Episode 317 || Indie Bookstore Day

Listen in this week as Annie and The Bookshelf staffers celebrate Independent Bookstore Day by sharing their favorite things about indie bookstores and the books they love to sell.

The books mentioned in this week’s episode can be purchased from The Bookshelf.

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie is reading The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free media mail shipping on all your online book orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

episode transcript

210422_FTFP_Episode 317_Indie Bookstore Day_mixdown

[00:00:00] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South.

“I love walking into a bookstore. It's like all my friends are sitting on shelves, waving their pages at me.” 

- Tahereh Mafi 

I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and today, we’re talking about Independent Bookstore Day. If you are a longtime lover of bookstores, then you know that the last Saturday in April is devoted to indie bookstore days and celebrating them. This is the case, not only [00:01:00] in Thomasville, Georgia, where we are, but all over the country.

So if you have a local, independently owned bookstore near you, chances are they are celebrating this day in some form or fashion. This year Indie Bookstore Day is on Saturday, April 24th. If you feel like, wait didn't we just celebrate indie book store day, I mean kind of. Time is a joke, but `in reality, 2020 was obviously a bizarre year and so the powers that be the geniuses behind indie book store day moved our celebration to August of 2020, rather than April. Most stores had to still do virtual celebrations, including ours. That's kind of how we mostly celebrated indie bookstore day was virtually. 

This year we are doing a hodgepodge hybrid in the bookstore day, both virtually and in person. We are celebrating with some in-store events that we thought could still be safe, like outdoor Storytime at the amphitheater and a local portrait artist, [00:02:00] Alison Fairbrother is coming to do watercolor portraits. So there are so fun things happening at the store. It is a different kind of year. Like I'm not going to be schlepping hotdogs outside The Bookshelf, even though that's what I really wish I was doing.

One day soon, we will schlep hot dogs again. If you're not familiar, I love a Lowe's hot dog and it was my dream to give away free hot dogs at Indie bookstore day and we were able to do that. So trim accomplished though we're not going to be doing that in 2021. Instead, what we are going to be doing is the couple of in-store events, and then we're going to be doing a virtual happy hour.

So. If you don't have a local independent bookstore, but you love and support The Bookshelf, then I think this would be a fun thing for you to do. You can join us for happy hour. There is ticket information in the show notes, and it would be a great way to join us and to kind of celebrate. 

Here's the reason we're talking about indie books today on this podcast. From the front porch is, as I say, at the end of every episode, a production of the Bookshelf [00:03:00] and the Bookshelf is an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. We have been in existence in Thomasville since 1984. Jordan and I took over The Bookshelf, Oh my gosh, eight, eight or nine, eight or nine years ago and we have been a part of indie bookstore day since the holiday's, it's a holiday, right? Since the holidays inception. 

And it is one of my favorite days at The Bookshelf. I have long loved independent bookstores. You're going to hear exactly why I love independent bookstores at the end of this episode. But indie bookstore day is just a great way to celebrate what indie bookstore they stand for and to celebrate that further. I wanted to devote an episode to indie bookstore day, to The Bookshelf and to The Bookshelf staff. 

So many of you will recognize some of the voices that you hear today, right? You'll recognize Olivia, who is a frequent guest on from the front porch. She also participates in a lot of our Patreon bonus content.

You will recognize Lucy Stoltzfus's voice. She has been on the podcast [00:04:00] many times before, but some of these other voices might be new to you, unless of course you follow The Bookshelf on Instagram and then these will all be familiar faces, slash voices that you would would've seen either in store or on our Instagram account.

I wanted you to get a chance to hear the voices behind The Bookshelf. You hear my voice every week and I'll wrap up the episode and kind of be interspersed throughout the episode, but I really wanted. You to get to know The Bookshelf staff and who makes The Bookshelf possible and who makes it possible for me to record weekly episodes of this podcast, I could not do it without the staff running The Bookshelf and making things go smoothly.

So I asked bookshelf staffers, three questions that I wanted them to answer, and they all graciously agreed and recorded voice memos that you are going to hear today. I asked them three questions. The first is what did they love or what do they love about indie bookstores? Just in general, not just The Bookshelf, just what do they love about any bookstores? Secondly, I asked them their favorite part about [00:05:00] working at The Bookshelf and third, I asked them their favorite book to hand sell. So again, they all graciously recorded voice memos and send them to me. That's what you'll be hearing today.

