Episode 442 || Shelf Subscriptions: Behind the Scenes with Erin
This week on From the Front Porch, you’ll hear from Annie, Erin, Olivia, Shop Mom, Nancy, and Shop Dad as they celebrate 7 years of Shelf Subscriptions! Erin is here to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the history of Shelf Subscriptions and what makes them special. We want to say a heartfelt thank you to our loyal, lovely Shelf Subscribers!
Click here to purchase a Shelf Subscription!
Click here to purchase the Bookshelf bandana!
Purchase One Book Thomas County’s community read here: You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy
Annie's favorite past Shelf Sub picks:
Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro (unavailable to order)
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Erin's favorite past Shelf Sub picks:
Congratulations, The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
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 Podcast 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 Happiness Falls by Angie Kim. Erin is reading The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O’Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
I love the rebelliousness of snail mail, and I love anything that can arrive with a postage stamp. - Diane Lane
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, I’m joined by Bookshelf online sales manager Erin Fielding to talk all about Shelf Subscriptions.
September is a big month for The Bookshelf, and for Thomasville. This month, we’re helping the Thomas County Library re-launch our area One Book program. For 10 years, the Thomas County Library has hosted South Georgia’s first (and only!) One Book program, where our entire community reads the same book together and celebrates that book with a variety of literary events.
This year, we’re reading You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy, and our celebration of Murphy’s book will culminate in a visit from the author at the Thomas County BOE auditorium on Thursday, September 28. Tickets are just $10 and can be found in-store at The Bookshelf or online at www.onebookthomascounty.org. You have plenty of time to get tickets and to read You’re Not Listening along with us! Grab your copy at The Bookshelf, the library, or read along with us from far away by snagging a copy at your own local indie. Visit onebookthomascounty.org for more details about this year’s event. We hope to see you there!
Annie Jones [00:01:51] Now back to the show! Did you know that The Bookshelf has a “book-of-the-month” program? Like many indie bookstores around the country, The Bookshelf has a monthly subscription service devoted to our very favorite new books of each month. So what makes our program different? We base our monthly selections on our staffers’ reading personalities, and Erin’s here to tell you all about it!
Erin [00:02:15] Hi. I am so excited to be talking about Shelf Subscriptions today.
Annie Jones [00:02:21] This was your idea. We have been brainstorming so many different ways to promote Shelf Subscriptions while also knowing that monthly book mail is or can be expensive and knowing that it's not for every customer, but it is one of our favorite things we do at The Bookshelf. It's a big part of what we do at The Bookshelf. It's kind of one of our cornerstone programs and you have run it now for how long?
Erin [00:02:46] I guess almost three years now. Close to four years.
Annie Jones [00:02:50] Amazing. I have vivid memories-- I'm not making this up. Of course, we're familiar with subscription programs, Book of the Month programs, especially Book of the Month, which isn't even affiliated with the bookstore, but is kind of the standard, I think, for monthly book mail. And one year when I was traveling back-- I guess seven years ago, when I was traveling back from market with my parents, I was in the backseat of their car and I was trying to brainstorm a subscription service. One of my favorite bookstores did a subscription service where it was entirely personality based on the customer. So the customer would fill out a questionnaire and then you would pick a surprise book for them, which I thought was so fun. It was so creative and interesting. However, as you and I know, there's fun and creative and interesting and exciting and then there's sustainable. And you really have to find the overlap in the Venn diagram of what's fun and exciting, but also is something that we can replicate month after month. And that wasn't really something that I felt like we could replicate and grow because picking ten books for a customer or 10 bucks a month for customers versus 250 books for customers are two different things.
Erin [00:04:13] That's a different story.
Annie Jones [00:04:14] Yes. So, anyway, that's kind of where the impetus for Shelf Subscription came from. And the program began seven years ago with about 30 people, which already was growth. When we were doing like these personalized recommendations we really did have between five and10. And 10 was kind of my cutoff for, okay, I can't do more than these. And we were doing paperbacks. And when you do paperbacks, there's just a higher likelihood you're going to send somebody a book they already have.
Erin [00:04:43] Yes, very true.
Annie Jones [00:04:44] Which you and I will talk about today, how much time and effort and energy goes into sending books to people that we hope they don't already have or that we have planned for them not to already have?
Erin [00:04:55] Right.
Annie Jones [00:04:56] So that's kind of how the subscription program started. I know before you were at The Bookshelf as an employee, you were a Bookshelf customer. You're a book lover. Were you familiar with other subscription programs before you came on board the Bookshelf, or kind of why do you like our model when now we know obviously lots of bookstores have shelf subscriptions or their version of sell subscriptions?
