Author: Ellen Zielinski Whitfield

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

I try to read in every section, but I always come back to the general fiction section, where most of my favorite authors are shelved. Every time I shelve or alphabetize in that section, I find a new gem to add to my to be read pile.

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

There are so many great ones, but I really enjoy the cover of Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, as well as the recently released sequel, Moon Witch, Spider King.

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be? Backlist pick?

My favorite recent release is a graphic novel from January called The Short While by Jeremy Sorese, a book that explores falling in and out of love, dance cults, post-internet culture, and joyful queerness. My go to backlist pick is always What is Not Yours is Not Yours, a short story collection by Helen Oyeyemi that inspired me to be a bookseller.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

Every bookseller has that classic, “I forgot the title and the author, but it was red, and I think I saw it here last month…” story, but I recently had to do a little sleuthing for someone who found a recipe for mushroom risotto in the Washington Post’s Food section and was trying to find the cookbook from whence it came.

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

Meeting Jeannette Winterson was a trip. I hosted an event with her for her book Frankissstein. She is tinier and louder than you might expect, but it felt a little bit like meeting royalty.

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

I think a lot of people think it is a chill job with a lot of downtime for reading, and let me tell you, that has never been the case for me.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

I want to say that my favorite task, like all booksellers, is talking to people about books, and that’s certainly true. But I not-so-secretly adore getting to receive book shipments into our inventory. I feel much more connected to what is coming through our doors and what we are choosing to sell, and I think it makes me a better bookseller since I have a more intimate knowledge of the books on our shelves, since I touch each one as it arrives. My least favorite part is kicking people out when we’re closing. If someone has a way to do that without it being awkward for everyone involved, please let me know.

8. Can you recommend an underrated readalike book for one of the store’s top titles?

For everyone reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking with Strangers right now, I recommend Intimacies by Katie Kitamura, one of my favorite fiction books of last year. I think Gladwell’s insights pair extremely well with Kitamura’s prose and deep characterization, and the lessons learned from each will stay with you long after you finish.

Aron Spellane is a bookseller at Solid State Books in Washington, D.C.

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

It depends on my needs, but I always feel calm, supported, and grounded when I’m in the corner we call “Our Lives”. The sections we’ve grouped there are Personal Growth, Wellness and Faith. Plus, you’ll find handmade beaded jewelry from women who volunteer to create gorgeous pieces and donate the proceeds to local charities. The whole area is filled with good energy on many levels!

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

I Am Woman, I Am Invincible, I Am Tired…

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be? Backlist pick?

Fresh Water for Flowers: I was so intrigued by what became a runaway bestseller in Europe during Covid that I just had to read this book and put it on top of my reading pile. The novel is beautifully written with an uplifting ending. There’s so much to discuss – this makes for an excellent selection for book groups.
For backlist, The Storyteller’s Secret is my go-to for someone who wants a well-written story that is engaging and transports you to another life and another country. Set in the U.S. and India, this story is about healing and growing and embracing life. This didn’t get a whole lot of attention when it was published, but is one to savor and read with a nice hot cup of tea.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

I think all of us booksellers have a cast of characters among our customers and we have ours too. One is beloved and always cheerful and loud. One of her comments is a keeper: “I just love coming in here. It always smells like books and Sunday supper!”

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

After reading “Florida” and “Matrix”, I was so very happy to meet and interview Lauren Groff. We hosted a literary luncheon for her during the pandemic and she drove from Gainesville for a small, vaccinated group. She’s smart, funny, authentic, and such a great writer.

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

By far the biggest one is you’ll have time to read. We are always so busy that there is never a day we leave when everything that needed to get done is crossed off the “To Do” list.
Sadly, I think we are always working to counteract the idea that booksellers are smarter than the customer. We try to break those barriers immediately when we greet each customer with kindness and a smile.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

I am least fond of bookkeeping. My favorite part is enjoying an event right along with our customers. We often host author events with a talk-show setting where someone on staff facilitates a conversation. How lovely it is to hold these conversations with an author and our community. This isn’t work; it’s a calling.

8. Can you recommend an underrated readalike book for one of the store’s top titles?

If you liked The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi, read The Storyteller’s Secret by Sejal Badani.

