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Independent Bookstore Day—Why Your Local Shops Matter · Reality Writes

0:05
Ellie Alexander: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Reality Writes.
0:09
Ellie Alexander: I am author Ellie Alexander, and this is the podcast where we talk about all things bookish, writer-ish, and whatever else is on our mind.
0:16
Ellie Alexander: And I'm here with the Tech Guy.
0:18
Tech Guy: That's right.
0:19
Tech Guy: Hello, hello.
0:20
Tech Guy: And I'm excited today.
0:21
Tech Guy: We're talking about one of my favorite subjects.
0:23
Tech Guy: Um, I have the nickname The Tech Guy, but uh this these we're gonna be talking about some of my all-time favorite places in the world uh today.
0:32
Tech Guy: So I can't wait to dive into it.
0:36
Ellie Alexander: Is this gonna be the seven wonders of the world?
0:40
Tech Guy: Yeah, maybe.
0:41
Tech Guy: Uh and they're not even Star Wars related.
0:43
Tech Guy: Uh I mean they can be, and you can definitely find Star Wars uh stuff at these locations.
0:50
Tech Guy: But uh I am, of course, talking about your local independent bookshops, bookstores, booksellers, whatever you want to call them.
0:59
Tech Guy: These are the mom and pop shops that uh I am excited to see more and more people are relearning to love to hang out at.
1:11
Ellie Alexander: Me too.
1:12
Ellie Alexander: It's the absolute best.
1:13
Ellie Alexander: Today, our whole podcast is gonna be talking about indie bookstores, why they matter, from the writing side of things for me, from being a reader.
1:22
Ellie Alexander: And this is all leading up to the fact that this Saturday, April 25th, is Independent Bookstore Day.
1:28
Ellie Alexander: So we'll talk a lot about that as well.
1:30
Ellie Alexander: But before we dive in, uh, we should share with the Darlings why you're so hyped in particular, because you just had a big package arrive from an indie bookstore.
1:42
Tech Guy: I did have a big package arrive, and I'm so excited.
1:45
Tech Guy: Um, if you haven't seen it yet, uh Ellie shot some video of me opening my box of treasures from uh one of my favorite independent bookstores, uh Beach Books, um, in Seaside, Oregon.
1:58
Tech Guy: And uh just a fantastic.
2:01
Tech Guy: I filled out my collection of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
2:06
Tech Guy: Um all the way up.
2:08
Tech Guy: I I already had book one, but I I got books two through seven, which are out.
2:13
Tech Guy: Book eight comes out uh in May.
2:16
Tech Guy: And so I pre-ordered that from them, and I ordered the um the graphic novel of the first book in the series, uh, which I think also comes out in May.
2:28
Tech Guy: Um, but uh it was it was exciting.
2:31
Tech Guy: Um Beach Books is just a a great example of an awesome independent bookshop and the the special things that they do to to make you feel special when you buy from them.
2:44
Tech Guy: Um it was it's super fun.
2:45
Tech Guy: So if you haven't seen that video, uh head to Ellie's uh social channels, um, Instagram, Facebook, whatever, and you can see the uh surprise and delight on my face as I open all of my new hardcover books.
3:01
Ellie Alexander: Well, and it's such a great segue because a lot of the inspiration for the secret bookcase and now the novel detective spin-offs is from all of the incredible indie bookstores that we have visited over the years, both as readers, as a writer myself, and being able to pull so many stories from real experiences like that.
3:21
Ellie Alexander: And one of the things that Annie and Fletcher always do, and their staff at the secret bookcase is they use the publishing book print um catalogs to wrap books for readers, which is something I learned from Beach Books.
3:36
Ellie Alexander: Um, so there's so much real-world bookish lore that gets to be woven into this series, all from our time spent at great bookshops like that.
3:47
Tech Guy: Yeah, and it's it's just it's a funny, um, a funny little thing, but uh from uh, you know, a retail perspective, from a consumer perspective, you already know what you ordered, but then you uh you get to open each book as though it was uh you know a surprise.
4:06
Tech Guy: And um, you know, we are lucky enough that uh every once in a while they stick in some treats too.
4:12
Tech Guy: So we get some notes on the outside.
4:16
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, it's just it's such a great example of why the experience of shopping from an indie matters.
