HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Larry Portzline, the writer and part-time college instructor, who pushes a motorcoach-based travel program called "bookstore tourism" every chance he gets, has written a book on the concept.
Titled, Bookstore Tourism: The Book Addict's Guide to Planning & Promoting Bookstore Road Trips for Bibliophiles & Other Bookshop Junkies, the book became available earlier this month.
Portzline says his goal for the book is to promote and support independent bookstores by marketing them as a tourist destination and creating a new travel niche for booklovers. (See July 1 issue of Bus & Motorcoach News.)
His how-to book encourages book nuts to plan and conduct "bookstore road trips" with friends, organizations and even their communities' economic development agencies.
"The idea is to encourage booklovers to organize day-trips and other literary outings to cities and towns with fun, interesting and unique bookstores that people in their own communities may not get to visit regularly," says Portzline. "It can work in the other direction, too. People in your town -- your local booksellers, business association, visitors' bureau or economic development agency -- can create ways to attract groups of readers to your community for a day of browsing, touring and other book-related activities."
During the past year, Portzline has led more than a half-dozen, sold-out "bookstore adventures" on motorcoaches to New York City and Washington, D.C.
Destinations, the American Bus Association travel magazine, has called the bookstore tourism model "a tremendous market."
With independent bookstores fast becoming a thing of the past, "loading booklovers onto a bus and taking them to towns with great bookshops is one way to reverse that trend," says Portzline. "It's educational and fun, it promotes reading and literacy, it supports travel and tourism, and it brings together people who share a love of books and the written word. . . . Most important, it raises awareness about independent bookstores and helps them stay open."
Bookstore Tourism covers the basics of planning and promoting a bookstore road trip, including how to do the necessary research, arrange transportation, publicize the event, and the like. It includes tips, step-by-step suggestions, and advice based on Portzline's experiences leading his own bookstore trips.
Portzline says the book is available at independent bookstores. It's also listed in Books in Print, and is being distributed by Ingram, meaning it's available from the major chain bookstores and online booksellers. Portzline calls that "poetic justice."
"My primary goal," he says, "is to spread the word however I can and encourage people to take ownership of the idea and adapt it to suit their own interests and needs."
For more information, go to www.BookstoreTourism.com.