Donna Paz Kaufman is the co-founder and owner of Story and Song Bookstore in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

The Fiction section. It occupies the middle area of a long stretch of wall, with enough room for a good number of faced-out titles, so it looks inviting. Plus, I mostly read contemporary fiction, so it’s my favorite section to browse in any store.

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

The Great British Baking Show: A Bake for All Seasons. Though I’m not a baker, I love the show. And the cover makes my mouth water.

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be? Backlist pick?

My current Staff Fave is the novel Mercy Street by Jennifer Haight. The main protagonist is Claudia, a counselor at a women’s clinic in Boston. It also follows a couple of male protestors, and Claudia’s pot dealer. A backlist title that’s really stuck with me in recent years is Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, about a retired professor in Berlin who becomes involved with a group of immigrants from Africa. It’s a beautiful examination of empathy, with plenty of well-intentioned missteps along the way.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

This one has stumped me! I’ve forgotten all the strange customer stories from before the pandemic. Since reopening our doors to the public in April 2021, the vast majority of our customers have been extra gracious and supportive.

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

Until the pandemic started, I’d only ever hosted one or two events at Annie Bloom’s. Then we went online, and I suddenly found myself hosting all of them. It’s been an unexpected treat!

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

Having now read a few Books Forward interviews, I’ll have to agree with my fellow booksellers out there: we spend a lot more time lugging around heavy books than we do getting paid to read them.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

My least favorite part is carrying the aforementioned heavy books upstairs to the sales floor from the receiving desk in the basement.

8. Can you recommend an underrated readalike book for one of the store’s top titles?

For anyone who’s been drawn in by American Dirt‘s migration story, Infinite Country by Patricia Engel would make for an excellent complimentary novel about the trials of emigrating from Latin America to the US.

Michael Keefe is the events coordinator and publicist for Annie Bloom’s Books in Portland, OR.

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

I absolutely love spending time in our comfy areas upstairs with all the nice vintage armchairs and warm atmosphere. It can be so exciting to peruse the sci-fi and fantasy shelves up there, discovering authors I’d never heard of before. Our staff has such a wide variety of interests, we’re able to bring in a really diverse selection and show each other some of our lesser-known faves!

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

I will say that the book cover game has been on point these past couple years. There are so many interesting works of art and design gracing covers lately. Probably one of my favorites right now has been the cover for Olga Dies Dreaming: all rich and colorful just like the characters and the story.

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be? Backlist pick?

I fell in love with Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun (March 2021). I read it straight through in one night! So bittersweet and heartladen, with all the ruminations on human experience tucked under the lens of innocence and hopefulness. Then, one of my all-time favorite books would be either of Ted Chiang’s books of short stories (Story of Your Life & Others and Exhalation) Both have such a variety of perspectives layered in, including so many wonderfully unusual stories that touch on the deep strange questions one might have about identity, human-ness, relationships, and our place in the universe.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

So many! As any bookseller will tell you, readers are a wild and wonderful bunch. One of the funniest is this guy who used to come in once or twice a week “looking for books to option for a movie”. He insisted that he was a movie producer/talent agent/international media tycoon and would come in dressed for the part hmm-ing and haw-ing over the books he wanted to license for his “next movie”. Of course he never left with a book and mostly stood around trying to flirt with the booksellers and other customers, giving out his card and offering to “represent” every pretty young femme he saw. If you hadn’t guessed already, none of his claims were true.

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

We have the privilege of hosting so many fascinating authors from small and large presses alike. At a recent event, I got the pleasure of meeting Melissa Lozada-Oliva (author of Dreaming of You) and Rax King (author of Tacky) in the same night. They had a really cool conversation about culture, poetry, the importance of storytelling, and a ton of relatable stuff that made us laugh. They were both really cool people too and it was a pleasure to hang out with them.

