Shop at Amazon, help an Independent Bookstore. Wait, what?

Lacy Simons, manager of Rock City Books & Coffee in Rockport, Maine, is trying to buy the store from her retiring employer but finds herself a little short. She has an idea, though.  A really smart idea---ask people who care about independent bookstores to help get her started.

Rock City Books & Coffee

In short, she is seeking pledges from the book-loving web. Like PBS, there are token thank-you gift choices and the promise to donate your pledge amount to charity when things are up and running, but the core of the matter is supporting booksellers and local bookstores. And I'd like to help her out.

This is what I have in mind: I'm going to pledge all of the referral fees that The Reading Ape earns between now and April 15th to Lacy's crusade to buy her bookstore. 

So if you have online shopping to do in the next few weeks, do it through The Reading Ape and you'll be supporting an independent bookstore--just enter Amazon, Powell's or Indiebound through any of the related links and 4-6% of whatever you buy (anything from books to 1500 live ladybugs) will get thrown in with the 15-20 bucks I normally make off these programs in a given month. (Note: since I don't earn referral fees from my own purchases, if anyone else wants to pledge their referral fees, let me know and I'll do my online shopping through you).

Inside Rock City Books & Coffee

Pretty simple. You buy the stuff you were going to buy anyway. Who knows, maybe we can shoot a coupla hundred bucks Lacy's way. I'll be posting regular updates about what is bought and how much we've raised. After it's all over, we'll also have to decide what charity we want Lacy to donate to when she is in the black in a couple of years. But that's for later.

For now, take a look at her proposal, look at the store's website, and see what's what. I think you'll be persuaded to chip in. (You could also help if you blog, tweet, facebook, or whatever this as well.)

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Cheers,
The Reading Ape

(For the record, I only know Lacy through Twitter and have no association with the bookstore. I did go to Maine once. It was pretty. Good accents on the folk up there).

Here are the links: