I’m happy to report that I’ve figured out how to make my twin toddlers do anything I want (most of the time). The million dollar secret, you ask? Promise to read them any book by Todd Parr. An almost daily conversation in my house lately sounds like this: “Ready to get dressed? Brush your teeth? …
In a recent post, my esteemed Island Books colleague James Crossley confessed to a disproportionate number of male authors in his home library. He concluded with “You (which is to say, I) have to actively redress it by seeking to add women’s voices to the chorus.” Admirable goal? Yes. Sustainable goal? I doubt it. While …
The tail end of the year is a stressful time for retailers, what with all the concerns about whether they’ve ordered enough of the books that people want or too many of the ones they don’t, but here’s the inconsequential thing that keeps them (OK, me) up at night: What do you say to your …
If you’re reading something on a website called NW Booklovers, you’re likely to know what a shelf talker is. Just in case, though, here’s the definition given in a business dictionary: “Printed card or other sign attached to a store shelf to call buyers’ attention to a particular product displayed on that shelf. Also called shelf screamer.” We …
A few months back I took advantage of a rare opportunity to spend a morning in the company of my peers. While in one sense we’re engaged together every day in the same grand project, a kind of solitude is written into our job description—we’re independent booksellers, after all. On this occasion, a group of …
We’re spoiled by today’s expectations that an author should publish a book once a year, and I blame overachievers like Nora Roberts, James Patterson, and Lee Child for setting us up to anticipate such a rapid rate of productivity. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s a certain breed of writer who doesn’t seem …
