By KEVIN HOOVER
A nugget of folk wisdom, of questionable attribution, reads something along the lines of “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be easily broken.” It’s a slice of pure fried gold that intertwines with the tribulations of indie booksellers who managed to keep the lights on during the uncertain hell of the COVID-19 health pandemic. Snared in a time when we weren’t sure when – IF – we’d ever experience the sunlight again out from behind masks and panes of glass, the unconventional conventionalists sallied forth to make sure we still got our books while six feet away from one another and even further from our favorite haunts. And there’s no more fitting of a phrase to punctuate the period while honoring the versatility of the modern-day book slinger than one whose source is unmistakable:
“I get by with a little help from my friends.”
New York Times bestselling author GRADY HENDRIX is one of those friends, and a damn fine one to have, mind you. For the prolific author whose name adorns the covers of millions-sellers like How to Sell a Haunted House and the recent Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, indie bookstores and their employees are to be celebrated flagbearers pushing the book-buying experience into its current halcyon era. Despite being able to purchase his books nearly everywhere that humans live and breathe, it’s the indie shop that speaks to the affable wordsmith’s horror-lovin’ heart and serves as the nucleus of his innumerable tours meeting fans, signing books (and babies!) and championing the cause of local literary heroes the world over.
Hendrix recently spoke with RUE MORGUE about how indie bookshops make the universe a better place for us all.
Within the food chain of book consumerism, where do you believe today’s indie booksellers rank?
It depends on whose point of view you have. From mine, they rank very high. I’ve always liked indie bookstores, butthey became essential during the pandemic. It was amazing to see them pivot in the course of a couple of months from live events to virtual events, from selling directly to customers in the store to doing curbside pickup and online through Bookshop.org. I think a lot of people realized that these stores were essential to the fabric of their community. In Charleston (SC), where I’m from, my mom couldn’t leave the house during the pandemic. The owner hadher credit card and would drop off books on her porch every two weeks. Indie bookstores are one of those things we’d miss if they were gone. We lost a lot in the pandemic, but most I see now are really having some of their best years’ sales. Romance bookstores are opening all over the place. Horror bookstores are starting. For shows on my book tours, I try to only do independent stores because they tend to be the ones who manage and run them the best. If you’re an author, yes, Amazon’s important; yes, Barnes & Noble is important. But independent bookstores that report to the New York Times Best Sellers list are crucial. They don’t get enough attention, but they’re such important parts of all of this.
The number of indie book shops has been expanding in recent years, with a surprising rise in genre retailers beginning to dot the landscape. What’s your take on the recent upswell?
I’m really depressed that romance is beating us! Something I’ve heard from a lot of booksellers around the country over the past few years is that one of the things that’s really driving their sales is genre. And they’ve embraced it. I’ve watched as I go back to these stores over and over again: their romance sections and their horror sections have expanded from one shelf to a bookcase, then to a wall of shelves. And that’s been amazing.
There are all these romance-only bookstores opening but only a few horror bookstores. I’m all for the romance, but come on, horror. We can do better than this! Down near San Antonio (TX), there’s Happy Haunt and a little closer to Austin there’s Ghoulish Books. Jenny Kiefer runs Butcher Cabin books in Louisville (KY). There’s Bucket O’ Blood in Chicago (IL) and Deadtime Stories in Lansing (MI). Little Ghosts is in Toronto and The Twisted Spine pop-up horror bookstore is in New York City, which is still looking for a physical location.
I’ve seen independent bookstores doing well with becoming community hubs. I can’t tell you how many I run into that have like nineteen different book clubs, or they have an event almost every night of the week. That’ssuch a huge part of what they do, and the people who work there know their customers’ tastes.
Oftentimes, indie shops often can’t compete on price with their corporate counterparts and don’t have the wiggle room for discount programs. However, it’s usually just a few bucks that separates the two. What would you say to persuade someone to shift their book budgets to an indie outlet?