4:21
Ellie Alexander: But before we dive into um other things that I want to share about indies in honor of celebrating them this Saturday, let's talk a little bit about the stats because for a while there it was looking a little bleak.
4:36
Ellie Alexander: But darlings, the tide is changing and it's it's looking pretty great for small bookstores.
4:43
Tech Guy: That's right.
4:44
Tech Guy: Um, I mean, it they were it seemed like for a while there they were going out of business left and right.
4:51
Tech Guy: I mean, we lost some really good ones.
4:52
Tech Guy: Um we did.
4:53
Tech Guy: The Seattle Mystery Bookshop comes to mind first and foremost because it was it was just down the street from the Seattle office um for my job.
5:02
Tech Guy: Uh when I travel up there, I always went in to the Seattle mystery bookshop, and it was such an incredible place.
5:09
Tech Guy: And the people there were so kind and nice, and um, it was just amazing.
5:13
Tech Guy: Uh but the good news is I and I was really excited in researching everything for this episode, like the stats are looking real good now.
5:24
Tech Guy: Really good.
5:25
Tech Guy: Um in the last uh, well, five, five, six-ish years.
5:30
Tech Guy: So since 2020, right, independent bookshops in the United States, the number of independent bookshops in the United States has grown 70%.
5:40
Ellie Alexander: 70%.
5:41
Tech Guy: 70%.
5:42
Tech Guy: It was back in in 2020, there were there were around 1900 independent bookshops in the entire country, and now there are over 3,200 and and growing.
5:53
Ellie Alexander: Well, and what I love about that is being able to share positive bookish news in the world right now makes my heart so happy, right, darling.
6:01
Ellie Alexander: So we need like a little glimmer of something.
6:03
Ellie Alexander: And I think one of the interesting things about that stat in particular is that I know just sort of anecdotally that so many readers reached out to me and discovered my books through indie bookstores during the pandemic because so many things were shut down.
6:18
Ellie Alexander: And so readers were like, Whoo, I need an escape.
6:21
Ellie Alexander: I'm gonna hop online and figure out where a bookstore is that will ship to me or that will deliver to my door or, you know, whatever it is.
6:27
Ellie Alexander: So um, you know, there's like a little glimmer of something good that came from the lockdowns.
6:33
Tech Guy: Yeah.
6:34
Tech Guy: And I think it's that personal connection, right?
6:36
Tech Guy: The, the, um, because the big online booksellers, they have their algorithms and they will do a good job of getting you your books.
6:44
Tech Guy: And listen, no shade to anybody who wants to shop uh at those those stores.
6:48
Tech Guy: This is not like a this is a safe space, safe book space, right?
6:52
Tech Guy: So um I it's just there are a lot more advantages to supporting your local independent bookshops and and that personal connection is one of them because you will get to know your booksellers.
7:04
Tech Guy: They will get to know you, they will get to know your reading uh, you know, likes and dislikes.
7:10
Tech Guy: And something is a recommendation is much more impactful, I I think, when it comes from somebody personal, you know?
7:20
Tech Guy: And and I've gotten I've I've been recommended so many great books by independent bookstore owners over the years.
7:28
Tech Guy: It's just been amazing.
7:30
Ellie Alexander: That's what you always do while I'm doing like a book talker event.
7:33
Ellie Alexander: You're just over in the corner chatting up books.
7:35
Ellie Alexander: Like, okay, what else?
7:35
Ellie Alexander: What else should I be reading?
7:37
Ellie Alexander: Well, I think um another really interesting part of supporting your local independent bookstore is that money goes back to the community.
7:46
Tech Guy: That's right.
7:47
Tech Guy: Yeah, definitely.
7:48
Tech Guy: Um, from what I was able to gather, it it looks like about 30% or more of the money spent at your local independent bookstore stays in the local community.
8:00
Tech Guy: And if you think about that, that that has a significantly higher economic impact for your community than buying from a national or big box store or um online retailer.
8:14
Tech Guy: Uh, you know, keeping that money in the community and keeping your local community strong economically is a win-win for everyone.
8:23
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, that money goes back to support, you know, your kids' local soccer team and um, you know, any outreach that is hyperlocal to you and your community.
8:33
Ellie Alexander: So it's like, yeah, you get to feel good and you're buying books.