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

So many people come in and say “Oh, I wish I got paid to just sit around and read all day!” If only folks knew just how much work goes into independent bookselling: curating, organizing, and featuring books. The broad base of knowledge one needs, the careful attention to detail everything requires to create a positive and engaging space for readers to explore. Whether we’re on the floor or in the office, there’s never an idle moment. All our reading takes place at home or wherever we can squeeze it in! That said, at least here at Lost City Books, we have such a great relationship with each other that we still find times to party and be social together, which is a pretty rare experience.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

Personally, my job requires a lot of sitting alone in the office at my desk and missing out on the activity and bustle of the floor. Another bookseller (in fact, many booksellers) might say that the least exciting task is shelving books. After a while of staring at the space and thinking about the alphabet, anyone’s brain would get a little fried. The best part really is having access to and being surrounded by books and book lovers every day. We get the first look at so many cool titles, we chat about them together, we get engrossed in really interesting conversations with the customers that come in. And of course the staff discount is a beautiful and dangerous thing 😉

8. Can you recommend an underrated readalike book for one of the store’s top titles?

One of my favorites that comes to mind is for our Young Adult readers who like The Hunger Games series: Jordan Ifueko’s Raybearer series. Looking for a fantasy adventure about banding together with a diverse group of friends to heal generational trauma and unite the world in harmony–all while challenging power structures and harmful traditions? This is the book for you! It’s all about trusting in yourself and in the people close to you, stepping into your power and challenging injustice.

Shady Rose is the Events and Publicity Manager at Lost City Books in Washington, D.C.

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

Definitely our Star Wars section! What used to be a small part of our general “media tie-ins” shelf has now grown into a full fledged section of it’s own, with all the new canon titles kept in stock, as well as a growing collection of old EU books!

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

The deluxe edition of Frank Herbert’s Dune is one of the prettiest hardcovers, plus those blue sprayed edges are just so gorgeous.

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be?Backlist pick?

This one is actually still upcoming, but I recently finished John Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society (out next month) and it was such a delightful read, with fun characters advocating for the protection of these massive creatures unlike anything we’ve encountered on Earth before. As for a backlist pick, I’m now on my second listen of Lemony Snicket’s Poison for Breakfast; it’s a quaint look at philosophy and how we view the world around us. It also helps that the audiobook is read by Patrick Warburton, who brings so much character to the narration. I can’t get enough of it.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

There are several I can think of, but most recently we had a customer come in who was very concerned about The Wheel of Time television series because he didn’t believe any of the people cast in the show would actually be proficient sword fighters. The series is not about sword fighting.

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

Very early in my time at Mysterious Galaxy, we had George R.R. Martin in to sign some stock one morning before the store opened. I got to work after he had already finished signing, and he was sitting aside with his assistant doing something on his phone. I was too nervous to approach him.

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

One of the biggest things I’ve noticed has to do with our work at conventions. Whenever San Diego Comic-Con comes around, folks like to tell us about how lucky we are, and how jealous they are, that we get to go to the convention, and like, SDCC is nice, but it’s also one of the most exhausting things we do during the year. I don’t think people understand how much work goes on behind the scenes in the weeks, and months, leading up to the event in order to coordinate all of our inventory and signings and other shenanigans we have to prepare for before the convention even begins.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

My absolute least favorite task has to be returns on strippable titles. For people who don’t know, publishers allow bookstores to return overstock titles back to the distributor for credit, but books are heavy and they’re expensive to ship. Because of this, many publishers have titles that are designated as “strippable” books; what qualifies as strippable varies by publisher, but they tend to be most mass market paperbacks. For these, the covers are torn off and returned to the publisher as evidence the book was destroyed and will not be sold, and bookstores are instructed to recycle the book after. I cannot help but feel like a monster every time I have to tear the cover off a book, no matter how many times I’ve had to do it.
On the other hand, my favorite task is almost certainly receiving new titles. Each week we get dozens of boxes from publishers filled with brand new titles just waiting to go out on the floor. I love being the person to go through those boxes and hold those books in my hands before anyone else!

8. Can you recommend an underrated readalike book for one of the store’s top titles?

The one book I’ll never stop shouting at our customers to read is The Chorus of Dragons series by Jenn Lyons. As a genre fiction bookstore, we get so many readers who love epic fantasy novels by authors like Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss, and it delights me every time to put a new series in their hands. The Ruin of Kings is by far one of my favorite fantasy novels of the last several years, filled with footnotes and family trees and appendices, it’s everything I love in epic fantasy and Jenn Lyon’s characters are all so vibrant and interesting! The final book in the series, The Discord of Gods, is out in April and I cannot wait for everyone to read it!

Gary Roby is the Inventory Manager/Store Receiver at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego.

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

Our upstairs event space is definitely one of my favorite spots in the shop. One wall of the room has floor to ceiling windows. When the sun is pouring into the space I can sit up there surrounded by books, it is heaven.

