Reading Print Books And Supporting Your Local Bookstore During The Corvid Pandemic
Organic Books (Top) Is Located In Nob Hill, Albuquerque, Lower
Photo Is Treasure Books And Gifts In Adobe Style of Old Town
The question for many readers today, is how do I get a print book in my hands with all of the bookstores closed? Okay, some may be open, but which ones, and where, and how do I know if they are open or closed?
There are a few options here, if you don't want to guess. You can go to Amazon and find print books but what if you want to support your local bookstore?
Well now there there are more websites dedicated to Independent bookstores so you can find your favorite bookstore online and buy directly from them.
For example, you can go to https://www.biblio.com and search for you local bookstore. Many Independents can be found there, maybe the ones in your town. Although, this one is suggested by Organic Books in my home town, it seems a little clunky to use. There is not an obvious store locator. You have to Click on Bookstores on the menu under the logo and enter the name or zip code. The zip pulled up most of the stores in Albuquerque, but there was no map and the overall viewing experience leaves a lot to be desired.
A better Indie Book store finder is Indie bound dot org: https://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder
It lets you put your zip code in and shows you all of the participating Independent bookstores in a 10, 50, or 100 mile radius. In my city of Albuquerque, NM, I found five of the seven local bookstores and two college bookstores listed, Including Organic Books, and Treasure Books, which both carry my books. But it also listed half a dozen quasi media sites that are not actually bookstores
Bookshop dot org is another good Indie Bookstore referral website: https://bookshop.org/pages/store_locator
It also lets you input your zip code and has a default 15-mile range, which allows 50, 250 and 1000 mile ranges. It has a map and lists only bookstores (five in my town) but it doesn't include the college bookstores in Albuquerque or any of the quasi/not really bookstore sites as listed on Indie Bound.
So there's no excuse for not supporting your local bookstore during the Coronavirus epidemic. What are you waiting for? It's not like you don't have any time to read. This period may be the most productive time in your reading career. --Don Weston, author of Four Billie Bly P.I. Series Print Books and eight short e-books on Amazon. Author Central: https://amzn.to/2qtcy9T
