The TLS is offering free advertising to independent bookshops.

The leading literary journal will be dedicating a full page of classified ads to independents in its print edition for the foreseeable future.

Many retailers have been hit hard by the impact of coronavirus, and the TLS aims to help its readers support independent bookshops by shining a light on the services they are offering.

Editor Stig Abell said: “The whole aim of the TLS is to provide distraction, solace and the broadening of horizons, especially at the moment. The same is true, of course, of books generally.  We want to help bookstores, in some small way, whose main business has been limited by the crisis.

“Our audience’s appetite for reading isn’t going to go away, and I know our readers will be more than happy to help their local booksellers through this.”

The TLS reaches avid readers around the globe: 36% of its audience is in the UK and 39% is in the US, so it is encouraging bookshops around the world to apply.

Independent bookshops just need to send the TLS information about the services they are offering.

Last week, the TLS announced that it would restrict its references to coronavirus to just a few stories in each issue: the idea being that it should respond to the new reality, but also provide a distraction from it.