Be a friend to Indies!

I've worked at independent bookstores for more than half my life, for the past several years as a buyer and events person at an indie in San Francisco. My family also owns a different small independent bookstore here in the city. So I may have a bit of a bias here. But something that drives me a bit crazy in the media is talk of “the demise of the little bookstore.”

First of all, this is a down economy, for sure. But all kinds of businesses close all the time. We don’t moan about how the cookie business is collapsing every time a bakery goes bust. I mean – don’t get me wrong, I am romantic about bookstores too, but sometimes they just close. That doesn’t mean that ALL bookstores are closing. And these articles very rarely talk about the fact that there are also new indie stores opening!

Indie bookstores aren’t going anywhere without a fight, kids. Here’s how you can help:

1) KNOW THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDIES AND BIG BOX RETAILERS

Indies can be large or teensy. The can sell new or used books, or both. They can be specialty shops (children's only, or all mystery, for example), or they can be general interest. The main thing is, that they are owned and operated by people in the community, and they reflect the individuality and taste of the owners and buyers.

"Big Box" retailers are large chains such as Barnes and Noble or Borders. They typically occupy more than 50,000 square feet. They tend to focus on "big" titles from major publishers -- small or unusual publishers and first-time authors tend to be shut out. Malcolm Gladwell calls big chain bookstores "blockbuster factories." The sheer volume is so intimidating that customer tends to go straight for the piles on display - which is nice for the John Grishams of the world, but if you want the chance to find something that isn't already popular, you might have a problem.

Centralized buying offices also mean that the people who are CHOOSING the books for the store probably have no connection to the reading habits or needs of the people in the neighborhood. Though they buy many more books than I ever could, they ultimately have a less diverse selection.

Independent bookstores are a part of their neighborhoods. Their buyers live there - they respond to what their neighbors want - they are flexible - the store's selection can be quirky and feature smaller titles prominently because they aren't in pay to whatever the latest publisher push is. Yep, publishers pay dearly to be on the front displays of a big-box store -- the same is NOT true for independents. If you get rid of Indies, you will have a much more homogeneous and a much less interesting reading landscape.

As for online retailers like Amazon - of course they are convenient. I am not saying they don't have their place! However, whenever possible, I prefer the personal attention and expertise given to me by real bookselling humans -- and the fact is that there are other reasons to prefer local brick-and-mortar stores, too.

2) KNOW THE ECONOMIC & ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF SHOPPING LOCALLY

The reality is, money spent locally tends to remain local. Local businesses contribute to the local economy by providing jobs - in fact, here in San Francisco, they provide residents with the most new jobs. They also spend their money in other local business and service providers at more than twice the rate of chains. (That's according to the Andersonville Study of Retail Economics). They pay taxes which go to fund local government services, streetlights, schools and more.

Let me break that down for you: WE pay for your kid's public school. AMAZON does not.

Here are a bunch of numbers, you can skip them if you want: LivingEconomies.org quotes a recent study in Barnstable Mass which found that small downtown stores "generate an annual net SURPLUS of $326 per 1,000 square feet. Big box stores on the other hand require more in services than they produce in revenue - an annual tax DEFICIT of $468 per 1,000 square feet."

Oh, and then there are charities. According to the SF Local Merchants Association, non-profit organizations receive 350% more support from local business owners than from chains. Wow.

OH, and did I mention the environment? Yeah, well, since local businesses generally set up in town or city centres, and buy more local goods, they contribute less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

3) HELP US HELP YOU

Independents do things that Amazon, and even most chain stores, won't or can't do. Things like hosting awesome author events and creating book fairs for your local school. Working with librarians to create programming and book lists. We don't MAKE MONEY at this, people. Most booksellers I know are way overeducated and way underpaid. However, we do this stuff because we are called to do it. Because we love books, and we want to share them with you. Because we love our neighborhoods, and want to make them better places for everyone.

