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My ideal independent bookstore carries only children's books. A bell above the door tinkles musically each time a customer enters. Strategically placed twinkle lights lend a dreamy, wonderland quality to the bright, colorful interior. The staff is warm and welcoming and brilliant at pairing you with exactly the book you need. Cubby bookcases line the walls. Inside, new releases mingle with classics, and all are placed face out, of course. Displays throughout the store are artistic and irresistible. I can picture it so clearly . . . because it's The Shop Around the Corner from the movie, You've Got Mail.

If that store existed nearby, I'd work there for free. Oh, I'd earn a paycheck; the money just wouldn't make it home.

I don't have an indie in my hometown, but I wish I had one like Des Moines' Beaverdale Books. My DM author friends hold their book launches there, and owner Alice is a gem who's pretty much game for anything. I was able to attend Sharelle Byars Moranville's launch for The Hop last spring. Sharelle's friends brought in cheese and crackers, grapes, chocolates, a sweets tray, wine for the adults and, for the kids in attendance (since The Hop has gardening/environmental elements), cups of gummy worms in Oreo "dirt." Dozens of people showed up to share Sharelle's moment and hear her read from her adorable book. The joint was jumping!

My town has a Barnes & Noble and a (new) Books a Million. Luckily for area authors, those stores have friendly staffs, especially Barnes & Noble, where Asst. Mgr. Paul Ziebarth makes this B&N feel more like an indie than a big box store. Paul bends over backwards to make book signings successful. He knocks himself out for our SCBWI-Iowa conference booksales, too, always with a smile and cheerful attitude that makes us feel like there's nowhere he'd rather be. Thanks, Paul, for making authors feel wanted and welcome! I know it isn't that way everywhere.

There's still time to enter our blogiversary contest to win one of four gift certificates to Anderson's Bookstore!

Happy Mother's Day!

Jill Esbaum

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Hello, all!

First things first:  If you haven't yet entered to win in our 4 x 4 Blogiversary Celebration, go! Do! Who wouldn't love selecting a few FREE books from one of our favorite indies?

• Diagram the important places in the story. For example, the main character's house. Show the layout, the directional orientation (for the cast of light, breeze through the house, etc.) Think about the view from each window.
• Furnish the house. Think about the furnishings and what those reveal about backstory, character, and conflict.
• Pick a particular item in the house – a keychain, a coffee mug, a knick-knack, a lamp, a toothbrush – and use it as a prompt for exploring backstory, character, and conflict. Use it to create a scene between two characters.
• Pick an item in the house that will become a motif in the story – i.e., invested with an emotional content, like the backpack in Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky or the pearls in Kimberly Willis Holt's When Zachary Beaver Came to Town.

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What better way to continue celebrating our 4 x 4 Blogiversary Celebration by introducing our readers to the incomparable Pat Wroclawski, Bookseller Extraordinaire to the 4^th Power.

So many times I finish a novel, or page through a picture book, or wonder at a biography and think, “Oh, how Pat would have loved this book!”


Her never-ending knowledge of children’s literature.
Her impeccable taste in books.
Her love of reading.
Her respect for and interest in writers and illustrators.

Pat’s passion for All Things Children's Book glowed from within.

Of course Pat herself proved the best resource of all.

She cheered me on as I made my way, introducing me to esteemed authors and illustrators, to books I should know, to opportunities that helped me grow as a writer, and to the Association of Booksellers for Children, which Pat helped found, now a part of ABA re-named the ABC Children’s Group and a most vital piece of the Children’s Book World.
I shall always remain grateful for how warmly Pat welcomed and embraced my fellow SCBWI-Illinois members.

She personally decorated the store’s windows and greeted each and every guest.
And she was there in the audience of Northern Illinois University’s March 1999 Children’s Literature Conference keeping me strong in my first-time-ever speaking presentation to 500 educators and librarians (!)
Seeing Pat’s smile undid my buckling knees.

As well as mentor, teacher, advocate, friend.


Titled “Everything I Know About Children’s Books I Learned From My Mother,” this beautiful tribute keeps Pat’s Spirit alive.
The Margaret Wroclawski Memorial Collection now holds some 100 titles at the Winnetka/Northfield Public Library.

Like the books they hand their readers, booksellers change lives too.
Especially extraordinary ones, like my Pat Wroclawski.


