As 2025 wraps up, we’re taking a moment to celebrate our collective achievements, share a few highlights from the year, and look ahead to what’s coming next for the indie community.

We also want to extend our sincere thanks to the booksellers working tirelessly this season. Your commitment to your customers and communities is felt across the entire industry.

Here’s to a joyful end to the year and an exciting 2026!

The Year in Review

Despite a challenging start to the year, marked by tariff concerns and the uncertainty they created, 2025 proved to be a remarkable year for independent bookstores.

BookNet Canada data shows that as of November 30, year-to-date sales were up 8% over last year, and sales of books by Canadian contributors were up 10% over the same period. You can read the full November Indie Market Report here.

Our growing membership also reflects a strong and healthy industry, with nearly 50 prospective members in various stages of launching new bookstores. New indies like Halifax’s Egghead Books and Toronto’s Hopeless Romantic Bookshop have been warmly welcomed by their communities. We also saw members expand their footprint: Bookmark Charlottetown moved into a beautiful, larger location and Cedar Canoe Books opened a second storefront. Iconic bookstores celebrated milestone anniversaries, like Bolen Books, marking an incredible 50 years in business.

At CIBA, we worked alongside you to deliver the most impactful Canadian Independent Bookstore Day yet, and we launched The Booksellers’ List, a new marketing initiative that showcases the books independent booksellers are most excited to champion. We also hosted more than 30 virtual events and saw strong engagement on IndieBookstores.ca, with over 140,000 new users visiting the site in 2025 and an engagement rate of 68%. And throughout the year, we continued to advocate for your interests with partners across the country.

Booksellers, thank you for everything you do to enrich your communities, support local writers, and help cultivate new generations of readers. We hope you’re enjoying a bustling season in your stores and can find time for rest and renewal before the new year.

To all of our members, we extend heartfelt thanks for your investment in CIBA’s work and your support throughout 2025. Here’s to a wonderful year ahead.
 

Save the Date for CIBD 2026

We’re ramping up plans for Canadian Independent Bookstore Day, which will take place on Saturday, April 25, 2026! Here are some updates on what we have in the works:

  • Canadian artist Sid Sharp has created custom artwork for the celebration, which will be featured across promotional materials and toolkits
  • Our Contest for Book Lovers will reward lucky customers with generous gift cards to their favourite CIBA member bookstores
  • We’ll continue working with publishers and industry partners to develop dedicated customer giveaways for the big day

More details will be shared in January, and promotional materials will be available to members in March. In the meantime, Bookseller Members can save the date for a planning session on Thursday, February 19 at 3:00pm ET.

Not yet a member but want full access to the initiative? Join us today!
 

The Booksellers’ List Update 

That’s a wrap on our Fall 2025 campaign!

On November 30, we wrapped up our very first season of The Booksellers’ List (TBL)—and it couldn’t have been a more exciting debut! Not only did you help bump a debut novel onto the bestseller list, but your Top Pick for fall also won the Giller Prize. We look forward to sharing more insights in our final report, which will be released in the New Year.

In the meantime, we’re gathering as much intel as we can to measure the success of the program and help us to shape its future. CIBA is committed to making sure TBL delivers meaningful value for all involved and sets up our new program for lasting success.

Key dates: TBL Winter 2026

  • December 15, 2025: Bookseller members received their marketing toolkit, featuring a variety of branded templates to help to promote TBL in-store and online.
  • January 6, 2026: The Booksellers’ List (Winter 2026) will be announced to the general public.

Nominations for Spring 2026

We’re now seeking nominations for books you wish to see included on the Spring 2026 list. We welcome all CIBA Bookseller Members to nominate titles for an adult audience published April 1 to June 29, 2026.

Titles can be nominated via:

The deadline for nominations is Monday February 9, 2026.

Stay tuned for an announcement about our children’s list in the New Year.

Upcoming Events

Q&A about booksellers.ca, with Les libraires

Monday January 12, 2026

10pm PT, 11am MT, 12pm CT, 1pm ET, 2pm AT, 2:30pm Newfoundland

The official launch of booksellers.ca is approaching in February 2026. There is still time to ask about any aspect of the project—technical, contractual, commercial, or otherwise—and receive answers directly from the Les libraires team. Join us for this drop-in session and bring your burning questions!

“Can you help me find a good book?”: Readers Advisory in the Bookstore

Wednesday January 14, 2026

12pm PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, 3pm ET, 4pm AT, 4:30pm Newfoundland

Booksellers help readers discover new titles every day. We know firsthand that matching the right book with the right reader is a complex skill that takes time and experience to develop. The field of study and practice in library sciences called Readers’ Advisory aims to train librarians on how to most effectively suggest books to readers.

Join us for a special event where MLIS candidate (and staffer at Iron Dog Books) Mizuki Giffin will present basic best practices and tools for how Readers’ Advisory might be integrated in a bookstore setting.

CIBA Publisher Picks – Spring Edition!

CIBA's Publisher Picks will bring you to the heart of publisher marketing discussions to discover the season's best bets from multinational and Canadian independent publishers.

These sessions will all start at: 3:00pm PT, 4:00pm MT, 5:00pm CT, 6:00pm ET, 7:00pm AT, 7:30pm Newfoundland

Getting Ready for CIBD 2026

Thursday February 19, 2026

12pm PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, 3pm ET, 4pm AT, 4:30pm Newfoundland

Join us for a dynamic session designed to help you make the most of Canadian Independent Bookstore Day 2026!

Get an overview of CIBA-led campaign initiatives, learn bookseller tips for taking advantage of the celebration, and brainstorm and share ideas for community-driven activities for CIBD 2026.

Resource: 2026 Notable Public Dates Calendar

To help members plan their marketing activities, CIBA has once again created a living calendar that features key dates like public holidays, themed days/weeks/months, awards announcements, and more. This resource is accessible as a list-by-date and as a traditional calendar.

Members can access the calendar here. We will continue to add to the calendar as information becomes available.

If you have any questions or wish to add a key date that may be of interest to all members, please email Kayla Calder.

Member Housekeeping

Before we bid farewell to 2025, we wanted to share a few key updates about your CIBA membership.

1. Adjustment for January Renewals

Our members begin receiving automated reminder emails up to two weeks before their unique renewal date. To avoid holiday emails, we’ve now set the earliest calendar renewal date as January 16. This means booksellers who have historically renewed between December 24 - January 15 now have a renewal date of January 16.

2. Sales Disclosures

Bookseller & Associate Member dues are calculated based on annual sales revenue amounts. Booksellers must review their previously selected sales categories before renewal and update Laura Carter if their category has changed.

3. Member Benefits

As a reminder, booksellers can include unlimited staff members in their CIBA Membership Bundle. Highlights of benefits for booksellers include:

If you have any questions about these unique member benefits or wish to add someone to your store’s bundle, please contact Kayla Calder.

P.S. A reminder that Provisional Members are eligible for full membership once their store has officially opened. Please let us know once your store is operational.

Holiday Office Closure

Please note that the CIBA virtual office will be closed starting Tuesday, December 23, and returning on January 5. Staff will be monitoring email during this period, but responses to non-urgent messages will be sent once we are back to business as usual on Monday, January 5.

We hope the holiday season brings you joy, rest, and plenty of reading time.
 

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