 First up is our manager Olivia, many of you already know Olivia, but I guess I kind of wanted to give you an intro in case you aren't familiar. So she is the manager of our store. She has been working at The Bookshelf since March of 2018. When she moved to Thomasville, Georgia. Some miracle and became an integral part of The Bookshelf and the team we have here. Olivia is excellent at her job. I'm going to read a little bit of her bio, just so you can get a sense of who she is.

 Olivia is originally from a small town in Pennsylvania, and she was constantly surrounded by books at her Grandfather's used bookstore. Olivia chose to move to New York city to pursue a BFA degree in ballet. That's right, ballet with a minor in gender studies from Marymount Manhattan college. She spent eight years in New York city and again, by some miracle moved to Thomasville, Georgia, [00:06:00] and she has a giant cat named Mufasa, but Olivia, you've got to update the staff bio section on The Bookshelf website because she actually owns several cats and she will graciously talk about all of them to you, anytime you ask, she has a lot of fun cat stories and cat videos. 

She is a collector of the Perry Mason series and as many of you who are Shelf subscribers might know she is a lover of mysteries, thrillers, and classics. Olivia is an enneagram one who excels and I mean, excels, uh, pun intended just for you, Olivia and establishing and maintaining The Bookshelf systems. If The Bookshelf has a functioning system, it has been started by Olivia. She is the queen of Google docs and spreadsheets. She has a wealth of fun facts and random bits of information. She's an avid listener of science podcasts and then tells us all about them so that we don't have to listen. We can just listen to Olivia.

And my favorite thing about Olivia is how well she works with the kids who enter The [00:07:00] Bookshelf stores. She is the host of our double doors army program where she meets once a month with local kids and they read advanced reader copies and then review them together. It is a joy to watch her fill up with joy, by interacting with those kids. I love that she treats every child who comes into our doors with dignity and respect. She never talks down to them. She always treats them like the people they are and no one, and I do, we, no one describes a book's plot quite like Olivia. It is a joy to listen to her, talk about books. So without further ado here are Olivia's answers to our three questions. Did I cry while listening to these? You'll never know, just kidding I sobbed.

Olivia: [00:07:43] Independent bookstores are very special and unique places. They are the lifeblood and reflection of who the town both is and who the town is aspiring to be. They are places that accept [00:08:00] everyone for who they are, no matter what, and provide safe spaces for people. I think they're just so special and so necessary in this world. So The Bookshelf is just an incredible place to work. It is a place where your opinions are valued and respected to know and it's a place where the person who's working alongside you, isn't just your bookseller and your colleague. 

They're a friend, they're a person you can tell a story to. They are a person where you could just gab all day about how great books are the books you're reading and what we have that no other books are has is Annie and I mean, what can I really say? Annie. I wish everyone had a boss like her, uh, because it is just so important. The ideas that she comes up, with the time she spends with [00:09:00] every employee is just so special and hard to find in workplaces and she is truly what makes The Bookshelf the way it is because this culture that we have has been cultivated by her. 

A book that I just love selling um, mostly because I just think everyone needs to have this book in their hands is House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It was my favorite book of 2020, mostly because of the warmth and the comfort and the love that I felt in April of last year, when there wasn't a lot of love going around or comfort or grace, and this book just was the message that I needed to hear. And I think the message that a lot of people may need to be hearing right now. So I highly recommend it. It is just absolutely incredible. 

Annie: [00:09:58] Perhaps now you [00:10:00] understand why wept while listening to Olivia's voice memo. The way Olivia describes the spirit of independent bookstores and the spirit of The Bookshelf is exactly why I do what I do.

Okay. Next up. Is Lucy Stoltzfus. Lucy has been an employee at the bookshelves since 2019. She came on board shortly after the new year and she has been with us ever since, even after moving in the middle of a pandemic to Pennsylvania, one of the, is it a perk? I'm I'm not comfortable calling it a perk, but one of the benefits of operating our business during a pandemic has been discovering how we can still retain excellent employees and friends like Lucy, despite the distance. 

So Lucy, most of you probably recognize her again from the actual, from the Front Porch Podcast. She has been a guest here like Olivia, but she also is recognizable because of all of her work in customer service. So Lucy is our online sales coordinator. [00:11:00] She interacts with you if you have an issue with your online order. She can do all of this remotely from Pennsylvania, which is a gift to us. She also has a beautiful baby named Gabriel, who we claim as The Bookshelf baby. 

