When in the course of human events…

I’ve been talking for a while about starting this blog. It’s a confluence of two streams of my professional life, novelist and founder of Baristanet.com. As a novelist who does readings at independent bookstores, I’ve witnessed firsthand a hatred of Amazon that has begun to rival the antipathy for Walmart. As a placeblogger, I am part of a local ecosystem of entrepreneurs. I write about them, sell them advertising, watch them succeed and fail. I started out as a new media entrepreneur, but along the way have unwittingly become a champion of place.

This idea’s been simmering on the back burner for a while, something I bring up at cocktail parties when I’m tired of talking about how my book is doing. Today, I got a kick in the butt when I heard about the new initiative launched at Book Expo America this weekend by the nation’s independent bookstores, who have launched a new marketing campaign, movement, nay manifesto, called IndieBound. It even comes with its own declaration:

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for individuals to denounce the corporate bands which threaten to homogenize our cities and our souls, we must celebrate the powers that make us unique and declare the causes which compel us to remain independent.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all stores are not created equal, that some are endowed by their owners, their staff, and their communities with certain incomparable heights, that among these are Personality, Purpose and Passion. The history of the present indies is a history of experiences and excitement, which we will continue to establish as we set our sights on a more unconstrained state. To prove this, let’s bring each other along and submit our own experiences to an unchained world.

John Mutter of Shelf-Awareness covers the campaign in today’s newsletter.

But will bookstore clerks wearing T-shirts that say “This is the part where I save the day” really be able to turn back the tide of Amazon.com in general, and the Kindle in particular?

I don’t know. But I’ve set up camp here to watch and report on the revolution. Welcome.