Book Stores Aren't Just for Books

My novel is coming out on May 26th, 2026. I am about to be a real author. And in becoming a real author, I need to do real author things. Even things I'm bad at. Like going to local book stores and introducing myself and inquiring about their options for local author events.

So, one Friday, I had to go to an appointment near a big bookstore. And I thought, this is perfect. I am basically there. Time to go inside and market myself! I can do this.

I pulled into the parking lot at about 8:50 and checked the hours. I had ten minutes until they opened. It was a little cold out, but I realized, people were outside the doors. I did a double take. Not just a few people, but a lot of people stood on the sidewalk at the front of the store. One woman with grey curls had her hands pressed to the glass so she could peer inside. Next to her stood two kids who were clearly skipping school. Beside them was an aging punk with a grey scraggly beard and a vape pen. For the area I was in, this was a highly diverse group! And all of them wanted to get into a place that sold books?

What was happening?

I hung out in my driver's seat and occasionally checked the group at the storefront. More people appeared. At some point I realized, it was getting harder to see the people, and it dawned on me, the parking lot was filling. The HUGE parking lot.

I was in an area that had more than enough schools to teach all the kids, but a significant number of parents choose to homeschool. Right leaning political signs were all over the place, assumedly in support of the dismantling of the Department of Education, and yet, on a Friday there was a throng of seemingly unrelated people waiting for a bookstore to open?

I was dying to know what was going on.

At 8:59 I got out of my car and walked to the front. The doors were just opening, and people rushed inside. I counted over twenty people before I lost track of who I'd counted and who I hadn't.

Inside, I found a man who offered to help me. I introduced myself as a local author who wanted to say hi and inquire about their author events. But, he was convinced I was a self published author. No matter how much I explained I wasn't, my words didn't get through to him. I gestured to his computer, "You can see my book on your site right there." I resisted the Millennial urge to then also say, "The files are IN the computer." But, even without the Zoolander quote, he remained unmoved. He did give me a group inbox to email with my questions, which was helpful, although I could have just called.

And while I was disappointed in the outcome of this interaction, I risked one last question.

"Do you always have a line to open?"

He blinked at me.

"Is there a big release or something today?" I tried.

This seemed to make sense today and he just said, "Pokemon."

When I turned from him I saw that everyone under the age of sixty, with the exception of me, was in line at the registers, and indeed the people leaving the resisters held little flat packages marked Pokemon. Everyone over sixty had colonized the cafe seating, and they were just SCREAMING at each other. Not in a mean way, but in a way that suggested the only people who believed they needed hearing aides were people the yelling folks didn't listen to anyway.

I was the only person who was in the books section.

Damn. For a second there, I had flown high on hope. People were reading! And they were willing to line up outside to do it. But really, people were just into Pokemon and the cafe.

I drifted back to the front of the store, checking out the tables of books and sections marked new releases. This store had some good reads curated on their tables and shelves.

Whoever had put these tables and shelves together was clearly a reader, and based on the stock, people were buying the books. I added several books to my TBR, and looked up to see I was no longer alone in the book section. Several people now also browsed the tables and shelves.

People were still reading! And while maybe they weren't rushing the doors to get to these tables, it was clear to me that this bookstore, and others, were finding ways to be relevant in modern times. If the best place to get fantasy cards or the best place to socialize with your friends is also a place that sells books, I'm okay with that, even if I wish the guy yelling about U boat sinkings during WWII was a little quieter, and even if I have no idea why Pokemon cards are worth standing in the cold for.

How cool is it that Gen A to Boomers found the same place to frequent? And at the book store no less.