Here is a thread of takeaways from my  #AUPresses20 talk about building bridges with indie booksellers.

I didn't expect the panel to touch on the question, "What's the best place in Seattle to murder someone?" But that answer is here, too. 1/x #ReadUP

First, here is the Seattle Times story about the University Book Store (a Seattle indie) selling 75,000 copies of "The Boys in the Boat," illustrating the power of one store to connect one book to one community. https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/university-book-store-celebrates-its-120th-anniversary-this-month-here-are-some-things-you-might-not-have-known-about-it/

University presses should consider indie booksellers (and your traveling sales reps!) as part of the press's institutional memory. After years of handselling, they may know your backlist as well as you!

Tip: If you start a job as a regional trade editor at a university press, the #1 thing to do is to befriend local indie booksellers. They have more institutional knowledge about your list and readers than you can imagine.

University presses and indie bookstores need each other to accomplish our respective missions: boosting overlooked voices; elevating what's best and unique about a region; helping drive conversations that lead to social change.

As noted by UW Press editor-in-chief Larin McLaughlin, our work as publishers in preserving histories and literary works for people who might be marginalized is also part of the activist and intellectual labor of indie booksellers. It's a joint mission!

Indie booksellers know which of your backlist titles need a new cover or a new foreword or a substantial update to reach a new generation of readers. Ask them!

Indie bookstores help make a space a place, a group of people into a community. A university press should aim for that, too.

Also on the panel, @finaleofseem at Third Place Books said be creative w/ events! Like Seattle historian David Williams & mystery writer Kevin O'Brien, who did grim/fun talks on the topic: what are the best places in Seattle to murder someone?

Answers >>> https://twitter.com/RachelDWelton/status/1274076457891815425