I don't know about you, but one of my great pleasures in life is browsing an independently owned bookstore. I love how each shop has its own personality and quirks--how the selection of books reflects both the people who work there and the nearby community. In fact, I'm tentatively planning a vacation this summer built entirely around the bookstores I can visit.

Independent bookstores are an important part of an author's platform strategy (if you want to think of it in those terms). Put another way, getting to know your local shop(s), making friends, and being a regular customer are all a joyful part of literary citizenship. And when it comes time for you to approach the bookstore to ask whether they'll order your book or extend a consignment agreement or host a reading, the request will be so much easier to make. Bookshops can only carry a fraction of books published in a given year (never mind all the titles on the backlist!). It'll be so much easier for them to say "yes" to someone they know and like.

Maybe you're already close with your local indie, but if not, take this as encouragement to go make some new friends, observe the fascinating trade of books being bought and sold (imagine how yours will one day pass into the hands of readers!), and eavesdrop on other customers... Who knows what you'll discover about bookselling and the business of being an author.

Listen.

Last week I tuned into a conversation from The Writers Bridge with Allison K Williams and Sharla Yates about why literary magazines are still an important part of a writer's growth and success.

Should you consider lit mags as part of your publishing strategy? Special guest Becky Tuch, who founded The Review Review and now runs Lit Mag News on Substack points out that we each have distinct goals as writers. Here are some examples of goals that align well with seeking publication in literary magazines:

• You have a longer work you want to publish and are trying to attract an agent.
• You are looking to build publishing credits so you can apply for grants, fellowships, or teaching jobs.
• You simply want to publish, not necessarily in an elite magazine, so there is a place you can point friends, family, or colleagues to your work.

If any of these goals resonate with you, I recommend listening in, or watching. The discussion concludes with their top tips for moving ahead with lit mags:

1. To familiarize yourself with a publication, why not subscribe to their mailing list? It's a free way to see what kind of work they publish.
2. Don't be intimated by the broad landscape of literary publications. Start somewhere--visit your library, subscribe to one lit mag, check out Lit Mag News--and your knowledge will grow organically. The kind of expertise you need for your own publishing goals will come to you.
3. Inoculate yourself against the pain of rejection--and get published, too! Grab a buddy and commit to submitting your work every day for a month. You'll start getting rejections, and the first one might sting, but pretty soon you won't be bothered by them. And before long, you'll find that acceptance in your inbox.

Read.

1. Did you hear the good news? Simon & Schuster is no longer requiring their authors to secure blurbs for their books. We can hope that more publishers follow suit.
2. If you like ebooks but would rather support independent bookstores over Amazon, you'll be happy about last week's launch of the ebook platform on Bookshop.org.

Write.

Who are you in this moment in time? Have you done something so embarrassing that you don't want to tell anyone? Have you witnessed something incredible? What are you up against? Write about it. Be liberal with detail. Write about the why.

And when you're done, read it over, polish it up, and pitch it to Jessica Reed, who is an editor at The Guardian and is seeking pieces just like yours.

Aren't we lucky to be writers? I hope you feel that this week. Keep writing.

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