Lucy is a part of our shelf subscription service. She also is the cohost of our, I Want It That YA book club. I'm going to read Lucy's bio or a little bit of it now, but one thing I love about Lucy and I love many things is the way she still uses her gifts of music at The Bookshelf, which I know sounds bizarre, but I cannot tell you what joy it brought me last year in the middle of a pandemic to have someone on staff who could record a parody song about the Babysitter's club to the tune of Back Streets Back, Alright like kind of stuff you can't put on a resume and you're just so glad when it turns out someone has that gifting and [00:12:00] ability.

So Lucy is actually originally from New Zealand. She grew up in the American Midwest, but she was born in New Zealand. She has degrees in piano, performance, and musicology, and she hopes to be a professor someday. After getting married and moving to France for a year with her husband, she returned to North Florida and that is when she began working at The Bookshelf in Thomasville. She now works remotely from her new home in Pennsylvania. 

She provides customer service, belonged distance readers and updates the store website, which is a true, true gift. We are so grateful for that. She loves cuddling with her Boston terrier, French bulldog Fern, playing tennis with her husband and reading to Gabriel. Her favorite genres and you will see this reflected in our shelf subscription service, our historical fiction, literary fiction, nonfiction classics and memoir truly, and I mean this, without any sarcasm, Lucy reads it all. So without further ado, here's Lucy. 

Lucy: [00:12:53] Hi, it's Lucy. Happy Indie Bookstore day. I love independent bookstores [00:13:00] because of that personal touch you get. I love walking around and reading all the shelf talkers, finding out what the staffers are reading, what they're loving and what maybe they think is over-hyped. I love getting help with gifts especially. So if I need a book for somebody who loves golf or for a four year old girl, um, you can always find help with that.

I love working at The Bookshelf specifically, uh, because it's so beautiful. It's such a beautiful environment to be in. Um, it's so fun to walk in there every day and see what Annie's done with the displays, uh, especially for the holidays. It's just magical being in that room, but especially, I love it because of the staff. With Annie at the helm, and Olivia has a wonderful manager and all the other wonderful women who work [00:14:00] there every day, trying to serve our customers as best we can. It's just a real atmosphere of teamwork and of friendship and that's why I love working there. 

My favorite book to hand sell is probably Furious Hours by Casey kep. This was my first shelf subscription book way back in may of 2019 and I love it because it's just a really good book for people who might be hesitant about nonfiction. It's really beautifully written. It's fascinating. It's a real page Turner. It's got true crime and it's got legal history and literary history and kind of biography and a really strong sense of place. Um, I just really love that book. It's out in paperback now, and I just don't get tired of recommending that one. 

[00:15:00] Annie: [00:15:00] I guess I'm going to weep at all of these. I'm listening to them in real time. So you don't know this, but I'm listening to them as I'm plugging them into the episode and I'm farklempt. It's fine. Um, look, Lucy, I keep using the word gift, but that is what it feels like for Lucy to work at The Bookshelf. It feels like an absolute gift. And the fact that she is still able to work with us and to work alongside us is miraculous to me and one of the things I love most about working alongside Lucy is the kindness she exudes to even the most difficult customers. 

Lucy does not have an easy job at particularly right now so she is not in the store because she lives far away and so she is working remotely, which I think brings its own challenges, especially for us where we were not a place that had a lot of remote employees prior to the pandemic. So she has adjusted beautifully to that role and she's given me as her Boss as the owner of The Bookshelf. [00:16:00] She's given me a lot of grace as we kind of adapt her role. 

But I am constantly in awe of how Lucy interacts with customers via email, how she crafts the perfectly worded email that both extends grace to our customers and kindness to our customers, but also explains maybe why our policies are the way that they are or why a book is running late, or why a book might have arrived damaged, which is obviously never our intent, but it does happen and Lucy treats every customer with grace. She did it when she worked in the store on the floor and now she does it online and I cannot get over what a gift that is to me and what a gift that is to our customers. So without any irony at all, I truly love Lucy.

