In response to George Floyd’s death, people are seeking information and resources to better understand race, civil rights, and the protests taking place across the country. Black-owned bookstores in particular are seeing surging demand and sales like never before—and the timing couldn’t be better, as Black-owned bookstores are at higher risk for closing during the pandemic than others.
The most popular books, such as White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, are on backorder (for print editions) nearly everywhere, including Amazon. As a result, the books on Libro.fm’s list of bestselling digital audiobooks last week were all anti-racist books, and June 3 was the biggest sales day in its history. Time offers a list of suggested books from Black booksellers and publishers that you may have a chance of finding in stock now, in print; Lit Hub has collected a list of Black-owned bookstores you can support.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore (the oldest SF bookstore in the US) and Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore were destroyed by fire during the protests. A GoFundMe has been started to help rebuild the stores. Other bookstores across the country sustained damage as well.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
