store's general manager, became part of Changing Hands' ownership group.

Changing Hands is also an active member of Local First AZ, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association, and Shanks has served as vice president of ABFFE and as MPIBA president.

Shanks has also been a member of ABA's Education Task Force and has led seminars on adding sidelines to the inventory mix and other topics at both BookExpo America and at regional meetings. Throughout her Board service, Shanks said, the focus has been on increasing bookstores' bottom line. "One of these goals on which both the ABA Board and staff have been working very hard is to help our member booksellers become more profitable," she said. "I believe, that the Winter Institute, educational sessions in all the regions, and the day of education at BEA have helped our members immensely."

Shanks is looking forward to the launch of a new ABA initative at this year's BookExpo America in L.A. "I'm excited about the work we are doing with Brains on Fire, the edgy, creative, funny marketing firm we engaged to work with the Board and staff, the Booksellers Advisory Council, our Publisher Partners, and many, many individual booksellers from across the country, as well as a group of book-buying consumers to look hard at the image of independent bookselling and how we are 'branded' with the American public," she said.

Shanks underscores the wealth of information that experienced booksellers can share, and hopes to promote increased communication and mentorship. "As I travel, I love visiting bookstores where I inevitably pick up good ideas for displays and find exciting new products. And I feel that the knowledge I and others have garnered from decades of selling books could be used to help the 100 new bookstores that opened this past year.... There are many of us who have years of experience and are willing to reach out, extending ourselves in order to keep the profession of bookselling alive and well in this country."

To ensure the future of Changing Hands, she explained, "I am personally trying to develop a process for passing on my store to the next generation. The Emerging Leaders and the young booksellers with whom I've interacted over the past few years have an energy and passion for bookselling that touches my heart. They need mentoring but also are teaching me new technologies, new ways of reaching young readers, marketing, doing events, managing staff...."

Shanks wants members to "feel comfortable calling, e-mailing, writing to the ABA Board members and to each other, and to use the ABA Forums to exchange ideas and ask questions," she said. "I am looking forward to my term as president of the ABA and hope that the coming year finds all of us reading and selling books that we love." --Karen Schechner

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