 Next up is one of our newer employees. So The Bookshelf managed to grow after 2020 and during 2020 to the point where we needed somebody to come on board and help Lucy with these online orders and these online [00:17:00] sales and Erin Fielding joined us earlier this year and we are so grateful. We are so grateful to have her onboard at The Bookshelf. Erin grew up in Thomasville and only left to pursue a degree in dance. I do not know what I did to deserve so many talented staffers who excel in things like dance and music so far for my comfort zone and I am kind of in awe at how they all wound up at The Bookshelf. 

So she left to pursue a degree in dance. She changed her mind, ended up graduating with a political science degree and then a master's in higher education but one thing has never changed her love of reading and the joy that helping people brings her. She became a fan of The Bookshelf after moving from Atlanta back to Thomasville in 2015 with her husband and three children and now she helps the Bookshelves customers receive the books and goodies they order online. Erin enjoys reading, humorous essays and literary fiction with a hint of sci fy. Here is our voice memo [00:18:00] from Erin. 

Erin: [00:18:01] Hi, this is Erin, your online sales and shipping associate at The Bookshelf. I just want to tell you why I love indie bookstores. They are a physical space that you can walk into an enter a thousand other worlds through the books. Um, I love browsing books and gifts in a building that smells like paper and flowers and that's just an experience that can't be repeated at any other type of store. Indie bookstores can be very specific about what they stock because they know the people who shop there and an indie bookstore can be a reflection of the city that it resides in so that's why each one is so unique. And, um, I love our indie bookstore The Bookshelf, and I love visiting other indie bookstores when we are traveling. 

My favorite part of working at The Bookshelf is the connections that we get to make. We know their customers and we know [00:19:00] what Thomasville really enjoys. We know that you're going to want to read that sequel to that book that you loved, and we can help you make a gift box for your nephew and all you know about him that is that he loves graphic novels and board games. I love that I get to connect with our mostly out of town customer base. And give them a little bit of that Thomasville community spirit through the customer service that we provide to them.

I haven't actually had the chance to hand sell a book yet. So PS won't you come into the store and let me hand sell you a book, but, um, if I'm not there and you just want to know what I'd recommend, I would recommend Klara and the Sun. It is hopeful, it's heartbreaking and it's a powerful view of human love and interactions and decisions, but it's through the eyes of an artificial intelligence robot. So I highly recommend that book. Next time you're in the [00:20:00] store or an exam you're shopping online with us. 

Annie: [00:20:03] Truly you're getting my, in my real reaction to each of these voice memos and ages. Uh, I love all these people who work at The Bookshelf so much. They, the way that they talk about indie bookstores and books is exactly why they're a part of the bookshelves mission. They're so good at what they do. I can't get over it. 

Erin is, as I said, a pretty new employee, please come buy a book from Erin. That was such a sincere plea, but even in the just few months that she has maybe even few weeks that she has been in The Bookshelf, it feels like she has become just a seamless part of the team and what I have loved most about watching Erin come into her own as a bookshelf staffer is her, and she mentioned it a couple of times in her voice memo, her connection with customers. So somehow she is already able to immediately connect with her fellow staffers, with the people who correspond with us online.

[00:21:00] I love watching our Instagram account and seeing Erin pop in and respond to people. Erin is empathetic and she has a heart for people. And I can tell that just in the few weeks that she has worked at The Bookshelf, and I knew that about Erin before she came on board, but it's been a real pleasure to watch it happen in real time at The Bookshelf and on our online spaces that we try to cultivate as well. 

Okay. We're just going to keep working our way through our net staffer, who I want you to meet is Nancy. Nancy has worked at The Bookshelf since 2018. She is one of the Queens of customer service. I love watching Nancy sell a book. Look, everybody who works at The Bookshelf is great at hand selling a book, but Nancy is also very gifted at hand selling gifts and at helping people find the perfect gift for the perfect person.

She's just really great at customer service. She's one of a couple of extroverts on The Bookshelf staff and you can really tell, she brings a fun spirit to the store. She is calm, cool, and collected, but also really funny and [00:22:00] always has fascinating stories. We're always learning new things about Nancy. Our latest fun fact we learned about Nancy was that she was a synchronized swimmer growing up, which I mean, just so glamorous and her presence at the store is one. I am supremely grateful for. 

She is great at interacting with our local Thomasville community. She is wonderful at participating in local book clubs. She knows what books people are going to want to read next. Like she really does have a knack for it, and she's just a great sales woman and a really delightful person to be around so here's Nancy. 