Erin [00:05:21] Yeah, I was not familiar with any book of the month or book subscription programs before coming to work at The Bookshelf. I think it's a fantastic idea, obviously, but I don't know. I just don't think that was happening very much. Maybe I just wasn't in my circle of influence. Maybe Book of the Month. I feel like that's been around for a little while. So perhaps they were already doing that. But I wasn't aware of it. So to come into The Bookshelf and start taking over the Shelf Subscription program was a little daunting to come in. You guys already had it so finely tuned at that point. What you were doing was working. And since taking it over, I feel like I've tried to make it better and better every month, make the processes easier. And that's been with the help of Olivia and Laura, who used to be here, and now Keila all giving their input about what could make this program better logistically. And so I think it's it really has come together very well. Now, what I think makes a difference is our staffers and I think that's why people choose to shop with us. I hope that's why they choose to purchase shelf subscriptions from us.
[00:06:36] I also think that we put a lot of care-- and we'll talk about this later, but we put a lot of thought and care into the not only the books that we choose, but the way that we package our Shelf Subscriptions, the way that we include cards that have what that staffer liked about the book. I don't know that every program does that, but I know that that's such a nice touch. And there have been months where we weren't able to send out the cards or somebody didn't get their card and they were like, gosh, that's really just my favorite part is I love to hear what the staffers thought about this book. So, yeah, I think that's what's different about our model. I could go on and on, but to me it's like having a really well-read friend pick out a book for you each month, hopefully that you've never heard of, or maybe it's been on your radar but you thought, I don't know about it. And then people get it in the mail and they're just like, yes, this is the book. This is the next book I've been waiting for.
Annie Jones [00:07:31] So that's the thing that I think Shelf Subscription does is, first of all, one thing that we say a lot when we market shelf subscriptions and it was one of the deciding factors in choosing to do a subscription service, is it's for those with reading decision fatigue. If you're on Instagram or you're on Bookstagram, Booktalk, we're bombarded in a good way with all the different books that are out, all of these books that maybe your friends love or the people that you follow on the Internet love. But how can you kind of sift through the noise? And in a consumer culture that admittedly we are a part of as a capitalistic enterprise. We want to sell books. But if you start to feel like, oh my gosh, so many books, so little time or I'm stressed by having to pick out books, I like the idea that once a month you get one brand new book picked for you by somebody who really loves stories and it's mailed to your door. I just think it's answering that decision fatigue problem and it's also answering the maybe overwhelm of there are so many books every month, you don't want to break your budget every month. Well, what if you just knew? Well, I'm going to get one book a month from this indie bookstore. And I think Book of the month I think has existed for a super long time. I think it was a mail order program before. And other local indies do subscription services. I don't know how many, but I know many do. I think Parnassus does one. A lot of people do first edition clubs. Thank You Books and Birmingham does one, but not all of them are primarily for their long distance customers. So I think Shelf Subscription was intended to be for our local customers. And we do have a lot of local folks who come and pick their book up every month. And we'd love more if you're a local customer.
Erin [00:09:25] Absolutely. I was going to say if you're listening and your local, come on in.
Annie Jones [00:09:30] Yes. We'd love for you to pick up your book every month, because I think that's really special and sweet too. But our program which had already existed for maybe three or four years before 2020, during 2020 really skyrocketed because of and in part because of the pandemic. And having these long distance customers who we see all the time have become your customers because you're their bookseller, you're who's interacting with them. And so our Shelf Subscription program, it's not just highly specialized or highly curated because obviously it is what indie bookstores do, but it's carefully packaged. It's really designed to be special so that when you open your mail, it's not just a book you order from Amazon thrown on your front porch. It feels like a present. I think it feels like unwrapping a present.
Erin [00:10:19] Absolutely. And we call it Shelf Subscription Week around here, which it's about to start today as we're recording. But it's really special. I mean, we put a lot of care. We have staffer Keila now who that is primarily a very main part of her job, is packaging these Shelf Subscriptions with care and there's prep for it that goes on all month. Getting the boxes ready, getting the books wrapped up carefully so that when we get the books and we get the names of the people who are getting the books that month, she's just ready to go. And she does it with such love attention. And although we can't specialize it for everyone, we do try to make it feel special for everyone.
Annie Jones [00:11:03] Yeah. So I'm curious, Erin. Part of what we do at The Bookshelf when we talk about, oh, it has to do with our staffers personalities, it has to do with what sets us apart is ours isn't just one book every month that is a newly released title that we love, although that would be fun and maybe would be easier for you if we just did one book. But we go above and beyond the here are The Bookshelf.
Erin [00:11:29] Absolutely.
