Bookstores and industry professionals have taken to social media to promote #ReadIndieForward [4], a pay-it-forward campaign that encourages readers to support indie bookstores by gifting books to friends and family.

The steps of the program — which is sponsored by Shelf Awareness and Sourcebooks — are as follows:

• Buy a book from your favorite independent bookstore and send it to a loved one
• Post to social media that you #ReadIndieForward by gifting a book to a loved one
• Tag the person receiving the book, tag the independent bookstore you bought the book from, and use the hashtag #ReadIndieForward

Promotional posts are rolling in, and some readers are already participating. Here are some recent posts in the hashtag:

• On Instagram [5], Sandpiper Books [6] in Torrance, California, wrote: “Support independent bookstores by sharing your favorite thing in the world — books! — with your loved ones. It’s easy!”
• A bookseller participated [7], sending book mail from Interabang Books [8] in Dallas, Texas, and Boswell Book Company [9] in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  
• Foggy Pine Books [10] in Boone, North Carolina, posted to Twitter [11]: “Who do you want to send a book hug to today? Tag them in the comments! Then follow the steps to #ReadIndieForward”
• On Twitter, Alibi Bookshop [12] in Vallejo, California, wrote that the campaign is “another amazing way to support your local indie bookstore! [13]”
• Jocelyn Travis of Sourcebooks Casablanca used the campaign to support [14] Books on the Common [15] in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
• Valerie Pierce of Sourcebooks used the campaign to support [16] Parnassus Books [17] in Nashville, Tennessee.
• On Instagram, Shelf Awareness posted that a customer participated in the campaign [18] by sending a book from Boogie Down Books [19] in the Bronx.
• Libro.fm encouraged Instagram followers [20] to “send a book hug” by participating in the campaign.

Booksellers and publishers can join the movement by visiting readindieforward.com [4], which features downloadable social media assets they can personalize with their logo, as well as ads to promote #ReadIndieForward to their communities, staff, authors, and readers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Shelf Awareness for Readers will also provide book recommendations for all readers.