Communing with Fellow Independents
Christin and I just came back from an intense weekend of networking, learning, and drinking (roughly in that order) in Salt Lake City. Organized by the American Booksellers Association and formally called the Winter Institute, this was the fourth such annual gathering of booksellers of the independent kind. Well mostly independent anyway, a few small chains and publisher types always manage to get invited to these things but many of them pay for the privilege and apparently help subsidize the cost of the whole thing. The core of the experience is really meeting terrific independent booksellers from around the country and learning about all the great things they are doing in their communities. Here are some highlights of our trip:
Best quote heard
“If one bookseller is excited about a book we sell 10 copies, if two booksellers get excited about the same book we sell 100 copies.” - Dan Chartrand of Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, New Hampshire
Bookseller with the most personal impact
Roxanne Coady from RJ Julia, Madison, Connecticut because she is super smart, fearless and outspoken. And she gave me my new mantra – “Progress, not perfection.”
Favorite new bookstore discovered
King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City because you can tell that people working there really love books, plus they really know how to merchandise
Stirring speech brought us to tears (almost)
Terry Tempest Williams, author of Finding Beauty in a Broken World, talking about what independent bookstores mean to her. Watch me conduct a brief impromptu interview with her and Rick Simonson of Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, Washington. Here is part II of the interview.
Best beer I bought
Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and author of Big Box Swindle, because she really helped me grok why buy local makes sense
Bob Miller of HarperStudio because he is trying to innovate while most of his publishing colleagues are busy complaining (disclosure – he bought dinner). Read about the stupidities of book business.
The Carl Lennertz late-night-after-too-many-martinis award for bookstores that know how to make the market for a book went to
RJ Julia, Madison, Connecticut
Village Books in Bellingham, Washington
The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, Illinois
Most impressive story heard
Cathy Langer talking about how Tattered Cover spent two years in court fighting the feds to defend a customer’s privacy rights. Watch a short video.