Novelist set up 'surprisingly successful' retailer in Nashville, following closure of other local bookshops
'Betting it all on a single number' ... Ann Patchett. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe
Novelist Ann Patchett has described how she struck a blow on behalf of independent bookshops everywhere, after setting up her own "surprisingly successful" store in Nashville, Tennessee in November 2011.
Patchett set up Parnassus Books as a charitable gift to her hometown, after two existing local stores including a huge Borders outlet closed down. Against the odds, the indie bookshop became a hit, even drawing queues outside the door before it opens in the morning.
In her essay The Bookshop Strikes Back, published as a one-off hardcopy edition in the UK to inspire booksellers and readers as part of Independent Booksellers Week, the Orange Prize and PEN/Faulkner award-winning novelist chronicles the shop's beginning. "When I look back on all this now I'm dizzied by the blitheness that stood in place of any sort of business sense, the grand gesture of walking over to the roulette table and betting it all on a single number," Patchett admits.
She puts Parnassus's success down to having a brilliant business partner, demand from local book buyers, and media interest from Germany to India to Korea.
"Just because some people like to use an e-reader doesn't mean there's no market for physical books. Ebooks are still less than half of book sales in the US. If you want the new James Patterson you might buy it for an e-reader, but you're less likely to buy Dickens on your Kindle. For children's books, e-readers are used even less. Everybody is tired of hearing about the death of bookshops and of books."
Patchett's media profile helped, underlining the potential power that big-name authors have to level the playing field for independent bookshops. In the UK, booksellers have urged authors to be more proactive in promoting the sector, including adding links to independent bookshops from authors' and publishers' websites.
Parnassus was inundated with orders for Patchett's latest novel, State of Wonder, after she mentioned the store on US chat show The Colbert Report.
In a comment reminiscent of Waterstones' glory days, Patchett adds: "I can't believe that such smart, interesting, friendly people are working in my little bookshop for little bookshop wages." The UK chain's success was attributed partly to its strategy in the early days of employing arts graduates who love books.
The Bookshop Strikes Back is taken from a new collection of essays, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, covering Patchett's marriage, bookselling, writing, family and her dog.
Patchett set up Parnassus Books as a charitable gift to her hometown, after two existing local stores including a huge Borders outlet closed down. Against the odds, the indie bookshop became a hit, even drawing queues outside the door before it opens in the morning.
In her essay The Bookshop Strikes Back, published as a one-off hardcopy edition in the UK to inspire booksellers and readers as part of Independent Booksellers Week, the Orange Prize and PEN/Faulkner award-winning novelist chronicles the shop's beginning. "When I look back on all this now I'm dizzied by the blitheness that stood in place of any sort of business sense, the grand gesture of walking over to the roulette table and betting it all on a single number," Patchett admits.
She puts Parnassus's success down to having a brilliant business partner, demand from local book buyers, and media interest from Germany to India to Korea.
"Just because some people like to use an e-reader doesn't mean there's no market for physical books. Ebooks are still less than half of book sales in the US. If you want the new James Patterson you might buy it for an e-reader, but you're less likely to buy Dickens on your Kindle. For children's books, e-readers are used even less. Everybody is tired of hearing about the death of bookshops and of books."
Patchett's media profile helped, underlining the potential power that big-name authors have to level the playing field for independent bookshops. In the UK, booksellers have urged authors to be more proactive in promoting the sector, including adding links to independent bookshops from authors' and publishers' websites.
Parnassus was inundated with orders for Patchett's latest novel, State of Wonder, after she mentioned the store on US chat show The Colbert Report.
In a comment reminiscent of Waterstones' glory days, Patchett adds: "I can't believe that such smart, interesting, friendly people are working in my little bookshop for little bookshop wages." The UK chain's success was attributed partly to its strategy in the early days of employing arts graduates who love books.
The Bookshop Strikes Back is taken from a new collection of essays, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, covering Patchett's marriage, bookselling, writing, family and her dog.
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