By Erin Wood
The American Booksellers Association reports that holiday sales account for nearly a quarter of independent booksellers’ annual profits. With holiday dollars, consumers can make a significant impact on independent bookstores, small publishers, and local authors—and local support can be online.
Amazon alternatives: Online purchases through Bookshop.org have raised $42.5 million for indie bookstores since 2020. Order there and choose the indie bookstore of your choice. Devote an extra minute to determine a book’s publisher and visit the publisher’s site directly. Many offer special discounts and signed books for gifting. Your direct purchase can put more money in authors’ and small presses’ pockets.
Why not Amazon? Did you know that Amazon can often lose money on books just to get buyers on the site for other profitable purchases? Authors and publishers make pennies on the dollar. Most authors don’t sell the tens of thousands of copies necessary to earn a decent wage for their efforts. Writers and readers suffer when publishers have less to fund future projects.
Why should I buy locally? In addition to fueling local economies, you’re supporting a small business ecosystem. In Hot Springs, visit stores like Black Ribbon Books where owners work hard to curate unique experiences for shoppers who can hold books in their hands, read first pages, buy copies signed by authors, and attend engaging book events. Amazon purchases kill this ecosystem.
Charitable gift idea: Libraries have been hit hard this year. Donating to the Garland County Library in your gift recipient’s name supports awesome literary programming and is something everyone can be proud of.
Hot Springs native Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs etaliapress.com. Wood is the author of “Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives” (2019) and editor of and a contributor to “Scars: An Anthology” (2015).
