Comments on: Does your local bookseller have a blog?

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:48:04 +0000

My local bookstore does not have a blog. But they have a wonderful website where I can check the stock of books they have and request books to be ordered for me – they call when it comes in. I love that feature. I would love a blog too – something that talked about upcoming or newly released books, maybe author interviews – you know another source for great recommendations basically. Also, I have no idea if they do book signings, readings etc. They are the only English bookseller around so it would be nice to know of events around town for English readers.

By: melanie

melanie — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:26:21 +0000

I wish my local indie store had a blog. I think they fall prey to the necessity of becoming more of a gift shop to stay afloat, and books end up less prominent.
I’d be happy to run a book blog on their behalf

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:43:27 +0000

my local indy bookseller, Headhouse Books, does not have a stand-alone blog, but does have a section on the main website, called Richard’s Log.

The only entry there is “borrowed” from someone else. I *may* be interested in a blog from Richard, but would be more interested in a rating system. Getting ratings from my neighbors would be very useful, and would probably also let the owner know what best to order in the future.

Wouldn’t that be easy to implement, with google’s gadgets?

Stephen (from the Goodreads group)

By: ann

ann — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:12:04 +0000

Thank you all for your insights and suggestions. We will share these with booksellers. Keep them coming!

We truly appreciate your help.

Ann

By: Ami

Ami — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:17:43 +0000

My local bookstore–McNally Jackson–does have a blog, but to be honest I am generally too busy to stop by. What is more helpful to me are the monthly missives sent out by the *other* local bookstore, Word.

To receive an update at the start of each month with readers, book club selections, and a few (no more than 5) highlighted books is incredibly helpful. Much easier for this consumer to read and digest.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:55:36 +0000

The bookstore I work for has a blog, as well as a presense on YouTube, Twitter, Goodreads, MyFace and more. The thing is, work on these sites are done in a “if you have time” basis, so updates are not nearly as frequent as our very busy 3 stores, with 600+ events every year needs. Plus, very few people are working on them and/or writing for them since our staffing levels have gone down with the economy slump. I recently VOLUNTEERED time to update their Goodreads site because I truly believe that these sorts of sites are the way to reach out to a HUGE demographic of people.

By: Ann Handley

Ann Handley — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:49:12 +0000

p.s. Two more blog idea for local bookstore: Staff members on Goodreads (link to their profiles) or other social networking sites; video book trailers that staffers think are particularly well done.

By: Ann Handley

Ann Handley — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:46:42 +0000

My local bookstore (Andover Bookstore) does have a blog, but its updates are far and few between, as far as I can tell. My guess it that they don’t know what to do with it.

Their home page is nice, however. They have an easy-to-scan, accessible listing of author readings/signings, and also produce an events-based email newsletter.

I’d love to see them do a more content-rich blog. Ideas off of the top of my head: staff picks or favorites, quick book reviews, visiting author Q&As, stats on what books are selling in their shop vs. NYT bestseller list (or similar), a regular interview with an Andover resident (“What Andover is reading”), updates to the building/business (a “what’s new in the shop”… anything that gets me vested in buying my books from them, rather than Amazon or Borders, and gives me a sense of the personalities behind the business.

By: trav

trav — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:39:21 +0000

One of our local booksellers has a blog and does a great job with it. Lots of promo and advance info for events. Everything from author speakings, open mic poetry reads and concerts. He trades mostly in used books and even posts thanks to folks who drop off large amounts of books.

The other booksellers would do good to start a blog. They all have too many unique opportunities to speak with authors and interesting customers, not to be sharing.

By: Jena

Jena — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:23:15 +0000

Our local indie bookseller doesn’t even have a webpage, but I wish they had some kind of online method of contacting them and keeping track of any events happening at the store, maybe the new releases they’re excited about. They didn’t even realize how big a deal the rest of the world was making over the Breaking Dawn release… *sigh*