Annie Jones [00:11:31] We really do base it on personality and listeners, you'll hear later in the episode and from some of the people who pick our subscription. So I pick every month, my mom and dad, Nancy, Olivia. But Erin, as somebody who packages up those books and who makes sure the right book gets to the right person, what are some of your favorite past Shelf Subscription selections?
Erin [00:11:58] This one was hard. We have a spreadsheet, of course, with all of our picks. And so I had to go back through the years and look at some of my favorite ones since I've been here. I do tend to read books that Olivia would read. I'd read books that you would read and like. I've read books that your dad has liked, some kind of a mix of all three. But I have loved Congratulations the Best is Over by our Eric Thomas, which was a recent pick of course. Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone, which was an Olivia pick. I loved Now is Not the Time to Panic, which is one of your picks last year I think. And Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monahan, who's actually going to be with us in a few weeks for a Reader Retreat.
Annie Jones [00:12:42] That's what's so fun about picking books from authors we love. So I think about Nora Goes Off Script, which was a selection of mine last year. And that really, I think, unintentionally set the groundwork for establishing a relationship with Annabel Monahan, and now she's coming to Reader Retreat. Eric Thomas it was so fun to be able to tell him, "Hey, we've picked your book for our subscription service." Or I even think back years ago, one of my favorite selections, I want to say from 2019, maybe even earlier, was I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpot, which is just one of my favorite books really in recent memory. And she wound up getting to come to reader retreat in 2019. In part, I think because we'd established that relationship through subscriptions. I do love to tell this story, which is I've been picking subscriptions for a long time, seven years, and I like to say that my monthly picks are literary fiction or nonfiction. I used to say with a female protagonist, I don't know that that's always true now. But literary fiction, nonfiction, character-driven rather than plot-driven stories well told. And I stand by it. One of my favorite selections was a book called Fire Sermon by Jami Quatro, which is a book I still love. That book is very steamy, which is unusual for me. But also it's not unusual for me if the book is really well-written. And that was a big part of the book, but that wasn't the point of the book. The book was really a conversation between these two people. And they were talking a lot about faith and love like two really big picture people having a conversation, which also is just an encapsulation of my personal reading tastes. But, anyway, it was quite steamy and mailed it out. And it's the only time I've ever received a book back in the mail. And this story is fresh on my mind because I went through a box of stuff in my home the other day, and I found this woman's letter written on a piece of notebook paper. I don't know why I kept it, but she was mortified by my selection. She took real issue with it. And it was one of those things-- two things. It's a reminder that tastes are so personal and book tastes are so personal. And also that was early in our program. And now, thanks to the work of staffers like Erin, like Lucy, like Olivia because this program we've all touche it at one point or another.
Erin [00:15:23] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:15:24] And for a long time it was just one person, me, touching it. And then Ashley, I think, helps ship them out. Now that there are more hands in it and there's a little bit more care, we really are very particular about if a customer prefer pg tastes or if a customer has certain triggers. We can't do that all the time or for every customer, it gets a little tricky. But we do our very best to make sure we don't get a book mailed back to us. It was like probably the only hate mail I've ever received. Because it was a rather aggressive response to Jamie Quatro's beautiful book. But that was just an example of a book that I really loved, but that person was probably not subscribed to the right person. Now it's not only my selections, but you could be an Olivia subscriber. Based on your tastes, Erin, I think you're a surprise me.
Erin [00:16:21] I do. I am. Absolutely. Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:16:25] So we do the surprise me option for folks who can't decide are they an Olivia? Are they an Annie? Are they a shop dad? So I'm curious, other than my one little bit of pushback, what do you hear from customers about shelf subscriptions? You're on the front lines of customer service. You've really perfected this program over the last couple years. You came on board almost three years ago and really did help revamp the logistics. So even if a customer can't tell what you've been doing the last three years, we know what you've been doing the last three years. It's kind of tweaking that program and getting it down to an even finer science. So what do you hear from our customers about subscriptions?
Erin [00:17:05] Well, I will say overwhelmingly it's positive. Of course, I have people who reach out to me and just say I didn't enjoy that book or maybe it wasn't for me. And what I say to them is we're happy any time. Which I would say to any initial subscriber, it's very easy for us to switch you to another subscriber. Maybe you start out as an Annie. You realize maybe I want some more Olivia or maybe I'd like to read more nonfiction or historical fiction, PG Fiction. Just reach out to me because it's very easy to switch you between staffers. If you just hated a book, which I never get that feedback, but if I did, I would say we can work with you. We'll try to work with you to swap it out with one of the other staffers books from that month. But overwhelmingly, I just get such positive feedback about the program. People are very excited to get their Shelf Subscription every month. I have quite a few people who reach out to me prior to the month and say-- which we usually like to keep the books a surprise.
