Pulitzer winners and finalists long have been advocates of independent bookstores, with some even opening or supporting shops of their own.
However, 2020 dealt a difficult hand to these small businesses. The coronavirus pandemic forced stores to limit customers, develop curbside pick-up options, or, in some cases, permanently shut down.
Many turned to authors and advocates for hope and solutions. One notable entity is Bookshop.org — an online retailer that allocates part of every order to an earnings pool that is then evenly distributed among independent bookstores.
According to a report in The Washington Post, nearly 55% of book sales are online, and Amazon is responsible for two-thirds of these transactions. In response to this growing market share, many independent bookstores have closed their doors, and Bookshop.org Founder Andy Hunter felt moved to act. “I became more and more worried about what the future was going to look like if Amazon achieved total market dominance,” Hunter said in an interview with Forbes. In an effort to help bookstores stay afloat, he developed Bookshop.org as an online alternative for “socially conscious consumers.” Hunter defines these consumers as “people who realize that bookstores have an outsized importance to the culture we value, and we want them to stick around.”
Birchbark Books
Many such advocates are Pulitzer authors. Louise Erdrich, 2009 Prize in Fiction finalist for "The Plague of Doves," owns Minneapolis’ Birchbark Books. She spoke to The New York Times about the enduring importance of independent bookstores. “It’s one thing to have algorithms keep suggesting the same books to you, but it’s another thing to walk in,” Erdrich said. Birchbark Book specializes in Native American titles, crafts and culture. A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Erdrich regularly purchases art prints, cards, jewelry and more from local Native artists and artisans. The friendly and uplifting atmosphere is further cemented by “handwritten recommendations, taped to shelves all over the store.”
1986 Fiction winner Larry McMurty at his Texas store, Booked Up.
Other Pulitzer authors with ties to independent bookstores are Ann Patchett, a 2020 Prize in Fiction finalist for "The Dutch House," who owns Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN, Larry McMurtry, winner of the 1986 Prize in Fiction for "Lonesome Dove," who owns Booked Up in Archer City, TX and Richard Russo, winner of the 2002 Prize in Fiction for "Empire Falls," whose daughter Emily Russo co-owns Print in Portland, ME.
Alley Cat Books
The difficulties of coronavirus closures are visible to more than just the owners. Andrew Sean Greer, winner of the 2018 Prize in Fiction for "Less," has championed Bay Area Alley Cat Books throughout the crisis. In response to the decrease in sales, the store created a GoFundMe to cover rent, bills, and wages. It also hosted a virtual reading and fundraiser, where Greer advocated for the shop. “When we come out of this, we’re going to need Alley Cat Books,” Greer said, as reported in SF Gate. “In my fantasy, San Francisco sheds some of the things that it’s gained in the past decade, and what still remains are places like Alley Cat that are unlike any other place.”
On Alley Cat’s website, just above the GoFundMe link, is the store’s Bookshop.org link — and its impact has been valuable. At first, the site’s aid was limited. NiemanLab reported Andy Hunter’s comments on early figures: “In February, we sold $50,000 worth of books. We raised $10,000 for local bookstores.” The site then hit $1 million raised in early May and has surpassed over $2 million as of June 1.
As coronavirus restrictions relax, Andy Hunter is aware that the site’s revenue may drop. “We welcome that day,” he said in News & Record. “We don’t want to hold on to those sales. We want those sales to go back into the stores because that’s our reason for existing: to help those stores.” And in this mission to help the stores, he’s joined by some of the literature’s finest.