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Many Ways Bookstores Bring Joy To Their Communites

Local bookstores have always had special communities of people who find friendship and connection through books. However these groups don’t form on their own. Owners and employees build them through ongoing events and community outreach from the moment a bookstore is opened. Austin is home to many independent bookstores and many people who find their community in these special spaces.

In order to build communities, bookstores need a space for people to gather. According to Thais Perkins, co-owner of Reverie Books, bookstores use any room available to run events.

“We have a lot of fun,” Perkins said. “Sometimes we take over the parking lot, and put fake grass down.”

Bookstores can host events in any unused space close to them.

“We had a third building on the side called Sidekick, which used to be our discount store but due to COVID it didn’t last,” Reyes said, “but now we use it to hold different events.”

Sometimes bookstores even work with other businesses to find rooms to run signings and book clubs. Reverie Books uses the venue space in Captain Quackenbush, a coffee shop just down the street from the bookstore.

“It’s really nice, so sometimes we partner with them and run events in there,” Perkins said. Before events can be run, word needs to get out. Some bookstores are so integrated in their communities that information about them and their events spreads pretty quickly, explained Lilia Rosas, executive director of Red Salmon Arts, a non-profit organization that runs Resistencia Books.

“We have the advantage of having a legacy, or a body of experience and understanding, and in certain circles people know who we are,” Rosas said, “And so, by word of mouth, people come and seek us.”

Other bookstores have to rely on digital means for getting word out.

“We have social media,” Perkins said, “we have a website.”

What’s important is connecting with people through the channels they use often. Besides word of mouth, Instagram is a major way Red Salmon Arts communicates with people.

“We are on all the other social medias, but for whatever reason, Instagram is the one that most people are going to these days,” said Rosas. “So that’s how other people identify us.”

Local bookstores are more than just places to buy books. They are a place for communities to form. Rosas explains how Raul, the founder of Red Salmon Arts, started the bookstore.

“He wanted a place for people to gather, and so he started the bookstore with the intention of wanting a place that looked like us, who were Mexican American, Chicana, Chicano, Chincax, Latina, Latino, Latinx.” Rosas said. “It was in the 80s and he started it because he didn’t see it represented in any kind of bookstores in Austin.”

Book signings are one beloved event that draws people to these gathering spaces. Authors come from near and far to meet fans.

“A lot of the time we’ll do signings with different local creators,” Reyes said, “or just people from all over the country.”

Many authors reach out to bookstores in hopes of setting up a signing.

“We get asked all the time,” Perkins said. “We probably get two or three requests a day”

Some authors see traveling to a new place as a great opportunity to run book signings for a different community, so they’ll contact local

Reverie books sees organizing book clubs as a way to further involve the community around them.

“So I hire a high school intern each term,” Perkins said, “and they organize the book club.” bookstores to set up events.

“Sometimes they reach out to us saying that ‘hey, normally I’m in New York but I’m gonna be in Texas for a week or so. Would y’all be okay with us doing a signing?’,” Reyes said, “and then we’ll partner up with them that way.”

Another beloved event run by many bookstores is themed book clubs. Members gather to talk about certain types of books and share their thoughts.

“We have our book clubs, which we’re starting back up.” Reyes said. “We’ll going to have our LGBTQ nights and our ladies nights.’’

The best book clubs have a theme so participants know if they would be interested in joining the club. One of the most interesting types of book clubs is a banned book club.

“They wanted to focus on books that the government doesn’t want you to read. So that part’s super cool,” Perkins said. “They go next door to Quack’s every other Saturday and they pick a book that’s been banned.”

Art is also an important part of many bookstores. People bond over common interests and come together to share their work with people who appreciate it.

“Our store next to us, Guzo, which is a part of us, is an art gallery,” Reyes said, “so we’ll have art shows based around geek and nerd culture, like video games, superheroes, anime.”

Other bookstores host open mic nights, like Red Salmon Art’s Cafe Libro. These events bring people closer together and allow them to share their art.

“Anyone can sign up and share a poem or two,” Rosas said. “They can sing, they can play music, they can tell a story. [...] It’s not necessarily one thing. It’s not just poetry, it’s not just slam poetry, it’s basically anything that you get up there and perform.”

Reverie Books sometimes hosts musicians to make events more welcoming and exciting.

“I used to be a full time songwriter,” Perkins said, “so I know some people.”

Bookstores improve their communities by supporting literaryrelated causes they believe in.

“We did a big fundraising drive for The 1619 Project, which is a book that came out of a series of articles in the New York Times” Perkins said. “It’s about Black American history, and there was a way to do a fundraising drive for that through bookshop.org last year.”

Sometimes, these fundraisers happen at the worst possible time.

“And we did it right before the governor illegalized it,” Perkins said.

Reverie books was able to find a solution to this problem and help their community at the same time.

“We were right in the middle of it, we had boxes and boxes of these things,” Perkins said, “and so we found schools that were willing and excited to take them.”

Bookstores often partner with schools and universities. They provide resources and spaces for groups to meet.

“We’ve worked with student groups,” Rosas said. “At different times we’ve worked with different groups from UT.”

Sometimes bookstores run events at schools to introduce people to writing and literature.

“When I first started at Red Salmon Arts, Raúl was doing workshops with youth at Johnston. He was doing poetry workshops. One of the teacher’s invited him there.” Rosas said. “And so I got to go to Johnston after school, it was an after school program, to sit in those workshops and help out.”

Many bookstore owners put helping people above maximizing profit from their store.

“I decided instead of having a marketing budget we would do community give backs.” Perkins said. “So each month we choose a nonprofit and we donate all tips plus two percent of profits to the non-profit.”

It can be hard to move locations and leave the communities a bookstore has worked with for so long, but connecting with their community will always be important, no matter how new the people are.

“When we first moved here we were trying to work with the Montopolis neighborhood association, but then the pandemic happened.” Rosas said. “But they had a meeting here and we were hoping that they’d have more.”

The most important thing is to make sure everyone feels welcome.

“There’s such a wide diverse range of different people,” Reyes said, “so we want to make events that fit everybody and everyone can feel welcome, everyone can enjoy themselves.”

Bookstores are unique places for friendships and community for both customers and employees, and these relationships are the real goal for independent bookstores.

“We’ve definitely found connection,” Perkins said. “And as far as success goes, I’ll just say, we’re still here.”