The brainchild of literary agent Kelly Sonnack, Save the Bookstores Day is a way to show our favorite brick & mortar stores that they still matter. That we support them. That we love them! That we CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT THEM!
I spoke with Kelly and three of her clients about this special day and how they plan to celebrate.
TL: Kelly, how did this holiday come to be?
KS: The Save the Bookstores event started one morning when, after reading about the obituaries of several indie bookstores in my publishing industry news, I got on Twitter and said that I was sick of hearing of these great stores closing and that there must be something I/we could do about it. I was met with immediate support when I suggested we pick a day and all go buy books together, across the nation, and the event was born from there.
Last year, we had a great response. The beauty of the event is that everyone can take the event and promote it as they see fit. Last year some book lovers took it upon themselves to print flyers and distribute them outside their favorite bookstore, in anticipation of the day. Others have blogged and emailed, Tweeted and Facebook’d. It’s been a unifying book lovers event so far and has reached to Asia and the UK (and probably more places I don’t even know about!)—it’s a simple way to support the books we love and the stores that sell them.
TL: What is your favorite childhood memory about books?
KS: One of my favorite childhood memories about books is the small library at the church we went to when I was a kid. It was nestled under a creaky staircase and chock-full of fabulous picture books. We were allowed to check out a book each, each week. But the choosing was the hardest part! I probably read 10 books before I picked which one I could take home with me.
TL: What is your hope for this new holiday? What is your ultimate goal?
KS: My ultimate goal is to save bookstores! I want to stop seeing postings of bookstores that haven’t been able to get high enough revenue to keep their doors open. It would be tragic to lose our brick and mortar stores; I want to remind people that their patronage really does make a difference. That we can keep stores in business by supporting them.
TL: And finally, what books will you be buying? What books do you recommend?
KS: The event is actually on my due date, so there’s a chance I’ll be phoning in my order to my favorite local bookstore instead of being able to browse the shelves for surprises and discoveries (hands down the best part about brick and mortar stores). If I get to browse, I’ll likely be browsing the board book section to see if there’s something I haven’t gotten for Baby Girl. But (aside from Bridget and James’ fabulous books, and Sharon’s which can be preordered), I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Jennifer Bosworth’s STRUCK, Michelle Hodkin’s THE EVOLUTION OF MARA DYER, Tom Angleberger’s FAKE MUSTACHE and I want to get a copy of HOW TO BABYSIT A GRANDPA by Jean Reagan for my dad, who will soon be a new grandpa! As far as what I’d recommend to others, anyone who hasn’t gotten a copy of Anna Sheehan’s debut YA novel, A LONG, LONG SLEEP will be wisely spending their money on it. And Carolyn Marsden’s THE WHITE ZONE is a powerful read for anyone interested in the conflict in Afghanistan from a middle-grade perspective. For any new parents or friends of new parents, Heather Leigh’s HEY, LITTLE BABY is sure to become a family favorite. You can’t help but getting a little choked up by that one.
Thanks, Kelly! Three of your clients—Sharon, Bridget and James—want to weigh in, too. I asked them why bookstores are important to them. (Besides the obvious reason of selling their titles!)
Sharon Cameron
My mother took me to the library like she took me to church—regularly, once a week, no excuses. The library was our haunt. But she could never understand why I would check out the same book over and over again, signing my name on the little card slipped into the slot attached to the back cover (remember when we did that?). My signature would be beneath my own signature, which was beneath my own again, and maybe four more times above that. My mother would look at the card containing mostly my name and say, “Okay. We’ll buy it.”
There was nothing more special. The library was a reading free-for-all, but going to the bookstore was all about picking out a treasure. I got to take my time, pick the book up, feel its weight, know if the cover was bumpy or slick, see the size of the type, hear how much noise a page made when it turned. And then that book was not just a borrowed thing to be returned, but mine, a friend for life. My copy of Johnny Tremain stayed with me for dozens of readings until its unfortunate death from a broken (overused!) spine. My paperback of Pride and Prejudice has worn to bend in any direction, fitting perfectly into my left hand.
That is why children—why all of us—need bookstores, and why I will be celebrating Save the Bookstores Day at Parnassus Books (Nashville, TN). An image on a sales screen is only an image. It cannot show us what is so easily experienced when we hold a book: the heft and feel of an author’s imagination.
Sharon Cameron is the author of THE DARK UNWINDING, coming September 2012 from Scholastic Press. Visit her website at SharonCameronBooks.com.
