Bell Cow Podcasts: Bookstore Grazing

Hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride take Bell Cow beyond the bookshelves for Bookstore Grazing, our podcast devoted to getting to know the bookstores—and the people behind them—that help make the literary community work.

Every bookstore has a story.

How did it come to be? Who took the leap and decided to open it? What makes this particular shop different from the one down the road—or the giant online retailer a click away? Who walks through the door? What books earn a place on the shelves? What events bring people together? And what does it really take to keep an independent bookstore thriving?

Bookstore Grazing is where we get to ask those questions.

Each episode takes us to a different bookstore for a casual conversation with the owners, booksellers, and other people who make the place what it is. We’ll talk about the store’s history, its specialties and favorite genres, its relationship with its community, memorable events and customers, books the staff can’t stop recommending, and the challenges and surprises that come with running an independent bookstore.

We’re also interested in the things readers—and authors—might never see from the other side of the counter. How do booksellers decide what to stock? What makes an author event work? How should an independent author approach a bookstore? What do bookstores wish publishers, writers, and customers understood about what they do?

Sometimes we’ll talk about the big stuff. Sometimes we’ll discover a weird little corner of the store that everyone loves. That’s part of the fun. There are no strings attached and no sales pitch. Bell Cow created Bookstore Grazing because bookstores are an essential part of the literary ecosystem, and we want to give the people doing good work in that community another place to tell their stories.

How often do we go grazing? 

Whenever we find a bookstore with a story worth telling.

Want us to graze your way?

If you own, manage, or work with a bookstore and would like to join us, we’d love to hear from you.

Pull up a chair, meet a bookseller, discover a new place to buy books, and come grazing with us.