The Celebration of Bookselling luncheon at BEA on Thursday was a mix of excitement, gratitude and a call to arms. There\u00a0was an almost universal thanks for indies and what we do.\u00a0Richard Peck summed it\u00a0up best by saying,\u00a0“Every journey begins in the bookstore.”\u00a0He didn’t say the journey began online, or at a chain store. He remembered his childhood\u00a0store and thanked them.\u00a0Every\u00a0journey\u00a0begins with a\u00a0 book, and\u00a0James\u00a0Patterson created the call to the\u00a0arms to keep all the indies.
\nWhat I love about these lunches is\u00a0seeing so many authors in one place and hearing from them.\u00a0So often, there is a division between the children’s books and the adult books, that we don’t always mingle\u00a0for\u00a0big meals.\u00a0To hear\u00a0the range of authors almost all universally sing the praises of indies and their meaning to their career is always\u00a0gratifying.
\nJesmyn\u00a0Ward, I think, put it best: “Thank you for being family.” I\u00a0sometimes forget that authors, no matter what level of fame they’ve achieved, are still\u00a0people who get nervous, who doubt and who need support. And to be\u00a0an independent bookstore\u00a0staffer, we can\u00a0find ourselves having profound effects on the lives of writers and illustrators at varying stages of their careers.\u00a0When they are young readers, we\u00a0talk to them about books, we encourage them to try new things and, if we are lucky enough to be a long-standing store, we see some of them come in with their\u00a0own books.\u00a0Maggie Stiefvater recounted a memory of going to her local store when\u00a0her first book\u00a0was published and the bookstore staffer held the\u00a0door open for her so she could leave with her stack of books and her three-year-old.\u00a0The symbolism of this is obvious:\u00a0indies\u00a0open\u00a0doors for\u00a0authors and the books we love.
\nEvery\u00a0speaker shared an anecdote about their local store, save for\u00a0Kate DiCamillo whose speech was an homage to E.B. White. Always funny, she summed up writing and owning a bookstore pretty well;\u00a0“as long as you love, it will be okay.” Truer words were never spoken. Tom Nissley, who once came to BEA with an Amazon badge, is now two weeks away from opening his own independent bookstore in Washington state. Talk about walking the walk.
\nJames Patterson, who has rightly become the darling of indies for putting his money where his mouth is by giving away one million dollars to independent bookstores, received a standing ovation when he walked in. In his acceptance speech he addressed the elephant in the room: Amazon. He pulled no punches in suggesting that ABA start working harder to stop Amazon’s desire to have a monopoly on bookselling, publishing and book buying. He dared to say things that we all think: when is someone going to do something? He suggested that the future of literature and the part it plays in our culture is in danger and when will we as a group get the word out that the fewer publishers there are, the fewer books will be published. He said the lower the profit margin for publishers means that fewer risky, literary books will reach the shelves. We need to get going with this and get in the press, both large and small publications, to educate consumers and to get others involved. Yes, it’s great to order online, but at what cost? Who outside of the publishing world understands the complexity of what’s happening with the Hachette – Amazon tussle? “We must latch onto this issue with vigor, passion and urgency,” Patterson said.
\nI was lucky enough to get a chance to speak with him briefly after the lunch. it’s not every day I say to a bestselling author: “Thank you for having the balls to say what we’re all thinking.” Thankfully he smiled and said I was the second person to say that to him that day. I hope we all keep being galvanized and continue to realize that all journeys need to begin in the bookstore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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