Author Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket is staging an independent bookstore coup. The author of the wildly popular A Series of Unfortunate Events children’s books is urging his brothers and sisters of the quill to unite with independent bookstores, against the tyranny of “unnerving corporate machinations.” Upstream, an initiative of the Indies First campaign encourages writers to “partner with independent bookstores to sign stock of their books to keep on hand.”
In addition to Handler, Neil Gaiman is urging authors to j”volunteer at an indie on Small Business Saturday (November 29), to link to indies for book sales, and to use social media to promote their support.”
Ever the scribe, Handler penned quite possibly the most vividly persuasive letter we’ve ever seen.
Whether or not you are an author published by Hachette (as I am), you may lately feel as if you are engulfed in a rather unpleasant flood — as if the fate of your books is whirling dreadfully out of your control, battered by the waters of some enormous South American river, the name of which I cannot remember at the moment. While all this fierce sword fighting rages on without you, you may find yourself feeling even more hapless and hopeless than authors usually do, while your local independent bookstore struggles with a similar feeling that it’s some sort of jungle out there.
Get the full story at the American Booksellers Association.
Photo by Celia Moase