Don’t forget to celebrate our 4^th Blogiversary by entering our 4 x4 give-away!  You can win one of 4 $25 gift certificates to Anderson’s Bookshop!  All you need do is share the name of your favorite independent bookstore, and maybe even bookseller.
Click HERE for details.

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.
Howdy, Campers!

And it's Friday, so happy Poetry-Friday-in-the-midst-of-Poetry-Month! Thank you, Laura Purdie Salas, for hosting PF today!

Here's my rough draft of a book poem in honor of indies today:





And remember to enter our indie bookstore gift certificate giveaway!

I'm trying to remember to put my name at the end of these posts...this is important because those who subscribe don't see the byline which automatically posts our names for us. So...

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Today, I'm thrilled to announce an extra-special giveaway in honor of our FOURTH BLOGIVERSARY. To show our appreciation to our blog readers AND to one of our favorite independent booksellers, we'll be giving away FOUR $25 gift certificates to Anderson's Bookshops! And, as a bonus, Anderson's is generously offering our winners a 20% discount, which will help defray the shipping costs if you're unable to redeem your gift certificate in person.

In case you're not familiar with this family-owned company, in 2010, Anderson's celebrated their 135th year in business, with six generations of the family now working in their stores. Among their many accolades, in 2011, Anderson's was named Publisher's Weekly Bookstore of the Year. Anderson's has a long history of supporting teachers by providing educator resources like mock Newbery contests, arranging author visits, and sponsoring special events such as their upcoming Teacher Open House, where educators can learn about the best new releases for classroom use. And educators always receive a 20% discount off the list price of books to be used in the classroom or library.


Anderson's also has a reputation for hosting wonderful (and numerous!) author signings, and for championing local authors. After many years of attending Anderson's marvelous author events, I was honored to have my first signing at the Naperville store when my novel, Rosa, Sola, came out. That day, the Anderson's staff made me feel like a real star! I couldn't help getting a little teary-eyed as I addressed the crowd of family, friends, and fellow writers, telling them what a thrill it was to have my signing in the bookstore that felt like my second home.


If you're ever in the Chicago area, I encourage you to visit one of Anderson's stores. But even if a physical trip isn't possible, you can visit them virtually via their website, where you can order print and ebooks online. As you'll see below, the winners of our giveaway will have the option of using their gift certificates that way.  

The TeachingAuthors are fans not only of Anderson's, but of independent bookstores everywhere. For the next few weeks, we'll be sharing stories of our appreciation for independent booksellers. Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised by the encouraging news the Salon article "Books Aren't Dead" had about both print books and independent bookstores: 

 ". . .  the Christian Science Monitor recently reported [you can read that article here], there are now many indications that a once-beleaguered portion of the bookselling landscape, independent bookstores, are enjoying a “quiet resurgence.” Sales are up this year; established stores, such as Brooklyn’s WORD, are doing well enough to expand and new stores are opening. Indies have been helped by the closure of the Borders chain and a campaign to remind their customers that if they want local bookstores to survive, they have to patronize them, even if that means paying a dollar or two more than they would on Amazon."

I confess, I'm one of those book buyers willing to pay "a dollar or two more" to support my local independent. I want to help ensure they'll still be around when I finally have another book signing. :-)

In addition to celebrating independent booksellers, we decided our blogiversary was a good time for a little spring cleaning here on the TeachingAuthors website. I've created two new pages, which you can find links to under our logo at the top of the page: Links and Writing Workouts. The Links page now contains all the links that used to be in the sidebar, grouped under the following headings:

• Websites of Note
• Children's/YA Lit Reading Lists
• Graduate Programs in Writing for Children and Young Adults
• General Children's/YA Lit Blogs
• Agent Blogs
• Author/Illustrator Blogs.

The Writing Workouts page explains the history and evolution of our Writing Workouts, and allows you to access all of them from one place. I've also shortened the names of our resources pages to simply "For Teachers," "For Young Writers," and "Visits." And I've updated our bios on the About Us page. I hope you'll take time to explore these revised pages and give us feedback on what you think of the changes.

You may also notice a new button in the sidebar labeled "Follow this blog with bloglovin'." I recently learned that Google will be retiring Google Reader on July 1, 2013, and I wanted to provide other options for those who currently read our posts via Reader. Bloglovin' allows you to easily import all the blogs you currently follow with Google Reader. I've also seen positive reviews of the RSS service Feedly (see, for example, this recommendation in Jane Friedman's newsletter, Electric Speed), so I've included a Feedly link in the sidebar, too. You can read a quick comparison of Bloglovin' vs. Feedly here.