8:36
Ellie Alexander: So hey, where are you on?
8:38
Tech Guy: Win-win.
8:40
Ellie Alexander: When we first moved to California, I've told this story before, but I'll share it again just in case, darlings.
8:46
Ellie Alexander: I was like, how am I gonna find my people?
8:48
Ellie Alexander: Like, I need to find my people.
8:50
Ellie Alexander: And so immediately I was like, what is the closest bookstore to me?
8:53
Ellie Alexander: Where's my local Andy?
8:55
Ellie Alexander: It's like so close, down on Murphy, Lee's favorite books.
8:59
Ellie Alexander: I went, they were starting, Lee was starting her first ever book club since the pandemic, um, which is a literary lunch with Lee, which is still going strong.
9:09
Ellie Alexander: And I went to the very first meeting of that.
9:11
Ellie Alexander: We had lunch outside and chatted.
9:15
Ellie Alexander: And immediately I was like, oh, okay, well, I found my people.
9:18
Ellie Alexander: Um, and then as the years have gone on, I asked Lee, I was like, wouldn't it be fun to also do a mystery book club?
9:25
Ellie Alexander: And she was like, Yes, let's make it happen.
9:27
Ellie Alexander: So that's how I started my Mysteries and Mocktails book club.
9:31
Ellie Alexander: And there are so many other events that are geared toward what you darlings want and are asking for.
9:38
Ellie Alexander: So things like Silent Book Club, where you come into the bookstore, you can bring your own book, you can get a book at the bookstore.
9:44
Ellie Alexander: They set out chairs all throughout the shelves, and you can read silently.
9:49
Ellie Alexander: And then at the end, there are treats and fun drinks.
9:52
Ellie Alexander: And if you want to come talk to other people, you can.
9:54
Ellie Alexander: And if you just want to leave, you can also do that.
9:57
Ellie Alexander: We did a date night at the bookstore a few years ago, which was so fun.
10:02
Ellie Alexander: A scavenger hunt for books for your partner.
10:05
Ellie Alexander: And I just I could go on and on.
10:07
Ellie Alexander: And of course, all of these have weaved their way into the secret bookcase and novel detective series because they have to.
10:15
Tech Guy: Yeah.
10:15
Tech Guy: Well, I mean, there are just so many creative ways that uh independent bookshop owners are, you know, creating these events to get readers out and and interacting with each other if that's what you want to do.
10:28
Tech Guy: And uh, and then just discovering more books, uh, new books to them.
10:34
Tech Guy: Um, it's just like the the opportunities are endless, and it it's been so creative.
10:39
Tech Guy: The um blind date with a book, uh, where you know you go in and we just saw that uh just a couple weeks ago.
10:47
Tech Guy: We were in uh Half Moon Bay, and there's an uh independent bookshop there, and they had a whole table full of wrapped books, and it was just a mystery book, and you could buy it.
10:59
Tech Guy: And I think all the books were like five dollars, maybe something like that.
11:03
Tech Guy: It was just like it was kind of luck of the draw, and uh, and uh and it was but they they had just the genre written on the the wrapping.
11:11
Tech Guy: That was it.
11:12
Tech Guy: So um what a cool way to discover a new book.
11:16
Ellie Alexander: Exactly.
11:17
Ellie Alexander: Well, and really what we're talking about then too is that independent bookstores become third spaces and a place for you to meet and make real-world connections, which is so incredibly important in the times that we're living in right now.
11:30
Ellie Alexander: And I think about the relationships, the friendships, the connections that have rippled out because of my mystery book club at the bookstore.
11:38
Ellie Alexander: And what's really fantastic about it is it's readers of all ages and backgrounds that we would not have all met under any other circumstances.
11:48
Ellie Alexander: You know, we have retired, a retired English teacher in her 80s, and we have a young tech guy in his 20s who just got married, and everyone in between.
11:57
Ellie Alexander: And the level of conversation and connection and like blending of our own experiences that happen in those discussions is so vital to creating community, which I think we're all desperately hungry for right now.
12:14
Tech Guy: For sure.
12:15
Tech Guy: Uh, wait a minute, though.
12:16
Tech Guy: There's a young tech guy in his 20s in your book club.
12:19
Tech Guy: Am I gonna get replaced?
12:21
Ellie Alexander: I know, I know.
