Indie authors and indie bookstores belong together in many ways. I've reported a lot in recent months on how Bookshop.org has been building bridges between the two communities many readers want to support, expanding from print first into e-books and then into audiobooks.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
This week I have two stories that fit together rather nicely to form another such bridge. First is a deeper dive into one aspect of a story I brought you a month or so ago: the expansion of indie bookstores to their highest numbers in decades, as reported by the American Booksellers Association (ABA). One of the things I noted in passing in that story is the growth of single-genre bookstores. This week Publishers Weekly shone a spotlight on those single-genre stores, overwhelmingly focused on the romance genre.
According to the ABA, 120 romance-only bookstores opened in 2025. And those stores build and are built around communities of dedicated readers. They host events, reading groups, and genre-adjacent events like crafting fairs. It's a trend that is moving across the Atlantic. This month, we got our own romantasy bookstore in Oxford, Bad Girl Books, which welcomes indie authors with open arms. When I went to experience what a single-genre bookstore was like as a customer, I found not just books but exactly the kind of merch one might expect from a genre with thousands of fans being driven from TikTok and wanting to show off their haul, and at the center of the offering are select beautiful special editions. I walk past the store many times each day on the way to work and I have never seen it less than heaving. Something really is happening.
It's a level of growth that makes print editions as potentially lucrative for an indie author with a dedicated fan base as electronic ones.
Beventi Opens Wholesale Channel for Indies
All of which segues into the announcement that book storefront Beventi is moving into the wholesale business with the aim of enabling indie authors to find their way into bookstores. Thank you to Jane Friedman's invaluable newsletter for the tip. Beventi Wholesale lets indie authors sell direct to bookstores, setting their own wholesale price for small consignments of printed books. It seems to work best for special editions, signed copies, and can even be used for ticketing events (such as the kind of event where you get a book as part of the entry price). Exactly the kind of added-value edition that suits genre-specific stores built around communities of avid fans (it is no surprise that if you look at the Beventi storefront the shelf is very much loaded toward romance and romantasy).
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and our own ALLi team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center.