If you don't already follow our blog, I'll hope you'll sign up to do so today via email, Bloglovin', Feedly, or one of the other options in our sidebar. (Hint--our blog subscribers automatically qualify for FOUR entries in our blogiversary giveaway. See below for details.)

Before I explain how to enter the giveaway, I want to share a poem the AMAZING April Halprin Wayland wrote in honor of our blogiversary, which actually falls on Monday, Earth Day.

            A Blooming Blogiversary
     Sheaves of paper, leaves of prose
     Typing wobbly rocky rows

     Planting tender inkling seeds
     Sowing words on glowing screens

     Underground the spark is struck
     Growing with some care and luck

     First a shoot, then a sprout
     Weeding all the adverbs out

     Seedlings reaching toward the sun
     Readers, writers we are one

     Blooming in the blogisphere
     Post by post, year by year
poem © 2013 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

A special "thank you" to all the readers who have stuck with us here at TeachingAuthors "post by post, year by year."

Now, for our Blogiversary Giveaway details:

As I said at the beginning of this post, in honor of our Fourth Blogiversary, and to celebrate independent booksellers, we're giving away FOUR $25 gift certificates to Anderson's Bookshops!  
Note: if you're unable to redeem your prize in person at one of Anderson's stores, you will be able to do so online. AND, you'll receive a 20% discount on your purchase!

Please bear with us as we try something new for this giveaway--we're using Rafflecopter for the first time. If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, you may want to read their info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway and/or the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

Once you've logged into Rafflecopter below (via either Facebook or an email address) you'll see that we've provided four different options for entering the giveaway--you can pick one or up to all four. The more options you choose, the greater your chances of winning. While we haven't made it a requirement, we hope that everyone will choose to subscribe to the TeachingAuthors blog. If you're already a subscriber, to enter, you need only click on that option and then tell us how you follow our blog.

As it says in the "Terms and Conditions," this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You must be 18 or older to enter. And please note: email addresses will only be used to contact winners. The giveaway will run from now through the end of Children's Book Week, on May 19. Winners will be notified May 20, 2013. 

I hope that covers everything. But if you have any questions about the giveaway, feel free to email us at teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.

Good luck to everyone! And don't forget--it's Poetry Friday. When you're done entering our giveaway, check out the Poetry Friday round-up over at Live Your Poem. 

Happy writing!
Carmela


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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This is the first in our new series of guest blogs by booksellers. These blogs are designed to show life behind the scenes of a crucial but neglected relationship – the one between writers and booksellers. Here Meryl Halls shares news of some exciting initiatives and invites writers to participate in the events such as ‘Strictly Come Bookselling’ during the fifth Independent Booksellers Week, which this year takes place between 30th June and 7th July.

My main responsibilities lie in working with independent booksellers, and over the last five years we have established a thriving Independent Booksellers Forum, which organizes events and campaigns for the 1000+ indie bookshops still operating in the UK and Ireland.

I’ve always been a book-lover, and my earliest and most vivid childhood memories revolve around our annual trips from Scotland to visit family friends in Meldreth, near Cambridge. A trip to Heffers Children’s Bookshop was the highlight of every trip (for me, if not for my brother!). I can hardly put into words the excitement of walking through the door and smelling ‘that’ smell.

As a teenager and student, I worked in the local indie bookshop in my small Scottish home town, though it is now sadly long-closed. Whenever I am home visiting family, one of the biggest pleasures for me, my husband and my two teenage children is to visit the wonderful Main Street Trading Company in St Boswells. So, you could say I have the perfect job – and you’d not be far wrong!

At the BA, our umbrella brand for our indie activity is IndieBound, a marketing campaign begun in the USA, which focuses on the importance of shopping locally, shopping independently and creating a strong community. When we introduced the campaign into the UK, it immediately resonated with UK booksellers and it has provided both the BA and our members with opportunities to start a meaningful conversation with customers about how important their consumer behaviour is in keeping retail areas diverse, bookshops thriving and high streets healthy.

We have migrated our IndieBound messages about community engagement and shopping locally into our more recent ‘Keep Books on the High Street’ campaign, which is currently entering a new phase, and is reaching out to authors for support. You can see more here.

