Right. There aren't like four independent bookstores in Tacoma, so you should drive 24 miles from Gig Harbor to, uh, Yelm.

Geography fail.

But I'm sure the 10 minutes this blogger spent with an online map looking at states he's never seen is still super valuable in lots of other respects.

Epic FAIL!

How about "Mostly Books" - in GIG HARBOR!

http://www.mostlybooks.com/

Independent bookstore locator

(This link is all but hidden at the very bottom of IndieBound's home page like the "Masthead" link at The Stranger, which it shouldn't be because the WHOLE POINT of IndieBound is to help small booksellers compete with chains and on-lines, but it does exist.)

Their listings are by no means complete, but--here's a thought--you can add locations yourself.

@4, that seems to be the problem. If you punch in Gig Harbor's zip, you get the list the blogger provided, with Yelm before Tacoma. The Tacoma bookstores are on there, but it says they're 35+ miles away, ten miles further than Yelm. The mapper apparently doesn't know about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Yeah, that's a perpetual problem with locators, Fnarf. I'm forever being referred to places "less than 50 miles away"--on the other side of 12,000+ foot mountains with no roads of any kind, and actually 300 miles away by paved roads.

I should also clarify re: 4 that the add-a-location link

http://www.indiebound.org/stores/add

only appears if no stores are found within your chosen search radius, and you can only add locations if you have a user account (available free to anyone).

@4, I'm not seeing the "add a bookstore" link anywhere. Also, the "Find Bookstores" button is actually very prominently located near the top of the Indiebound page; large and red it is too. However, it's a miracle to find ANYTHING of interest on that page, so poorly-thought-out it is.

Ha--I hadn't been on the site in awhile but knew they had a locator, so I text-searched "find" and "locator." That lovely big red button is all pixels, so I outfoxed myself.

Is it really possible that people who want to buy and most likely read books can't use Google on their own? Why does this gentleman have so much free time that he does rudimentary research about book stores in faraway placezzzzzzzzzzzzzz...