Indie Booksellers: 'Concierges' of Taste

Shelf Awareness

"I've had tons of great experiences in large bookstores and I think their staff often do know their books. Where I think the people who work in smaller bookstores have an advantage, though, is in the way many of them not only know the books, but also get to know their customers. I'd make the analogy that while chain bookstores can be arbiters of taste, indie stores are concierges. 
Of course, part of this is the customers' attitudes when they come in the shop. I know I don't feel as bad when I buttonhole the proprietors and staff of indie stores and force them to talk me through their stock. That's often how I get to hear about beginning writers like me."

--Stephanie Tromly, author of Trouble Is a Friend of Mine, in an Indies Introduce q&a with Bookselling This Week