And as a result, what's being published will inevitably change. But if everyone is doing that, what's left? Where does that chain include the knowledgeable indie booksellers who put the right books in customers' hands, or the booksellers who champion authors who don't have high Amazon rankings and therefore don't get a coveted face-out location next to the blenders and Jenny McCarthy books? Or what about the displays in our stores for Black Lives Matter or our poetry recommendations or our knowledge of kids' books featuring brown characters? Where will those live in this new world? The answer is that they won't: there will be no room for this kind of personalized book service. Meaning: you can buy a cheap book on Amazon or at Walmart, sure. I think that comparison works only when you look at the chain of how we get that final product.

A book is a book, there is no quality difference that I can tout. 'Someone recently equated what I do to farm-to-table dining, and at first I didn't see the connection. Providing books that help reinforce diversity and reminding ourselves that marginalized voices need an outlet. We are helping foster important dialogue about where we are in the world and how we got here. I'm writing this personal letter to reassert my values as a business owner and reconfirm our mission. I'm sending staff to all corners of New York and New Jersey to sell books and partner with new entities to make my WORD bookstores' brand more visible and viable. I'm joining the board of the American Booksellers Association. Quite to the contrary, I'm constantly looking at new ways to sell books. 'But is this doom-and-gloom outlook making me cower in fear and hide? No.

Many of us will not make it Amazon bookstores, online competition, skyrocketing rents, increased minimum wage, lack of young booksellers who choose this industry as a viable career-I could go on and on. I think that we need to start brainstorming new business models and figuring out how to make the retail equation work in our favor so that we can stay afloat. 'I believe that we are at a crossroads in our industry, and, for the first time, I'm genuinely worried for our future. The following is from an open letter called ' What will the new era of bookselling look like' by Christine Onorati, owner of WORD bookstores, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jersey City, N.J., and posted on Melville House's MobyLives:

The Bride Price by Mai Neng Moua