ARLINGTON, Va.  Get on Twitter. Add a wine bar. Do as one bookstore owner did and rent out space for birthday parties.

Or, as a veteran store owner from Kansas tartly suggested, just sell books.

More than 500 independent booksellers debated their next step last week at the Winter Institute, the annual jamboree that is also attended by publishers who go to mingle with their customers and promote their most promising coming titles.

But this event belongs to independents, whose surviving members withstood first the expansion of the big book chains, and later the recession. Lately, they have watched as former powerhouses like Borders have faltered, while wondering what the troubles of their old adversary mean for them.

“We know now that in the world of physical bookselling, bigness is no longer viewed as an asset,” said Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books, which has independent stores in South Florida, Westhampton Beach and the Cayman Islands. “It’s about selection and service and ambiance. Now we’re finding a situation where the marketplace is getting back to reality.”