Indie Bookstores: 'What I've Seen Them Do More than Anything Is Thrive'

"I've had every experience you can imagine in indie bookstores, from giving a presentation to absolutely no one (the owner made the staff sit and be my audience), to trying to address a genuinely bereft family on how to communicate with their daughter who claimed to be possessed and had fallen under the influence of a con artist 'exorcist,' to giving a presentation for hundreds of people packed into every available inch of space in a used bookstore in Texas.

"I've had indie bookstore owners do health checks on my mother during the pandemic, and I've seen indie bookstore owners start fundraisers for victims of natural disasters. But what I've seen them do more than anything is thrive. Right now, I feel like indie bookstores are finally being treated like truly vital members of their community. The fact that you can also go to them and pick up your latest dose of smutty vampire romance just makes them that much better."

--Grady Hendrix, whose novel Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (Berkley) is the #1 January Indie Next List pick, in a q&a with Bookselling This Week
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