Get Ready for Indies First 2026

Hanif Abdurraqib will be promoting this year’s celebration of Indies First, which takes place on Small Business Saturday, November 28.

Read the Announcement

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” and the author of There's Always This Year, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; A Little Devil in America, winner of the Carnegie Medal and a National Book Award finalist; The Crown Ain't Worth Much; They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us; Go Ahead in the Rain; and A Fortune for Your Disaster, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. He is a graduate of Beechcroft High School.

Here's how to make the most of Indies First:
  • Log into BookWeb to see a range of special publisher offers for booksellers.
  • Take advantage of additional pre-holiday marketing assets to promote shopping local, gift cards, and more. Winter holiday marketing assets to come!
  • Promote gift cards! Encourage customers to give the gift that everyone wants and that invests in your store’s future.
  • Be creative, whether celebrating in-store or spreading the message on their websites, in newsletters, or across social media platforms.
  • Ask some of your favorite and local authors to kick off Indies First and Small Business Saturday by promoting your store for the holidays or posting a short video for you to share.
  • Remind people to shop now, shop local, and put indies first.

Indies First Assets to Share

Shop Indie Local Assets to Share

Follow news about Indies First in Bookselling This Week and via the hashtag #IndiesFirst on social media. Inquiries about Indies First can be directed to [email protected].