As for "my indie is too little and doesn't carry XYZ! So the big store is better!" - umm, we aren't mind readers. If I don't have a ton of mass market romance, it's because mass market romance hasn't historically sold very well in my neighborhood. But y'know what? When people ASK for it, I GET it. My romance section is three times larger than it was a year ago, because I got requests. It will stay large as long as people keep shopping it. Your local bookstore wants to make you happy, O Customer! So help us help you. Tell us what you want. Seriously. We're listening.

Plus, we can get you just about anything in a couple of days, sometimes even in ONE day, with no shipping charges. Yay!

4) WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY TO HELP AN INDIE… SHOP AT IT!

Well, first of all, you can shop at an independent bookstore whenever possible. You gotta buy books at indies if you want them to stick around. Obvious, right?

I know that isn't always a possibility. We aren't the library, and we can't give big huge discounts on bestsellers like CostCo can. BUT! Many indies do have loyalty programs, teacher discounts, senior discounts, even friend-of-the-library discounts and the like, and almost all sell remainder "sale books". Even if you switched 10% more of your buying power to indies, you'd be doing a great thing both for them and for your local economy.


5) WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY TO HELP AN INDIE… FOR FREE!

Most indie bookstores in the US participate in "IndieBound", (which used to be called the Booksense program). What is that? Well, we put together an amazing list of picks every month, the Indie Next list, and distribute those newsletters in every member store. We also sell gift cards, which means that if you buy a gift card from my store, you could go to ANY indie store in the country to spend it. Which is pretty awesome, since they are in every state and online as well.

My big suggestion is, next to your Amazon or B&N link on your blog or website, why not also LINK TO INDIEBOUND? That way people can find the indie store nearest them. Indiebound even has an affiliate program, if that is your thing.

You could also choose YOUR fave indie bookstore and link to that! If you are a writer, you might even be able to partner with them - make your local indie your "official" bookstore - so that people can always get autographed copies of your book if they shop at your neighborhood store, that you link to on your website. Give people the option, you know? Especially because, if you are a writer and you're trying to kiss up to an indie bookstore, and the only thing you link to is Amazon, you make us cry.

SO LINK. It is one easy-peasy way to be a Friend to Indies.


OK, my rant is over. Thank you for your attention.

-- Jennifer L., NCIBA

Links, got your links here

Last week PW's Shelftalker blog ran this superb article on handselling and the fine art of "reading the customer" - this is a MUST READ for newbie booksellers and a pretty good refresher for those of us who've been in the trenches for a while, too...

Our very own Rich Rennicks of Malaprops in Asheville NC has two pieces of news: He's the brand-new Emerging Leaders council's rep from SIBA and he's working for our good friends at the very cool indie publisher Unbridled Books as their "Bookstore Liason." (Perhaps when it is Rich's turn to blog he can tell us what the heck that is, exactly!)

In case you've been looking for yet another reason to disdain the Kindle, Boing Boing tells us how the Kindle DRM is rearing its ugly head. "We found out the hard way that Amazon can revoke your Kindle's ability to read your ebooks aloud after you've bought them." You know, when you buy a paper book, it is really and truly yours to do what you like with... Just sayin'.

Looking for a way to spice up your sex life? The NYT book review invites you to enter (the mind of) octogenarian Gloria Vanderbilt, if you dare. "Mint, cayenne pepper and a fresh garden carrot are deployed in the book in ways never envisioned by “The Joy of Cooking.” And there is also a unicorn, though, blessedly, it remains a bystander."

Greetings from Minneapolis!

I'm Jay and I'm the Emerging Leaders Council representative for the Midwestern Booksellers Association. I'm also the manager of Magers and Quinn Booksellers, the largest indepedent in the Twin Cities.

So, enough about me, here's what's new in the world of bookselling Minneapolis-style:

Magers & Quinn Booksellers wrapped up a wild weekend of unconventional bookselling with a publication party and poster sale for Gig Posters Vol. 1: Rock Art of the 21st Century (published by Quirk Books) on Sunday, June 14. We invited 8 of the graphic designers featured in the book to show their works on display tables throughout the store. The designers included Amy Jo, Aesthetic Apparatus, Burlesque of North America and Adam Turman. Nearly 400 people turned up to view and purchase limited-edition screen printed posters from the artists and (most importantly) copies of the book. It was one of the largest in-store events we've hosted in our 15 years of business.

