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Will It, Won’t It?

 
 

There’s a ton of stuff going on HoCoLocally today. Alas, rain is also predicted. Some events have been pre-emptively canceled so check before you go. 

Something you can do no matter what the weather sends us: support Indie Bookstore Day. 



“One Day. Fifty States. 1600+ Bookstores.”


What’s an Indie Bookstore? Think mom and pop. Indies are, quite simply, independently owned. So the decisions on what books they carry and what kind of events they offer are made by real human beings in your community, not faceless committees in a corporate entity somewhere.

Here’s a list of HoCo indies (let me know if I’ve forgotten any.)

  • Backwater Books
  • Gramp’s Atric
  • A Novel Refuge
  • Queen Takes Book 
  • Second Edition
  • The Last Word at Omnihedral 
  • The Last Word Mt. Airy

Indie bookstores carry the books that large chains may deem too risky or “controversial. “ They take chances on quirky books and often give little known authors a boost as they are starting out. You can build relationships with the folks at your local indie because they actively want to serve the communities where they are.

Blunt opinion here: books are far too precious to be left in the hands of corporations and chains. People who write books are essentially in the idea business. Corporations are in the money business. If they perceive certain kinds of ideas as counterproductive to their profits, they start narrowing what the public gets to see. 

Then we all lose. 

Even if you are far too busy to go to a bookstore today, you can still visit Bookshop.org and purchase a book through them which will benefit the local indie of your choice. Can’t do that? You can still bring some goodness into the world for our local independent bookstores by not buying any books from Amazon today. 

Yes, I’m going give you cool points for simply doing nothing. 

Amazon is running a book sale which will most certainly eat into the profits that local bookstores hope to make today. That’s not against the law but you don’t have to help them. 

In the meantime, if you are broke but desperate for a book, may I recommend our local libraries? 

What do you have planned for this “will it, won’t it” Spring Saturday? Whatever it is, you just might want to bring an umbrella. 


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