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If you've been hanging out here at all, you know how I love Wordsmiths--and with good reason. Wordsmiths is a rare gem among bookstores. Many of us are finding interesting ways to keep things going right now--but the little bits (or, in some cases, the generous donations) we can afford to share can make a huge difference. Please click through to Wordsmiths and hit their DONATE button, which will take you to PayPal. Be as generous as you can.
Thanks. Everyone who loves books and the independent arts scene thanks you.
Wordsmiths Books
Thanks. Everyone who loves books and the independent arts scene thanks you.
Wordsmiths Books
We need your help to save
our bookstore.
Beginning today, August 4th, and leading through a weekend fundraising event August 15th-August 17th, I am opening myself to your assistance. It doesn't matter how small your contribution is--with enough help it will all add up in the end. If you want to offer $25, $50, $100, $200, anything at all, it can help. My greatest hope is to not only save our bookstore now, but to offer in return for your help some sense of benefit when we are once again stabilized.
The fact is that Wordsmiths Books is, as an idea and in execution, a great bookstore and it can be so much more given the chance. We are not fighting declining sales, nor are we fighting customer apathy, or even a lagging book market. We are fighting only the debt created by starting in the wrong location. Despite the depths of our need, despite the fact that it leaves me no alternative but to seek your help, we still see the opportunity that lies before us here, on the Square and in the welcoming home of Decatur. We wish to have the opportunity to survive here, to grow and continue to bring to you the same level of entertainment and literary merit that you have come to expect from us. We just need help to get there. We need your help to survive today. If you are willing to help, you can call the store at (404) 378-7166, you can stop by or you can visit www.wordsmithsbooks.com and click on the Donation button on our home page. If you prefer to utilize the mail, then our address is: 545 N. McDonough Street, Decatur Georgia 30030.
There are questions that you have, I am sure. Please ask them. Email me at zach@wordsmithsbook.com, call the store (404-378-7166) or stop by. I am not averse to discussing the matter on any level to anybody. Simply put, we--the entire Wordsmiths Books family--are at your mercy. I will be blogging daily (or as close to daily as is possible) with updates and further information. Again, no amount is too small. We want nothing more than the opportunity to continue to be the bookstore we have been all along. Your help is greatly appreciated and will not be forgotten.
Thank you,
Zachary Steele, Owner/Operator Wordsmiths Books
2 comments:
Isn't it a shame what is happening to the independent bookstore? These smaller stores offer so much more than their giant counterparts! I like the intamacy of the smaller stores - I even hate seeing the Waldenbooks being squeezed out by their parent, Borders!
It's strange and sad--but in Wordsmiths' case, what has bitten them is not the usual blight of the indie bookstore, rather the sorts of mundane things that can drag any small business under. As a bookstore they're fantastically successful: all the airplay they get in places from the NY Times to Shelf Awareness to local media shows that. And they've got such amazing plans for the next year. Zach and Russ and all the crew there have got that rare thing called Vision, and Wordsmiths has gone beyond the independent-bookstore model to become a true hub for the arts in Atlanta and all of the Southeast. It's just that a couple of business compromises they were forced to make early on (only last year, believe it or not) turned out to be albatrosses. The good news: they've shed the worst of the albatrosses. But in the mean time those unavoidable compromises have created a *crunch* situation. Now they just need a boost to get it all behind them.
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