We will be back in touch with SAS members about the campaign, but in the meantime if you are interested in providing us with a quote in support of indie or high street bookselling, or – even better – if you are prepared to record a short spoken piece on the same subject, we would love to hear from you – email us here. The American BA has just launched a very similar initiative called ‘Why Indies Matter’, and you can see some of your fellow authors talking about indie bookshops on this link to the US IndieBound site.

The main reason, though, that I’m deligh

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The U.K.-based Man Booker International Prize released its longlist to book publishers of 13 finalists for the 2011 award yesterday, but only 12 care to be considered; John Le Carré rejected the nod, offering up an explanation that amounts to little more than “I prefer not to.” Included on the list are three American authors–Anne Tyler, Philip Roth, and Marilynne Robinson–and for the first time, two Chinese writers, Wang Anyi and Su Tong. The award, worth $94,000, is given every other year based on an author’s entire body of work. With christian book publishers informed, the winner will be awarded at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on May 18 and will be feted on June 28 in London.

The assembly of Gujarat, a western Indian state, voted unanimously to ban Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph Lelyveld’s new book Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India. The controversy began over early reviews out of the U.S. and U.K. highlighting passages insinuating that Gandhi had a possible intimate relationship with a German man named Hermann Kallenbach. More bans are pending in India, where homosexuality was illegal until 2009.

Simon & Schuster announced it would publish a book of James Garner’s memoir The Garner Files on Nov. 8, 2011. In a press release, Garner saiid, “I’ve avoided writing a book until now because I feel like I’m really pretty average and I didn’t  think anyone would care about my life.”

The most difficult readers to reach are, without question, teenage boys–especially teenage boys from poor, urban neighborhoods. But Paul Langan, a 39-year-old white man from the suburbs of New Jersey, has found a way to tap into the market of “black and Latino urban middle and high school students who are struggling readers.” The Bluford series covers topics like fighting, bullies, and drug dealing, which for many of the young readers constitutes “everyday-life situations.”

Gun- and baby-toting woman of action Angelina Jolie will be getting the comic book treatment. It sounds like it’ll be a realistic, biographical take on her life, but Jolie as a full-fledged action hero sounds so much more interesting. Radioactive lips? Brood of toddler sidekicks? Yes, please.

How do writers deal with bad reviews? Not always well, especially when blogging is involved.

What would you give for this stunning reader’s retreat, a library in the woods? It makes me feel cozy and contemplative just looking at it. Not to mention really, really rich.

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Bargain hunters were out in force this weekend as liquidation sales began at 200 Borders locations slated to close as part of the company’s bankruptcy filing.

The affected stores — about one-third of the bookseller’s locations — are expected to close by the end of April. Twenty-one underperforming stores in Southern California will be shut, including stores in Sherman Oaks, Century City, Long Beach and Orange.

Huge “store closing” and “everything must go” posters covered the windows at Borders in Pasadena and Glendale, which were bustling with customers Sunday. Many sections were already picked over, including from christian book publishers, with shelves left bare and items such as notebooks, journals and photo albums strewn about.

Most items were discounted 20% to 40%, with markdowns expected to increase in coming weeks.

“As long as there’s a deal, I’m going to take advantage of it,” said Jordan Francke, 27, who was checking out the games section at the Glendale store.

“It’s just the changing landscape of literature these days. It’s all electronic,” Francke, a children’s book publishers and television schedule coordinator, said of the chain’s bankruptcy. “I can only imagine it’s a struggle for a place like Borders to stay relevant.”

That’s a harsh reality for regular customers such as Kathleen O’Reilly, 52, who was at the Pasadena Borders carrying a shopping basket laden with discounted stationery and magazines.

The Pasadena resident said she was “old school” and enjoyed seeing and touching books before making a purchase. She said she would miss visiting the store with her teenage daughter.

“I spend several days a week here,” said O’Reilly, a self-publishing counselor at a high school. “I actually debated whether I even wanted to come because I was worried I’d be too upset to see the store torn apart.”

Business is expected to continue as usual on the company’s website and at stores that aren’t closing.

After a slew of competitive blunders and missteps in the last decade, Borders Group Inc. found itself in trouble and had to cut staff, shut stores and shake up its top management.

Critics said the company botched its move into the book publisher digital age, causing sales and earnings to plummet. At the same time, mass merchants including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. became major players in the book-selling market, often offering lower prices than Borders and rival Barnes & Noble Inc.

But Borders maintains it isn’t done for good. In a letter e-mailed to customers and posted on the company’s website last week, Borders President Mike Edwards said the company hoped to emerge from Chapter 11 as “the destination of choice.”

