Indie bookstores are back, baby.

I take the mass media memes with a grain of salt, even when they are in my favor.

I never thought indie bookstores were doomed.

Nor do I think they are having a dramatic resurgence.

They hit bottom and those who could survive, survived, and those who entered in the business had clearer notions about what it takes to survive.

Still... all the things I've been predicting on this blog for the last 8 years seem to be happening.  The demise of Barnes and Noble is well underway.  The Nook was a mistake, as I've always thought.

Physical books aren't disappearing.

I've more or less changed my mind about ebooks.  I think the legacy publishers would be wise to embrace ebooks, share the loot, and pick up the better indie authors and treat them fairly.

I don't think they are going to do that.  I think they are going to go down with the ship.

Anyway, whether the mass media (and therefore the public) thought bookstores were doomed or not never really mattered to me.  I knew that I was doing just fine, and in fact my book sales have increased every year I've carried them, and that's without taking too much risk on them.  (Carrying what is comfortable and financially easy to me.)

What did matter about the impression of doomed bookstores was that it was going to make selling a bookstore so much harder.  I'm getting near the end of my career.  At some point I was going to want to sell my store(s).

It's at least a few years away.  We renewed our leases at both Pegasus Books and The Bookmark.  So maybe by the time we're ready, the meme will have changed completely from "Bookstores are doomed" to "Bookstores are Hot!"