Dear Booksellers,

Last night’s #SIBYAAfterDark Tweet-A-Thon was amazing! I laughed. I cried. And #SaveIndieBookstores raised almost $7,000! 

For those of you who missed it, author Isaac Fitzgerald generously donated his time to emcee the event. (If you haven’t seen his video promoting #SIB, check it out). 

When he asked the question, “Once we're all allowed back outside, what’s the first bookstore you are going to visit?” an outpouring of love for the indies followed, with shout-outs to the following stores from the Twitter community:

And from participating authors:

Laurie Halse Anderson: Open Book (Elkins Park, PA)
“The indie I can walk to! (It’s also the indie where you can buy signed copies of my books!)”

Dhonielle Clayton: Books of Wonder (New York City)
“I’m going to @BooksofWonder...I am desperate to smell books and put my nose right in them. Strange, I know. But I loveeee the scent of books.”

Jason Reynolds: East City Bookshop, MahoganyBooks, Solid State Books, Loyalty Bookstores, Sankofa Video Books & Café, Kramerbooks, Politics and Prose, Busboys and Poets (Washington, D.C.)
“@eastcitybooks, @MahoganyBooks, @solidstatedc, @Loyaltybooks, @SankofaDC, @kramerbooks, @PoliticsProse, @busboysandpoets all at the same time.”

Nicola Yoon: The Ripped Bodice (Culver City), Vroman’s (Pasadena), and Chevalier’s (Los Angeles)
“The Ripped Bodice (@TheRippedBodice), Vromans (@vromansupstairs) and Chevaliers (@ChevaliersBooks)”

Jennifer Niven: The Book Loft (Fernandina Beach, FL) and Avid Bookshop (Athens, GA)
“ALL OF THEM!!! But first will be the one closest to me: @TheBookLoftFB and then hopefully @AvidBookshop <3 But seriously. I want to visit all of them and tell every bookseller I meet just how much we need and love them.”

Mary H.K. Choi: Books Are Magic (Brooklyn, NY)
“THIS IS SO EASY. @booksaremagicbk x infinity.”

Elizabeth Acevedo: MahoganyBooks and East City Bookshop (Washington, D.C); Word Up and The Lit. Bar (New York City)
“In DC I’ll be hitting up@MahoganyBooks & @eastcitybooks. As soon as I can travel to NYC catch me at @WordUpBooks and @thelitbar.”

Maureen Johnson
“How dare you make me choose.”

Alex London: Children’s Book World (Haverford, PA) and Big Blue Marble (Philadelphia)
“I'll probably stop by @CBWHaverford & @bigbluemarblebk in my neighborhood!”

Phil Stamper: Greenlight Bookstore and Books Are Magic (Brooklyn, NY)
“Hard cut to me sprinting to @greenlightbklyn and @booksaremagicbk.”

Sarah Dessen: Flyleaf Books (Chapel Hill, NC)
“When That Summer came out in 1996, my local independents gave me such an amazing amount of support. In the years since, indies have helped me reach so many more readers all over. Shoutout to my local, @FlyleafBooks!”

A nice reminder that right now, there are people at home all over the country daydreaming about your bookstores and looking forward to the day when they can return to them.

ABA is here for you. Please reach out if there is anything we can help with. We are an incredibly creative, resilient, supportive industry. We’ll get through this, together.

Best,
Allison