The River's End Bookstore
Serving Readers and Writers Since 1998
Mon - Sat: 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday: 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
19 West Bridge Street
Oswego, NY 13126
Tel: (315) 342-0077
Collaboration and Community
By Lena Gluck
Bill Reilly and Mindy Ostrow opened the River’s End Bookstore sixteen years ago. They regularly talk with writers from the area and offer the bookstore as a meeting place for the literary community. The River’s End Bookstore gives a safe and encouraging environment for writers, readers, students, and Oswego residents of all ages.
The bookstore’s main method of promotion is by word of mouth, but Reilly also gets people interested through the WRVO independent public broadcasting station and through opening the doors to readings and premieres of the Great Lake Review. Currently, the River’s End Bookstore has a newsletter in print, a website, a Facebook page, and a twitter account, which can all be followed for updates on events, book signings, and sales.
Most of the bookstore’s profits come from book sales and money from publishers whose books are featured. Reilly explains, “[The bookstore] really is a labor of love. There’s more love than there is money.”
Amazon was a major presence even when the bookstore opened, but though the availability of cheap ebooks was recognized from the start, it does prove difficult to compete with major booksellers’ prices. However, the River’s End Bookstore offers something Amazon never can— a nexus for the writing community, which helps foster literary citizenship throughout Oswego, New York.
“Community and giving back is what the store is all about.”
-Bill Reilly
The bookstore does offer ebooks which customers can purchase online. The store is a member of the American Booksellers Association and the current ebook provider is Kobo. Though, in the United States, Kobo lacks the name recognition of Amazon, it is well-known in Europe and Canada, and allows independent bookstores to get credit selling their books. Customers can sign up for Kobo on the River’s End Bookstore website.
The bookstore also carries self published books, especially those from authors in the area. If you are interested in selling your book through the River’s End, Reilly recommends hand written letters explaining your connection to the bookstore along with a small, unique item relating to your book. He jokes that candy is sincerely appreciated. Try to send an advanced reader copy of your book as well. The staff reads suggested books on their own time, so it helps to stand out. If you’re interested in traditional publishing, the employees of the bookstore may be able to help recommend regional publishers that fit with your work.
You can support the bookstore (or other local bookstores) as a writer by introducing yourself, buying books, or attending and/or proposing workshops. If you’re interested in proposing workshops or other literary events with the bookstore, you should have a thought-out plan for the event and ask for Reilly’s time to discuss it with him in person. These events create enthusiasm in the literary community, give the River’s End Bookstore more publicity, and get varied groups of people visiting who might buy a book or two.
If you are a published writer in the community, make sure to have your book launching party at the River’s End Bookstore, come in for signings or readings, and include a link to Indie Bound on your website to make sure any books you sell are advertised as available in local bookstores, rather than available on Amazon.
It takes a community to raise a book. We need writers, we need readers, and we need booksellers. As writers, readers, and literary citizens, we should do our best to support each other, and that means giving back to the River’s End Bookstore.