Nearly a decade years ago, the headlines were dire for independent bookstores. These days, according to national stories, it’s evident that 2016 is the turnaround year and the indie bookstore is thriving more than ever despite mega retailers like Amazon controlling about 64 percent of print book sales. As author Ann Patchett said in a Wall Street Journal article, “I credit the customers, who seem to be collectively waking up to the fact that they are in charge of what businesses fail and succeed based on where they spend their money.”

Locally, the same bookstores in the Midcoast that started years ago — sometimes decades ago — are still thriving. Only one long-term bookstore, the Reading Corner closed in Rockland in 2014.

Avid book reader MaryLou Shuster, of South Portland, visits the Midcoast once a year for the sole purpose of hitting every independent bookstore from Belfast all the way down to Rockland. As a literary specialist, she primarily hunts for children’s books.

“Indie bookstores often have local authors whom you won’t find in major bookstores like Books-A-Million,” she said. “I’ll often find new books I haven’t seen because they’re only locally marketed. Independent bookstore staff are also way more knowledgeable about books. They really know their readers.”

Shuster always asks for the teacher discount, which saves her about 10-20 percent on each book.

“I’ve gotten some wonderful books this way that I wouldn’t have ordinarily discovered.”

As it happens, April 30 is national Indie Bookstore Day, a day to celebrate local bookstores. The inaugural push last year was around this time with 420 bookstores participating in 48 states and they’re hoping that 2016 is even bigger.

Hello hello books in Rockland is pulling out all the stops with a Buy-One-Get-One-Free used sale books; a Blind Date With a BookFundraiser; literary election buttons; temporary tattoos; drink specials in collaboration with Rock City Coffee, freebies for kids and adults throughout the day, and a giant game of Taboo at 5:30 p.m.

“This is the first time we’re participating in this fantastic event.” said Lacy Simons, the store’s owner. “We’re especially excited because we’ll be celebrating our five-year anniversary in just a few months, so this feels like a good way to kick off those celebrations.”

Nancy Hauswald, publicist for Left Bank Books in Belfast said, “Although we don't have any specific plans to celebrate the big day, we'll certainly have some flyers, posters and in-store notes about the celebration.”

Hauswald like most indie booksellers, credits the loyal following of small town communities for the bookshop’s continued success.

“Every day when we unlock the door to our shop, we give a silent thanks for being able to spend our day surrounded by books and people who love books as much as we do,” she said. “It's the personal interchanges with our devoted clientele that continually remind us of how lucky we are to live and work with people who recognize the importance of shopping locally—and not on-line with the ‘Big A.’ That people who go out of their way to come to our bookshop makes us giddy with happiness. Christopher Morley said it best in Parnassus on Wheels: ‘When you sell a man a book you don't sell just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night—there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.”

Nanette Gionfriddo, owner of Beyond the Sea Books in Lincolnville, is also thrilled to see how much the little stores have such a following. "Our bookshop grew from one shelf in our gift shop, nurtured by the unbridled enthusiasm of our book-loving customers for our irresistible selection of great reads—new and second hand."

Support your indie bookshop on April 30 by patronizing Left Bank Books, Bellabooks, and Old Professor’s Bookshop in Belfast, Barnswallow Books in Rockport Village, Beyond the Sea Bookshop in Lincolnville, Owl & Turtle Bookshop, Stone Soup Books, and Sherman’s Books in Camden and and hello hello books in Rockland.

For more information on Independent Bookshop Day visit: indiebookstoreday.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com