About 6,000 of the chain’s roughly 19,000 workers will be laid off as part of the closures. Among them is Rich Kilbury, a christian book publisher, who was pushing a cart stacked high with books at the Pasadena location Sunday.

“It’s depressing, but we kind of saw it coming,” he said. “Business had dropped off.”

The promise of discounts attracted Victoria Rose to the Pasadena store, where she was browsing mystery and thriller books. The 60-year-old high school English teacher said she was never a regular customer because she could find a better s

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For the book publishers and authors perspective, Borders was once a worthy rival to Barnes & Noble. Perhaps even bigger than B&N. The two brick-and-mortar chain bookstores were able to offer better prices than independent bookstores and drove many out of business. But that was before the success of Amazon and other online retailers brought the phrase “brick and mortar” into regular use — and once that happened, everything changed; indeed many UK book publishers watched in horror last year the UK divison of Borders hit the wall.

Barnes & Noble, if buffeted by Amazon’s success, has remained afloat; Borders has been taking on water.

On Dec. 30 Borders announced it would not make payments owed to some publishers, without specifying whom. Hachette confirmed that it was among those who would not be paid by Borders.

Borders has nearly 200 Waldenbooks and Borders Express outlets slated for closure before the month of January is out. Additional Borders stores are also set to close, including Westwood’s.

Borders is also cutting back on staff. On Wednesday, Borders announced that it would close a distribution center in Tennessee, eliminating more than 300 jobs; 15 management positions were eliminated Friday. And the resignation of two top executives — the chief information officer and general counsel — was announced at the beginning of 2011.

Meanwhile, Borders is seeking to restructure its debt like the frantic chess of a brutal endgame. On Thursday, Borders met with publishers and proposed that the payments owed by the bookseller be reclassified as a loan, as part of that refinancing. “But on Friday, publishers remained skeptical of the proposal put forth by Borders,” the New York Times reports. “One publisher said that the proposal was not enough to convince the group that Borders had found a way to revive its business, and that they were less optimistic than ever that publishers could return to doing business with Borders.”

Nevertheless, Borders — which lost money in the first three quarters of 2010 — remains the second-largest bookstore chain by revenue. Its loss would have a significant effect on book publishers across the United States.

Investors, however, seem cheered by the recent news swirling around Borders. Shares rose 12% on Thursday after reports that the bookseller was close to securing financing.

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Gayle Shanks has fought a sometimes frightening battle against national book chains (mainly in the business to sell and publish a book) for 36 years, so one might expect the independent Tempe bookseller would be overjoyed at news that the goliath Borders is in dire straights.

But that would be like judging a book by its cover.

Sure, Shanks figures the chain’s death would lure its former customers to her Changing Hands store in Tempe.

Yet she sees peril for bookstores, for readers and for the nation’s culture.

Michigan-based Borders is the nation’s second-largest book retailer and its large debts to vendors could take down small book publishers and hurt the surviving ones, Shanks said. That could limit what even the most independent-minded bookseller could offer adventuresome readers.

“I think my biggest concern, really, is what it means for the book publishing world and ultimately what it means for diversity and finding a marketplace that will be diminished,” Shanks said. “We will have fewer authors finding publishers for their books. We’ll find fewer books being published and that might in fact mean that only huge, commercially viable authors will find their books going to market. That worries me.”

Borders has stopped payments to some children’s book publishers, who have in turn cut off shipments of new merchandise. Published reports include speculation that Borders will be forced to reorganize under bankruptcy protection or that its declining sales, market share and stock value will doom it.

Border’s troubles became more apparent after the holiday season, Shanks noted, when it reported disappointing sales even as most retailers and rival Barnes & Noble saw small to large improvements. Amazon.com would likely benefit from a Borders’ failure, but Shanks finds that troubling, too.

“That’s just the best-sellers and one level below,” said Shanks, the store’s co-owner and book buyer. “Unless you know exactly what you want to read, it takes the adventure and the curiosity factor out of what’s involved with finding a new author.”

Borders was the chain that mostly directly challenged Changing Hands, a store Shanks helped found in 1974 in downtown Tempe. Her initial 500-square-foot store expanded multiple times on Mill Avenue, where, roughly a decade ago, Borders opened a 25,000-square-foot store three blocks from Changing Hands.

