Wicked Witch of Publishing Finds Surprising Suggestion from Public & Pundits RE: How to Save Independent Bookstores. Short answer: Handsellers Must Take to Streets.
Sitting in the comfort of my New York City apartment, shoes off, feet up after a long and fruitless day at the New York International Gift Show looking for non-book product for TreadWaters (my pretend, inherited bookstore nestled in a small town in upstate Connecticut), I mulled over the mystery entrepreneur’s words from a previous posting. If you recall, I had asked him what it would take to make an independent bookstore successful these days. Mystery Entrepeneur had replied: “When in doubt—Ask! What would you have to believe about my store to be willing to come here and spend money here?”
I could think of many changes I could make within the store that would encourage people to pause and think of dropping by TreadWaters before driving to the more convenient Barnes & Noble on the main highway just outside of town, and I planned to make all of them, but I had the niggling feeling that those improvements would not create the dramatic increase in traffic that I needed—like a stampede to TreadWaters.
I knew many other independent bookstores had increased the number of in-store events, showcased complementary products, offered a variety of book genres and stood ready, as knowledgeable handsellers, to help any and all who ventured into the bookstore. Yet, there just weren’t enough people entering their stores and walking away with shopping bags stuffed with books. And despite often heroic efforts to increase traffic to the stores, more and more independents had folded and the media had taken to sounding the death knell more and more loudly throughout the industry. (As recently as yesterday the LA Times ran an article entitled “Bookshops’ Latest Sad Plot Twist,” forwarded to me by Dave Newton.)
Wicked Witch Badgers People for Clues to Turning Around Independent Bookstore.
Creative suggestions from visitors to this blog, many with insider knowledge, flooded the Comments section of my last two postings about independent bookstores. The problem, as Mystery Entrepreneur said it would be, was that the suggestions were all over the place, from narrow and fairly easy to implement in the bookstore to more broad-based, ill-defined statements about being “hooked” into the community. The Mystery Entrepreneur had said: “Most of the people…will not have an answer—or, at least, not an answer that would prove to be truthful and accurate. But some, eventually, will. Sort of. And that’s the place to start. … someone will figure it out, and, in the process, change the way people who buy and read books interface with the people who produce them.”
So I pressed on, asking Mystery Entrepreneur’s question, again and again, until I began to get a sense that I might be onto something when it came to comments about community. For example, I had an off-the-record cup of coffee early in the morning last week with a top publishing executive in New York City. We hunkered down in a Starbucks at a table for two surrounded by slumped and sleeping homeless people nursing their cups in order to stay out of the 22-degree cold. We talked about my recent postings in The Publishing Contrarian. “A successful bookstore is all about being a real participant in the community,” he said. Another publishing industry executive on another day said: “If you can’t get them into the store, take the bookstore to the people.” In his comment in The Publishing Contrarian Frazer Dobson attributed part of the 30-years of success at Park Row Books in Charlotte, North Carolina, to “reaching out to the community.” He also suggested NOT coming up with “wild, new paradigm shifting ideas.”
I thought about what I knew to be true about big box bookstore “community relations” employees and the practically automated outreach mechanism in place to bring the public in: spot ads and co-op ads in local papers for new books, radio ads about guest author appearances, window displays to grab the attention of walk-by/walk-in traffic. Yes, the executive offices of Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-a-Million had a smart, albeit fairly rubberstamped, approach to promotion; one that was subject only to tweaking by a local on-premise person within a given bookstore.
Serendipitous Books for Serendipitous Buyers?
I knew that an independent bookstore would “know” its own community a lot better than the remotely-controlled Big Boxes. I also knew independent bookstores could reach far more deeply and easily into the life of the community than, say, Barnes & Noble, as long as the will and drive and, most importantly, marketing skills were there. I began to intuit from the answers to Mystery Entrepreneur’s question that being involved in the community might mean:
- Getting out of the store and attending a tremendous number of community events.
- Offering a broad spectrum of theme-based books appropriate to each event to find new customers.