Bridget Heos
I have a quote hanging over my desk by Anton Ego from Ratatouille: “The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends.”
Bookstores are some of the first friends a book has, and that’s one reason I’m excited for my first bookstore book, MUSTACHE BABY, to come out next Spring. The neat thing is that readers want to befriend the new, too, and bookstores help us to do that. Bookstore workers have gotten my sons through many “I’ll never read again” moments that happen when you finish a series you love. They introduced us to Origami Yoda, Max (Bob Graham), The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, and so many books that, in a way, are part of our family.
I’m going to the Reading Reptile and the Plaza Barnes & Noble here in Kansas City, not as an appearance, but just to buy books.
Bridget Heos is the author of the non-fiction picture book series WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING (LARVAE, JOEYS, and other animals). She also writes YA non-fiction. Follow all her insects and antics at AuthorBridgetHeos.com.
James Burks
I think there’s something magical about walking into a bookstore and discovering a new book. A book that I’ve never seen or heard of before but I see the cover and it intrigues me. I pick it up, I look inside and I know that I have to own this book.
If I didn’t have a bookstore to go to I’d probably just be wondering the streets, lost, searching for that magical connection.
James Burks is the author of GABBY AND GATOR, BEEP AND BAH, and the upcoming BIRD AND SQUIRREL graphic novel. He is the illustrator of Tara Lazar’s THE MONSTORE, too! Check out this character and all his characters at JamesBurks.com.
If you want to help SAVE BOOKSTORES, please join the Facebook Group! Tell us where you’ll be shopping on June 16th and what you’ll be buying!
And please SPREAD THE WORD! Share the adorable poster on your social networks, blog about it, tell your teachers, organize a caravan to your local indie! Do your part to keep bookstores in business and bringing us great reads!
Thank you Kelly, Sharon, Bridget & James!
24 comments
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June 4, 2012 at 10:38 am
Laura Sassi
I absolutely LOVE this concept! I’ll spread the word in my neck of the woods. Brilliant!
June 4, 2012 at 11:19 am
Louise
This is such a fantastic idea! Absolutely nothing beats walking into a bookstore and walking out again with a new book – unless maybe it’s walking into a used bookstore and walking out with an old book. Either way, not much makes me happier. I know what I’ll be doing on June 16th!
June 4, 2012 at 1:34 pm
brigid
I once went to a town with no bookstore. honestly. the only books were in the grocery store. I am still in shock and that was probably 15 years ago. May it never come to pass that that is the norm..LOVE books and bookstores. I will buy a book on the sixteenth. Thanks for this.
June 4, 2012 at 1:46 pm
Tracy
Tara, what an amazing day! I’ll be forwarding, blogging, tweeting and FB’ing all about it. Once I learn how to use Pinterst I’ll add that in too! 🙂 If I can’t get to Watchung Booksellers in person I’ll be shopping on line that day. Gotta love e-commerce for the busy mom!
June 4, 2012 at 4:14 pm
thiskidreviewsbooks
I am totally supporting this! I am tweeting it and I will spread the word! 🙂
June 4, 2012 at 6:24 pm
tinamcho
Great idea, Kelly! We support our one and only English bookstore in Seoul once or twice a month, buying books for our kids to read. I’ll try to patronize them on that day! Thanks for the great post again, Tara.
June 4, 2012 at 7:15 pm
Kirsten Larson
I love this idea. Sadly, my town has only a Barnes & Noble and a used bookstore. That’s it, period. And honestly Barnes & Noble is turning into Toys ‘R Us before my very eyes — so few books and so many toys. It’s depressing.
June 4, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Janie emaus
Love this idea
June 5, 2012 at 7:49 am
Joanna
Totally supportive and am trying to spread the word. I Support my local French bookstores as much as I can!
June 5, 2012 at 10:13 am
Tara Dairman
How cool! I’ll definitely help promote this when the time comes. =)
June 5, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Kelly
Barnes and Nobles needs support too – they’re a brick and mortar! Show them you like BOOKS not TOYS by buying from them!
June 5, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Tara Lazar
Excellent point, Kelly. B&N has got to back down on the toys. I bring my children there to buy books, not toys.