In addition to being home to a plethora of talented graphic artists and world-class design firms, Minneapolis also has an insanely huge bicycling subculture. On Friday, the stretch run of the Nature Valley Grand Prix bike race took place on Hennepin Avenue, just outside our front door. Thousands turned out to watch the blur of pro racers speeding through the Uptown neighborhood. As part of the festivities, we hosted Doug Shidell, creator of the Twin Cities Bike Map (from Little Transport Press), and partnered with the worker-owned Hub Bike Co-op to provide free smoothies from a bicycle powered blender for spectators.

The Hub also helped build a window display featuring two of its top of the line bikes and a number of cycling books, including Pedaling Revolution : How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities (from Oregon State Univ Press) and Doug Shidell's Bicycle Vacation Guide to Minnesota & Wisconsin (another one from Little Transport Press).

All in all, it was an exhausting but successful weekend of slinging books to the masses.

Thanks for reading!

- JAY

Emily's Highlights from the trenches of LA Lit Culture

From a bookseller's standpoint, the LA Times Festival of Books is a lot of work. You spend a few weeks gathering supplies and inventory, and it is one of those rare opportunities where you get to decide just what it is that will define your store to thousands of potential new customers and faithful regulars. Then you get up early several days in a row, carry lots of boxes, cover all of your beloved books with dew-repellent tarps, and hope for exactly the weather we got this weekend.


Because we really wanted our booth to have the same curated feel as our store, fine-tuning was essential. We brought signed copies from past events, books for upcoming events, edgy fiction and rare gems from small presses, a spinner of Hard Case Crime books, heady titles from university presses, and kids books that reflect our refined tastes. Interestingly, staff picks didn't seem to help or hurt -- what really mattered was the visual. People were looking at books all day in 100s and 100s of booths, and if you could catch their eye with something they hadn't seen before, they might stop by. The goal was to have a few titles they might come looking for, and lots that they won't see anywhere else.

One of my favorite quotes came before our booth was even open: as we were unpacking boxes, a finals-addled UCLA student asked, voice all full of awe and wonder, whether "ALL of the books in your store are like THIS?"

I only had the pleasure of attending one panel, Publishing 3.0, which was phenomenal. I haven't mentally distilled it quite yet, but let's just say that it had the potential to be everything the ill-fated SXSW publishing panel was not. They only true limitation was time.


Other highlights included the Granta party at Equator Books and a successful tweetup at the Skylight booth with my idol Richard Nash, formerly of Soft Skull and Counterpoint. And the icing on the cake, quite literally, was at the end of my last shift, when a coworker (whose father happens to be a bigshot fiction writer) gave me her VIP wrist band. I snuck into the VIP lounge and had the most amazing free brie, free mini sandwiches, and don't even get me started on the free chocolate cake. They sure know how to treat their VIPs!


I think that #LATFOB gives us an idea of what BEA might be like if it were open to the public. I'm a fan of opening up the final day of BEA. At the Publishing 3.0 panel, Richard Nash suggested that 20th century publishing was really about perfecting the art of supply. In order to survive this transition into the 21st century, Nash suggests that honing in on customer demand will be the key. To this relative rookie, it seems that BEA still falls more on the supply side: we are talking amongst ourselves, various points along the book supply chain, about how we can all work together -- an important and undoubtedly exciting task. But as booksellers, our role is really that of intermediary between authors/publishers/publicists on one hand and readers on the other. And unlike BEA, where we booksellers often have to be the voice of our customers, the Festival of Books brings all of these parties face to face.

L.A.'s Literary Culture

Props to Emerging Leaders Council member Emily Pullen (Skylight Books), who is quoted in today's Los Angeles Times article on the LA Times Festival of Books:

"It's a misconception that L.A. is not a book town," said Emily Pullen, a manager for Skylight Books in Los Feliz, which has a booth at the festival with edgy fiction, handmade zines and graphic novels for sale. "It's got an amazingly rich literary culture. New York is the home of the big publishing houses. But there are so many great, amazing and energizing authors who live in L.A."

