Every conversation at this year's Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fall Tradeshow touched on changing business models, their domino effects, and staying nimble. Catherine Chapman, a bookseller at Artisans Books and Coffee in Everett, Wa., noted that as romance-specific bookstores open, her store is seeing a decline in romance category sales, although other genres are doing fine. Regional sales rep Lise Solomon, PW’s 2016 rep of the year, wondered how price increases by Edelweiss/Above the Treeline would affect publishers’ catalog listings and influence booksellers’ and reps’ use of the platform.

Christine McDonald, owner of Secret Garden Books in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, commented on the importance of stores maintaining genuine indie identities to sustain customer loyalty. “Independent bookstores like to say they’re local and cozy, and people can tell when they’re corporate and business-y,” McDonald observed. She sees a cautionary tale in the backlash against Starbucks, which abruptly closed about 100 of its North American locations on September 25, including one adjacent to her shop.

Numerous PNBA first-timers were in the house, among them Morgan Lynch, who opened Jupiter’s Eye Book Café in Spokane last January with a focus on fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and horror. “My favorite thing is to sit at a bar with a book and a glass of wine, and I wanted to make that possible for other people,” Lynch said. She sang the praises of Spokane, her hometown for 35 years, and said her store already has become a magnet for book clubs and poetry slams.

The show, which concludes today, gave PNBA members an opportunity to broadcast their side hustles. Cierra Cook, owner of the two-year-old Spoke and Word Books in Milwaukie, Ore., attended as both a bookseller and an exhibitor. Inspired by recent postcard campaigns to elected officials and voters, Cook began creating their own cards with a megaphone graphic, loud colors, and punchy all-caps messages. Feedback was positive, so Cook produced the cards with a local print shop and launched Strong Feelings Press, with a mission of creating “bold political merchandise” that catches legislators' attention.

Bookseller-authors were in attendance too. Gigi Little, a 20-year veteran of Powell’s in Portland, spoke at the Authors on the Map breakfast about the “murder mystery tropes and campy noir vibe” of her detective debut, Who Killed One the Gun? (Forest Avenue Press, Oct.). Mo Daviau, a bookseller at Annie Bloom’s in Portland, took to the show floor to discuss themes of disability and motherhood in her second novel, Epic and Lovely (West Virginia University Press, out now). Willi Galloway, author of cookbook Veggies for Breakfast (Sasquatch, Oct.), noted that her grandmother was a longtime owner of Sheridan Stationery in Sheridan, Wyo.

Author Events

PNBA invited 73 featured authors—two more than last year—and bookended the days with talks and signings. At the Authors on Display dinner, picture book creator Carson Ellis walked the audience through her sequence of illustrations for Rumplestiltskin, written by Mac Barnett (Orchard, Feb.). Maria Semple, whose new Go Gentle (Putnam, Apr.) takes place in her new home city of New York, tartly reassured the PNW audience that—due to her move East—she’d no longer make fun of their hair, clothes, and cars, as in Where’d You Go, Bernadette.

Montana author Sean Gerrity described rewilding in the American Prairie Reserve, a 25-years-and-counting project to restore 5,000 square miles of native North American grasslands, in Wild on Purpose (Riverhead, Nov.). Sonora Jha explained how fables, midlife loneliness, and a visit to her father’s hometown in India inspired Intemperance (HarperVia, Oct.). Tae Keller, who balanced her wish to avoid platitudes with a firm belief that “children’s authors have a responsibility to leave kids with hope,” talked about writing her dystopian middle-grade fantasy When Tomorrow Burns (Random House Children’s Books, March), about a prophecy and the threat of wildfire.

The next morning, after hearing about books at breakfast, attendees queued up to have ARCs signed by 10 authors including Kathleen Boland, whose Scavengers (Viking, Jan.) was inspired by the real-life Forrest Fenn treasure mystery; Shen Tao, whose debut fantasy The Poet Empress (Bramble/Tor, Jan.) borrows from Chinese history and her parents’ story; and Victor Fusté, whose middle grade graphic novel T.S. Hullabaloo(Andrews McMeel, Oct.), co-written with Zack Rosenberg, with art by Sarah K. Turner, is an empathetic take on Tourette Syndrome, social-emotional situations, and childhood difference.

PNBA selected its trade show BuzzBook from among five general and children's titles, with Kamilah Cole's new-adult dark academia fantasy, An Arcane Inheritance (Poisoned Pen Press, Jan.), announced as the winner at the ticketed Signature Dish dinner, where 20 authors table-hopped to introduce their books.

And on September 29, on the show floor, PNBA unveiled a dozen books on its 2026 Book Awards Shortlist, with Bookshop.org links to each one. The selection committee, comprised of eight indie booksellers from PNBA member stores, vetted approximately 300 nominees and will announce its five winners in January 2026.

PNBA Fall Tradeshow 2026 will be held in Portland, at the Holiday Inn–Columbia Riverfront location.

This article has been updated.