June 6, 2012 at 8:51 am
Kendra Lindell
In my town, McMinnville, Or, some local business owners organized a “cash mob” a couple months ago. Everyone spread the word to meet at a central location downtown at a specific time and place with $20 cash that was to then be spent at an undisclosed place. The place turned out to be our local bookstore! There were over 116 transactions in just a little over an hour, and the bookstore got a great cash injection! It was amazing to see what our community is made up of. http://nwbooklovers.org/2012/05/01/third-street-books-mobbed/
June 6, 2012 at 11:08 am
Lubna
It is so tragic. After my favourite book store shut down — the old building gave way to a glitzy mall and the book shop owner just decided to retire, I could not find any other nice book store. Large chain stores don’t know your likes and dislikes. These days, I am ashamed to say this, but I shop online. Fav bookstores where the owner could tell you about an author you may like, or a new release by your fav author, just don’t exist anymore in my city. I hope you can save your favourite book stores.
June 6, 2012 at 10:20 pm
Cathy C. Hall
I just signed up and will certainly spread the word. I live in a huge county in the metro Atlanta area, but we do not have a single indie bookstore left. I do visit B & N regularly–and buy books there. But it’s the indie stores that sponsor book signings and activities for kids and get to know their local authors. I think I’ll make an hour’s drive to support one of those bookstores on the 16th.
June 7, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Save the Bookstores 2012 (And Maybe a Lot Longer) « Cathy C. Hall
[…] am a BIG fan of books, and naturally, bookstores and libraries as well. And so this delightful post over at Tara Lazar’s blog about Save the Bookstore 2012 caught my eye. And immediately, I knew two […]
June 7, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Peggy Strack
I just added buy a book at a bookstore on my June 16 calendar and will spread the word.
June 7, 2012 at 9:47 pm
viviankirkfield
Thanks so much, Tara, for the heads-up about this very important event! “Save the Bookstores Day” What a great idea…I’ve already tweeted and posted this to my Facebook and will also mention it in my blog post tomorrow that links up with Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Book Friday!
When I was five years old, I had my tonsils taken out (it was the early 50’s and any kid who had a sore throat was rushed to have that operation). The two wonderful things I looked forward to was the ice cream that they promised I could have as soon as I came out of the operating room (that did NOT happen) and the book my parents promised to buy me at the book store and bring to me at the hospital…that did happen…it was a Golden Book, The Three Little Pigs. 🙂
June 7, 2012 at 11:37 pm
Celebrate Save The Bookstores Day and a Picture Book Review « Positive Parental Participation
[…] in small towns and big cities continue to close. Tara Lazar has a great post about this: https://taralazar.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/support-save-the-bookstores-day-on-june-16th/ and I hope everyone will spread the word about this event. I’ll be stopping and shopping in at […]
June 9, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Joanne Fritz
As a bookseller in an indie bookstore, I really really hope this works!
The sad thing is, it’ll probably take much more than just one day to help all of us indie bookstores (and even B&N) withstand the onslaught of electronic publishing and the deep discounts offered by the A word. So let it be just the start of something new. Keep buying. Keep spreading the word.
Bookstores are great for so many reasons, not just for browsing and picking up an actual book, but for meeting with your book group or writing group, and for chatting with booksellers, most of whom are extremely well read and are happy to make recommendations! 🙂
June 12, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Save the Bookstores Day « One Writer’s Journey
[…] look through the stacks and take home a new friend. Find out more on Save the Bookstores in this interview that author Tara Lazar did with Sonnack. Not sure about indies in your area? If you’re […]
June 15, 2012 at 1:28 am
Helping Kids with Loss: After Charlotte’s Mom Died Review « Positive Parental Participation
[…] is June 16th – Save The Bookstores Day. Did you read Tara Lazar’s great post about this: https://taralazar.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/support-save-the-bookstores-day-on-june-16th/. Unfortunately, I have to work on Saturday, but on Sunday, I’ll be at one of the Indie […]
June 18, 2012 at 3:02 am
Film and Theatre Meet Writing: Part TWO, Thinking Like a Director
[…] quickly realized that I needed my own copy of this book, and so I celebrated Save the Bookstores Day on Saturday by purchasing Save the Cat! and the sequel, Save the Cat Goes to the Movies. (Alas, the […]
November 25, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Julie
Your concept is excellent and sososo timely! Thank you! In Truckee CA, our last and best bookstore is nearly at a meltdown and may be gone soon. On my travel blog, I would like to link to you here and share what you have done! May I use one of your graphics? It’s just so inspiring.
For the love of books, Julie
http://www.destinationdonnersummit.com/