Nancy: [00:22:38] I love independent bookstores because you can always find a bookseller to help you locate the book just for you. Since working at The Bookshelf in Thomasville, I have personally met some of the most friendly, knowledgeable and interesting people. Now when I travel, I put an independent bookstore on the agenda. The Bookshelf in [00:23:00] Thomasville is very special to me.

 After retiring and moving to Thomasville three years ago, I needed a little something to do. That little something has turned into an indie family. Not only do we share a book summaries, but we also share family stories. Anyone who comes into The Bookshelf and Thomasville looking for a book, walks out a friend.

Annie: [00:23:25] You know, The Bookshelf staff doesn't have favorites, right? Like we, I hope all really get along and we're a collegial work environment, but I think if like you push people and ask them who their favorite staffer was, I think they might all say Nancy. I really think, I really think that Nancy might win. One of my favorite things about Nancy is her jovial like sense of humor and her competitive spirit.

 So Nancy most recently won our March madness competition. She is a formidable opponent at things like soup night, which I'm hoping we [00:24:00] get to bring back this fall and she just kind of eggs us on to be more competitive really than some of my staff has even comfortable with. Like Nancy is definitely the person who wants to tease about the gold star, the crown, the winning edge and I look, I respect it. So we're very grateful for Nancy. 

Caroline is next. Caroline became a member of The Bookshelf staff late summer, early fall of 2019. She had actually applied for an internship position at The Bookshelf a little bit before, but because of her hectic schedule at FSU, it just didn't work out and we are so grateful. She persevered and she came on board kind of in her last semester at Florida state. Caroline commutes every day to Thomasville, which really shows her dedication to The Bookshelf and to what we do here.

And she functions as our Tallahassee delivery person so shout out to Caroline and to all the people that she delivers books to ever since March of [00:25:00] 2020. She also functions as our author coordinators. So if you are a local author from Tallahassee, Thomasville, kind of our region, and you have a book you want to sell on our shelves, Caroline is who you would speak to about that. She coordinates our daily orders and she also coordinates our returns. So she really keeps on top of our Bookshelf inventory. If you don't know where a book is, I guarantee you Caroline knows where it is. Without further ado, Caroline.

Caroline: [00:25:29] I love indie book stores for their personal touches and their unique personalities. I love that you walk in and you can tell that somebody loves it here. Somebody loves the store. Somebody loves the books on the shelves and they hope and want you to love them too. And my favorite part about working at The Bookshelf is the customers. By and far, I, we have the best customers in the world.

I'm sure like every bookstore says that, but it's such a joy. Getting to know them, getting to [00:26:00] their reading tastes recommending books to them, learning about their lives and their experiences. And yeah. And it's a, it's a unique relationship of a bookseller and a customer. And I am really grateful every day to have those relationships.

And my favorite book to hand this out, um, this is not the easiest book to Hansel, but it is always a joy when I get to sell it is, um, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. It's one of my favorite books of all time. Colum McCann is brilliant. I love everything I've read by him, but Let the Great World Spin was my first book that I ever had by him and it's heartbreaking and hopeful and full of joy and utter grief and devastation and it is just one of the best books I've ever read. 

Annie: [00:26:48] Caroline is our other staff extrovert and I really enjoy getting to watch her interact with customers and listen to their stories. She is really great about asking good questions and following [00:27:00] up. I always compare and I have no experience in this, but I compare working at a bookstore to what it must be like to be a bartender. Like it is amazing how vulnerable and how open our customers are with sharing their stories with us, and maybe why they're buying a book and when they're buying it and Caroline is really great about listening to customer stories.

She is also really great at working alongside Laura to do our store end caps. So if you walk inside the store, the store of The Bookshelf and you see our shelves, those end caps are curated by our staff and Caroline and Laura, our end cap experts. In fact, we posted one of Caroline's end caps was the Enneagram end cap that was very well shopped and just a really fun exercise.

And it's really exciting to watch Caroline kind of get an idea and to then run with it and go with it. We have loved Caroline, she, she describes her time at The Bookshelf as working during her gap year and a half because of the pandemic. She is in [00:28:00] between undergrad, where she graduated from FSU in December of 2019 and grad school, where she will be maybe potentially headed this summer or fall but we have been so grateful for her generosity and for her continuing to work at The Bookshelf, particularly during a time, we joke that she and Laura started kind of the later half of 2019 and they have not really even gotten to experience like a normal indie bookstore day or anything like that.

