independent booksellers
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Rumpus Round-Up: The Fight to Unionize a Bookstore
Late last month, employees of Book Culture, an independent New York City bookstore, voted to unionize. Five employees were promptly fired. Punitively firing employees who participate in labor unions violates federal labor law. On July 2, the remaining workers went…
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Saving a Book’s Life
The rules of shelving can seem arbitrary, even arcane, but the fundamentals are easy to learn: two hard covers, and no more than three paperbacks of the same title, on each shelf. The exception is the face-out. If the jacket…
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Summer Reading List
If you’re looking for independent bookstores to visit on your Southern road trip—or, in the absence of a road trip, want to know what Southern booksellers are reading this summer—then check out this interview with five Southern indie bookshop owners.…
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Indie Bookstores Win Amazon/Hachette War
The ongoing battle between Amazon and Hachette has been a boon for independent booksellers. Hachette’s refusal to capitulate to Amazon’s demands has meant that big-name books, like J.K. Rowling’s latest mystery The Silkworm (published under the pen name Robert Galbraith), can’t be…
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Literally in Pictures
“Literally” is a photographic project by Steve Kenward. Each shot in the series is a portrait of an independent bookseller in his shop—head over to Kenward’s website to see all the pictures.17
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Bookstore Privilege
Good literary citizens shop at local independent bookstores, and Amazon’s ongoing trade war with Hachette underscores the fragility of a marketplace dominated by a single online retailer. But are local bookstores just another form of privilege? Kelly Jensen writing at…
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So Long, Marcus Books
Sad news for San Francisco and the independent bookstore community: Marcus Books, the country’s oldest black bookstore, has been evicted. The store has been in its location in the Fillmore since 1960, serving as a meeting place for the city’s African…
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Can Beer Save Bookstores?
Independent booksellers face plenty of competition from national chains and the Internet, but a new kind of hybrid store might offer a model that Amazon can never replicate: bookstore bars. Niamh Ni Mahoileoin writes over at ZY that successful bar-bookstores…
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The Tale of Two Community Bookstores
Brooklyn has two independent Community bookstores—Park Slope’s Community Bookstore and Cobble Hill’s The Community Bookstore. John Scioli, owner of the latter, tells MobyLives that he founded the original with his ex-wife before they split. Scioli goes on to talk about…
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Amazon Guilt
We’ve all felt a little bit guilty saving a few pennies buying from Amazon rather than our neighborhood independent bookseller. But what about Amazon employees—do they experience guilt when shopping at independent retailers rather than with their megastore employer? MobyLives…
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Oases in the Bookstore Desert
While many of Manhattan’s bookstores are closing shop or fleeing to outer boroughs, a few continue to thrive in the “bookstore desert.” New York Magazine takes a look at how six independent bookstores throughout New York City are making it work.
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A Bit More on Amazon
This week has seen a lot of Amazon talk around the Internet. After Richard Russo’s New York Times op-ed on Amazon’s predatory practices, Farhad Manjoo responded at Slate, arguing against independent booksellers. Russo continued the conversation yesterday with an open…