Veronica Bane writes horror-inspired thrillers and teaches high school English; she knows how to get people’s attention.
So what did the “We’re All Going to Die Tonight!” author do exactly?
“It sounds strange when I say it out loud, but I blocked one of my favorite indie bookstores, Black Cat Fables, on Threads because I wanted to surprise them with as many sales as possible. I had heard from their social media and then also when I talked to the owner online that they were struggling a bit,” says Bane.
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By keeping the bookstore out of the loop — the way you might leave the birthday girl off a group chat as you plan her surprise party — Bane was able to appeal to both her own readers and Black Cat Fables customers to order books directly from the store all at once, in hopes of providing a sudden salvo of sales.
And it was definitely a surprise to see all the orders flooding in, says Black Cat Fables owner Nicole Fabry.
“My first initial fear was, oh my gosh, we’ve been massively scammed,” Fabry says, laughing. “But fortunately, Veronica and I connected, and I was like, ‘Something’s happening,’ and she was like, ‘Yeah, that was me.’
“It’s just her being her, you know, Machiavellian self. She’s always 10 steps ahead of me,” says Fabry with apparent affection. “She’d posted, encouraging people to buy not only her book from us but also to support us in general.”
It looks like the plan worked. Fabry posted pictures online showing stacks of orders and depleted shelves.
“On Sunday evening, orders started coming in, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s good! People are wanting to buy Veronica’s book.’ But then more and more orders kept coming in for other things, and by the time I woke up Monday morning, we had, I think, 150 orders, and by the time I got up on Tuesday morning, it was almost at 300 orders, which was incredible,” says Fabry, “But I was mildly panicking … because it seems unusual to get such a high volume all of a sudden.”
That had all been according to plan, says Bane, more or less.
“People really took my challenge to heart and cleared a lot of their shelves,” says Bane, who says sales exceeded her expectations. “Nicole actually messaged me and was like, ‘Um, what’s going on?’”
“People really took it seriously,” says the author.
During a break from classes, Bane spoke by phone about how the plan was hatched.
“I had done a special edition with sprayed edges when my book came out as a pre-order incentive,” she says about an earlier collaboration with Annabelle’s Book Club that she was still getting requests for. “I hadn’t planned to bring it back, but … it looked like [Black Cat Fables] needed help. They were asking their community for used books since they were having trouble affording new stock.
“It just gave me the idea to bring it back with them specifically so that I could use that as a motivation for people to buy during this season, because I know October through December is really make-or-break time for indie bookstores.”
Still, some Threads readers may have been surprised to see that Bane, who had teamed with Black Cat Fables to collect and distribute books to those in need in the weeks and months after the Eaton Fires, had taken what at first seemed like a somewhat aggressive-sounding stance toward the bookstore, which is tucked into an alley in Monrovia’s downtown not far from the area’s other bookshop, Underdog Bookstore.
“I know that the Threads algorithm loves something shocking; it loves something that grabs your attention, and if there’s anything I can do to use the algorithm’s powers for good, I will do that,” says Bane, adding that authors such as “Dungeon Crawler Carl” novelist Matt Dinniman and “50 Shades of Grey” writer E.L. James shared or responded to the post.
“Someone said, ‘Oh, this is a great story, this thread, and, well, I hope so. As a thriller author, I’m gonna shock you and then hopefully get you to read it, because indie bookstores are always kind of shouting into the void like, ‘Hey, this time is really important this time of year, please shop indie’ and those posts get lost.”
Fabry said that local businesses have felt the impact of the movie theater closing earlier this year.
“Business has been really slow. It was especially slow over the summer. The movie theater in Monrovia closed in January or February of this year, and the street has been noticeably less busy. There’s been a lot less foot traffic, and just in speaking with the other businesses on Myrtle Avenue, everyone has seen a significant dip in business since that happened,” says Fabry.
“The economy isn’t helping either. People are going out to eat less, and they’re spending their money on needs like rent and groceries and gas, and people just aren’t spending as much on non-essentials. So we’ve definitely noticed a dip in income, and I was not able to order as many new books as I had last year.
“In talking with the other bookstores around us, we’ve all shared similar experiences. Everyone is having a hard time, and we all have the same anecdote of a customer coming in and taking pictures of the books and saying to you, ‘Oh, this is half the price on Amazon; I’ll just get it there,’ which is, of course, devastating to hear, but I think there’s still a significant lack of understanding about why Amazon books are half price — they’re purposefully selling them at a loss to put bookstores out of business. That’s kind of their business model, and not only for books, for other things.”
“That cost comes from somewhere. They’re undercutting because people are not being treated well, or people are not getting the money that they deserve for their product,” says Fabry. “Those cuts don’t just happen. Somebody is getting shorted.”
Asked if there’s anything she’d like to add as the call wraps up, Fabry decides to go public with her feelings about Bane.
“She still has me blocked, so I’m going to publicly thank Veronica Bane for her efforts and her continued support and her scheming. The fact that she is writing full time and teaching full time and somehow still has the time to come up with these elaborate plots to help the bookstores she cares about is incredible and so giving. We’re so grateful.
“She knows how to do socials,” says Fabry. “The algorithm fears her.”
“I will do anything to get people to stop in their tracks and pay attention to an indie bookstore,” says Bane. “Even if it means scaring people for a second.”
Black Cat Fables, 415 S Myrtle Ave Unit B, Monrovia 626-269-3129 www.blackcatfables.com/
Map: 100 Southern California independent bookstores to visit in 2026