Lissa Warren, v-p and senior director of publicity at Da Capo Press, is the author of The Good Luck Cat: How a Cat Saved a Family and a Family Saved a Cat, published this fall by Lyons Press. In her role as author, on Small Business Saturday she was "Bookseller for a Day" at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, N.H., as part of the Indies First campaign. Here is her account of her bookselling adventure:
In advance, I was asked to select five titles that the store would stock so I could handsell them. I chose two of my favorite books published by the company where I work, Da Capo Press: Rebel Souls by Justin Martin, which is about Walt Whitman and his circle of Bohemians at New York City's Pfaff's Saloon (Gibson's owner Michael Herrmann, who lived in Manhattan for years, had already named the book a staff pick), and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, which seemed perfect as we head into holiday baking season (Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows, anyone?). Since I teach a graduate-level book publishing course at Emerson College, I also chose a book one of my students has been raving about, Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler, thinking it would appeal to any young woman who likes history or fashion.
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| Michael Hermann, owner of Gibson's, with Lissa Warren. | |
Since my own book, a memoir called The Good Luck Cat, which was on hand, is about cats, I tried to balance my selections with two dog books: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, which our CEO, David Steinberger, had recommended to me and which is about falling in love with poetry as much as it's about falling in love with a dog, and the novel The Dog Year by Ann Garvin, who is a member of Tall Poppy Writers, a women's writing group to which I belong, and a faculty member in the MFA Creative Writing program at nearby Southern New Hampshire University. Long story short, I gave my choices a lot of thought, trying to balance personal favorites with local connections, and always trying to envision the potential reader with whom each title could find a home. In short, I tried to think like a bookseller at an independent bookstore--like a curator for the community.
Upon arrival, I grabbed a cup of pear and pomegranate tea from their True Brew Café and was shown to a comfy chair behind a table on which my selections and my own book were displayed. My two-hour slot flew by. Michael Herrmann came over to chat. So did a couple of his "real" booksellers, one of whom even bought my book. Customers sauntered over--some boldly, some sheepishly. Positioned back near the children's section, I got to overhear many thoughtful conversations between parents and their kids. The most memorable one, between a father and his daughter, who looked to be nine or 10, went something like this:
"Daddy, do you think this book is too old for me?"
"I don't know, honey. It looks kind of thick."
"I'm a pretty good reader, you know."
"I know. I have a hard time picking out books for you."
"That's okay, I've got this."
And got this she did. After flipping through the book for a few minutes and reading some lines aloud to her father, she felt reasonably assured that the reading level wasn't too advanced for a girl her age, and handed the book to him so he could buy it for her. I couldn't help but think of the Book Sense slogan "independent bookstores for independent minds."
I like to think that's what indie bookstores do--provide a place for these kinds of interactions. And I hope the spirit of the Bookseller for a Day campaign will carry through the holiday season and beyond--that, at least when it comes to bookstores, Small Business Saturday will become Small Business Every Day.