Last Saturday was National Independent Bookstore Day, and while I was busy with the Austin SCBWI 2018 Writers & Illustrators Working Conference all weekend, I didn’t want a week to go by without a celebration.
Authors Farrah Penn and Don Zolidis with me at BookPeople.
Along with libraries, independent bookstores are the backbone of the publishing industry and the best friends of authors and readers. Big stores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and even the book divisions of Target and Walmart have a lot of reach and stock a lot of books, but they aren’t the ones that get books into readers’ hands. The booksellers at indie bookstores make recommendations and play matchmaker for readers’ and books–a priceless service.
And, there’s nothing like the energy you feel when you walk into an indie bookstore. They are happy places, filled with extraordinary, happy people, and often have the best decorations.
Booksellers in indie bookstores have been amazing in their support of my book, THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, so in celebration of National Independent Bookstore Day, I wanted to call out some of them for a big THANK YOU.
First and foremost is my local indie, Austin’s BookPeople. BookPeople is a wonderful store, and if you haven’t visited, I highly recommend spending some time there next time you’re in town. Kidlit buyer Meghan Dietsche Goel and her team are dedicated to supporting authors and especially believes in connecting with local authors. She even wrote about it in her weekly column for Publishers Weekly, referencing a recent visit I had made to the store.
BookPeople has THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST available for pre-order, and I am thrilled to partner with them to offer personalized copies for any reader as well as pre-order thank you gifts.
But BookPeople isn’t the only indie bookstore that has taken THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST into its heart–and shelves.
Here are just some of the other indie bookstores who are supporting THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST in a big way:
- Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Ohio and Kentucky
- Anderson’s Bookshop in Illinois
- Schuler Books in Michigan
- Toadstool Bookshops in New Hampshire
- Powell’s Books in Oregon
- Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida
- The University Book Store in Seattle, Washington
- Books Inc. in San Francisco, California
- Book Passage in Corte Madera, California
- Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, California
- Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Texas
- Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas
- Interabang Books in Dallas, Texas
Pre-orders from all these stores will be eligible for my THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST thank you gifts.
Please support these indie bookstores and your local indie bookstores by visiting them, buying from them and spreading the word about their awesomeness.
I hope to visit all these stores one day. I can’t say a big enough THANK YOU to these booksellers for their support of authors and readers, so I’ll let Cinderella do it for me…
