The hot publishing news this week is that NCIBA and SCIBA are considering merging. For those of you that work outside the book world that think NCIBA and SCIBA look like acronyms for rare medical conditions, I’ll fill you in: NCIBA (Northern California Independent Booksellers Association) and SCIBA (Southern California Booksellers Association) are organizations that work to support and promote independent booksellers and literacy. There are many bookseller associations across the United States, which the American Booksellers Association made into a nice list:

Great Lakes Independent Booksellers

Midwest Independent Booksellers

Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers

New Atlantic Independent Booksellers

Northern California Independent Booksellers 

New England Independent Booksellers

Pacific Northwest Independent Booksellers

Southern California Independent Booksellers

Southern Independent Booksellers

Shelf Awareness reported NCIBA executive director Calvin Crosby saying, the best analogy is that the two associations are “still dating,” and “on about the third date.” 

The associations are staying true to their missions so far and listening to what booksellers have to say on the matter. Stay tuned for NCIBA and SCIBA’s future “dates.” Will they have a long-lasting romantic relationship? Or will they find they live their best lives single?