I wasn’t sure about this at all. Would it pay-off to “take the show on the road?” Could this be the wild, new paradigm shift about which Frazer Dobston spoke? So I asked straight-out to a friend: “Are you saying that if the 150th anniversary celebration of the incorporation of our town were taking place at the town green and I showed up with a carload of theme-appropriate books about the town, patriotism, baking apple pies and country antiques, you and your husband (who hasn’t entered a bookstore in years) might buy from me?” The answer: “Yes! For us or for someone we know.” And, I asked another friend who joins me for breakfast at the fire station: “If I showed up at the local Sunday Morning pancake breakfast at the fire station and set up a display table with copies of the following books, all of which were buried alive at TreadWaters, would you part with the $6 for breakfast and full-price or close to it for one of the following books?”
- Dennis Smith’s Report from Engine Co. 82, published in 1999.
- Raymond Carver’s Fires—Essays, Poems, Stories, published in 1989.
- Jorg Friedrich’s The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945, published in 2006.
- David Almond’s The Fire-Eaters, winner of Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award in 2004.
- Joy Masoff’s children’s book about fires and firefighters, FIRE!, published in 2000.
Answer: “Yes!”
I asked a butterfly nut I know if he, who, because of price, only buys on the Internet, would buy from a display of butterfly-related books (field guides, photo books, John Fowles’ The Collector and women’s fiction like Marcia Preston’s The Butterfly House—in which a character raises butterflies on her sunporch—if these books were available at the next meeting of The North American Butterfly Association? Answer: “Maybe.” Which is much stronger than “No.”
TreadWaters-on-Wheels!
My distinctive, red, ‘89 Jeep Cherokee (with whitewalls, thank you!) could become TreadWaters’ bookstore-on-wheels, packed with books pulled and dusted off from TreadWaters’ shelves, ready to be displayed right under the noses of people who would likely be attracted to the carefully selected books I was offering. Local football game? No problem! I’d pack the car with books about baseball, hockey, golf, lacrosse, healthy eating, pumping iron, as well as fiction and nonfiction that involved sports in some way. Again, my book selection would be themed for the event, with each book, of course, containing a coupon to attract Philistines to the store “next” time.
I’d have to remember to save room in the back of the jeep for an emergency extra quart of oil and the just-in-case jumper cables.
And, yes, I know I’d have to get permission to show up and maybe even pay a kickback (Oops! Make that “concession fee!”) of a few dollars toward a charity or organization, but I’d be willing, very willing, to do that.
Wicked Witch Asks Mayor for Help
I asked the fictitious mayor of the ficticious town where ficticious TreadWaters was located for a copy of the town calendar. It was ever-evolving, he told me, but there were monthly fire station breakfasts, a Strawberry Festival where the whole town turns out, 4-H Club meetings (a wee bit too wholesome for the WW of P!), a Harvest Moon barn dance in October and a Mystery Night in December at which the local officials don costumes and suffer humiliation on a public stage.
It occurred to me that surrounding towns also had these individual calendars about which Barnes & Noble knew nada. The mayor and the town administrator made it abundantly clear that they did not want TreadWaters to leave town or go out of business. We agreed that wherever possible TreadWaters would sell appropriately-themed books at town-sponsored events. TreadWaters was also very happy to contribute some of the proceeds to the mayor’s pet projects. (How little could I get away with?)
Would this kind of mobile effort help fill the coffers at TreadWaters in a significant way? Would it be worth the effort? What other choice was there, but to try?
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing: TreadWaters is throwing a big reception in the bookstore next week for the community. In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I have worked with the local library and newspaper to copy and plaster old engagement and wedding announcements on displays in the window and around the store. (With the help of Auntie’s know-it-all buddies, I tried to weed-out the now-divorced couples.) I’ve got the mayor’s, town administrator’s, director of the historical society’s, high school principal’s, and chief of police’s wedding announcements right there when you first walk in, and I called them to let them know about it and to remind them of my reception. I’m offering prepackaged, beautifully wrapped, custom gift baskets of themed books found in TreadWaters—some old, some new—at 3x cost (per my friend who has a corporate gift giving business) for Valentine’s Day, baby showers, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, graduations, etc. And, yes, TreadWaters will deliver for a modest “gas” fee.
Are you coming? Will I see you there?
February 9th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
It remains to be seen if the typical book merchant will be willing and able to become a traveling salesman, but who knows?
February 9th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Ummmm, Lynne? Great post, and I’ll have more to say later, but you misquoted me. I did not advocate “wild new
paradigm-shifting ideas.” I said successful bookselling was about hard work and community involvement, NOT wild new ideas.
