BOOKSELLER’S CORNER — Book Selling 101

I love books. I love the way they feel in my hands , the way they look on shelves and the way they make me feel when I’m reading one. I LOVE them. I always have. Every summer we would go on a family vacation and I’ve been all over the United States or so I’ve been told. My mom took 8mm home movies and I’m in them so there’s proof but you couldn’t prove by me, I usually had my nose stuck in a book. I really can’t think of a better way to make a living. I love that feeling I get when I read a new author who is on the verge of a HUGE career and then I get to tell everyone who comes in the door that this is a great book and then they buy it. Then they come back and tell me that I was right and I’m like a fairy godmother to that book. It’s very cool. Then there’s the joy of finding an author that I have never read and they have a back list that I can tear through. That can just make my week. Then there are times I have to go back to a much loved book, an old friend. I can almost quote it by heart, but it never lets me down and when I get to that last page there is still that AH! factor. How did that author make me buy into that story, again. How did that author make me love the payoff, again. It’s a miracle. Speaking of miracles, I think all writers are miraculous. They can take me to their worlds without ever leaving my easy chair. They can make me laugh, cry, shiver in my flip flops and fall in love. Now, I need to get back to work, I have an ARC with my name on it and a cup of hot chocolate that is just right for sipping. I have hope that this book will become one of my old friends…I can never have too many. Since I going back to work, all of you do the same. WRITE. I read really fast. It’s a wonderful life, being a bookseller.

Always,Michelle Thorne
RWA Bookselller of the Year 1998
Bearly Used Books…123
123 So First Street
Historic Old Puente, CA 91744
(626) 968-3700