Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, publishers and booksellers in India are experimenting with new business practices to keep their businesses alive. It's not been easy, especially with the niche, indie presses and bookstores. 1/n

Many indie presses were already partnering with bigger names for sales and marketing support. With the onset of the pandemic, one expects more such partnerships. Many publishers have also taken to developing their own e-commerce capabilities to sell their own titles. 2/n

But this tweet is about indie booksellers in India. It's not been easy for them with the on-again-off-again lockdown policy, and the consequent inability to set up systems to deal with the new environment. But most of them have adapted nonetheless. 3/n

At @dogearsetc, we have had our own ecommerce-enabled website but we have had to increase the pace of listing new stock, and that isn't always easy when you are trying to be unique with your metadata. But we keep plodding on. 4/n

Other bookshops have had a web presence but not a webstore and have been working towards developing one. Still others have partnered with local delivery services to have books delivered to customers. Their social media activity has also increased. 5/n

Recently @rachnabooks announced that they would personally deliver books within certain areas in Gangtok. I can safely bet there are other booksellers who have done their deliveries themselves too. 6/n

It has helped that both, delivery services and payment options have matured in their offerings. It's easier now to facilitate cashless payments, and from a distance. Buyers can pay remotely through a payment link and books can be delivered through a 3rd party provider 7/n

Many small businesses have, unfortunately, folded up in India, but it seems like bookshops are holding on by and large. Not-so-high profile bookstores don't get noticed by the media and there are no bodies that track bookstores, so any closures will go unreported. 8/n

We hope there are few of such closures. If you know of any bookshop in India who's doing something mentionworthy, please share with me their story. If you are one such bookstore, please do that too. 9/9