12:22
Ellie Alexander: You could be, yeah, yeah.
12:24
Ellie Alexander: Man, I know there's a group chat.
12:28
Tech Guy: Oh boy.
12:29
Tech Guy: Okay, I gotta watch, I gotta watch out for this guy.
12:31
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, you gotta come to Mystery's Mystery and Mock Tales, man.
12:34
Ellie Alexander: No, he's getting engaged, and we we're all like, you know, the happy aunties and grandmas and moms for him.
12:41
Ellie Alexander: So yeah.
12:42
Tech Guy: That's that's awesome.
12:43
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
12:43
Ellie Alexander: But you know, sometimes if you're creating a book club, uh you're you're gonna reach out to friends and people you know, which is fantastic too.
12:50
Ellie Alexander: I'm a I'm pro-book club or pro everything bookish in this space, but there is something really unique about going to a bookstore event, whether it's a book club, an author talk, a silent reading night, because you're going to meet very different members of your community there.
13:08
Ellie Alexander: But you all have one thing in common, which is a love of reading.
13:12
Tech Guy: That's right.
13:13
Tech Guy: Yeah.
13:13
Tech Guy: Well, and you can uh your local bookshops are um kind of hubs for authors as well.
13:21
Tech Guy: So you get like uh your local independent bookstores are a great space to meet your favorite authors.
13:28
Tech Guy: Um they, you know, or get signed copies of their books.
13:32
Tech Guy: Um, that that you know, that's not something that you're necessarily going to be able to do by shopping online all the time for your books.
13:41
Ellie Alexander: So one of the things from the publishing perspective, too, is that publishers are always trying to figure out ways to incentivize you, darlings, to discover your local indie bookstore.
13:52
Ellie Alexander: So we've been planning right now for the release of bake shop number 23, the Pumpkin Vice Cafe.
13:58
Ellie Alexander: It's gonna come out and trade paperback in September.
14:01
Ellie Alexander: So this is where the bake shop's getting a little glow up, a new fresh cover.
14:05
Ellie Alexander: Like, I'm so excited for it.
14:07
Ellie Alexander: But we've been brainstorming like, what are those fun incentives that if you buy it from your local bookstore, you're gonna get.
14:14
Ellie Alexander: So, you know, whether that ends up being a sticker or a recipe card or I'm not gonna tell you yet because it's gonna be a surprise.
14:21
Ellie Alexander: But publishers and bookstores work hand in hand on incentives like that to encourage readers to come to the bookstore.
14:30
Tech Guy: Yeah, and something that uh is surprising to me because I I've over the years of following around and carrying boxes for you to all your book talks and uh conventions and conferences and festivals, oh my.
14:43
Tech Guy: Um I have spoken to so many readers, and it it surprises me every time to uh find out the number of, you know, to find out the number of readers who don't know that you can pre-order books from your local independent bookstore.
14:59
Tech Guy: And so talk a little bit about the benefits of that because it's not just for the reader, actually helps the store too.
15:07
Ellie Alexander: It's a it's a triple win.
15:08
Ellie Alexander: It helps you, the reader, because then you're gonna get a call from the bookstore, or you know, depending on how your bookstore has it set up, maybe they ship it straight to the mail uh in the mail for you.
15:17
Ellie Alexander: It really helps bookstores because it gives them a sense of like with inventory, oh, okay, I'm noticing that, you know, 25, 30 people want this particular book.
15:28
Ellie Alexander: I'm gonna double or triple my order then.
15:30
Ellie Alexander: So I make sure that I have it in stock for other readers.
15:34
Ellie Alexander: They are gonna know that that book is popular because what can happen is books go through print runs.
15:39
Ellie Alexander: And so the great news with the stats that you shared at the beginning is independent bookstores are expanding all across the US.
15:46
Ellie Alexander: The only con with that can be sometimes it's a struggle to get books in in a timely manner, depending on distribution channels.
15:55
Ellie Alexander: And there are obviously lots of other factors that go into that.
15:58
Ellie Alexander: So by pre-ordering from your local bookstore, they know, okay, wow, this book is super popular.
16:03
Ellie Alexander: I'm gonna order two or three dozen extra and have them in stock for new readers to discover.
16:10
Ellie Alexander: And you're also gonna know that you get that book on the day that it's releasing.
