Authors Guild urging local book buy

December 17, 2008 8:47 am · By Dustin · 2 Comments

So, we’ve all heard about the economic crisis our country is facing which by all accounts is becoming very real for some of us, even here in Fayetteville.

During difficult times like these, it is more important than ever to support local businesses, and President of the Authors Guild Roy Blount, Jr is urging everyone to do just that in an email we received yesterday.

Some local organizers are putting together a local book buy to try and positively impact some local companies during the holidays.

Locals will gather tonight at 6:30 PM Nightbird Books, and 7:30 PM at Dickson Street Bookshop.

Here’s the letter from Blount, intended for the Authors Guild, but forwarded to us as well.

I’ve been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren’t known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don’t lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A government bailout isn’t in the cards.

We don’t want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let’s mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your Christmas presents, but that’s just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they’re easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children’s books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they’ll be cheaper after Christmas) and buy many, many books. Then tell the grateful booksellers, who by this time will be hanging onto your legs begging you to stay and live with their cat in the stockroom: “Got to move on, folks. Got some books to write now. You see…we’re the Authors Guild.”

Whatever y’all do, we’d suggest skipping the Amazon’s and the eBay’s, and the big online companies, and spend your money locally this holiday season. It makes a huge impact on our local economy and it helps us all when we support each other, especially in times like these.

Thanks to Flyer reader P-Dub for the tip.