2010 Innovator’s Award
The Innovator’s Award recognizes the people and institutions that are doing cutting edge work to bring books, publishing and storytelling into the future, whether in terms of new business models, new technologies or new applications of narrative art.
Winner
What does it mean to be an innovator? To create something new? Or to see the possibilities inherent in a pre-existing model and to evolve and adapt? By either standard, Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, has been an innovator all along. Initially opened in 1971 as a used bookstore, Powell’s has interacted creatively with the bookselling landscape from the beginning, expanding from its original location to several additional venues, while breaking down the divide between new and used books, between hardcovers and paperbacks, and ultimately rethinking the way a retailer engages with customers and brings readers together with books.
In 1994, Powell’s was one of the first stores to embrace online bookselling, setting an example for independent and chains alike. In its business model, either/or definitions such as “bricks and mortar” or ‘e-tailing” have fallen away before a more cohesive strategy that makes books available to readers in whatever way they prefer. While much of the rest of the book business was engaged in hand-wringing about the future, Powell’s went out and imagined that future into being. Now, with the development of a resource-filled website — which includes a vibrant blog, a book-review-of-the-day and other original editorial content — and the institution of programs such as “Indiespensable” (an online subscription series that pays particular attention to the work of independent presses), Powell’s continues to define innovation in bookselling as it always has.
Booksellers are a key part of the literary community; they serve as trusted friends, valuable advocates, enlightened hosts. Without them, readers and writers would not know where to find each other and our public conversation about literature would be less vibrant and alive. Powell’s has positioned itself on the cutting edge of this dynamic, offering a synthesis of old world strategies and new. Indeed, although Powell’s has become a must-see destination in Portland, it is also something more than that: a beacon to booklovers everywhere. At a time when bookstores are struggling with a changing landscape, Powell’s offers valuable lessons not just in how to survive but how to thrive. For that reason, among many others, we are delighted to present Powell’s Books with the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Innovator’s Award.