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

OK I don’t know if it’s “cool” but I love facing out Convenience Store Woman because it is cute and unassuming but the book is totally different than the cover would suggest.

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be? Backlist pick?

There are so many but if I am picking one new release and one backlist they would be All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle and Perfume by Patrick Suskind.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

There are so many but the one that came to mind first is the gentleman who spent a very long time trying to convince me that all paper should be made from cotton rather than trees (I have no opinion on this matter) and he was sure that if he could just get me on board then he could get other indie bookstores on board and then we could change the world and also could I read his poetry and tell him what I think.

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

I met John Connolly while working BoucherCon a few years ago – we talked about the hadron collider. It was awesome.

I have been hosting a virtual event series since right after the pandemic began which has given me the opportunity to talk with so many amazing authors, too many to list.

Also, one of the most memorable virtual events I hosted was actually one that was postponed. We had an event with Chuck Palahniuk and right at the last minute there were technical difficulties and Chuck couldn’t sign in so we decided to postpone for a later date. The attendees were already in the Zoom waiting and they were amazing, they spent over an hour swapping stories and sharing their memorabilia with each other. It was a really special thing to be a part of and made the event when it did happen a few days later even better.

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

You’ve all heard the one where we just get to read all day, right? We do get to read a lot of books before they hit shelves for the masses but we have to read them after we go home from work just like the rest of you. 

Another thing people don’t think about is the amount of work booksellers take home with them, we are passionate about what we do so not only do we read a lot of books we are also constantly reading trade magazines and flipping through publisher catalogs and watching that show based on a book and reading the article written by that author we know, and researching that meme that’s going around on our downtime to stay on top of what is coming out next and what is hot right now in the world of books.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

Least favorite task is shelving books in certain (to remain unnamed) sections. 

Favorite part is the scavenger hunt that ensues when a customer says something like “I need a book for my sister who likes horses but mostly only reads self-help books” or “I saw this book, it had crisis in the title, it was a romance” I love finding the right book just based on a few hints.

8. Can you recommend an underrated readalike book for one of the store’s top titles?

We sell A LOT of Circe and if you like  but are looking for something a little easier to get through I would recommend Bull by David Elliot. I loved that one.

Rayna Nielsen is a bookseller at Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans, La.

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

My bookstore is pretty small, so I’m not sure about “area,” but my favorite section is fantasy, and I do love our sticker board!

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

This is a hard one, there are so many great covers! My current favorite is The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad. (I attached it in case you want to show it!)

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be? Backlist pick?

There’s a book coming out February 8 called Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes that is definitely a staff pick. It’s like Titanic meets Alien and it’s about a ghost ship. It’s one of the most compelling books I’ve read recently; I haven’t been able to put it down! I have so many backlist picks that I yell about, but my favorites that I read last year are The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune, Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, A Master of Djinn by P. Djéli Clark, and The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

I have so many! I actually do TikToks about these. My favorite is when a customer came in, looked around, then asked where our literary fiction section was. I explained that we’re a genre fiction store, and the customer said, “Oh, so this is a men’s store?” I said, “No, the store is for everyone, we just specialize in genre fiction, so like science fiction, fantasy, horror, and romance.” The customer replied with, “Right, that’s what *men* read. So this is a men’s store.” I honestly didn’t know how to respond!

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

I’ve been so honored and grateful to host virtual events for so many amazing authors! I think the event I geeked out most on was when I got to host Felicia Day and Charlie Jane Anders in conversation. That one made my nerdy little heart SO HAPPY!

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

The biggest misconception is that you just sit around and read all day. That couldn’t be further from the truth! Unfortunately I feel like I have *less* time to read now that I own a bookstore than I did before.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

My least favorite task by far is bookkeeping. It’s so tedious! I have two favorite parts: curating the book collection/inventory and planning and hosting events (right now all virtual). I love selecting what books to put on the shelves, and I love interacting with authors and publicists for events! Both things use my creative brain, which is my favorite piece to exercise.

Candice Huber (they/them) is the owner of Tubby and Coo’s in New Orleans.

