A Battle Worth Fighting

I'm very excited to see CUT SHORT reviewed on the BEST BOOKS OF 2009 list in Publishers Weekly in the US as the only title starred in the Mass Market section. You can read the review here:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6707975.html?q=leigh+russell+cut+short

On a very sad note, we appear to be losing Borders. I have written about this on my blog http://leighrussell.blogspot.com/ but want to reiterate my thanks here to all the staff who have been so friendly and helpful towards me personally in my events at Borders.

People are already asking “whether there is a place for traditional shops selling books on our high streets” (James Thompson in the Independent 24 November 2009)
This seems to me to be a battle worth fighting. We should all be encouraging everyone we know to “Buy a Book for Christmas in a Real Bookshop”. First the independents, now Borders, Waterstones will be the next to fold. By this time next year, it may only be possible to buy books online, other than blockbusters from supermarkets, or a title from a limited range at WH Smith’s. (Remember Woolworths? Who’s next?)
It’s not enough to bleat. “A civilized city without bookshops – or without enough bookshops – struck me as a contradiction in terms. And then I realised why I'd only belatedly discovered that Borders and Waterstone's weren't where they'd once been. I hadn't visited them for months.” (Tom Sutcliffe in the Independent 24 November 2009)
If readers don’t buy at bookshops, there will be no bookshops. Maybe that isn’t important, but if it matters to you – GO AND BUY A BOOK IN A BOOKSHOP. If enough people do, maybe we "ordinary people" can turn this around. At the very least, we will have tried. Those of us who believe bookshops are worth saving, let's not lay down and die just yet.
Leigh Russell