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Michelle Witte read plenty of cliff-hanger moments during her many years as a reader of children's books and young-adult novels.
Her very own cliff-hanger moment came Sept. 30, up close and personal, just four months after she opened Fire Petal Books store in Centerville.
"If we don't get $2,000 by tomorrow, Fire Petal Books will close," Witte posted on her Twitter account.
Thanks to a retweet from Witte fan and internationally renowned fantasy and children's author Neil Gaiman, thousands of hits descended on Fire Petal's website, with individual donations to the store's PayPal account mounting by the hour.
When a generous Swede helped meet the store's lease payment with a $500 donation, Witte breathed a sigh of relief. But only for a moment.
"We still have another hurdle to get over by Friday, so I'm really pushing to get people in the store," she said. "Donations weren't my mind-set when I originally asked for help. What I really want to do is sell books."
Her situation throws stark relief on independent booksellers locally, nationally and internationally. Even with such heavyweights as Gaiman on her side, Witte, as an independent bookseller, needs every bit of luck, insight and fortitude to keep her store open.
The American Booksellers Association, a trade organization,celebrates the opening of new independent bookstores in regular news releases. It also dispenses sobering statistics. Based on two recent press reports, the number of independent bookstores in the United States has declined at least 60 percent from the early 1990s.
Even hardy, iconic independent shops such as Cody's in Berkeley, Calif., and Wahrenbrock's Book House in San Diego closed shop. And this trend can't be reduced to the changing consumer or reading habits of Americans. In February, the United Kingdom Booksellers Association reported a 27 percent drop in the number of independent bookshops since 1999.
If those numbers are dire for independent booksellers who've survived for decades, they're downright morbid for newcomers such as Fire Petal Books.
Witte, a 29-year-old graduate of Brigham Young University with a degree in journalism, crafted three key elements into her business plan before opening her store in July.
She was confident the plastic feel of e-readers would never re-create the warm, paternal moments that parents and children share with made-of-paper children's books. She conceived her store as something of a community center, so from opening day she scheduled author readings and writing workshops.
Her third element of financing was another matter and, as evidenced by Fire Petal's close call late last month, still is. A single adult with no home, Witte had no up-front collateral to offer lending institutions for a possible loan.
As if that would stop her. Thanks to book donations from Utah's substantial cadre of talented young-adult novelists, including Sara Zarr and Shannon Hale, Witte raised more than $5,000 for opening costs in an online auction that lasted three months from late 2009 into early 2010. Gaiman was a fan even back then, donating a signed edition of his Beowulf script book.
Witte has never met the Minneapolis-based writer face to face, but considers her social-networking relationship with him as one piece of her store's luck. "He actually follows me on Twitter, I don't know why," she said.
Children's bookstores, such as Witte's, stand a better chance of survival than the traditional independent bookstore, said Michael Levy, professor of marketing at Babson College and author of books on retail management. But even for them, it's all uphill against Internet retailers and the onslaught of e-books.
"Children's books probably have at least 10 years more life in them than the conventional book that will eventually end up on a Kindle," Levy said. "It's not just independent booksellers struggling for life now, it's the big players of Barnes & Noble fighting for oxygen as well."
For every worry in the back of her mind, Witte said, there's a wonderful moment that carries her into the next business day.
"I get to see kids come in and just plop themselves in a bean bag with a book in hand," she said. "I just love it when kids feel comfortable enough to start reading — wherever they are."
Fire Petal Books
Where • 386 N. Main St., Centerville
Hours • Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Info • Call 801-992-3776 for more information, or visit http://www.firepetalbooks.com