authors and bookstores
In my spare time (ha), I Keep finding myself contacting, politely, authors (or publishers) whose book I have been excited enough about to click on a link... only to reach an Amazon page. What I write is a request that they add a link to IndieBound.org, which is the site run by the American Booksellers Association, the organization of independent bookstores in the US. What IndieBound does is link people to their own local independent bookstore, which I, as a store owner, naturally think is a Good Thing. What I wonder is how to get writers, who I think generally value real, live bookstores, to default to connecting their readers with bookstores, instead of with Amazon? This is a question we booksellers discuss. The organization is good at reaching out to publishers and writers, when we point them. But it's something we have to do over and over again: asking just to be included, when, say, a tv show website or publicist gives a list of places to get a book: just include us, and don't default to Amazon, please.
On the upside, the IndieBound bestsellers list and the Indie Next list are influential - independent bookstores help sell books that don't necessarily sell in chain stores, groceries, WalMart, or others who dominate the New York Times bestseller list. And I got my local daily paper (the Batavia Daily News, bless them) to convert from publishing the Publishers Weekly list to the Indie bestsellers. In fact, the newspaper's coverage area includes three independent bookstores, no chains. That happens in rural areas, where the box box stores don't see enough money for them.
On the upside, the IndieBound bestsellers list and the Indie Next list are influential - independent bookstores help sell books that don't necessarily sell in chain stores, groceries, WalMart, or others who dominate the New York Times bestseller list. And I got my local daily paper (the Batavia Daily News, bless them) to convert from publishing the Publishers Weekly list to the Indie bestsellers. In fact, the newspaper's coverage area includes three independent bookstores, no chains. That happens in rural areas, where the box box stores don't see enough money for them.