 

1. What’s your favorite area of your bookstore?

Without a doubt, my favorite part of our bookshop is our children’s section. Although our shop is teeny tiny, we try hard to make the best, most creative, use of our space and the kids section was created with SO much love. Given that our shop is small, we needed to find a way to make it feel cozy and inviting even to our tiniest of customers and many hours were spent dreaming up how to best host the children that visit our shop.

2. What’s the coolest book cover that you like to have facing out on the shelves?

Unlike the previous question, this one is actually a lot harder to answer. There are SO many beautiful book covers out there, but if I had to narrow it down to one… or two… I’d say my current fiction favorites are Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Last Year in Havana, by Chanel Cleaton. Both of these covers TOTALLY caught my attention and are a big reason I was drawn to the books to begin with. They are gorgeous! I’m not necessarily proud to admit this, but I totally judge books by their covers, and a lot of times, this does not prove to be a good idea. But fortunately, in the case of these two books the outside cover matched up with what I thought about the inside. Beautiful inside AND out 😉

….And because I can’t help myself, I will mention just one more beauty! I am a HUGE fan of the Little People, Big Dreams children’s series and will always have them front facing in our shop. Their newest, Treasury of 50 Little Dreamers, is a fast favorite we have showcased front facing in the shop.

3. If you had a staff pick for a recent new release, what would it be? Backlist pick?

My husband and I would probably answer this question very differently, but I’ll share my current picks and right now it would be Jodi Picoult’s new release Wish You Were Here. I just finished this one myself and am selfishly recommending it so that I can have someone to discuss it with. It’s the first novel I’ve read set in the pandemic and I have SO many thoughts about it. And she threw in quite the twist to boot. Jodi Picoult, in general, is a great rec. As far as a backlist pick, I love recommending both The Seven Husbands of Eleanor Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six. They are both written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and she’s become a new favorite for me that I love sharing because I have enjoyed all of her books so far.

4. Do you have a strange customer story?

I have a great customer story that comes to mind, but it’s not so much strange as it is just awesome. We decided to open on Christmas Eve, but only for a couple of hours. The very first group that walked through the doors proved to be one of the most memorable, and fun, moments we’ve had to date! We hadn’t been open very long, when a group of about 10 people walked in. And because our shop is so small, they basically filled up the whole space. A couple of adults, and LOTS of kids varying in ages from 5ish to young adults walked in and immediately started scurrying around the store in what appeared to us to be some kind of scavenger hunt. One of the adults explained that all of their grandkids had just pulled names of the adults in the family, and they were on a mission to find each one a book from our shop as a Christmas gift, and they were on a time constraint. Immediately we jumped into action and the kids started calling out names, and information to us about each adult. I knew this group would be fun when I asked one of the kids to tell me a little about the person they picked and he looked at me and said: Do you have anything involving a drug cartel? I looked at grandma and she said…. let me explain. Let’s just say, we laughed the ENTIRE time they were in the ship and I’m proud to say we found a book for all of the adults.

I know we’ll always look back on that family and enjoy the gift of joy they gave us. I hope they come back next Christmas Eve

5. What author have you been starstruck to meet, or have you gotten to host a fun virtual event?

Our first author event comes to mind right away. We hosted a really fun evening at the shop with local author, Stephen Andes, to celebrate his book Zorro’s Shadow. Stephen read from Chapter 1 of his book, while being accompanied by a friend on guitar, and guests sipped on wine, while sitting in comfy chairs. It was such a wonderful way to introduce the book to our readers. Stephen was a great narrator and had such great timing. The guitar accompaniment was the cherry on top. We definitely look forward to more author events like this one, especially highlighting local talent whatever possible.

6. What are some misconceptions people have about working in a bookstore?

That you get to read wistfully while in the shop working. I totally pictured myself reading, sipping on coffee, while sitting at the register and occasionally helping someone find their next great read. I giggle thinking of that now. The reality is that since we opened up the book shop I have NO time to read. The irony hasn’t escaped me, but fortunately, being the bookworm I am, I still find a way to squeeze a book in here and there.

7. What is your least favorite bookstore task? Favorite part about working in a bookstore?

Least favorite: data entry/inventory. For such a tiny shop, we sure can pack in the books ;).
Favorite part: getting to know, and connect with our customers over a shared love of reading, and all things books. Their support has been an incredible gift.

Tere Hyfield is the co-owner of Red Stick Reads in Baton Rouge, La.