I’ve been told by publishers that I can’t write certain kinds of books because of the way Barnes & Noble and Amazon make their purchasing decisions. As good as Amazon has been to me, as good as Barnes & Noble has been to me, I’ve seen how sometimes they come down hard and not to the benefit of authors. Indie bookstores don’t do that. They will never do that. Indie bookstores are where you’re going to meet your readers. For an author, indie bookstores are essential, and so if you’re a reader who cares about reading and you want to read more books instead of less, going to an indie bookstore makes a difference. It’s a couple of bucks more that they charge as compared to Amazon. That’s a tiny little tax: a small price to keep this community alive. If I buy a new book and it’s $6 or $7 more at the indie bookstore, that’s $6 or $7 I’m paying to keep this community alive and to give so many authors a chance. And when indie bookstores close, they usually don’t come back. We’re at a point right now where they’re doing well. A couple of extra bucks to keep them alive? That’s a small price to pay.
What are your thoughts about how these shops foster the literary community as a whole?
A small store has to be selective about what it does. It doesn’t have infinite shelf space, And it’s the same with their events. They can only do a certain number, so they bend over backwards to do the ones they think will work or that they’re excited about. I would rather do an event for free at an independent bookstore that is excited to have me there and it’s gotten the audience excited to have me there than a bigger venue that’s paying me, because they’re not as motivated. Those independent stores have a real motivation, not just to put on a good event, but to activate their customers to turn out and be excited. That’s something that’s really valuable.
So, what is Grady Hendrix reading at the moment, and what should others be reading?
I’m reading Patrik Svensson’s The Gospel of the Eels right now. And just for fun, I’m reading Christopher Buehlman’s Between Two Fires ’cause I really like his stuff a lot. He’s one of those historical fiction writers whose books feel veryimmediate, and Gospel of the Eels is just weird. What people should be reading, and I will say this until I’m blue in the face: Valancourt, Valancourt, Valancourt. If Valancourt’s putting it out, I’m usually ordering it. It’s two guys in a house in Virginia and they do heroic work. They bring stuff back into print that people will e-mail about and say, “I never thought I’d see a royalty check for this book again.” And they get everyone paid: cover artists, editors, writers. Everyone is treated really well by Valancourt. I’ve seen people complain that the Paperbacks from Hell reprints, which are a mass market paperback size, are priced like $19. Know what? That’s what it costs to make a book where everyone gets paid properly. That’s less than two beers in most cities. I find what they do so meaningful. I buy from them all the time because I know their taste. If they’re putting a book out there and it looks at all like it might be in my ballpark, I grab it. Eight times out of ten, they’re right.
Horror is a time-trusted ally for its ability to shoulder every facet of entertainment it’s involved in, especially that of literature. Any parting words before heading off to write the next thing that all of us bookworms will surely pre-order?
I’ve really noticed, since 2020, how much the horror community has stepped out of the shadows. There are more live events. I see more horror meetups and more book clubs. There are horror-only bookstores and horror breweries opening, and I feel like we’ve barely just begun. There are so many readers, but I think a big barrier to entry with horror is curation. People are willing to take a chance on something that’s fantasy or romance, because it’s less likely to be too much for them. There are many horror books that I think are great ways into the genre, and the way to get more people reading is for more people to be doing those one-on-one recommendations. Then those are fans talking to their friends: daughters talking to their mothers; sons to their dads. That’s where we get more of our readers from. When you look at the size of romance and fantasy and publishing right now, you can see the growth in horror and realize there is no limit to this. The community can just keep growing, but to do so, we’ve got to sustain what we build. To do that, we’ve got to support independent bookstores, and you’ve got to get people reading horror.
Visit Grady Hendrix’s official site to keep up-to-date with book release and tour info.
*Purchases made through any of the included links will directly benefit independent bookstores and may result in compensation for Rue Morgue.
