The tenth anniversary of Winter Institute, which was held at the historic Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C., earlier this week, showcased the vitality of independent booksellers. As American Bookseller Association CEO Oren Teicher told PW: "Anybody who doubts the resurgence of independent booksellers, I wish they could have been in Asheville.”
With booksellers' numbers having consistently risen over the past five years, the prospective bookseller school, held the day before the official opening of Wi10, drew people like Christen Thompson, who wants to launch a mobile bookstore in Charleston, and Adele Fitzgerald and Catherine Hamilton-Genson, potential buyers of Main Street Books in Davidson, N.C.
Teicher called the conference "an extraordinary three days." He added: "The energy and enthusiasm of independent booksellers is just contagious." The importance of the indie sector was also underscored by the number of industry leaders who attended, including Macmillan CEO John Sargent, Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch, and Penguin Publishing Group head Madeline McIntosh.
Although the weather was, if anything, unseasonably warm for Asheville, the snows that have been pummeling New England prevented about a dozen booksellers from attending, including keynote speaker Sarah Lewis, author of The Rise (S&S, March 2014). The weather also moved Dale Szczeblowski, general manager of Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass., to ask at the Town Hall Forum if the conference could be moved to a more travel-friendly time of year, the spring.
Among the standout presentations was a panel on F. Scott Fitzgerald, who spent two summers at Grove Park when his wife, Zelda, was institutionalized. The Fitzgerald panel, called "The Man in Room 441," was moderated by Erik Larsen, author of the forthcoming Dead Wake, and featured Maureen Corrigan, author of So We Read On (2014), and Stewart O’Nan, author of the forthcoming West of Sunset.
Both Wi10 keynote speakers--John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars (2012), and Azir Nafisi, author of The Republic of Imagination (2014)--drew standing ovations. Green, who joked about bookseller pessimism, said, “I hope in 2025 we’ll all be worrying about the independent bookstore and lamenting 2023. Long live your pessimism and long live the great American bookstore.” Nafisi began with a toast: “Since this is the kind of place where water turns to wine, I want to drink to indies.”
Strong programming, like the session on Independent Bookstore Day (which will take place on May 2), had an immediate impact. More than 30 bookstores signed up to participate at Wi10, according to Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, which launched the inaugural California Bookstore Day last year. Close to 340 bookstores, including 90 in California, have signed up to participate.
Grove/Atlantic publisher and president Morgan Entrekin, Electric Literature founder Andy Hunter, and L Magazine founder Jonny Diamond also used the conference to introduce Literary Hub, which is intended to bring together news and profiles for book consumers. The trio encouraged booksellers to partner with Literary Hub, which will run weekly bookstore profiles and hopes to drive sales to indies.
Originally intended to launch at Wi10; Literary Hub will instead go live at the AWP conference on April 8. Many booksellers shared the enthusiasm of Gayle Shanks, owner of Changing Hands Bookstore, with locations in Tempe and Phoenix, Ariz., who is planning to participate in the project. “I’m jazzed,” she said. “I thought the energy in that room was incredible.”
Next year Winter Institute will move across the country to a more urban setting, in downtown Denver. Winter Institute 2016 is set for January 24-26, with an opening night reception on January 23.
