Bookshops and Community, by Matt Bialostocki

from BooksellersNZ

I have recently returned from the USA. I was there to attend a six-day booksellers conference (Wi10) gathering 550 independent booksellers, 90 writers and 50 publishers in Asheville, North Carolina. One of the first events of this conference was an Asheville indie retail crawl.

Why? Because the organisers understood that an indie bookshop, no matter how strong, clever, open, kind or well-read they are, can’t make a community by themselves. I thought a lot about community while at this conference, and what follows are a few observations about the place of bookshops in the community.

Read on for Matt's thoughts on the purpose of a bookshop within community, sticking to priorities, getting great staff, dealing with controversy, and more.