Note from Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Frazer, you are right! Serious omission of a word! Let me change the copy right now! Thanks!
February 9th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Lynne:
I think it would work.
Bernita
February 9th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Hey Lynne:
I think you mistook Park Road’s comment to my feedback. He was not espousing or suggesting “wild new paradigm-shifting ideas” but was using that phrase when criticizing my Bookseller Manifesto. I copy his remarks below.
“For Mr. Lieberman: Independent bookselling is not dead. (Yes, the term is something of a misnomer, because–as you correctly point out–indies are in fact dependent, in fact a lot more dependent on their community than big boxes. I just like the term “indie.”) The answer is not to evolve in different ways, be creative, come up with wild new paradigm-shifting ideas. The answer is what we do every day, HARD F–KING WORK. ”
Thanks
Michael
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Thanks, Michael, I just corrected the omission of the very important word “not.”
February 9th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Another way to save indie bookstores: Bookstore Tourism.
As I said on my blog the other day (http://bookstoretourism.blogspot.com), the cultural tourism industry has gone through the roof in the past few years. Cities large and small in the U.S. and around the world have seen the light when it comes to attracting visitors, and the answer to this economic development issue is for towns to create a cultural destination — one that highlights your community’s unique flavor and offers an authentic creative experience for locals and outsiders alike. That means live music and theatre, art exhibits, museums, historic and heritage sites, ethnic festivals, public celebrations, and — just as important — your town’s INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES. Literary tourism is a pretty hefty segment of cultural tourism, and Bookstore Tourism NEEDS to be part of the mix.
Can Bookstore Tourism save independent bookstores? I used to say no. Now I’m thinking YES. Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. And anyone with a vested interest in the bookselling industry who doesn’t embrace the idea and get involved in it is missing a great opportunity.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Your concept brings to mind those wonderful mobile libraries in the U.K. that travel to remote, rural areas: If the people won’t (or can’t) come to you — take the show on the road and go to them! All great ideas Lynne, as always.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Hey Lynne,
I just got around to reading the replies to the post before this one. Most of my time lately has been taken up with the detritus of the store closing. This is one time I could have used a basement (which Columbia houses don’t have) and several strong men. But I settled for a storage space and some friends who were wonderful about helping us move.
The comments on how to build a store that survives are interesting but I am convinced that a lot of it is luck and hard work. We did the hard work — we didn’t have the luck. Yep — I can hear the readers now. Luck?? No such thing.
We had a good store — many customers told us so. We worked hard at finding good books in the genres that we knew — mystery, fantasy and science fiction — and building a business that brought in those books, many of them from small publishers. We had author signings — not many customers attended even though the signings were publicized — mostly because the author wasn’t “famous”. We asked ‘How do we get the more well known authors?” The answer was to have successful signings. A bit of frustration there. We tried to start a chapter of Sisters in Crime — that didn’t take off.
I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the store didn’t make enough to cover expenses. I’d love to find that landlord who would give us a break on the lease — we didn’t find one. I’m certain that a lot of problems were due to our lack of knowledge about business but it’s interesting that in a metropolitan area of 600,000, there is one independent bookstore and a couple of Christian bookstores — all of the rest of the bookbuying is evidently done online or at chain stores. From my understanding it’s been that way for the last ten years or so.
I miss having customers to talk to. I miss seeing the pleased look on a customer’s face when I can can find that elusive book that they’ve been looking for. I miss meeting and talking to authors. I didn’t set out to make a fortune but I did want to have a job that meant something and that I enjoyed.
Deb
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishng (TM): Aliens & Alibis Books was an independent store in Columbia, South Carolina, specializing in mystery, fantasy and science fiction books, both new and used.
February 9th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I know I’m late to the discussion, but I just had an idea, of the slightly wild but non-paradigm-shifting type. I started
thinking about how I use my local independent. I try to buy my books there as often as I can, because it’s a community institution and because it’s a great environment. However, when they don’t have something in stock and offer to order it for me, I usually decline. Special orders is something the local independents used to be great at–getting you that lost copy of that obscure book. Then Amazon came along.
So here’s my idea, and don’t hit me in the head if this already exists: How about an affiliate/referral program that allows you to flow some kind of $ to your local independent bookstore every time you order from Amazon?
