Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
FutureBookStore by glecharles
“The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television.”
–Andrew Ross
Opening a bookstore one day has been at the top of my Dream Job / Do What You Love short-list for years, and despite it sometimes seeming about as practical as wanting to become a blacksmith or full-time poet, I haven’t given up hope.
Yet.
I’m a firm believer that independent bookstores are not only critical to the viability of the publishing industry, but also to the cultural and economic fabric of local communities. I’m not anti-Barnes & Noble or Amazon (though I DO hate Wal-Mart on general principle) because I think they serve a more general audience than the independent bookseller can or should attempt to. Indies are Peter Luger’s to B&N’s 7/11, if you will — quality over quantity; curation over commodity.
BUT, I think making that the central pitch of why independent bookstores are important is lame, whiny and stinks of entitlement.
No indie bookseller is going to be able to compete with Amazon or Barnes & Noble on price, selection or ecommerce — IndieBound is well-intentioned but doesn’t even come close to being enough — but they are much better-suited for engaging with their customers, offline and on, than either behemoth.
In preparing for next week’s webinar, Indie Booksellers and the Digital Transition: Opportunity Knocks?, I’ve thought about the bookstores I like, and have been looking for good examples of any that are leveraging the Internet to complement their physical presence, and beyond some solid blogs, haven’t found much of note.
While a blog is a nice start, most tend to only represent the bookseller itself, not its customers nor its local community. And as Vroman’s discovered last week, as popular as Twitter is in the publishing industry, it probably isn’t the ideal forum to reach a local audience of book buyers.
Despite the lip service paid to the importance of independent bookstores to local communities, though, I’ve yet to find any real sense of community on any bookseller’s site. Most are extremely self-centered, either focusing solely on ecommerce; following the personal branding model of social MEdia gurus; or worse, the sad equivalent of a Yellow Pages listing.
When it’s so much easier to go online to Amazon.com and shop, read and write reviews, and even to browse — what can the independent bookseller possibly offer to get me to spend my time and money on their websites and in their stores?
About Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez works in publishing by day, world domination by night. Over the years he’s lived in Staten Island and South Beach Miami; served in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, US Army, and Dennis Kucinich’s ‘04 Presidential Campaign; won poetry slams, founded a reading series, co-authored a book of poetry, and self-published another; prefers Pumpkin and India Pale Ales, Buffalo Trace and Four Roses Bourbons, and Dona Paula Shiraz Malbec. He’s a devout Mets fan from the Bronx now living in New Jersey, and has a beautiful wife and two amazing kids.
44 Responses to Indie Bookstores. So What?
Leave a Reply
Contact Me
Read My Ebook!
Handmade Memories
Poems & Essays: 1997 - 2011Read My Reviews
Follow Me
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Guy L. Gonzalez and Bookworks Events, Simon Jones. Simon Jones said: Reading: "Indie Bookstores. So What? | Guy LeCharles Gonzalez"( http://twitthis.com/xb2xkg ) [...]
Provocative post — which ignores utterly the problem of e-fairness, Amazon's aggressive policy of tax evasion in states where they have a physical presence (distribution centers), Amazon's decade-long head start on IndieBound, and the fact that hating Walmart while embracing Amazon should make one's head ring with cognitive dissonance instead of self-righteousness.
Excellent point, Brandon. As I noted on Twitter, the Wal-Mart/Amazon disconnect is part hypocrisy, part lack of fully understanding the big picture on the tax issues and the effect on my community. I'm looking forward to your links, because from an industry perspective, I think it's a subject that gets way too little attention, but I have my suspicions as to why.
That said, in the context of why indie bookstores matter, e-fairness isn't a terribly compelling pitch on its own because it's difficult to frame for the consumer's perspective.
While I can literally see the tangible effects Wal-Mart and other big box retailers have on a local community, Amazon's is much less tangible, partly because most indie booksellers don't seem to be as critical as we'd like to believe they are.
At the end of the day, looking at the local booksellers in MY area, why should I care about them? What do they add to my community, and what will I miss when they're gone? Why are they any more important than the local bodega, dry cleaners or diner?
NOTE: These are questions I'm asking because I want to be able to answer them, not because I necessarily agree with their implications.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by glecharles: New Post: Indie Bookstores. So What? – http://loudpoet.com/svB…
As a guy who ran an indie bookstore for almost two years, I CAN say that indies can definitely beat the majors on price (though not selection). We dealt primarily in remainders and overstock, and probably offered the best book deals in NYC. Classic literature never sold for over $10 (off the top of my head, brand new nice editions of Atlas Shrugged… See More went for $8, Anna Karenina for $4, most smaller Penguin books went for $1.50 or $2, tax included). Rizzoli art books that'd retail for $85 at Barnes & Nobles, or $77.19 with Amazon's discount, we still found carried for $20. Hardback Marvel and DC TPBs which retail at $49.95 or $99.95 at Midtown or online, we carried at half-price. And to this day I'm still fetching copies of some Sabuda art books for friends that sell at Moma for $45, which we carry for $12.
