Independence Rocks

by Kris

I was saddened to learn of the September closing of the Creatures & Crooks Bookshoppe in Richmond, Virginia. As an author, I regret the passing of any bookstore, but I signed at Creatures & Crooks, so I know firsthand what a terrific store it is. And as a bookseller (I own The Well Red Coyote bookstore in Sedona, Arizona), I know how tough it is to toil in the independent bookstore trenches.

I suppose there’s something to be said for every form of bookselling, since they all reach readers. But I genuinely believe that we all lose something when there’s one less indie store out there filling the reading landscape. Independent booksellers, more than most other kinds, hand-sell books, creating new markets for authors, and they’re more likely to host events for new, unknown authors. Independent stores also contain independent selections. Without independent stores of all kinds, we move ever closer to the homogeneous threat of Sameville, USA. In book terms, that means a warehouse store-type choice of what we should all be reading. Great prices, maybe — better retail prices than my wholesale prices in some cases — but a punitively limited selection.

I know not everyone agrees with me. Some people clearly find no value in independent stores. From behind my retail counter, I see those folks occasionally. I live in a town with few chain stores of any kind, and apart from a couple of fast-food places, absolutely no chain restaurants.

Some tourists act as if they’ve been told they’ll have to starve on their vacations, if they can’t eat in the same places they always go to at home, when Sedona offers a large variety of high caliber restaurants of every food variety and price range. I guess when some people get away from it all, they’re not happy unless they can take it with them.

I see a bookstore version of that behavior, too. Those people walk into our store and ask if there’s a Barnes & Noble in town. I always respond by asking conversationally, “Do you think anyone ever asks a Barnes & Noble clerk if there’s an independent store nearby?” They either react to that with confusion or anger, and tell me they just want to find a bookstore that they can browse — and that’s when they’re in a bookstore, and a pretty great one according to most who visit it and the locals who vote on it. One woman recently marched up to my husband and said, “My husband forgot to bring along something to read on his vacation. Is there a Barnes & Noble here where he can buy something?” Some people, while standing in a store filled with books, don’t recognize it as a bookstore if it isn’t patterned along the lines of a chain store.

But too many other people say they love independent bookstores, when they can’t remember the last time they entered one. They love the idea of independent stores. They talk the talk. But when it comes to walking the walk, they seem to regard indie stores like some quaint, old-fashioned piece of an Americana long gone.

Nope, they’re out there, everywhere — mavericks on the road to Sameville.

If you don’t think independent stores serve any useful function, then keep on doing what you’re doing. But if you want them to continue to thrive, start walking the walk.

Drop into that bookstore in your neighborhood that you always drive past, instead of complaining about the limits of the online shopping or that chain store clerks don’t know books. You might be surprised by how good their selection is, how knowledgeable they are about books, and how fast they can get in a special order for you. You won’t pay for shipping, either, and you don’t have to buy extra books you don’t want to get that free shipping. You might find it’s a place you’ll want to visit again. And, at a time when funding for local services are at an all-time low, you’ll be contributing to your local community, something online sales don’t do. When you shop locally, over 60% of your money stays in your community. Even when you shop in the local branch of a national chain, a significant portion of that money goes back to their corporate headquarters.

Or reach across the miles to help the stores that you know support lots of your favorite authors. Even if you can only do it occasionally, order a signed copy of your favorite author’s book from one of the stores supporting that author, instead of getting it from a used seller online, which you know doesn’t help that author one bit.

Authors, you might also consider buying something from the stores that host your signings. I’ve blogged before about the surprises I’ve encountered in author behavior, from my unusual duel vantage point of author and bookseller. That authors almost never support the stores that host them has come as another surprise to me. I’ve almost always bought something from the stores where I’ve appeared, and I assumed everyone else did as well. Wrong! Maybe 3-4% do. About the same number that send a thank-you note.

If you want that store to be there for your next signing, considering dropping a few pennies before you leave. Won’t you need a paperback to read during those lonely nights in your hotel room while you tour? Many stores also offer gift items, some under $5. Our lowest price gift item — a souvenir Sedona bookmark — costs $1. Wait — we even have postcards for a quarter.

Sure, money is tight for everyone today. But we vote with our dollars. We determine the shape of our world with every penny we spend.

If you don’t see any value in independent stores, then just keep doing what you’re doing.  But if you do, don’t wait until they’re all gone to lament their passing. Help them thrive now, while you still can.

Farewell, Creatures & Crooks. Thanks for fighting the good fight. 

Comments

[JD Rhoades]

"Those people walk into our store and ask if there’s a Barnes & Noble in town. "

Tell them no :-).

[Sheila Connolly]

I grew up in a family that always read, and always had books around. A trip to the few bookstores that existed then (Brentano's, Doubleday) was a rare treat. Now I write the things, and my literature-major daughter works in a local indie.

It's much like the corporate mentality that now dominates our national food production. Consumers have been duped into thinking that bigger is better, more efficient, and cheaper. What has been lost is the individual human contact.

I would not think of attending a signing (my own or someone else's) at a bookstore without buying something. That's a courtesy, and a thank-you.

[Chris adams]

Someone created a site and search engine for independent coffee shops which is really useful when you are visiting a town you don't know and need to avoid the chains.
http://www.delocator.net/
Maybe we need something similar for independent book stores?

