When the plague has passed we will want our independent bookstores to still be standing. They are the front line in promoting independent thought and encouraging literature. In a time of creeping theocratic authoritarianism, they are more important than ever. But as independent small businesses, they are in a tough spot in the current crisis, many being forced to shut down even as the online giant Amazon goes on.
Fortunately, there are things we can do to help as well as stay supplied with books.
Literary Hub has an excellent how-to article: How you can support bookstores during the coronavirus pandemic. It has lots of ideas, links, and a list of independent bookstores from whom you can buy online (instead of Amazon, et al) Here are a few excerpts.
Though most bookstores are closing their doors to the public, you can still buy books from them! And because you believe in our shared responsibility to preserve the wellbeing of those most vulnerable among us, you’re staying home and reading books, right?
Of course, you can also order from Bookshop.org, a great—and important—alternative to Amazon that shares proceeds of every sale with small, independent stores, and is a much-needed affiliate revenue stream for anyone who covers books online. In the past week, 70 more stores have joined Bookshop. For the next eight weeks, to help support them, indie stores using Bookshop will receive 30% of the cover price of any sale, up from 25%. Bookshop will earn no revenue from those sales.
You can also use BookstoreLink.com to find your nearest indie, and if you like audiobooks, Libro.fm (same people behind BookstoreLink) are offering two-for-one deals if you use the code SHOPBOOKSTORESNOW (and 100 percent of the money goes to the store!).
The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) has had the most financial assistance requests on record in the past couple days, with several booksellers asking for help every hour. The good news is that the book community is also making major contributions: on just Monday, $44,000 was raised through a generous gift-matching challenge by literary agent Steven Malk of Writers House and Beacon Press. There is another gift-matching challenge occurring now: every dollar up to $41,000 will be matched. Donate here!
Twitter users! Here are a few follows:
@LitHub
@Indiebound
@BookShop_org
@Libro.fm