[dropcap]D[/dropcap]espite the rhetorical doom and gloom surrounding the book markets, independent bookshops, rather than bowing to commercial giants, have sought to develop new ways of solidifying and safeguarding their traditional role in the Dublin and Irish community. According to Bob Johnston, owner of the Gutter Bookshop on Cow’s Lane near Temple Bar and in Dalkey and Chair of the Irish Booksellers Association, the way an independent can assert itself is by playing to their strengths and doing things differently: “The nature of bookshops has changed. There’s been a big feeling that bookshops are dying out, and I spend my life saying, they’re not! They’re adapting and changing, and they’ve always adapted and changed, and they will continue to adapt and change.”

There is a common misconception of the independent bookstore as a dusty hole in the wall, reluctant to keep up with modern methods of publishing and bookselling. While there are developments being made (Bridge Street Books in Wicklow already sell e-books for the Kobo e-reader) digital rights managements are still holding things back, but there has been progress and Johnston thinks that smaller bookshops might be able to sell e-books in a couple of years. “Irish bookshops really want to sell e-books. There’s always been this myth that bookshops are very backwards looking and don’t want to embrace technology, but no, they’d love to, they want to get books into people’s hands whichever way people want them, but they’ve got to do it in a profitable way, and that’s really tough.”

While the online world of bookselling is still uncertain, the greatest impact bookshops have is by making themselves a part of the community. “Now people expect their bookshops to do activities,” Johnston says. “Modern bookshops get involved with the community in any way they can. And they do become little community hubs and that is what makes them work and that is what makes them successful.” Hilary Hamilton (co-owner of Bridge Street Books) recalls her own shop-events, such as charity fundraisers, raffle prizes, and running Book Clubs in the local wine store, all adding to the sense of the shop being a “community hub”. “We offer different kinds of experiences than just buying a book,” Johnston notes. “You get to meet authors, to talk about books you love, you get to engage with other people, so again that’s something we can offer that the internet doesn’t offer.” This idea that the bookshop is a centre of literary exchange, is one that is central to the ethos of the independent bookshop and is something that most definitely cannot be provided by larger commercial and internet based booksellers. Bookshops have historically been centres for literary activity and creation, a notion that was somewhat lost in past decades but which is being tentatively restored by these small-time institutions.

Hamilton finds that “people come to independents because they want recommendations […] And there’s a lot of selling done […] in an independent bookshop I think, where I’ve read the book, I know my customers, I’ve got to know them over the years, this is a personal service that we can give that you can’t get anywhere else.” Hamilton adds that she would know 70 or 75 percent of their customers well, including what kind of books they would like. While these attitudes may sound parochial, it has resulted in a major success with Bridge Street winning this year’s Irish Times Bookshop of the Year Award. “Independent bookshops offer something different, and they offer you the chance to see things and find things that you didn’t know existed, which is still really hard for the internet to do, because with all the algorithms in the world, you get tied in to a bit of a loop as ‘you like this, therefore you’ll like this’, and it doesn’t take into account that part of human beings, which is discovering new things,” Johnston explains. “Our staff picks section is always the most popular area in the shop. People like a personal recommendation, people like somebody else to say ‘I really enjoyed this’.”

Sadly, negative perceptions around bookshops still hold sway, many predicting a certain oblivion for booksellers. Johnston, a life-long bookseller, has probably heard them all: “The frustrating thing is the amount of negativity around bookshops and how they’re outdated, and they can’t survive and that they’re doomed [but our shops] are thriving, […] and there’s no reason why bookshops and the internet can’t exist at the same time.”

So, while reports of the death of bookshops seems to have been greatly exaggerated, what about the one season where they are almost certainly alive: Christmas. But it’s not an easy cash-grab for bookshops. “It is Big Season, and I was having panics because it always comes too fast,” Johnston frets. “The big thing is choosing the titles that you want to focus on, that you think people want, and you want to support and you want to make sure you have enough stock of […] which sounds very simple, but is complex. We’re very democratic here as well as everybody kinda picks their own ones and we all work through them and it’s all done in a very much organisational way that allows everybody to get involved in it so. The way it works is that we put a blank spreadsheet and let everybody, say, choose ten fiction titles, and they’ll go back and it would be a mix of stuff they’ve read this year and absolutely adored, stuff that is selling incredibly well, that people want at Christmas, and they’ll go off and do some research on their favourite blogs or websites or whatever and look at things, quirky things that people are talking about that mainly haven’t hit yet, and then it’s trying to find a mix of those.”

In the frantic Christmas shopping brawl, a knowledgeable bookseller is an invaluable asset. Johnston is quick to recommend his favourites for the holiday season. “There’s one book that I think is going to be a BIG breakout: The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, it’s one of those sneak-outs that’s a small, little, quiet book, but it’s just flying and it’s just gonna keep on flying. It’s got really good reviews and it’s just a really nice little book. Non-fiction-wise, the Amy Poehler is gonna fly out and do well. It’s been a really good year with a really nice mix of stuff this year, which is always good to see because some years you’re just dying, some years there’s just really one or two big books and everything else is just a bit flat, but this year is a little bit mixed.”

With the creativity and freedom of identity that independents have, they may well be able to carve out their own niche in the marketplace by maintaining a sense of community and a personal touch, while the wider business world has become even more anonymous and disconnected.