Ep. 371: How to save our private bookstores

Guest: Marc Côté, publisher of Cormorant Books

“Bookstores are important, because they sell the cultural objects that feed and shape our souls – books and the stories they contain make us more human. They improve our ability to empathize, and empathy is the glue that holds societies together,” says Marc Côté, the publisher of Cormorant Books.

Ask yourself this: when was the last time you bought a book in a bookstore in Canada written by a Canadian? Not from Amazon, but in a bookstore with a person to talk to who knows about books. The number of bankrupt bookstores suggests not many of us have purchased a book in a book store in Canada, let alone a book written by a Canadian.

The More Canada Report proves it: “Canadian book-sells lost 50 percent of their market share from 1995 to 2015.” Côté says, “With shrinking market presence come shrinking book sales and revenues — money that makes possible the discovery and nurturing of literary talents known throughout our country and abroad.”

If you are reading this and feeling badly that you didn’t go into the local bookstore before it closed, you’re not alone. Did you know your local library also orders online from the United States, even when buying Canadian books?

Côté says, “Answering the disappearing Canadian bookstore conundrum won’t be easy. It’s going to take more than just consumers – governments also have to get involved and provide a menu of incentives, tax breaks and subsidies.”

We invited Marc Côté of Cormorant Books to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the important role bookstores play in neighbourhoods and our lives.