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): I don’t know about this idea, Antoine. Don’t forget once a customer gets to Amazon, he or she may opt to buy a “new or used” book dirt cheap. I can’t see Amazon sharing the wealth with the bookstore unless the bookstore orders your book for you using the independent bookstore’s own affiliate status with Amazon if it has one. And if I were that independent bookstore ordering from Amazon for you, I’d be temped to order one of the “new or used” books for a few dollars and then, ahem, charge you a nice mark-up.
February 9th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Dear Lynne:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bookstores7feb07,1,4443959.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true
There’s an old truism in military history that generals always refight the last war. It applies here as well.
The article provides a lot of documentation that backs up what I said in the last round of comments. The vast majority of book sales are represented by the one book a year buyer: someone who wants an innocuous Christmas gift, or the latest Da Vinci Code, or the Dummies Guide to Windows Vista. They go to the nearest chain bookstore because those stores are ubiquitous and always have the popular titles in stock.
The much smaller segment of the market, the heavy reader who wants the new biography of John Fante or A. J. Liebling, can’t sustain an independent bookstore.
While it may be possible to reverse the entropic decline of independent bookstores on a local basis here or there, it’s basically a war that’s over.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Yes, Peter, that is the article to which I refer in this posting. Thanks for the link. Jeez, Peter, your comment is so discouraging! How long will it take for the big chains to go under do you think?
February 9th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Check this out! From The American Bookseller Association’s “Booksense” today! (Hat tip to Carl Lennertz’s blog, “The Publishing Insider.” )
Excerpted from an article entitled “Apple Blossom Books Brighten Oshkosh.”
“After learning that it was difficult for some area residents to make the trip to Oshkosh, particularly during the winter, Pearson began a delivery program to several of the surrounding towns, where she drops off books at a central location. One drop-off point is at a nursing home about 20 minutes away, where Apple Blossom maintains a small display. “The people there really appreciate it,” said Pearson.
“The only way to get a small independent up and running is by being really involved in the community,” explained Pearson. “To try to engage people to be proactive customers.” Her strategy has created more than just goodwill: Pearson reported that this January’s sales topped last year’s by 65 percent. “I really didn’t expect that kind of growth,” she said. “I don’t know if it will continue or not, or if we just got lucky, but I’m really excited about how things have been going so far.”
February 9th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Well, if it isn’t shades of Professor Harold Hill ariving in River City, Iowa with dreams of Seventy Six Trombones a-
playing 
As a reporter and editor of a couple of local newspapers, I would suggest you would want to know your community very very well before EVER implementing such a plan. In an age of instant communication/gratification, true “sense of community” is lacking, though all cities will claim they have it on their websites. Don’t misunderstand–I like your plan, but it would require a very perfect community in order to fit your bill.
Overall, in towns large and small, you will find the kinds of community events of which you speak–put together by a dedicated few (who do all the events) and attended by scatterings of people whose interests are no longer local. They don’t know who the mayor is, what the name of the park is, or when the swimming pool is open. The Barn Dance? It’s the same 200 people every year. The other 80,000 are watching television.
In short time, you will find you are seeing the same dozen or two faces, repeatedly.
The local newspaper, yes, will help you, but they’re challenged just to find readers under the onus of whatever “Big” paper controls the region. Community papers come and go like leaves in the wind–a clue, as far as “community.” The library will helpyou—to a limit. You will often find they are under the thumb of the large newspaper chain’s “book club” or some such arrangement, and you may be far second fiddle. But it can be done.
The city council, the police chief, the city manager–all good hearts, but they are desperately trying to cling to the few volunteers they can find. For a sense of “community,” follow as I have, behind the scenes, a holiday “community food drive for the poor” and report on the, ahem, ‘outpouring of support.’ Naturally it always comes out great in the news, right? That’s what the community demands.
I admit to being a wee bit cynical about the “community” end. I am, from experience. BUT I do believe such places exist. I am merely saying that one cannot assume that one can dive into a town and assume it’s a “community” of the kind you want for Treadwaters. If it is, it’s a rarity.
But if you luck out, you’ve found a gold mine and I want to move there!!!!