Like they came on board and then kind of got thrown into the holiday season, followed immediately by a global pandemic. So Caroline and Laura, you're going to hear from next have been so generous with their time and with their flexibility and really kind of rolling with the punches that the pandemic brought us so very grateful for Caroline. 

Laura is another bookseller at The Bookshelf. She is a native of South Georgia and a student at Thomas university. You might recognize Laura from her work with our shelf subscription service. So our [00:29:00] shelf subscriptions are a monthly kind of book of the month club that we do at The Bookshelf. It was a really successful program prior to March, 2020. But during the pandemic, this program really kind of took on a life of its own. 

And Laura came back from a few weeks where we were kind of not knowing how The Bookshelf was going to function. And she came back to the store probably in late April or early may of 2020, and immediately became kind of our defacto shelf subscription packer upper for lack of a better term. Laura has worked alongside Lucy and Olivia to really perfect our shelf subscription service. She diligently packages all of your shelf subscription orders, which truly is just a monumental task. And she does it without a single complaint. I have never heard a complaint from Laura's mouth.

She is again, generous with her time, much like Caroline. She has been flexible over the past year and a half of our kind of up and down business [00:30:00] operations and she is a joy to have on the floor because of her can do spirit and her good attitude and her willingness to pitch in wherever needed. If you are a shell subscriber, you can thank Laura.

Laura: [00:30:14] I think one of my favorite parts about an indie bookstore is the community that it creates around them. I think that indie bookstores, you really good job of bringing communities together with stories and also. Has a really big part in educating the community around them. I think that with the events and, um, just talking with booksellers, you kind of gain a perspective on things that you didn't have before.

You can have some of the best conversations with people who work at indie bookstores to hear what their favorite books were and you also get an idea of what their lives are like and what their childhoods were like based on their favorite books. And you find that you kind of have more in common [00:31:00] with people than you thought and I think that kind of ties into why I love working at The Bookshelf is that I find that there as well.

 I find that I can communicate with people through stories and through books, and I can reach out to people through the events that we create and the people that we reach, whether it's our local customers or our customers all over the country, we can find common ground and we can kind of gush over our love of books and media, um, and have really good deep conversations that you might not otherwise have, um, in a different environment.

 And I would say that one of my favorite books to hand sell has been What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer. Uh, that's a book that I read so quickly and just really enjoyed because when I read it, I could see myself in that and I could also see [00:32:00] all of the other women in my life that I've known that resonated with me reading those poems. I could feel, um, what Kate Bauer was feeling when she wrote those. And I think that as women, we have kind of a commonality in some of our experiences and so I really love to hand sell this one book to, um, women in particular, but also just anyone who wants to see a different perspective and it's presented in a very artistic, creative, and just really real way. And so that is one of my favorite things to sell the customers. 

Annie: [00:32:38] I don't know if this is what it's like to be a mom. Is that a weird way to interact, to talk about this, but I am, I've, I've been so tearful listening to these voice memos and listening to these women I get to work with every day and why they love books and bookstores, and they're articulating it so [00:33:00] perfectly and I'm in awe. And I know that they are gifted at what they do, but getting to hear it like from their mouths. Uninterrupted by me is, is just really special. Even if I didn't, even if we never produced this episode, I would save these voice memos forever.

Um, Laura really is such a valuable member of our team and we are so grateful for the work that she does, not only in shelf subscriptions, but I think you could just hear how passionate she is about literature and how passionate she is about story and that is what we are all about at The Bookshelf. That's our mission, right? Is to take part in other people's stories and to introduce people, to stories and have conversations around story. And I think Laura articulated that beautifully. 

Okay, next up is a newer member of our team, but she's very familiar because she has worked for us before. Ashley Sherlock is our community manager at The Bookshelf and if you interact with [00:34:00] someone on Instagram or on Patreon, sometimes that's me but most of the time that is Ashley. She graciously agreed to come back on board, The Bookshelf this spring. I could not be happier about it. If you're not familiar with Ashley, you have probably heard her on episodes of From the Front Porch.

She is also my literal family member. We are cousins. I was going to say, cousins from another mother, but that's literally who cousins are and so we are cousins. We are friends and she works at The Bookshelf as our community manager. I am a constantly in all of what Ashley is able to do. She is artistic and creative. She has been since the day she was born and getting to watch that play out and getting to watch her use her gifts and abilities for our store is, I keep using the word gift, but that's what this feels like. It just feels like people, people using their skills and [00:35:00] abilities for the good of The Bookshelf is a gift to me.

