What are you doing Nov. 30? Bookstores Seeking More Authors for “Indies First” Day

While about 400 authors have answered Sherman Alexie’s call to “become a superhero for independent bookstores”–including some who plan to spend Nov. 30 hand-selling at multiple locations–many booksellers who’d like to be part of the Indies First movement are still looking for authors.

Authors who haven’t joined in yet can call their favorite local bookseller and volunteer their services on Nov. 30, which is also Small Business Saturday and the kick-off to the ABA’s “Thanks for Shopping Indie” campaign.

Those who want to get involved but don’t know a bookseller to call can get help by registering at the ABA’s website. The ABA is playing matchmaker, sending booksellers names of authors within 60 miles of them who are looking for a store to work in on Indies First day. Whether or  not they’ve already paired up with a bookseller, authors who register with the ABA will be included in a map the organization is putting together to show readers where to go to buy books from (as well as by) their favorite writer on Nov. 30.  The map will go up on Indiebound.org Nov. 8.

Though some stores are still looking to pair up with an author, others expect a house full of writers on Nov. 30. Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA,  for example, will be putting to work Gish Jen, Megan Marshall, Margot Livesey, Henry Louis Gates, Pamela Painter and Steve Yarbrough.

At The Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, one of several stops Alexie plans to make on Nov. 30, readers can get recommendations from authors including Garth Stein, Maria Semple, Tom Nissley, Kathleen Flinn, Ryan Boudinot, Kathleen Fleniken and Jonathan Evison.