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Andrew! Too funny! I love a parade! And don’t forget I am going to drive TreadWaters-on-Wheels to places where the community is sure to turn out in numbers. Since the events will be diverse (polo, anyone?!), the crowd should be, too. Yes, I know what you are talking about when you refer to the same old faces showing up, time and time again, especially if an event is free, including food and drink. (Hey, wasn’t that YOU I elbowed out of the way to get to the guacamole dip?)
February 9th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Dear Lynne:
I don’t think the big chains are going under. Sole propietorships are disappearing and will continue to do so.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): “The much smaller segment of the market, the heavy reader who wants the new biography of John Fante or A. J. Liebling, can’t sustain an independent bookstore.” Peter, how big does the smaller segment have to be to sustain a publicly traded company like B&N? Don’t you think B&N stores are mini-markets? And I know Borders is actually scrambling.
February 10th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Owners of small, independent bookstores who can’t get national authors for book-signings may wish to consider
contacting authors directly. When I have a new book coming out and an indie invites me personally, I can often make it happen. This is especially true if the indie is able to set up speeches and booksignings w/ established, local groups (large book clubs, college alumni organizations, churches or synagogues, historical societies, schools). I can come to town for two days and sell hundreds of books, all supplied at various locations by the local independent bookseller.
If the publisher balks at paying for a particular trip, there may be a way for the indie to get funding in a creative way. I once spent several days in Kansas and my expenses and fee were paid by a local bank that supported the arts. Another trip was sponsored by a state arts grant, still another by a literacy foundation.
Think about authors who might be a good match for your community, then contact them via their website. (Most of us have websites today and can be reached easily.)
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Whoa! Great ideas!!! Who initiated the outside funding?
February 10th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
The indies, working with nonprofit organizations. Obviously, an independent bookstore is a for-profit venture and
can’t apply for a state arts grant or funding by a literacy foundation. But an indie can approach a nonprofit (e.g. local literacy council, library, historical society) and suggest that the nonprofit apply for such a grant. The indie can make an informal “deal” with the nonprofit that it will handle all the book sales for the events in exchange for doing some of the legwork.
As for the funding that came through a bank, I was told that the president of the local literacy foundation was the bank president.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Amy Hill Hearth, a New York Times bestselling author and winner of a Peabody Award, is an oral history specialist. Her latest project is, “Strong Medicine: The Life and Times of Marion ‘Strong Medicine’ Gould, Native American Indian Elder and Mother of a Chief,” to be published in 2007 from Atria/Simon & Schuster.
February 10th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Wow…There are a lot of great ideas here. and I especially like the scenarios put forth by Amy Hearth. This is a
veritable gold mine of ideas to pan.
And I have to say yahoo to the Christian bookstores in Columbia, South Carolina. sorry that’s where my heart is
I believe that to survive in the book business, or any business takes a lot of work, and a lot of stamina for repeatedly trying and creating ideas…and having that “I refuse to give up.” attitude. I think searching for ideas it also a huge part of the process. And using the parts that work while discarding the rest.
I wonder if the indy that closed in Columbia would have folded if they had this plethera of ideas to work with before the end came.
February 10th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Good old fashioned guerilla-commando small-biz spit-balls:
And here’s the paradig’em shifter: Rental. Libraries have months-long wait lists for the top lending-cyclers. A leading complaint of Amazon reviewers is the ripped-off feeling of paying extortionate hardcover price for a fave author’s so-so effort. Those books end up on the used shelves; the dissapointed reader re-caps some of their purchase price; used stores get a slice on the second sale. Capture that whole cycle for yourself by setting it up explicitly to work that way for n-number of rental iterations. Keep a list of top-sellers; for each title on the list, keep n copies aside in the “rental” section. Buy them yourself if the publisher or distributor requires. Then Blockbuster rules apply. Netflix rules for customers who can’t be bothered to show up. Rates will settle to appropriate levels after some leaked-secret testing and piloting with select customer groups (see opinion makers above). Build in a blanket Keep-and-Buy option. Then contact me for royalty arrangements on this idea.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Last of a Dying Breed returns to The Publishing Contrarian! It’s been a while. Nice to have you back. And…I love these ideas. Yet, I’ve not seen them implemented anywhere. The question is: Do independent bookstores have the drive, energy and enthusiasm to test your ideas?
