Celebrating This Year’s James Patterson Holiday Bonus Recipients

Every year, the James Patterson Holiday Bonus reminds me why I love this industry so much. Independent bookstores are not just retail spaces. They are community anchors, gathering places, safe havens, classrooms, and often lifelines. This year’s list of recipients is a powerful reminder of just how much heart, creativity, and resilience lives behind indie bookstore counters across the country.

To every bookseller recognized this year, congratulations. You earned it. Your work matters, your impact is real, and your communities are better because you show up every day and keep doing the work even when it is hard.

I know firsthand what this recognition means. I was honored to receive the James Patterson Holiday Bonus last year, and it remains one of the most meaningful acknowledgments of my work as an independent bookseller. Not because of the money, though that support was deeply appreciated, but because it felt like a quiet nod that said, “What you are building matters.”

That recognition did not mark a finish line. It lit a fire.

Over the past year, I have doubled down on what I believe independent bookstores can be. Places that champion local authors. Places that educate writers and readers alike. Places that preserve history, tell stories, and create space for connection. The work has grown, the vision has expanded, and the projects on the horizon are bigger than anything I have attempted before.

In the coming year, I will be rolling out a series of initiatives designed to deepen support for writers, expand access to publishing education, and strengthen the role independent bookstores can play as creative hubs. Some of this work will be local. Some of it will reach far beyond our walls. All of it is rooted in sustainability, collaboration, and long-term impact.

Some of these projects are still under wraps, but they represent a meaningful next chapter. The kind that builds on everything learned so far and pushes the work forward in new ways.

So today, I celebrate this year’s recipients with genuine joy. And I look ahead with excitement, motivation, and no small amount of determination to keep building something worthy of the trust, support, and recognition our industry gives when it believes in you.

Congratulations to every bookseller on this year’s list. I cannot wait to see what you do next.

And to those of us still building, still dreaming, still stacking the work quietly behind the scenes, onward. There is so much more to come.

Lynn Tincher is a Kentucky-based independent bookseller and author dedicated to strengthening literary communities. As the owner of From the Ground Up Books and a James Patterson Holiday Bonus recipient, she works to support local authors, promote literacy, and reimagine what independent bookstores can be through education, events, and collaborative creative programs.