Small and Independent Press Books discussion

Back in 2011, a lady on Goodreads, who was concerned about the need to support physical bookstores in order to keep them open and preserve all the benefits they provide, challenged the rest of us to buy at least two books (new ones, not used) per year from a brick-and-mortar store. I've met that challenge every year from 2011 on (not counting 2017 yet, but I plan to before this year is over as well). Maybe some other group members would be interested in taking up this challenge as well?

From the viewpoint of small press and indie authors, physical bookstores may seem problematical, because they're usually not open to stocking our books. :-( But, they WILL special order them for customers who want to buy; and that, IMO, makes them deserving of our support. Indeed, for reaching readers who, for whatever reason, don't shop on line, they may be the best venue those readers have in which to purchase our work!

I actually have a GoFundMe campaign for my independent bookstore. The money I raise for it will go to rent, inventory, etc. I'm mostly planning buying books from small presses and used books. Right now, the bookstore's being run out of my house, but I'd love for it to be a brick and mortar store.

https://www.gofundme.com/carpelibrumb...

I can also do PayPal. If you prefer that option, you can send me money through PayPal, or I can email you an invoice. My email's carpelibrumbooksandart@gmail.com.

Melissa, I've just checked out the web page for your bookstore, from the link on your Goodreads page. You might want to share that link here as well.

Thanks, Werner. I posted it below.
https://carpelibrumbooksandart.com/

Thank you, Melissa! Good luck with this venture, and the Go Fund Me campaign.

Thank you! I appreciate it.

Melissa wrote: "Thanks, Werner. I posted it below.
https://carpelibrumbooksandart.com/"

The link blew up. My browser is asking for a www at the beginning of the link.

Melissa, your link wouldn't work for me just now, either.

The closing of our local home-owned bookstore earlier this year made it harder for me to fulfill my goal of supporting a brick-and-mortar store this time around. But there's a chain bookstore in the Mercer Mall (located out in the country, between Bluefield WV and Princeton, the county seat), and this weekend, I finally got out there for some shopping. I fulfilled my two-book purchase commitment (for myself, this time!), and was pleased to see that the store was pretty busy with shoppers.

Sorry about that. I switched from Shopify to Storenvy, so that's probably why.
http://carpelibrumbooksart.storenvy.com

The new link works, Melissa!

My bookstore-supporting challenge really had to wait until nearly the last minute this year; but I fulfilled it this morning, again at the bookstore in the mall. I was glad to see that once again, they were doing a brisk business!

Once again, I've recently met the challenge to support brick-and-mortar bookstores by buying at least two brand-new books a year in one! This year, I didn't leave it until the last days of December. :-)

I'm glad to say that I've once again fulfilled the challenge to buy at least two books a year from a physical bookstore! Though this year, as we've come down to the last week of December, it was, as some British Goodreaders might say, a bit of a close-run thing. :-)

Since I've accumulated so many piles of unread physical books by now, which are greatly backlogged, and I'm running short on space to put books, I decided not to buy books for myself to fulfill the challenge this year. So instead, I bought two books to donate to the Bluefield University library, where I work. (Barb and I also bought several books as Christmas gifts for family members; so the clerks at our local bookstore were probably pretty glad to see us coming. :-) )

In most years, I wind up waiting until very late in the year (and sometimes after Christmas!) to complete this challenge. This year, though, I've been much more on the ball; I picked up two books for myself at the bookstore in our local mall over the weekend. So, I've fulfilled the challenge for another year; and I hope others in the group will be able to join me before the year is out! (Although brick-and-mortar bookstores normally aren't very kind to small-press and indie authors; but that's another subject. :-( )