Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association’s FallCon in Denver revolved around the sold-out exhibit area on Tuesday, the second day of the annual conference. The trade show floor buzzed all day with lively exchanges between the 238 booksellers and 133 vendors and publishers, ranging from regional presses to big New York City houses, with some new companies like Left Field Publishing and Ghost Buyers, Edelweiss veteran Joe Foster’s bookstore inventory management consultancy, introducing themselves.

Outside, in the ballroom foyer, veteran booksellers paired up for hour-long shifts at “The Expert Is In” table to dispense advice to a crowd of less seasoned booksellers on buying, author events, inventory management, social media, and marketing. Throughout the day, booksellers could also be found sitting on the couches and easy chairs lining the outer wall in the foyer, reading books.

The day began with a breakfast keynote featuring six editors from mission-driven presses. The panel shared the history of their respective imprints, pitched two to four of their hottest new and forthcoming releases, and explained how those specific releases fit into the larger framework of their imprint. The editors included Emily Bell of Astra House, Rosemary Brosnan of Heartdrum, Safon Floyd of Callisto, Emi Ikkanda of Tiny Reparations, Will Neville-Rehbehn of Torrey House, and Matt Weiland of W.W. Norton.

The keynote was moderated by Arsen Kashkashian, general manager of Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colo., who later praised the MPIBA staff for setting up the session, saying that it “puts the book in context, with the editor saying, ‘here’s what we’re trying to do, and here’s how that book fits into our vision.’” Kashkashian noted that sales are up at Boulder Book Store, because the local community "has bounced back from the pandemic and is hopping,” adding that the bookstore has launched a nonprofit, Boulder Book Store Literacy Foundation, to bring authors and donate books to schools in the area.

"We're trying to get books into the hands of kids who need them," Kashkashian said. "If kids don't have books, what's going to happen in 20 years?"

Rosa Mendez, a FallCon first-timer who opened Books by the Bay in La Porte, Tex., a Houston suburb, with her sister-in-law, Jessica Gutierrez, in December 2024, said that the sessions with authors, reps, or editors pitching their books were her favorite. “I love to hear the authors, the publishers, and the editors pitching their books,” she said. “The more you know the person behind the book, the easier it is to handsell the book to your customers.”

Books by the Bay, which sells only fiction for adults and children, started out as a pop-up in August 2024. “We rushed to open it during the holidays after signing the lease,” Mendez said, noting that the store is striving to become a community space, with programming that reflects that goal. There’s already a book club, and “bookish craft nights,” as well as wine tastings pairing wines with different genres of books, and other such interactive events. “We want to make sure that reading is an experience,” Mendez said. “We want people to enjoy themselves.”

Mendez added that she greatly enjoyed her interactions with booksellers from throughout the region at the conference, saying, “It’s good to know that we’re not alone in this.”

Another first-timer, Isabella Bryan, 23, a bookseller for four years at Off the Beaten Path in Steamboat Springs, Colo., concurred. "We're all so similar," Bryan said. "I am with my people; I am in as a bookseller, I can't see myself out of it."

The importance of FallCon in fostering a community of booksellers in a geographically vast and diverse region where many MPIBA bookstore members are hours away from any other bookstore came up again and again in conversations with attendees.

Jesi Crawford—who is opening a 1,200-square-foot bookstore, Indie Darling, in Lander, Wyo., on November 8—is attending her second FallCon. Crawford said that she found it illuminating to attend FallCon at two different stages of the process of opening a bookstore. “Last year, I was daydreaming,” she said, “and this year, it’s all about returns and inventory turns, and the financials.”

“Miranda [Berdahl] at Wind City Books in Casper [Wyo.] has really been helpful, and other booksellers are also taking me under their wings," Crawford said, noting that her fellow booksellers have offered her advice about how to “navigate around in this cultural climate.” She added, “How do I make change in the world without pitchforks showing up outside my store?”

Bookish excitement

Miriam Delgado, who has served since January as events manager at Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Colo., said that attending FallCon was a great opportunity for her as a new bookseller learning the ropes. “It’s super exciting, hearing everyone’s passion for books, editors talking about the books they love,” she said. “Everyone here is so excited about books. I’ve been going crazy, grabbing up books.”

Speaking of books, if there was one book that created a buzz at FallCon, it was Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms, edited by Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, Kinsale Drake, and Darcie Little Badger (Torrey House, Nov.). “I’m very excited about it,” Jesi Crawford told PW. “There are so many incredible writers in there that I know from other places, and I love Torrey House: they publish really thoughtful books about the American West.”

Anne Holman, the co-owner of the King’s English in Salt Lake City, who is attending her “20th or 22nd” MPIBA trade show and “loves that so many new people are here this year,” is most excited about Blackstone Publishing’s illustrated edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker, which was released on Tuesday. “It’s unbelievable,” she said.

Holman also raved about Chronicle’s Bibliophile Advent Calendar for Booklovers by Jane Mount. “When you lift up each little book, you get a question about books or book-related trivia,” she said. “It retails for $40, but I ordered a bunch of them, so we can start selling them right away.”

FallCon 2025 will wind down on Wednesday with a full day of education, with sessions on setting up “clear, clever, and connected” displays, leveraging digital media to increase sales, and, from the ABA, navigating attacks on one’s bookstore. The conference will officially end with the “Last Booksellers Standing Prize Drawing” this afternoon.