The independent store opened a second location on McClintock Drive and Guadalupe Road in 1998, closing the downtown one in 2000. Borders later shuttered the downtown store.

Shanks believes Borders’ woes are a typical example of a chain not keeping up with e-book publishing industry trends — especially electronic readers — and not a sign books are obsolete. She’s seen an interest in people reading, whether its books on paper or on e-readers. Even on a weekday afternoon, Shanks said, Changing Hands can be full of customers.

“We really have been doing fine and 2010 was close to a record year for us,” Shanks said.

Borders and Barnes & Noble overbuilt, she said, adding it’s impossible for them to sell the number of books required to pay rent on all the square footage they occupy in the Valley.

A Borders failure would leave three empty stores in the East Valley, at Superstition Springs Mall in Mesa, at a mostly empty shopping center east of Fiesta Mall in Mesa and at the Chandler Pavilions. By comparison, Barnes & Noble operates five East Valley stores.

It’s unclear who would win Borders’ customers – especially from

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We speak of independent booksellers as selling by hand, and that they do, and for that, we (readers and writers) are grateful.  But it is also enormously true that independent booksellers sell by heart.  We see that each time in the Indiebound lists are unveiled—booksellers putting themselves on the line for books and, consequently, for those who write them.

Today I send this flower—a burst of light, an otherworldly shimmer—to Mandy King of The Boulder Book Store in Boulder, CO, who put her heart on the line for Dangerous Neighbors, suggesting it to the Autumn 2010 Children's Indie Next List, where it joins a remarkable slate of new titles.  She's bigger and brighter and better than this flower.  My picture is but a mere approximation.

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3086 Claremont Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94706.

Go there, for stacks and stacks of the most eccentric, awesome, obscure, culty, random collection of titles ever. The books are literally falling off the walls, in something that resembles alphabetical order, and it's literally my favorite place to waste hours and money. There are plenty of books that I could write down the titles of and order through my store (and plenty used or UK editions that I could not) but I buy them there. Why? Because it's the only place I know that would stock everything that they stock and so they deserve the sale.

Recently purchased there:

The Wizard in the Tree by Lloyd Alexander,

and 3 Bellairs middle-grade horror/mysteries, including one recommended on the Dark Carnival website, The Chessmen of Doom.

Thanks for being awesome, Dark Carnival.

http://www.darkcarnival.com/

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NPR Offers Independent Booksellers' Summer Reading Recommendations...

My clock radio (which is always set to NPR) woke me up this morning with Susan Stamberg's story offering summer reading selections from from four independent booksellers. In case you missed this on Morning Edition today, have a read or take a listen. There are some cool book picks on the list. Says NPR:

Whatever your reading pleasure—be [it] fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir or graphic novels—you're sure to find page after page of pleasant escape in the recommendations that follow.

(My summer reading listing consists of a small stack of books I grabbed at BEA.)

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What’s a miniview, you ask? It’s a mini-interview, of course! These are short, oh-so-sah-wheet bits of info from folks who have different perspectives on the children's publishing biz. Don't blink, or you just may miss something. This week, you’ll hear from:

One hard-working, independent bookstore owner

One top-notch New York City agent

One debut novelist from the Class of 2k9

One aspiring writer

And…

One famous, contemporary children’s book author


LET'S GET TO IT!

Today, we talk to Vicki Erwin. Vicki is the owner of that charming bookstore called Main Street Books in St. Charles, MO.

Located in historic St. Charles, Main Street Books is a cozy, warm escape into the world of literature. If you’d like to buy a new novel, check out a guidebook, browse the children’s section, attend a book club, or rub elbows with an author, then 307 South Main Street is the place to be.

Vicki, please tell us about your bookstore.
We are a general bookstore, located in an historic district in an historic building -- which can present challenges. Our store is on three levels. What we call the mezzanine houses the picture books and readers, a major part of our business. The early chapter, middle grade and young adult titles are on the second floor of the store. We separated these from the younger children because we wanted this age to feel a sense of having their own place. The books are shelved in a hallway and displayed on tables in the kitchen. We have bean bag chairs and a sofa that they often take advantage of! I estimate half of our space is children's books.

What children's programs have been most successful? Why?
Our most successful children's programs have been in partnership with local libraries. Partly that's because we don't have space available for big programs. It's also partly because we combine our marketing efforts to reach a larger audience. A book being featured in the newspaper or on local television also nudges sales.


