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| Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar - Asheville, NC |
There are examples of authors who sell books as well as write them. The late Larry McMurtry comes to mind and, at one point, his "Booked Up" bookstore in Archer City, Texas contained so many books it actually gave one a reason to go to Texas. If you are thinking about traveling to the U.S. and are bookish, have a look at the list below which consists of book stores owned by authors. Below that list you will find another, for those less adventurous who do not want to cross the border. It provides recommendations by Canadian authors of the bookstores they favour in this country.
If you are bookish, you may just want to stay on the couch and read. In that case, the lists may be useful since both the bookstores owned by authors and those simply recommended by them are likely to be places filled with books and interesting suggestions about which ones to order. Some even have 'merch' if your Taylor Swift tee-shirt is tattered.
Before you begin, although I am barely an author, I will offer three of my own recommendations for free. If you like to read and drink, head on down to Asheville, North Carolina. After touring Biltmore ("America's Largest House") go downtown to the Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar. It's both swanky and comfortable as the picture at the top illustrates. Closer to Ontario, you will find Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs. It is a good shop and Saratoga is swanky. If you live in B.C. go to Sidney which has about a dozen bookstores. According to the Wikipedia entry, it is one of two "book towns" in Canada. The other one is Fundy -St. Martins in New Brunswick, but I am not sure why.
10 Bookstores in the United States Owned or Co-Owned by Authors
(The material with each entry is usually taken from the store website and the link provided, along with some text in case the link rots. I confess to not knowing much about some of the authors and if you are like me you will appreciate the brief remarks which are from Wikipedia. The entries are alphabetical by author.)
2. Louise Erdrich
Birchbark Books
Minneapolis, MN
We are a locus for Indigirati—literate Indigenous people who have survived over half a millennium on this continent. We sponsor readings by Native and non-Native writers, journalists, historians. Louise Erdrich will sign or personalize any of her books ordered through the bookstore. Has a blog. Carries, games, Indigenous art.(Erdrich is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. She has written 28 books in all, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children's books. In 2009, her novel The Plague of Doves was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people.)
3. Alex George
Skylark Bookshop
Columbia, MO.
Alex George (he/him) has published seven novels, which have been translated into more than ten languages….
He has written for, among other publications, The Washington Post and LitHub. Alex is also the founder and director of the Unbound Book Festival. He is also an attorney, and runs his own law firm in Columbia. A native of the UK, he moved to Columbia twenty years ago, not that he’s counting. In 2022 he was named Midwest Bookseller of the Year by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association.
Skylark is a fiercely Independent Bookshop. We strive to always find new ways to celebrate literature and our community. Some books give us knowledge and perspective; others simply give necessary space to breathe. Putting the right book into the right hands is a deeply meaningful act. We believe that we can find that book for everyone who walks through our doors. We embrace enjoyment, entertainment, and the beauty of Skylark Bookshop.
Alex George has his own website.
4. Lauren Groff
The Lynx (brand new)
Gainesville, Florida
Best-selling novelist Lauren Groff is fighting Florida censors on their own turf. This spring in Gainesville, she and her husband, Clay Kallman, will open a new bookstore dedicated to Florida writers, LGBTQI+ authors and books banned in Florida.
5. Jeff Kinney
An Unlikely Story
Plainville, MA.
It carries much more than his Wimpy Kids books and has a cafe.
(Kinney is from the state in which I was born. To promote the release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer, Kinney embarked on book tour across the West Coast of the United States titled "The No Brainer Show" from October 23 to November 8, 2023. Kinney dedicated the tour to libraries and librarians, making a personal donation of $100,000 for libraries along the tour. Over 275 million copies of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books have sold globally as of 2023)
(Lawson is well known for her irreverent writing style.Lawson was recognized by the Nielsen ratings as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Mom Bloggers and Forbes listed thebloggess.com as one of their Top 100 Websites for Women. She was a finalist in the 2010 Weblog awards for Best Writing and Most Humorous Writer, and a finalist in the 2011 Weblog awards for Best Writing, Most Humorous Writer and Weblog of the Year.)
7. Kelly Link
Book Moon
(She won a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship - $625,000!)
8. George R.R. Martin
The Favourite Bookstores of 10 Canadian Authors
For Canadian content I now provide a list which is based on the information found in this article: "Ten Canadian Writers Share Their Favourite Independent Bookstores," Sophie Palmer-Still, Globe and Mail, April 28, 2023.
The author, one of their books and the publisher are provided along with the name and location of the bookstore. There are more than 10 since some authors chose more than one.
1. Janie Chang, The Porcelain Moon (HarperCollins)
Her picks: Talewind Books, Sechelt, B.C., and Book Warehouse Main St., Vancouver.
2. Vikki VanSickle, P.S. Tell No One (Scholastic)
Her pick: Moonbeam Books, Toronto
Unfortunately this store closed on Jan. 14, 2024.
3. Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (Drawn & Quarterly)
Her pick: On Paper Books, Sydney, N.S.
See Destination Ontario for "Unique and Independent Bookstores in Ontario."
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