[Chris adams]

Oooops, i just checked and you can use it for bookstores too!

[PJ Nunn]

Well said, Kris! I'm still mourning The Mystery Bookstore in Dallas that closed years ago and hasn't effectively been replaced.

[Beth Gray]

This article had me thinking of the movie "You've got mail" I love small book stores, especially if they serve coffee. LOL The world is changing especially with kindle and others like mobipocket which can be downloaded directly to the PC, no kindle needed. However, I think there will always be a need for bookstores, but perhaps in a whole new form. This I think is what all business owners are trying to figure out now.
Beth Gray
http://www.howtobecomeabetterhooker.info

[Eileen]

I love indie stores of all kinds, and have had the good fortune to work in two independent bookstores; one with new, one with antiquarian stock.

Chains are fine, but do prefer "real" stores. And therefore, I'm very sorry when they're gone, for many reasons.

For example, Kate's Mystery Books in Cambridge, MA. Bless her for staying open so long. And if you're in Ann Arbor, MI, find Aunt Agatha's on 4th.

[Lelia Taylor]

Kris, thank you for an outstanding essay and for the kind words about Creatures 'n Crooks (my store).

I've never had anyone actually ask me where the nearest chain is unless I told them we didn't have the book they wanted and they couldn't or wouldn't wait for us to get it. What I do have, though, is people who talk to us about a book or author, don't buy, and then come back another time to tell us how much they enjoyed so-and-so which they obviously picked up at the library or a used book store.

As for authors, I think we have a much higher percentage who buy something here, and a few who have ordered their supplies of their own books through us and I have greatly appreciated that. What really surprises me is the number of local authors we carry, who are either self-published or with tiny presses, that don't support us. If he can't support me, why did I bother to support him all these years?

This is a crazy business and I absolutely love it, would not be closing if I didn't have to. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to talk books with a customer, maybe turn her on to something new and also learn why she likes an author so much that I just have to try those books, too. (No, gasp, I have not read every title on the shelf!) That's something you might find in a chain, if you get the right clerk, but you certainly can't find it on Amazon. I can only hope that blogs like yours will help people wake up to the ramifications of losing independent business of any kind and perhaps they'll start to really listen.

[Elena]

I had just come home from our local mystery book store when I read your blog. After a nice cozy chat with the owner, I left clutching the latest of Donna Andrews that I woke up wanting, and six used mass media that I hadn't realized I needed.

Why there and not the two chains in town? Cause Sara doesn't consider a smile and bit of good conversation a line item.

[krisneri]

Thanks, Dusty & Sheila. Sheila, I always regarded purchasing something at a signing as a thank you, too. Most authors don't, though. I do have to say that the majority of our customers buy at many of the events they attend, but some clueless souls actually try to monopolize the author without buying anything, or even realizing that author is working. But I suppose we all deal with them at signings.

[krisneri]

PJ, the Dallas Mystery Bookstore -- under the management of the great Geraldine Gallentree -- was a terrific store. We've lost too many good ones.

[krisneri]

Thanks for the reference, Chris. I'll check it out.

Thanks for your good support of indie stores, Eileen & Elena. Really good point, Elena.

Leila, I agree with you -- it's a wonderful crazy business. I also love meeting the customers. The people you meet from behind the counter are just great.

Beth, I agree that business models do need to change over time. But if authors want bookstores to be around to shelve their books, and they want places that will host signings, they have to realize they have to do their part to keep indie stores around.

[Dana Cameron]

Great essay, Kris. I'm so sad to see C-n-C closing, along with Kate's Mystery Books, Black Orchid, and many others.

[Julie Wray Herman]

I am eternally grateful to Murder by the Book in Houston for keeping me in great reads -- and to Kris for blogging on this topic. It's important to vote with your presence and your buying dollars in local, independently-owned stores.

Don't hesitate to check out http://www.indiebound.org/ for the stores nearest you!

[Brenda Seward]

Kris , I absolutely loved your response to the customer's query about Barnes & Noble while standing in your store. I would love to think I would respond with the same kind of sharp wit to that kind of question. Sadly, I am just close enough to a rather large Barnes & Noble that I haven't had to worry about it yet. To our credit, we do our best to pretend they're not there. Our store doesn't try and doesn't want to compete with the Barnes & Nobles and Borders of the world.

On a more positive note, I was reading a post on another blog where they were complaining about the big chain bookstores,and noting they were what was wrong with the business and forecasting that small independent boutique -style bookstores were the real future of book selling. I can only hope their crystal ball is accurate.
We should all embrace the personal service and knowledge that comes from knowing and caring about your customers and what you're selling them. In a world where technology has broken down barriers and expanded access to knowlege about others, we've turned into an awfully impersonal society. That's something we should all try to change.

[krisneri]

Thanks, Brenda! I hope that blog you read is right, too. Not just in bookstores, where we would love to see it, but it would be great to see a return of all kinds of independent stores that put personal service first. Sadly, we have turned into an impersonal society, and I'm sure lots of people would like to see that trend reversed. Thanks for the great comment.

[krisneri]

Thanks for posting that link, Julie. Murder by the Book is a great store!