16:16
Ellie Alexander: And then, of course, it's great for authors because the publishers then might be like, wow, a lot of independent bookstores are pre-ordering this particular book.
16:24
Ellie Alexander: Maybe we should up our print run or go straight into a second printing.
16:29
Tech Guy: That's right.
16:29
Tech Guy: And for the darlings out there, what's good for the authors is good for the readers.
16:33
Tech Guy: Um, because that just means this that series that you love is going to keep rolling uh when you know the bookstores are ordering that that that uh the high number of books.
16:46
Tech Guy: I think the the um yeah, so don't don't wait around uh until you find the book that you're looking for in your local store.
16:55
Tech Guy: Like ask the bookseller, they will order it for you, they will find it for you.
16:59
Tech Guy: Um it it's they like they will help you find a book that you've been looking for that you haven't been able to find.
17:05
Tech Guy: I remember years ago, um you were looking for uh the dreaming, uh, that that book that that you wanted.
17:13
Tech Guy: And and I looked everywhere and I could not find a copy of it.
17:16
Tech Guy: It's it's been out of print for a long time and everything.
17:18
Tech Guy: And and I remember that it was a local bookstore owner, local independent bookshop that found that book for me and got it for me.
17:25
Tech Guy: I had it shipped from wherever they found it, and and I was able to, you know, give that to you as a gift, and that was fantastic.
17:32
Tech Guy: And I would never have found it on my own.
17:35
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, and I mean, I think the vast majority of booksellers that we know, they want to recommend reads.
17:42
Ellie Alexander: They're reading themselves, they're getting advanced reader copies in, like they'll get for the Pumpkin Vice Cafe.
17:47
Ellie Alexander: So they're getting an early look at what's coming from the publishing houses, and they will want you to be reading that too.
17:53
Ellie Alexander: And to your earlier point, once they get to know you and understand what you like, then they're gonna recommend your well, your TBR stack is gonna potentially grow.
18:03
Ellie Alexander: But that's not a bad thing.
18:04
Tech Guy: No, it's never a bad thing.
18:06
Tech Guy: Um it it's always growing.
18:09
Tech Guy: It's always growing.
18:10
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, it's fine.
18:12
Ellie Alexander: Uh, one thing that I think some darlings may or not may or may not know, and it probably depends on whether you have an indie bookstore near you, and we'll talk about where you can find connections for indie bookstores in a second.
18:25
Ellie Alexander: But many stores offer all kinds of other bookish treasures and trinkets and writer-ish things, um, which is always fun to go explore, I think.
18:35
Tech Guy: Uh, that's actually one of my favorite parts of independent bookshops.
18:39
Tech Guy: As you well know, uh, my desk is just covered with uh little um, you know, stress balls and and cool little fun toys that I can fidget with and make noise on the mic when I'm not supposed to be during podcasts and things like that.
18:54
Tech Guy: Um uh no, I I love the fact and and this it um my kind of romantic view of independent bookshops, and so uh it'd be great if there are any darlings out there who are local independent bookshop owners, if you would weigh in in the comments on this.
19:11
Tech Guy: But but my like naive romantic view of this is like it would be so much fun to just shop for all the things that you're going to carry in your local independent bookstore, besides the books.
19:23
Tech Guy: I mean, the books would be fun in and of itself, but it's all the other stuff, right?
19:27
Tech Guy: All the all the little trinkets and treasures that you can find in the store outside of just the books themselves.
19:34
Tech Guy: Uh, I think it would be great to discover those things.
19:38
Ellie Alexander: Well, and one thing that I've learned in doing research for the novel detectives is just that, like how much other work goes into running an independent bookstore in our fairy tale world.
19:48
Ellie Alexander: It's like, oh, you're reading all day in the shop with a cat.
19:51
Ellie Alexander: Like, no, they you're shelving books, you're unboxing inventory, you're taking inventory, you know, it's it's it's a job like any other job.
20:00
Ellie Alexander: But one of the things that most indie shops do is they go to the regional trade shows, the bookish trade shows.
20:07
Ellie Alexander: So not only are you meeting publishers and authors with new works coming out, but you are finding all of those cool like novelty books.
20:15
Ellie Alexander: It smells like a book candle, or you know, like whatever cool bookish items you're gonna bring into the store then.
