Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want To Fight For From Free Speech To Buying Local To Building Communities

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Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want To Fight For From Free Speech To Buying Local To Building Communities

by Andrew Laties (Goodreads Author), Bill Ayers, Ed Morrow (Contributor)

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 43 ratings · 16 reviews

The revival of independent bookselling has already begun and is one of the amazing stories of our times. Bookseller Andy Laties wrote the first edition of Rebel Bookseller six years ago, hoping it would spark a movement. Now, with this second edition, Laties’s book can be a rallying cry for everyone who wants to better understand how the rise of the big bookstore chains le...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published July 19th 2011 by Seven Stories Press (first published July 5th 2011)

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Jan 03, 2012 Linda Cohen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, non-fiction

Number five book for 2011

I loved this book!! I have been a bookseller for 22+ years and it is not just a job to me, it is my career! I remember when Big&Nasty came to our town & killed our wonderful indie store. People had no idea what they had lost until it was gone. I remember when I worked for Borders after this(I know I know-but you have to make choices sometimes-work for a chain store or don't work at a bookstore at all. My soul couldn't handle being away from books) and people woul...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are three things going on in this book.

1) There's Andy Laties' memoir of his education and experience in the book selling biz, which is entertainingly told but not of any independent interest (I would never have heard of him without this book). Seems like a nice guy, if a bit hyper.

2) There's his analysis of that experience, shaped into guidelines for running your own independent bookstore. This includes parts of the historical context (the rise and fall of chains, the metastasis of B&N,...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Hans de Zwart rated it 3 of 5 stars

In some ways this is a failed book and in other ways it is great. For me it really worked as a piece of activism. After reading the book I've become resolute and will stop buying e-books (or in Laties' words: I will stop buying limited access to remote-control texts via electronic screens) and I will avoid chains of bookstores like the plague (although some of what he writes about them isn't true in the Netherlands). Because of the book I am now hatching plans for my own community book store: I...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: w2011-text, indie-press

This book had some really interesting history and analysis and outside-the-box thinking about indie bookstores and the landscape that we now inhabit and how it got that way.

It helped me to articulate the reason I am a bookseller: "to help make life more bearable for as many people as possible through books and community." Whether it's depressing fiction that makes life feel rich or makes you feel less alone, or humor that makes you laugh, or self help or health or finance books that provide pra...more

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May 08, 2013 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

I grabbed Rebel Bookseller while traveling. I was excited to read it, but didn’t have a chance and finally got to it around 9 months later. I’ve struggled to explain how I feel about this book—in the end, I’ve come to realize that parts of this book are fascinating and well written, but they are spread throughout and are not more than 25% of the work. The rest of the time, the subject matter is largely unfocused, repetitive and uninteresting. As the author himself notes, he’s been accused of bei...more I grabbed Rebel Bookseller while traveling. I was excited to read it, but didn’t have a chance and finally got to it around 9 months later. I’ve struggled to explain how I feel about this book—in the end, I’ve come to realize that parts of this book are fascinating and well written, but they are spread throughout and are not more than 25% of the work. The rest of the time, the subject matter is largely unfocused, repetitive and uninteresting. As the author himself notes, he’s been accused of being a bitter man by publishers, and having mental problems by his wife. Both show in this book. It seemed to be several different things for several different audiences. The title and front cover pulled me in, promising a book about why indie booksellers fight for free speech, communities and apple pies, or some such. I’d love to read such a book, but I never encountered it in Rebel Bookseller. The back of the book promises a history of problems in the publishing and bookselling industry for the past few decades. This sort of comes through in the book, but generally is so technical that it is boring unless you’re a bookseller or so accusatory you get tired of hearing how the man is out to get everyone, and how every indie store is targeted.

