Thanks to our current bookstore partners: Book Soup (Los Angeles, CA), City Lights (San Francisco, CA), Green Apple (San Francisco, CA), Iconoclast (Ketchum, ID), Mysterious Galaxy (San Diego and Redondo Beach, CA), Vromans (Pasadena, CA), Readers (Sonoma, CA), Skylight (Los Angeles, CA), Word (Brooklyn, NY).

What We Believe About Bookstores

Perhaps more than ever before, independent bookstores are vital elements of a healthy local community. They are centers for intellectual discourse, cultural exchange, creative thought, and political debate. And we know that — supported by devoted customers and guided by active management and creative staff — bookstores can still thrive. 

But around the country, market forces continue to shutter independent bookstores (as well as many other small businesses) that lack the support base, energy and resources to compete. The bookstores that survive are increasingly anchored to urban regions and academic regions. They have become tourist destinations; cultural institutions with their own stories; creative hotspots for some of the most interesting neighborhoods in the country. We believe that the value of these strong independent brands is tied directly to the cultural and creative life of the regions they represent. Further, we believe that these identities matter to a broad national audience. 

How LARB Helps Independent Bookstores

We are partnering with top bookstores around the country to help promote their brands. Through our Naked Booksellers Program, we want to collaborate with them to tell their stories, and broaden their websites’ reach so that fans of a store can support it no matter where they live. That’s right, most bookstores these days have websites that sell books, and we’re asking our audience to use those sites as much as possible. LARB offers exposure to: 

• True book lovers: in a recent LARB survey of 658 readers, 61% of respondents stated that they bought at least 10 books per year, with a majority of these readers buying well over 20 books per year; 
• Quality audiences: our reviews, interviews essays, and blog posts are regularly picked up and cited in other publications like Slate, AL Daily, Huffington Post and Salon; 
• International presence: with readers in over 150 countries and all 50 states we are speaking to a well-traveled and global audience that is interested in visiting your store. 

Please join us. For more information, email us at info@lareviewofbooks.org.