The Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom & Ireland (BA) will be launching an IndieBound marketing campaign for members of its Independent Booksellers Forum in early 2010.

In its November magazine, Bookselling Essentials, the BA gave members a sneak preview of IndieBound and said, "We are thrilled to be working with the American Booksellers Association to facilitate the IndieBound campaign into the U.K."

"We are so delighted to be working with ABA on bringing IndieBound to U.K. independents," said Meryl Halls, head of membership services for the BA. The BA's hope "is that IndieBound can not only help booksellers to create a visual impact in their windows and shops, but also become a real force for good in their wider community," Hall said.

ABA Chief Marketing Officer Meg Smith participated in the BA's Independent Booksellers Forum at Warwick University, where she presented background information and marketing materials developed for IndieBound in the U.S. to more than 100 independent bookstores of the BA. "The audience reaction to Meg Smith's presentation was overwhelmingly positive—a show of hands afterwards showed near-unanimous support for bringing IndieBound into the U.K.," the BA said.

Smith said, "The most rewarding part of our experience with IndieBound has been seeing all the creative ways that independent booksellers have found to spread the message in their stores and their communities. We're very interested to see what booksellers in the U.K. will do."

Plans call for the BA to launch an IndieBound website in the New Year, and bookstores will sign up to receive IndieBound posters, bookmarks, stickers and more.

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