The book has two sets of parallel chapters—chapters titled Chapter 1, etc and chapters titled 1st Rant, etc. The rants were generally excellent reading, and having finished the book, I wish he had simply put the rants together and published them as some sort of long form essay or something. They were insightful, fresh, and provided a good look into the bookselling industry for people like me—who frequent bookstores, understand the basics of both bookselling and publishing, and have always had an academic sort of interest in finding out more. Each took an idea (they weren’t so much rants as passionate speeches) and explained something booksellers should do or know. However every 2 or 3 page rant was followed by a much longer chapter. The chapters were partly memoir of Andrew Laties’ life as a bookseller (to use the term loosely), and partly tale of how independent booksellers survived some turbulent years in the industry. I’ve never heard of Laties, but I’m also not in the business. Reading this book, it seems he either had every major idea in bookselling over the past two decades, or was willing to take credit for all of them. Based on the explanations of very simple bookstore business concepts—such as the ability to return books to printers—and the content of the rants, it seemed as if this book was targeted towards non-bookstore owners with an interest in bookstore management. Yet the volume of technical detail, most of it rather boring for anyone other than someone in the business. While I’m sure details of trade group presentation you gave two decades ago are thrilling to you, it seemed rather like the person who won’t shut up at a cocktail party to me. I understand you wrote a really witty script for your presentation in a small group session. Excerpting sections of it (and why were you keeping it for 20 years?) isn’t required. Moreover, while Laties story was interesting at times, the information about how he grew his store was very much geared towards him setting up a niche children’s educational bookstore at a specific moment in the industry that then failed, and had him set up another store as a gift store in a museum where less than 20% of the inventory is books, and ending managing someone else’s bookstore after that failed. It almost seemed the perfect bookstore owner trajectory in reverse. I can’t imagine how most of his story would be useful as anything other than a case study today—certainly not for people actually setting up a store today. Finally, I found the tone of the book very off putting, as if he wanted you to sympathize with what he went through and root for him to succeed, but would turn and be vindictive and gleeful any time anything happened to anyone else. He seemed to have an axe to grind with nearly everyone he’s ever encountered professionally—including customers. Apparently they’re at fault for not spending great sums of money at independent bookstores, and for buying books and messing up the displays and shelves. At the same time. Throughout this work Laties repeatedly chronicles business failures—but rather than present them as lessons learned and educational opportunities, he instead uses them to blame nearly everyone else. It is never his fault, he is brilliant, but the man is out to get him. The writing is confusing, and he haphazardly refers to names and dates in such a way you feel like you’re expected to know who people are or what was happening in his life at the time without being provided any other information. My favorite part comes toward the end when he starts telling you stories about people coming up to him and saying how he changed their life in a strangely tacked on chapter that jumps 8 years into the future and was obviously stuck in for the ‘revised and updated edition’. I was waiting for a hand to emerge with a collection plate. You can see why I’m disappointed in this book. I really wanted to enjoy it, and I pushed through it in hopes that some of the chapters would be good, but it was just poorly done.

In short—I can’t think of a situation in which I’d recommend it. It isn’t focused, it seems to have several radically different audiences in mind, and the tone will likely put you off. I’d say if you’re really interested, borrow a copy and read just the rants. They’re good at least.
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Dec 04, 2011 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: va-book, abandoned, books-about-books, bio-memoir, non-fiction

This book is well-written and interesting...if you want to open an independent bookstore or other retail space. I did not find the first 4 chapters to be difficult at all - not a slog, fairly interesting - but after that point, I felt I could give the VA Festival of the Book Program Director the information she needed to decide whether or not to invite the author to the festival. Any slight inclination I may ever have had to open a bookstore (which have never been serious dreams, by the way) wou...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Bookseller Cate rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think I should add "Rebel Bookseller" to my business cards.

I'm more serious that you might think. It's long been a philosophy of mine that a book being on a bestseller list is a mark against my reading it. Not because of some "I'm better than the masses" snobbery, but simply because it doesn't need my help.

Many people tout the wide selection of the chains, Amazon and now e-books. Ironically, when the numbers are crunched, their effect has been to reduce the variety of books people are readin...more I think I should add "Rebel Bookseller" to my business cards.

I'm more serious that you might think. It's long been a philosophy of mine that a book being on a bestseller list is a mark against my reading it. Not because of some "I'm better than the masses" snobbery, but simply because it doesn't need my help.

Many people tout the wide selection of the chains, Amazon and now e-books. Ironically, when the numbers are crunched, their effect has been to reduce the variety of books people are reading.

If you want your potential readers to find a particular book amongst all the others on the shelf (or the site), it has to be featured in some way. The megastores can't feature all the books, because that just puts everyone back at square one. So publishers put the majority of their money behind those few titles with mass appeal. The average reader, overwhelmed by the selection in the back of the store, clings to the bestseller lists, which become self-perpetuating.

