Who's ready for a wonky book industry idea thread? Great. Here's the underlying premise: Bookstore sales have been down year-to-year for the past several months b/c there was no smash hit like Becoming except...
at indie bookstore which have actually had flat/modest sales increases over the same time frame. There are a lot of reasons why indies don't need smash hits the way B&N & Amz do, but it really boils down to the fact that contemporary indie bookstores are...
really fucking good at selling books. You come in for 1 book, you leave with 3. You come just to browse, you leave with 3. Indie bookstores are so good at selling books, publishers have a vested interest in that stream growing. And they know this. So they should...
establish a non-profit or B-corp (like our friends Bookshop) & fund the opening, sustaining & growth indie bookstores through grants and no/low interest loans. The money is there & it would be a better investment than a lot of other times they've thrown a million $$ around. It...
would operate independently and just be funded by the big publishers. (And smaller publishers if they want.) People would be able to apply for grants/loans to open stores, expand stores, relocate, handle massive rent increases, recover from weather/natural disasters...
AND retain staff. Got a great bookseller who needs more money to, you know, live. Apply for a grant that would cover a raise for 2-3 years, or fully pay for their healthcare, or higher ed, or subsidize their housing. Publishers...
would absolutely see a return on this investment even if it's not direct AND they would create a structure to diversify bookselling putting actual american dollars into stores in marginalized communities, owned by members of marginalized communities, and...
staffed by booksellers from marginalized communities. I believe books sales would increase far more than the amount of money invested, a return publishers could put into livable wages for their own employees..
The money is there in publishing. The passion is there for bookselling. We just need to find a better way to bring them together so everyone gains.