20:22
Tech Guy: Yeah, yeah.
20:24
Tech Guy: Um, so you mentioned uh yeah, you said something that that that made me think uh about the the this next topic, which is, you know, not everyone necessarily has a local independent bookshop.
20:36
Tech Guy: Right.
20:37
Tech Guy: I mean, even though there are now more than 3,200, that doesn't mean that every city in the US has has one.
20:43
Tech Guy: Uh and then there are people who just, you know, getting out and getting to a local independent bookshop is not uh not a possibility.
20:52
Tech Guy: Um and so for that, even if either of those things are true, there are ways that you can support independent bookstores by shopping online.
21:01
Tech Guy: And one of those is the website bookshop.org.
21:05
Tech Guy: Um they uh uh why don't you talk a little bit about what you can get on bookshop.org and then I I can come in with some uh stats on uh some exciting stats that I read about the sales for local independent bookshops through that website.
21:22
Ellie Alexander: Okay, great.
21:23
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, so bookshop.org, you can find, you can do a search and find where it is an indie bookstore near you.
21:30
Ellie Alexander: If you want to go on like some kind of book tour, you could even map out like, oh, okay, there are eight indie bookstores within a two-hour drive, and you could like make your own little bookish road trip.
21:41
Ellie Alexander: You can also order directly through any indie bookstore on bookshop.org.
21:47
Ellie Alexander: So, like you, you could have gone on and said, I want Dungeon Carl, crawler Carl.
21:52
Ellie Alexander: I always want to say Carl first for some reason.
21:55
Ellie Alexander: Um you could have ordered that series directly through any of the indie.
21:59
Ellie Alexander: Bookshops there.
22:00
Ellie Alexander: It doesn't have to be an indie bookstore that is near you.
22:04
Ellie Alexander: Like for us, even with you ordering from Beach Books, that's in Northern Oregon and we're in California now.
22:10
Ellie Alexander: So like they'll ship anywhere.
22:12
Ellie Alexander: And then you can also order ebooks directly from bookshop.org.
22:17
Ellie Alexander: So if you're an ebook reader, you can order your ebooks there as well, which is a great way to support indie stores.
22:24
Tech Guy: Yeah, totally.
22:25
Tech Guy: And this is a um this is a way that if you don't have a preferred local independent bookshop, you can you can shop online and feel like you're supporting, you know, the small business community.
22:37
Tech Guy: If you do know your local independent bookstore, go through them directly because that that is the then you're cutting out, you know, the the the middle uh person there and um and you're solidifying that relationship with your with your local uh shop.
22:53
Tech Guy: But but bookshop.org is a great resource for a lot of people.
22:58
Tech Guy: And uh judging by the stats, um, becoming more so because um the uh CEO of the company um taught was talking at a book conference and was talking about sales um for uh National Independent Bookstore Day uh in 2025, and the sales through their website were up 170 over 2024.
23:24
Ellie Alexander: So we need to make that like 500% this year.
23:28
Ellie Alexander: Come on, darling.
23:29
Tech Guy: That's right.
23:30
Tech Guy: That's right.
23:30
Tech Guy: So if you if you're if you're looking for a way to support local independent bookstores and you don't have one in your area or can't make it out to one, bookshop.org is a great way to support the the continued growth of uh local independent bookshops.
23:47
Ellie Alexander: That's fabulous.
23:48
Ellie Alexander: The other thing we should note too is that if you are an audio reader, you can get your audiobooks through Libro FM, which is a indie bookstore platform for audiobooks as well.
24:01
Ellie Alexander: Because I know there are a lot of audio readers amongst our darlings.
24:04
Ellie Alexander: And sometimes I think there's this perception then, like, oh no, I can only get it through one of the big chains, but that's not true either.
24:11
Tech Guy: Right.
24:12
Tech Guy: That that that is totally true.
24:14
Tech Guy: I mean, it anything that the bigger chains offer in the way of reading, the local independent, there's a local independent bookstore out there that can get you what you what you're looking for as well.
24:25
Ellie Alexander: So Yeah.
24:26
Tech Guy: Yeah.
24:26
Ellie Alexander: Okay, so this Saturday, April 25th, is local or not local, it's indie bookstore day nationally, which means that every basically every single indie bookstore across the nation will be doing some kind of an event.
