A window shopper gazes into Neighbourhood Books.
When increasing health concerns over coronavirus forced Neighbourhood Books and The Little Bookroom to close, co-owner and manager Leesa Lambert came up with a way customers could still ask for book recommendations online.
Leesa introduced a Google Doc, where she asked people to list three books they’d enjoyed and how they were currently feeling.
It received an “extraordinary” response straight away, with over 100 people logging on in 24 hours, their feelings ranging from anxiety, stress, and fear, to calm and even peacefulness.
The one commonality was that they were all turning to literature in a time of crisis.
Bookstores around Victoria have started to reopen in gradual stages, but before this time, stage three lockdown measures forced the closure of all non-essential businesses, including a large portion of the retail sector.
Yet despite having to shut the doors on face-to-face transactions, many independent bookstores found inventive new ways to reach out to their customers online.
New measures like virtual browsing, online recommendations and Zoom events for book launches and literary prizes continued to keep customers engaged at a time when many of us were desperate for connection with others.
Leesa was one of the many independent booksellers around Melbourne who refused to allow COVID-19 restrictions to stop her from keeping up with deliveries, engaging with her customers and supporting local authors.
After the severity of the pandemic began to become clear, it only took “a matter of days” for Leesa to transform her shop into one that solely traded online and over the phone.
And the response she received was “huge”.
“The customer feedback has been overwhelming actually” Leesa said.
“We feel really so grateful to have work to do and to have purpose, and for that work to be appreciated by people makes me quite emotional to talk about actually.
“Its been very beautiful and we feel very loved and supported.”
The Little Bookroom also worked with Yarra Library to launch a ‘Pay it Forward’ program, which continues to deliver gift packs of Australian children’s books and food packages to those struggling and unable to access libraries, which were deemed a ‘non essential’ service by the government.
Leesa reckons it was “absolutely bonkers” that libraries were considered an “inessential” service, which was just “amplifying the divide” between the haves and have-nots.
Their service has already raked in over $4000 dollars for children struggling with isolation, boredom and lack of internet access, in commission flats which can pack in eight to 10 people at a time.
Readings Hawthorn was closed to customers for weeks.
Readings head of events Christine Gordon is also adapting to a brave new world, and has moved her usually bustling program of shop and external events to two to three online events a week.
Though initially Christine was in a state of “shock” and “disbelief,” after putting on her “big girl pants” she realised storytelling didn’t have to rely on a physical presence to survive.
Though online events come with their pitfalls, most notably a lack the atmosphere and sales, recent events, like the launch of Malcom Turnbull’s memoir, attracted an audience of more than 500 people.
And Readings have increased online sales by almost 180% since the crisis.
But though Nielsen Book Australia reported that though industry revenue from the week ending 28 March was up 15% on the same time last year, the book market has since recorded a 7.1% decline in value sales in 2020 so far.
Nevertheless, Christine is not the only one bringing lovers of literature together by facilitating online events.
The Stella Prize, a large annual award that celebrates female and gender diverse Australian writers, managed to transfer what would have been a huge award ceremony at the State Library to a live stream accessible to all.
Jess Hill took out the award for her searing investigative work See What You Made Me Do, a deep dive into domestic abuse in Australia.
Program manager Ana Boado reckons with The Stella Prize being such a young organisation, of only eight years, “these events are about starting new conversations or giving fresh energy to talking points” that may not have been be raised or considered in the past.
“With the broadcast, our main point was just to try and give people a reason to raise a glass, be it of a cup of tea or a glass of wine in celebration of something that is worth tuning in for” she said.
The power and richness of storytelling has perhaps never been as clear as today, when books are proving to be an outlet and a release in what are deeply uncertain times.
Christine is confident the book industry is here to fight, and here to stay.
“We are all looking for ways we can unite our family group or our household group…and we are all looking to not feel alone” she said.
And bookselling has been there as a way to remain part of the community.
Caitlin Cassidy 