Like it is that that's all, all of these people who you have heard from, they are gifts to me and gifts to you as our customers and so Ashley not only takes beautiful photographs and is super artistic and talented she is my counterpart in brainstorming if I ever need a second opinion on a store event or an Instagram post or something having to do with marketing, Ashley is the person I call and I have spent my entire life watching my mom and her sister and the ways they interact and the ways they bounce ideas off of each other and the ways they communicate and coordinate and to get to have that with Ashley at The Bookshelf, yes, but even beyond The Bookshelf is, is one of the best things about my life. And I am thrilled that she is back in so many ways. She is so much better than I am at responding to your DMS and your comments. She is so much better at [00:36:00] handling those with grace, handling those interactions with grace and now you get to hear from her. 

Ashley: [00:36:07] I love independent bookstores because I think they can connect with their customers and their communities in ways that, uh, different kinds of businesses might not be able to. Purchasing a book is often a very personal experience and independent bookstores can take that experience and make it the best that it can be.

My favorite part about working at The Bookshelf is what it has taught me. I've learned about what it really takes to run a business. I've learned how to be a better employee and a better supervisor. I've learned how to be a more well-rounded person and I've learned about individuals. I've gotten to know customers near and far, and the learning only continues.

If I had to pick one book, that's my favorite hand sell at this current moment in time, it would be, Nobody Will Tell You This, But Me by Bess Kalb. [00:37:00] It's nonfiction, which is my favorite, but it also has plenty of story for those who prefer fiction. I found it both humorous and very moving, and I think that it would appeal to a large group of people.

Annie: [00:37:13] A voice and face you might not be as familiar with on The Bookshelf staff is Michelle. Michelle actually works for me under a contract we have with belay. I as probably some listeners know, had the opportunity to go to London in 2019. It's an opportunity I love to tell people and the staff makes fun of me for it. Rightfully so. But when I got back from London, I realized. I needed help. And I did not know where to turn, except I'd heard about Belay and so, and so I turned my sights there and truly the very first person they sent me up with was Michelle. 

Michelle has come alongside me and helped me stay organized. She keeps track of my calendar. She helps me with my email [00:38:00] and at the same time, she is a valuable part of The Bookshelf staff. I'm almost speechless because I truly don't know what it would be like without Michelle helping behind the scenes and helping me stay on top of things. This all would fall apart quite frankly. Michelle lives in Minnesota and that in and of itself, again feels miraculous much like Lucy. Lucy we had a connection with prior to her working remotely.

 Michelle and I had never met until earlier, I guess actually late 2020. Michelle was able to make a trip to Thomasville and we were able to meet in person. It was so surreal and wonderful to get to meet her. Like Nancy, Michelle is full of surprises, Olivia and its that we are always learning something new about Michelle and weirdly her connections to the film industry. We feel a little bit in awe of Michelle and all that she has done and it's really humbling, but she has chosen to commit to working alongside us and helping The [00:39:00] Bookshelf run well. I can tell you without a doubt that 2020, 2021 have been my hardest years of running a bookstore and I could not have done it without the help and support of Michelle.

Michelle: [00:39:15] Hello, this is Michelle. I love indie bookstores, just because of the personal experience you get. Um, I love seeing the unique layout that each store has, um, kind of says a lot about the personality of the store. They are quaint. The staff is always friendly from my experience, and it's just a very comfortable setting someplace I could picture myself just curling up and sitting all day and reading.

Annie: [00:39:44] My favorite part about working at the bookstore is even from afar, because I worked from Minnesota virtually for Annie, that I always feel like I'm so part of the team and just getting to know everybody there, um, more and more, the longer I worked there but I do have to say my most favorite [00:40:00] part is working with Annie.

It just warms my heart to see the care and the thoughtfulness that she puts behind every decision, um, keeping customers, whether they're near or far, um, always in mind with all the decisions that she makes so absolute joy to work with. Unfortunately, I don't have the experience of hand selling a book in the store, but if I did, I think it would be 84, Charring Cross Road.

