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Independent booksellers are as unique as the neighborhoods they call home and the books on their shelves.

There are the ones that have coffee, the ones with the kids section, the ones with the local authors, the ones with the really neat bathrooms and comfy sofas, and the ones with the rare-to-find books. They all have one thing in common that is a great benefit to writers, owners who really, really love books. That difference is the one thing that can be a greater asset to a new and aspiring writer than a publisher or anonymous spot at Barnes & Noble.

Like the movie,"You've Got Mail," the independent bookseller has history and is part of the neighborhood. The character played by Meg Ryan was a second generation owner of "The Shop Around The Corner." She had a quaint setting, children's book readings, author signings, wine & cheese parties, and more importantly, personal service. Her store and her employees actually loved books and were not impersonal like the character played by Tom Hanks. His corporate conglomerate bookstore, "Fox Books" represents everything negative about big box sales. The independent bookstore, like my recent discovery of Pudd'n'Head Books in Webster Groves, Missouri, is a source of knowledge for the writer.

Writers should support independent bookstores because not only will they take a chance on an unknown, they will engage in creative marketing to get the book before an audience. Independent bookstores boast intimate book clubs for just about every genre and are always willing to try new books. The writer with limited marketing dollars can persuade the store owner to take a chance on them and set up a small counter display, recommend them to the reading clubs, or feature the author at a signing. Cross-marketing and personal marketing has an opportunity to benefit both the writer and the bookstore in a way unlike that of a Border's or Barnes & Noble.

The portrayal of "The Shop Around the Corner" could have been The Reading Reptile on 63rd Street in the Brookside neighborhood in Kansas City or Left Bank Books on Euclid in St. Louis. The independent bookstore brings reader and writer together in a way that the fictitious Foxbooks with its cappuccinos and spacious aisles could never accomplish. Our Barnes & Nobles and Borders, both corporate owned megabookstores, can never match the ambiance and love of reading that an independent bookstore provides. The very fact of its size, independence, and commitment to the book is why

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