Good for Stephen King!

During an era when readers are being seduced away from bookstores (if they even have any such shops nearby anymore), this news comes as a wonderful and welcome surprise:

In a move to bump up physical book sales, Stephen King will not release an e-book version of his new novel, Joyland, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It’s something of a radical move for the man who stood onstage with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos in 2009 to introduce the Kindle 2.

This time King has decided to throw his support behind brick-and-mortar booksellers. “I have no plans for a digital version,” King told the Journal “In the meantime, let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one.”

However, the print book is still available for pre-order from online retailer Amazon.

The announcement has been warmly received by bookstores, which have been hurt by the lower price of e-books, sales of which are up across the board.

You can learn more about King’s decision in the Los Angeles Times.

READ MORE: “Small Bookstores Fight Back,” by Linda L. Richards (January Magazine).