Um, this book was given to me by my little sister for Christmas, and it came at a time of year where this was exactly what I needed. It was easy reading, but at the same time, it was delightful. Endearing comes to mind. Um, this book made me laugh, made me cry, but would highly recommend it and it is such a short read that I did make myself in the middle of the book, put it down, and it would only allow myself to read a few pages a day just so I could draw it out a little longer and make it [00:41:00] last.

Last, but certainly not least is Keala. Keala is our newest bookshelf staffer. She is our weekend book seller. We were in desperate need of someone to quickly join our team and help sell books on Fridays and Saturdays in particular and Keala was the woman for the job. She is a native of Thomasville and she has quickly assimilated, is that the right term? She has quickly acclimated to the Bookshelves rhythms and seasons. We all are admittedly suffering a bit, I think from burnout and, and mutual burnout and exhaustion and it has been a breath of fresh air to have Keala come alongside us and come on board and kind of breathe some new life into The Bookshelf and to remind us why we love what we do. Thank you, Kaela, for doing that for us. 

Keala: [00:41:54] So I love indie bookstores because it's a more personal experience when you go in [00:42:00] there. Um, before working at The Bookshelf, I love coming in and just getting a recommendation that I knew that I would love from people that I trusted. Now, I get to work at The Bookshelf and I love it because now I get to help people find books that they're going to love. 

One of my favorite books to like hand sell so far has been Mexican Gothic because it's one of those fun atmospheric books and super creepy and you just get to use your imagination the whole time. Another one has been The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and super excited for all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's new books and yeah, that's why I, that's what I love to do. 

Annie: [00:42:51] And now it's my turn. I'm going to close out this episode by answering my own questions by telling you why I love independent bookstores. I have loved independent [00:43:00] bookstores for as long as I can remember. I've loved bookstores in general, but there is something special about an independent bookstore. They are the heart and soul of their communities. They are the heart and soul of the people who work there. Whenever I step into an independent bookstore, I feel like I'm meeting a person, right?

 Like the books and the shelves and the gifts, everything feels so curated is the word that we use the most, but it feels so personal and it feels so warm and hospitable and that is what I love about an independent bookstore. It's what I hope we are cultivating every day at The Bookshelf. My favorite thing about working at The Bookshelf, I've answered this question many times before, and my answer is always the same. The first part is kids. That's my favorite part about The Bookshelf.

They remind me why we do what we do. They remind me of myself when I was a kid. They remind me of the hope that there is. I think we are living in a time where it is hard to see hope but when I look into the eyes of a kid, [00:44:00] I am reminded that there is a hope and there is a future. I know that sounds cheesy, but it is absolutely true.

The other favorite part of working at The Bookshelf is getting to work alongside the women who you just heard from, and I'm going to try not to cry, but I am going to tell you how very meaningful it is after a really hard year to hear these women articulate why they love bookstores, why they love books, why they still work at The Bookshelf, despite perhaps less than ideal circumstances.

I am humbled and it is a privilege to work alongside them and to tackle and to accomplish the mission that we have set in Thomasville at The Bookshelf to bring books and bring stories and conversations to the people within our circle. It is a joy to, to be a boss and I say that as somebody who has struggled with that role. Uh, that role has not always come easily [00:45:00] to me and, and even calling myself a boss has not always come easily to me, but getting to lead this team of people is an honor. And I hope that by listening to their voices, you were able to hear some of what makes my job so special.

 Last up, what is my favorite book to hand sell? What a horrific question I pose to all of these staffers, because this is really hard. I narrowed it down and they're all gonna roll their eyes because they all picked one. I picked three. Right now, my three favorite books to hand sell are Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, Vanishing Half by Brett Bennett and House Lessons by Erica Bauermeister. 

Those are my three favorite books to hand sell. They are easy sells in my opinion, because they are all beautifully written stories. They're all well-told and they all tackle issues that I am interested in talking about. And that's why I love to read so that I can talk to people about the [00:46:00] books that I love. 

Thank you for listening to this episode. Thank you for celebrating independent bookstores in your community and thank you for your support of our independent bookstore in Thomasville. We are so grateful for you. I say it at the end of every episode and every episode, I mean it,. We would not be here without you, and no matter how you choose to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day this year, I hope you know what an honor it is to work in the book industry and to work in our communities to bring good books into your hands.

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at www.fromthefrontporchpodcast.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, I’m reading The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel. 

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free media mail shipping on all your online book orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. 

episodes, special guestAnnie Jones

a weekly conversational podcast on books, small business, and life in the South