I came back more intent on working and encouraging this with my company. [Handselling] can be the key to success, or the way to closie doors. We need people who love books and love to share that passion.
It is not for the money or we would all be doing something else. So let’s share that passion.
Cathy Jesson
Black Bond Books
Surrey, B. C., Canada
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of war poetry, On The Way to Khe Sanh, (three of which appeared in The Iowa Review, Spring 2005), and a memoir, Nam Au Go Go - Falling for the Vietnamese Goddess of War.
Nam Au Go Go is different. It talks about something no one I can find has written about - what violence does to war fighters. How, if combat soldiers and marines see too much, do too much, they can cross a threshold into an adaptation to violence and become addicted to it. When your emotional self is killed off by the insanity of war, survivors of this addiction have a hard time re-connecting with society. Combat is a one-way door. Once you go through, you cannot go back. You are changed.
For a glimpse, go to www.johnakins.net
Find Nam Au Go Go on booksellers’ websites.
e: jacolesdad@comcast.net
Sitting here with Kara in New Hampshire at her brother’s wedding, and thought I would drop you a line. Kara, when she sees you, will have what we think is a very interesting project/proposal (biker related) for you. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Kara is in New Hampshire? I feel like i just saw her at the Springs General Store. A “biker” related project. Hum…. You’ve got my attention. (I still have some regrets about not hopping on the back of that biker’s motorcycle in LA and going to Cinco de Mayo many years ago.) Thanks, Edward, for dropping by!
]]>I came to Borders after several years of being a “Reader Advisor” at a library. The longer someone works around books, the more comfortable they are going to be at recommending stuff. Unfortunately, economics comes into play. I could afford the horrible wages because my husband had a good job. Many of our employees are part-timers who have another job or are going to college. We are often thinly staffed, but in my store we do our best to give a high level of customer service.
And lets not forget that the large chains are full-service bookstores. We have many customers who want to find something about house design, car engines, collectible china, etc. Should I slight the customer who wants to find a book about VW engines to help the person who wants to find something to read after reading all the Patrick O’Brians? Over the years I have noticed a distinct whiff of snobbery concerning independent bookstores. They are romanticized as the last, best hope for civilization, while the evil chains just want to make money.
Borders and Barnes & Noble hire lots of people who will work there just because they love books and music and want to be around them all day long. The wages are terrible, the stress from understaffing is incredible and often the customers are rude, but I wouldn’t work anywhere else. I yearn to put a good book in a customer’s hands.
]]>Sorry, just happened to see this and loved both your piece and all the comments. No, never been to Arkansas, and don’t know whether there are any ivory woodpeckers.
But seriously, Lynn, sighting handsellers in bookshops is as rare as sighting the famous Tragopan in Nagaland. Forget help in a bookstore, and if you wrestle with them, you will get a broken arm, sellers just coudn’t be bothered. A handseller would know when help is required, he would also leave you alone when you ust want to browse. At a course, I recently asked participants about their recent experiences in a bookshop. almost all of them unanmously spoke about the uniform lack of knowledge of stock by staff in the shop. No wonder that in retail selling, we have the highest turnover of staff in retail bookshops.
The point is, if you don’t have it in you, can you be trained? If the answer is in the positive, believe me, there is huge, wide world out there, just waiting! Way to go, Lynn!
PS On Isabel Allende, in addition to your Mom, I just picked up the book fro my sister’s home in Toronto!
Sridhar Balan ]]>
Both stores have intelligent, and warm, though somewhat “curmudgeonly in the true Dickensian manner”, owner-managers, who know the author of nearly book on their shelves, both new, used, and rare. ]]>
When I asked him if it was his custom to recommended books to customers, he said he did it all the time, adding that he had strong preferences for certain books.
When I complemented him on his knowledge and helpfulness, telling him that I had heard that handselling was a dying art but that he was living proof there were still knowledgable book lovers working in the big book stores, he grinned hugely and told me that was the nicest thing a customer had said to him all week.
Next time I’m in that Borders, I will seek out Kevin because he is an asset to me both as a customer and as a writer.
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