What is the most exciting part about being a bookseller?
There are so many exciting parts! One is matching the right reader with the right book. It's wonderful when they return to tell you how much they loved a book. Another great part of bookselling is discovering a wonderful book early on and feeling like you have a role in the presentation and building of that book -- telling people about it, promoting it, etc. Finally, just having the opportunity to see everything and read so much is a dream.


In one sentence, tell us how bookstores are changing.
We have to be better than ever to compete, so SHOP LOCAL!

Thanks, Vicki. We love our indies!

Tune in tomorrow for another miniview. We'll be featuring a top-notch NYC agent from a world-reknown agency.

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Mark Booth surveys "The Age of Freemasonry" in his new book The Secret History of the World, recently published by Overlook. Included in a fascinating chapter on the secret mission of freemasonry are some interesting bits on George Washington, whose birthday we will celebrate this President's Day weekend. Washington, Booth notes, was initiated as a Freemason in 1752, and eventually became a "Master Mason," the highest rank you can achieve as a Freemason. Who were the original Freemasons? What do they believe, and what influence have they had on the world? Find out in The Secret History of the World.

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Mark Booth's incendiary study of the world's secret societies, The Secret History of the World, lands on The New York Times Bestseller List at #32 for the week of February 3.

The Secret History of the World explores the stories and teachings put forward by the various cults, societies, and Mystery Schools throughout history. Charging through time and space, Booth produces nothing short of an alternate account of the past three thousand years.

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Mark Booth, author of The Secret History of the World, will be Scott Cluthe's guest on "Positively Incorrect," broadcast nightly on the Sirius Satellite Network (channel 114) and streamed LIVE on Lime Radio.

The Secret History of the World examines the various secret societies throughout history. ForeWord Magazine recently commented: "Booth's luminous prose, his fast-paced storytelling, and his astonishing breadth and depth of knowledge about a multitude of secret societies provide breathtaking glimpses into worlds that heretofore have been little explored."

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Maybe Sean Penn has a point. The San Francisco Chronicle seems a little dazed and confused these days, especially after reading Simon Apted Maxwell's bizarre review of Mark Booth's The Secret History of the World this weekend. Maxwell, an assistant editor at Lapham's Quarterly, seems most offended by Booth's wide-ranging survey of the influence of Secret Societies: "Concocting a sort of literary Long Island Iced Tea, Booth throws every liquor he can find into his cocktail. The predictable result is overwrought, overflavored and overblown. A Long Island Iced Tea can be an entire night's worth of drinking in one glass; Booth's history is an attempt to cram an entire library's worth of scholarship into a single volume."

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Mark Booth's controversial new book, The Secret History of the World, is now in bookstores across the country. After a lifetime of research, Booth offers nothing less than a complete history of the world, from beginning of time to the present day, based on the beliefs and writings of the secret societies. Based in London, Mark Booth is also blogging away under the non de plume of Jonathan Black, offering his views on secret societies, esoteric teaching, and the world at large with his inside-out thinking.

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Dear Friends,
I don’t write letters very often in support of our books. This one is really worth special attention. The world has always been interested in something other than what our moms or dads told us, what our teachers told us, what our churches told us, what the media told us. As we get older there’s often a deep suspicion about received wisdom. In a new book that arrives in bookstores this week,The Secret History of the World, brilliant editor and author Mark Booth has, after a lifetime of research, assembled a book that looks at the deepest histories of our universe and of our world—three thousand years of hidden knowledge and wisdom. Booth’s is a relentless approach, charging through time and space and thought in interdisciplinary fashion: Booth covers Lewis Carroll, Philip K. Dick, Schrödinger, Duchamp, and Bob Dylan with equal flair; and he deals with the subjects of Cognitive Science, Religion, Psychology, Historiography, and of course Philosophy in drawing up this new history of our world. I don’t think Overlook has ever published a book at once so marvelously speculative and so solemnly grounded by research into the corners of our lives and often the well springs of our religious and political beliefs, whether they be Greek and Egyptian mythology, Jewish folklore, Christian cults, Gnosticism, early American philosophy, Catholic conspiracy theory, Freemasons, Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, and people like Shakespeare, Washington, Newton, Dostoevsky, Wagner, Hitler… all of them do more than make their appearance in these pages. I think this book will sell and sell, this season and this year, and for many years. It is certainly unlike any book we’ve ever published, nor are we likely to come upon another one. Please take a look at The Secret History of the World.

Peter Mayer
Publisher
The Overlook Press

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