While it’s a common refrain that publishing is not a lucrative industry for workers, it is especially true for bookstore workers. Booksellers can make or break a book’s success, are knowledgeable about hundreds of individual products and the industry as a whole, and are a vital part of the publishing ecosystem. But they are often paid minimum wage or not much above, and even experienced booksellers often earn less than what entry-level colleagues in publishing offices make. There seems to be a disconnect between the career and the compensation—booksellers are paid like an hourly gig in what is, for many, […]
