Even I, an avowed Kindle-lover and techie, had to take a (mental) step back when I read Farhad Manjoo's recent article in Slate. I have been reading Manjoo's articles for years, in Wired and elsewhere. He is often contrarian, but always thought-provoking. And he turns out to be right more often than I might like, as when he publicized the death of "the double-space after a period."

 

But this time? Manjoo may have gone too far. I worry for his safety. I'm only half-kidding about that. There are few truly sacred icons in our culture, but "local indie bookstores" is one of them. And Manjoo didn't just skewer that cultural icon, he smashed it into dust with a hammer in the middle of the street. 

 

And yet I have to admit that lately I have been feeling that if "guilt" is the only tool indies have to get me in the door, then maybe their business model needs improving.

 

It's true that we readers hold our bookstores sacred. Bookstores are where most of us began our love for books. All the hours we have spent, lazily browsing the stacks, encountering a new treasure or a rare find. You can't quantify that experience, and browsing Amazon is not the same thing at all. 

 

The question is, how much are you willing to pay for that experience? As Manjoo points out, bookstores sell books for list price. Which is typically 30-50% higher than the price you'll find on Amazon. His comparison to Whole Foods is apt: it's the same food, in a nicer setting, and you pay a premium for it.

 

Manjoo destroys most of the claims in favor of local indie bookstores, but that doesn't mean they are indefensible. Local bookstores may not carry mainly local authors, the way that a farmer's market carries mainly local produce. But they do promote local authors, both with shelf positioning and with signing events. 

 

More to the point, local bookstores - like all small, locally-owned businesses - put more money back into their communities. Manjoo compares Best Buy and an indie bookstore strictly by the number of people that they employ. But behind the scenes, all of Best Buy's money is flowing back to Best Buy's corporate office in Minnesota. (And probably to offshore tax havens from there.) 

 

To quote the 3/50 Project, for every $100 spent at a local business, $68 returns to the community. Whereas out of every $100 spent at a national chain, only $43 stays in the community. To put it another way, local indie bookstores are the 99%.