Not that it's easy — the owner basically spends his life traveling around the US and Europe buying up remainders and overstock in bulk, selling in quantity to Strand in the city and a dozen other bookstores internationally, which lets us skim off copies for our storefront and sell them to the public for next to nothing. That's what the majors don't have — an old school hippie in a cowboy hat dedicated to nothing but hitting up warehouses and working out face to face deals with regular clients for large palates of books on the cheap. Not that Barnes & Noble couldn't send an army of people out to do the same thing, but in the name of corporate efficiency, I'm guessing they'd rather just pay the extra money (or have the customer pay the extra money) to work out quick deals with retail distributors on the phone than dedicating the time and effort to hunting down the best books at the lowest possible cost to sell below retail prices.
Anyway, just my thoughts! And god do I miss that job… it was my happy place.
A local book store has been doing quite well — and it's not a chain. The store holds events on a regular basis, has a kitchen for demonstrations and carries ABA IndieNext selections as well as staff favorites. It's a huge store — not a little one that you expect of an indie-type store — still, it's doing something different and it's surviving.
It has a great lineup. My husband went there for a presentation about college financing (nothing to do with books), and of course, he couldn't help but look at books after the presentation. Sarah Palin was there… Cake Wrecks was there. I am stay far away from there as much as possible as I don't think my pocketbook can handle a trip there.
That's an awesome story, Dylan, thanks for opening up a little peek of the guts of the business from your perspective.
I'm with Guy on the principle that we tend to straddle the e v. p argument, but GOD I wish I could open up a bookstore. I'd serve food, too, and do readings, some live performances, showcase local artists, and then butterflies would fall from the sky carrying million-dollar-bills and bunnies and unicorns would inhabit the White House.
My issue with indie bookstores is exactly what makes so many of them unique and amazing: ATTITUDE. It's something I guess you don't get at Walmart. And it most certainly doesn't imply that all indie bookstores have attitude. But take Strand for example, not helpful, mostly dicks. Certain other indie bookstores are wonderful and run by beautiful souls willing to help anyone. But the whole eccentric thing can get tired. After all, they're in customer service and they sometimes tend to forget that.
When I go to a bodega, I don't expect help, customer service. But for some weird reason, when I go to a bookstore I expect conversation, assistance, recommendations. Obviously my expectations are off-kilter.
~jenn
@revolucion0
I think Meryl points out to me the difference. I don't know that Joseph Beth counts as a true Indie or a small chain, but they are by far and large much better than B&N for book signings and events. As far as their website, I do think that could be better, but they have an excellent selection and I love their (Cincinnati) layout. I'm no parent, but my guess is that their biggest success is with kids and those events.
All of the best indie bookstores seem to know that focusing on events is the way to bring people in store. I'm curious, too, as to where you think booksellers like Powell's fits in to this?
Great insight, Dylan. I'd argue that “old school hippie in a cowboy hat” is a metaphor for curation, and it can take various forms, including the angle you illustrate. The key is finding the right niche that's not filled by the competition, and serving it well.
Everything my dream bookstore would have is hinted at in that picture above, foreground and background.
As for expectations, the helpful bookseller is a cherished stereotype that, in my experience, is the exception, not the rule; more White House unicorns than reality.
Regular events and smart merchandising are two critical areas for bookstores, corporate or indie — and there's plenty of both who don't do either very well — but how do they translate that online? And what are they doing to stay top-of-mind with customers when they're not in the store? Care to share their URL?
They have a Twitter account (@legacy_books) and Facebook page — which they need to post on their web site to make the most of it. Legacy Books: http://www.legacybooksonline.com/ — site is Flash-based unfortunately. Imagine with all these extras and modifying their web site to be more social media friendly… what they could do.
I like Joseph Beth's Cincinnati site, from an ecommerce perspective, and there's a nice bit of local community flavor in their Gives Back rewards program, though not linking to each partner is weird. Also, where's the links to local authors, libraries and book review sites?
They allow customers to review books, which is great, but it's a missed opportunity that their staff picks don't have any staff reviews, nor any indicator on the individual product pages that they're staff picks nor who picked it.
Overall, the site is functional, but has ZERO personality.
http://www.josephbeth.com/
I like what they're trying to communicate via the “Our Passion” and “Our People” sections, but whomever sold them that Flash site needs to be smacked. It's “gee whiz” brochureware.
Exactly! Darn shame… considering they do everything else right. They're also missing out on SEO — can't even copy/paste text that I would have quoted with attribution.
The Tattered Cover (@tatteredcover), McNallyJackson (@mcnallyjackson), and Vromans (@vromans) all seem to be maximizing the opportunities for independent shops via Twitter, at least. TC's website is painful, but that's not where they're engaging most with customers, I'd argue; the first line for most shops should be is Twitter, blog (ok, part of the website), and Facebook–or whichever of these is the best fit and generates the most engagement from their communities.
[...] This post was Twitted by DigiBookWorld [...]
Clearly you've never visited the Politics and Prose (Washington DC) website (http://www.politics-prose.com). From nearly daily author events to nightly book clubs, PP is very community focused in addition to being one of the best bookstores in the country.
IF your audience is on Twitter (and that's a big IF, depending on your location), then it's definitely a good place for booksellers to be, but it is by no means a substitute for a strong website.
Politics and Prose is doing a lot of things right on their site, though their home page layout and navigation makes some of it difficult to find. Not enabling members/customers to review individual books is a missed opportunity, too.
Still, one of the better bookseller sites I've seen that balances ecommerce with community, and one of the first I've seen that's also selling ebooks. Thanks for pointing it out!