February 10th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Dear Lynne:
In my posts I meant that the readers of books were the market, as in a book proposl, where I write, “The market for this book will be readers of (insert titles of similar books).”
I didn’t mean to say the bookstore is the market. This is what happens when you learn to train yourself in writing proposalese.
There may very well be a contraction among the chain stores, if a you say Borders is weakening. I remember Crown Books, now long gone. It can happen.
But as long as there are enough customers to support brick and mortar stores, there will be chain stores and they will dominate the business. That’s the bookselling ecology.
The “real” readers, by themselves, wouldn’t sustain the number and size of the big chains as they currently exist..
February 11th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
All of the above is what I say. A network of independent bookstore blogs, and networking among independent
bookstores in a given area. Working together they could probably arrange for an author to make appearances at their several stores (local, local, local here becomes neighborhood, town, borough). And don’t worry about “big name” authors, go for those who deserve to be known better - and help make them better known.
The importance to books and authors and publishers and bookstores of the blogosphere cannot be overestimated. The newspaper book review section, let’s be honest, is going the way of the dodo, and for the same reason - it’s being killed of by dimwits who think the only thing that sells is another bloody article about American Idol - or the Grammys , for God’s sake.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Frank Wilson is the book review editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer and a fellow blogger at Books Inq. (He receives over 1000 ARC’s a week! How do I know this? For insider info about the life and work of a book reviewer, check out this online, two-part, interview with Frank in the The Kenyon Review entitled “An Interview with Frank Wilson” and Critical Mass’s brief interview as well entitled “Critical I: Six Questions for Philadelphia Inquirer Book Editor Frank Wilson.”) Frank is also a published poet.
February 11th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I write a column on independent bookstores published in “Creativity Connection” from the University of Wisconsin. Over the past few years I have interviewed bookstore owners from coast to coast and asked them how they survive.
Each bookstore has their own multi-pronged approach underpinning their survival as part of their business plan. It is these various adjunct endeavors that make bookstores community centers and although many struggle, the do survive.
A few examples:
What your business executive leaves out in talking about why bookstores thrive or don’t is their function to their community. When people feel connected to their local bookseller they support these bookstores. They attend book lectures, bedtime story readings (Women and Children First, Chicago), concerts. They drink coffee at the coffee shop attached to the bookstore reading a book or sit on a sofa browsing a book or magazine (Schwartz Books on Downer in Milwaukee).
Book buying is, in a way a sensual experience: feeling the book in your hands as the words flow into your mind. You get to spend time with an author in a comfortable community place where you get to know, and rely, on those who love books.
Don’t ever count out independent bookstores—or the relevance or endurance of the public in buying books. Publishing houses won’t go out of business either—they may be insular, but as long as they make money finding and publishing authors whose work we want to know—they will stay in business.
Besides, publishing is an international business these days and I would argue that reading has endured as long as we have been in the planet. Books with pages we can turn will be with us for a very long time.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Mr. Wilson:
I dig the future-looking time arrow of your comment, but I am having trouble thinking through the application of it: The blogosphere’s power derives from its disregard for geography, but indie brick-n-mortar is, contrarily, defined by a dependence on locality.
February 12th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Dear Lastofadyingbreed:
There are blogs that are strictly local. In this neck of the woods there’s a Haverford blog that lets you know what’s going on in that township probably better than anything else around.
A bookstore blogging isn’t doing anything much different from what it does when it sends out press releases—only blogging can be a way of doing that better. Why worry about whether the readers of said blog can get to the store physically or not? It’s easy enough to offer online sales. And sure, some people will be enthusiastic, but not buy. But others will buy. The point is to make what you are doing known to the public, to as much of the public as you can reach. And getting a dialogue going, it seems to me, is always good.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Tremendous silence from the forty or so bookstores to which I sent this posting…
March 1st, 2007 at 7:46 pm
This link is from Mail Tribune: Southern Oregon’s News Source online.
Headline: “A Sad Chapter for the Bookish,” March 1, 2007.
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2007/0301/biz/stories/13feb_bookstores.htm
August 9th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Don’t forget the monthly Chamber of Commerce luncheons, where local businesses set up booths around the room. Patrons browse prior to the speech from the keynote speaker. A bookstore could display books related to the speaker’s subject.