Of course, the problem of how to promote books is not a new one. The trouble comes when the choice of which to promote is put into hands and minds of only a few people, and those few are hoping to please as many as possible (ie: their choices will veer away from anything controversial).

Independent bookstores put more hands in the pot, allowing exponentially more chances for a given book to be discovered by someone who has the power to get it onto a particular store's shelves -- and hopefully out the door again.

Laties book came out just before another piece of news rocked readers. Laties reminds us on his blog that independent bookstores have a hidden strength. One thing to remember in the shock of the Borders bankruptcy is that there were individual stores that were successfully pulling a profit, but were pulled down by the weight of the chain around them (pun intended). Had each Borders store been independent of the others, the effect on the reading public would not have been so catastrophic.

I wish could make Rebel Bookseller required reading for all the authors, both published and not-yet-published, and all the dedicated readers in my realm of influence. Laties gets a bit vitriolic at times, but I can't bring myself to disagree with him.

Oh, and I'm buying a lot more of my groceries from independents now, too. (less)

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Sep 24, 2011 Chad Post rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not sure this book completely lives up to its subtitled hype . . . Interesting, but I'm not totally down for 280 pages of "can do!" attitude without a bit of irony. And Laties prose can be a bit overblown and annoying at time . . . Still, it's an interesting perspective on indie bookselling, and if it inspires someone to start a store, or buy books from an indie store, well, then, that's fantastic.

(Also weird that Laties is from Rochester. Not that you'd recognize the city from his description...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Mary Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very interesting account of an insider's view of how the massive corporate booksellers have changed how books are sold. Laties' writing can be awkward at times, but that is more than compensated by the fascinating experiences as an independent bookseller he writes about. The book is a combination of "how to" (or how NOT to) sell books, based on his many years in the field, and the role of publishers and large corporate booksellers in the industry. Laties is community-minded and drives home the i...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Earl Dizon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I got to see Andrew Laties talk about "Rebel Bookseller" a few months ago.

This book definitely stirred the flames of my wanting to open my own bookstore. I'm pretty sure that's a common fantasy for any lover of books. And, for anyone who's even just entertaining the idea of doing so, this is a must read.

Andrew Laties is refreshingly honest about the struggles of running a business and the problems with the publishing industry. But, he also offers plenty of advice and promotes a sense of camarade...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ironically, I picked this book up ( recently republished) the week Borders announced they were going out of business. If you have ever sold books, you will relate to many things he says in this book. He owned a children's bookstore in Chicago and then went on to own the gift shop at the Children's Museum at Navy Pier. Much insight into the book industry. He is a little full of himself, but I think with good reason. Although I worked for Borders forever, I certainly agree that they were the evil...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Georgette rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesome

Reading this book made me even more glad to be part of a bookstore movement that is still standing and fighting-the independent bookstore- aka indies. Andrew tells of the history of corporate bookstores vs. the independents. He tells the truth about Amazon.com, how publishers screw each other over as well as bookstores, how the printed word(Publishers Weekly) and the Internet word(Amazon) can turn on a book that has been hyped(that's a particularly alarming story toward the end of the book). His...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Hannah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Moderately useful reading for a bookseller, in some of the history and intricacies of the business as well as a few useful strategies. I wish the "rebel" aspect were even more emphasized, though...much of the book felt like niche non-fiction rather than activist manifesto.

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Nov 29, 2012 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Andrew Laties’ Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want to Fight for—from Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Communities (Seven Stories Press, 2011) should be required reading in every book-publishing and retail-business program in North America. The veteran retailer injects much-needed energy into a beleaguered industry.

More here: http://museinkca.wordpress.com/2012/1...

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Feb 24, 2013 Josh Stevens rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was a fascinating behind the scenes look at a booksellers life (mostly during the late eighties/early nineties) however, the best part of this read was the "rants" that broke up the chapters. Laties is brilliant. Anyone who has ever worked in a bookstore or wants to opens store should read this!

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Feb 01, 2013 Dee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Andy Laties is something special, that rare thing.

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Mar 28, 2013 Jimmie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-about-words-words-about-books

Mar 08, 2013 Mary Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

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Jan 19, 2013 Merril Speck rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Shelves: books-i-own, nonfiction

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