Some of us New York booksellers (hi, it's me Jessica!) were awfully jealous of the literary goings-on in L.A. this weekend. And it's awesome to see a mainstream newspaper acknowledge the huge number of booklovers out there (surprise, reading isn't dead!)

Congrats to Emily, Skylight, and all the participants in the rich literary culture of Los Angeles.

Reasons Frontline Booksellers Should Go To BEA

Book Expo America is happening in New York City, May 28 - 31. If you work as a frontline bookseller in an independent bookstore, here's why you should come.

1) For your future. This is where you'll meet the people you'll be working with for the next 20 years. It may be where you meet someone who will give you your next job, or connect you with someone to help you do your own job better. It's where you'll establish the relationships that will give you a chance for a long-term career in the book industry, whether in bookstores, publishing, or elsewhere.

2) For the parties. Duh. Even if you didn't get the embossed invitation (that probably went to your boss), you will have the opportunity to go to dinners, cocktails, beerfests, maybe even the odd dance party. (Here's your first invitation: Emerging Leaders party, open bar, Wednesday May 27 -- time and place to come!)

3) For the free stuff. Maybe you already get lots of galleys sent to the bookstore -- but nothing like this. While it's good advice not to load yourself down too much with swag, it definitely makes sense to take advantage of some of the book giveaways (and tote bags, notepads, keychains, buttons, and figurines, if you're into that) publishers are offering specifically for handselling booksellers like you.

4) For the education. The ABA's Day of Education is second to none in terms of professional development for booksellers -- go to the sessions on Thursday, and you WILL be a better bookseller by the end of the day. And the education offered by BEA itself is nothing to sneeze at, either.

5) For your Next Great Read. The books for this summer, fall and winter will be arrayed for your discovery -- you might find the next novel by your favorite author, or some serendipitous great book you've never heard of. (Kind of like browsing in a bookstore, for bookstores.)

6) For new vendors and products. You might not be the buyer in your store, but that doesn't mean you can't discover a great new indie press or sideline manufacturer to bring back to your store. Your eye for the new is as valuable as anyone's.

7) For encounters with authors. Sherman Alexie? Richard Russo? Stephen Tyler? Whoever you're crazy about, chances are you'll have a chance to shake their hand and have them sign your book -- or just hear them rock out in their own inimitable fashion.

8) For putting faces with names. You talk on the phone to your sales rep, you email with publicists, but there's nothing like meeting face-to-face with your professional colleagues. Your interactions afterward will be more interesting and better.

9) For New York City. Yeah, it's an expensive town -- but it's also one of the greatest cities in the world, the center of book publishing, and home to a ton of great indie bookstores. Whether you wanna squeeze in a visit to the Strand, the Met, Prospect Park, or FAO Schwartz, you'll be in the place to do it. It's got a kind of energy that's completely unique.

10) Because the badge is free. If you're a young bookseller and you email the Emerging Leaders Council, we can hook you up with a FREE pass to BEA, for a single day or several. All you have to do is get here (and we can even help you out with somewhere to stay.)


There are plenty more reasons to come to BEA this year. What are some of your favorites?

EL represent at BEA (and FREE passes!)

Your Emerging Leaders Council members (as well as the younger generation of booksellers as a whole) looms large in the recently announced program schedule for ABA's Day of Education for Book Expo 2009. Here's where you can find us on Thursday, May 28:

- Jennifer Laughran (EL rep, NCIBA region) talks about Book Club Brainstorming

- Jessica Stockton Bagnulo (EL rep, NAIBA region) talks about Bookstore as the Third Place: Making Your Store a Community Center Through Innovative Events

- Jen Northington (EL rep, MPBA region) talks about Going Digital: An Industry Discussion on Selling E-Content

- Megan Sullivan (EL rep, NEIBA region) talks about Social Media and the Independent Bookseller


Want to join us in NYC for the Day of Education and all the buzz of Book Expo? Email us! The Emerging Leaders Council has a limited number of free passes to BEA available for Emerging Leaders booksellers. And if you need a place to stay, you can get in touch with the couchsurfing network through Ning, Twitter, or via email. See you at BEA!