If you’ve ever wished you had five uninterrupted minutes with a bookseller, participating in the Fall Into Indie Books at Indie Bookstores campaign should be on your list.

The second annual campaign from IBPA encouraged book lovers around the country to visit their local indie bookstore, post a photo showcasing the bookstore, and tag the store and @ibpalovesindies to earn one entry. The goal was to demonstrate the important ties between independent publishers and independent bookstores—as well as award $50 each day for 30 days (September 1-30, 2023) to a person who showed love to their local independent bookstore on Instagram.

In speaking with each indie bookseller to award the $50 certificate, the IBPA Advocacy Committee members sourced some valuable information to share with our members:

“Something small publishers often don’t know about and take advantage of is Edelweiss. Not having a catalog available on Edelweiss really limits indie publishers from a significant market—have an Edelweiss account, send your QR code on a postcard/email, etc.”
—Clark Buckmaster, Co-owner, The Taleless Dog Booksellers (Berea, Kentucky)

“Have your press kit ready, summary, title, and include why your book is a good fit for their store. Try to take work away from the store to give them everything they need to know.” —Kathryn Culp, Manager, Indies Read (Indianapolis, Indiana)

“Actually go to the bookstore—a lot of times people assume we have unlimited funds to purchase everyone’s book. As a small bookstore, we purchase two at a time and see how it does. A lot of it has to do with reciprocity and mutual support. So often indie publishers are unfamiliar with who we are. We have to make sure books fit into the themes we carry.” —Sarah Rafael Garcia, LibroMobile (Santa Ana, California)

“What I’d like for publishers and authors to know is that we really try to support indie because we are, too!. Sometimes, though, if the author is self-published and we don’t feel the book is a fit for our store, we decline to carry the book. For example, if the book is about growing up in New Jersey and the author is not local, we probably won’t consider that a good bet for our store.” — Marya Johnston, Owner, Out West Books (Grand Junction, Colorado)

“My advice to small publishers or self-published authors is to make sure your books are available through Ingram and returnable. I know Ingram can be a pain to work with, but if you want your books on indie bookstore shelves, it will be worth it. When ordering small press books, I only order books written by authors who live locally. I want authors who have a connection to my community and store. When we host events for local authors, I want their friends and family to be able to come. Artwork is important. People really do judge books by the cover. Spend the extra money to make your cover amazing. Pay attention to popular trends. Find yourself a good editor. I am dyslexic. If I read the back of a book and notice any grammar errors, that’s bad. I won't stock a book that has a poorly written blurb or bio.” —Kim McNamara, Read It Again Bookstore (Suwanee, Georgia)

“Successful collaborations are really important to small bookstores like ours because we have limited marketing resources. As a small independent store with a fairly small reach, most of our promotions reap pretty conservative rewards. With that said, our most successful work with indie publishers and authors has been local. I would chalk it up to local interest in supporting local authors and strong community connections. The books on our local author shelf sell well, and a recent event we did with Darcie Little Badger and our local Torrey House Press was well attended for a bookstore of our size. I think my best advice is to focus on local relationships, if possible. Making community connections between community organizations and working jointly with local bookstores (instead of competing) has given us the most success.” —Kaitlyn Mahoney, Under the Umbrella (Salt Lake City, Utah)

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