24:42
Ellie Alexander: So this is a great opportunity for you to do a little sleuth thing.
24:46
Ellie Alexander: Come on, darlings, we're all detectives here, and figure out where is the closest event to you that you are super excited about.
24:54
Ellie Alexander: Okay, so for me, I will be at two local indie bookshops this week.
24:58
Ellie Alexander: On Thursday, April 23rd, I will be at Copper Bell Books in Ridgefield, Washington.
25:04
Ellie Alexander: And I'm so excited.
25:04
Ellie Alexander: It is a newer bookstore that just opened in the last couple of years.
25:08
Ellie Alexander: And um, we've been trying to find a time for me to get up there.
25:11
Ellie Alexander: So it just happened to coincide with the library event that I'm doing on Friday.
25:16
Ellie Alexander: And then on Saturday, April 25th, Indie Bookstore Day, I will be at Vintage Books in Vancouver, Washington.
25:23
Ellie Alexander: So you can come see me at either of those places.
25:26
Ellie Alexander: Vintage Books is my OG bookstore.
25:29
Ellie Alexander: They got me started back in the day.
25:31
Ellie Alexander: I've told this story before, I'm sure.
25:33
Ellie Alexander: But like when my very first mystery scene of the climb came out, I had this idea to do a launch party that was kind of different.
25:40
Ellie Alexander: It was going to be everything bagg-ish, though, like beer and cupcakes and like this immersive experience.
25:46
Ellie Alexander: And no one would come sell books.
25:48
Ellie Alexander: And because of contracts, authors aren't allowed to sell our books ourselves if you're traditionally published.
25:55
Ellie Alexander: A bookstore does that for you because we make royalties on the books, right?
25:59
Ellie Alexander: So they didn't know me vintage books, but fortunately my publicist put a call in and they showed up and they were phenomenal.
26:07
Ellie Alexander: And then they came to like every event in the future for me.
26:10
Ellie Alexander: So I'm excited to be heading back to the place where it all started.
26:14
Tech Guy: Yeah, so many years of great, just fantastic partnership with them.
26:18
Tech Guy: It's been it's been amazing.
26:19
Tech Guy: I'm actually really excited about this trip because of the stat that I read earlier about the 70% growth.
26:25
Tech Guy: Because one of the things we do every time we do go on a trip is I like to find a bunch of local books.
26:31
Tech Guy: I my list is always way longer than you.
26:35
Tech Guy: You kind of you you kind of ground me in reality because I come up with like 18 bookshops, and you're like, there's no way.
26:40
Tech Guy: There's just no way we can visit all these.
26:42
Tech Guy: But because we are going to be in the Portland, Oregon area, I am super excited.
26:47
Tech Guy: Um, one of the cool things about local independent bookstores, not all of them, but some of them have like coffee shops in them and everything.
26:55
Tech Guy: But Portland has the Rose City Book Pub, and this is great because this marries two of my favorite things in the world, which is books and beer.
27:04
Tech Guy: And there's nothing better than getting a pint of uh beer on draft and then going around and looking at books.
27:12
Tech Guy: It's just it's an incredible experience.
27:14
Tech Guy: So can't wait to visit.
27:17
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
27:17
Ellie Alexander: So, darlings, if you're looking for something to do this Saturday, I highly recommend that you get your little derriers out to your indie bookstore.
27:27
Tech Guy: That's right.
27:27
Tech Guy: Yeah.
27:28
Tech Guy: Do everything you can um to help just support such an incredible resource for every community that they're in.
27:37
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
27:37
Ellie Alexander: And if you have an idea that you've been pondering on, like pitch it to your store.
27:43
Ellie Alexander: You never know.
27:44
Ellie Alexander: Like maybe you're the one that they've been waiting for to start a mystery book club or to host Silent Reading Night, whatever it is.
27:52
Ellie Alexander: Or be brave and ask them for a recommendation that's outside of your comfort zone and see what they come up with.
27:57
Tech Guy: Oh, there you go.
27:59
Tech Guy: All right.
28:01
Tech Guy: So uh get out there and support your local independent bookshops.
28:05
Ellie Alexander: That's right.
28:06
Ellie Alexander: Until next time, happy reading.
28:08
Tech Guy: Until next time.