[00:18:12] But I do have people now, some of our very faithful customers who will say, "What's the next book? Because I want to preorder some books and I don't want to overlap. So will you go ahead and tell me?" And, of course, I'm happy to do that. I don't mind spoiling the surprise. But I have to say I get an email almost every month from a customer named Gail. Gail, I'm sure you're listening and I hope this brings you joy too. But she sends me email almost every month, just a few words of praise for the book that she receives, whether it's Olivia's, yours, shop dad's. It just warms my heart. Thank you, Gail. It warms my heart seriously, that email every month. Because she's standing in for, I hope, many people who are equally as happy with the books they get every month. So it is fun to be a part of it. I feel a little bit like Santa. I have to be the one sending out these books every month. And Keila feels like Santa because we literally have bags full of Shelf Subscriptions.
Annie Jones [00:19:15] Giant mailbags.
Erin [00:19:19] So many of them.
Annie Jones [00:19:20] So many. Yeah. Thank you to Gail because our subscription service is probably, I would say, 70% online, or 70% long distance, 30% in person. Maybe that's more 80/20. I'm not sure. But because of that, it's a mail service. Unless of the occasional fluke of the book being mailed back, we're not going to get a ton of feedback. So when we do, it's really wonderful.
Erin [00:19:51] It's so special to me.
Annie Jones [00:19:53] One of my favorite things is, I think this is the only hashtag that I follow on Instagram, is Shelf Subscriptions. I don't know when I discovered you could follow a hashtag, but you can follow a hashtag. And so every so often on my Instagram feed, I will see somebody who has hashtag Shelf Subscription. And when they take a picture of their box, that's one big change you helped us make was we went from sending them in mailers. I mean, for years we sent them in mailers with like these muslin bags, and you helped us transition into these really cool branded boxes. I was just sure they were going to be too expensive. And you were so good about doing all that research and helping me know, no, actually it was weirdly cheaper to do it that way. And so, anyway, so to see the pictures of people unboxing their book or posing their book with their box and their sticker, it's just really gratifying to get to see that because these are long distance customers. So we don't get that immediate feedback that we do from our in-store customers. When we serve a customer in-store, we get a smile or a thank you so much. It's very personal and face to face. And online bookselling, as you know, is different. So to get to receive an email or to see on Instagram how excited people are about their subscriptions is huge. And I will also say as a daughter, it is really fun to see feedback on the books that my dad picks or the books that my mom picks. Because, y'all, they work real hard.
Erin [00:21:36] They do. I'm so grateful for them, so grateful for them. They're not getting paid to do this. They're just doing it because they love you so much and they love reading.
Annie Jones [00:21:45] They work so hard. Yeah, they're just volunteers. And Mom and Nancy kind of share a subscription. Because when we did decide, you know what, we do have a lot of customers and I want to respect-- all jokes about Fire Sermon aside, I do want to respect people's boundaries in their reading. And I also want to show them, but there are books for you within maybe the boundaries that you have set. And so Mom and Nancy alternate because it is hard to find PG 13-- I think is what we've settled on. PG 13 books are books that are redemptive or books that are for more sensitive readers. And so they alternate. So Mom is picking out a book every other month. Dad is picking one every month. And he kind of jumped in to fill in with the void that Lucy left when she departed The Bookshelf. And she had been reading so diversely in lots of nonfiction. And so dad has come on. And it's just fun to watch my parents get to do this thing in their retirement. I think it's a fun retirement project for them, but it is also so much work. I wish customers knew, and maybe that's what this episode will help them know. I wish customers knew how much effort and planning goes into a Shelf Subscription. I think what people maybe don't realize, we always coin it as these are our favorite books of the month, which is absolutely true. What I pick is my favorite book of that month, but it also has to fit certain criteria. It has to fall in line with release dates. And Erin knows more than anybody the number of times release dates have changed since 2020. My poor dad will read a book and then I'll have to go-- it's the worst. I'll have to go tell him I'm so sorry the release date changed.
Erin [00:23:29] I know. And it has to be hardcover. So like you said, we don't choose paperbacks anymore. And so, it's very tough. And it's like it narrows the field. And so you know when you get a book, not only was it our favorite, but it was we worked very hard for that book, right? We worked hard to make sure it's the cream of the crop of the books that we could get within that time frame.
Annie Jones [00:23:54] Yeah, we selected it because it's hardback fit within the release, it's fit within the genre criteria. But also we are reading these months in advance. It used to be, which I can't even imagine this now, Erin, but we used to just pick them like the month before, or like two weeks before you would pick your subscription. Which just that is another process that changed during the pandemic. That just was no longer possible because publishers were sending books out. Everybody's process has changed in 2020. And so now we're reading about 2 to 3 months in advance.
Erin [00:24:36] And I'm usually ordering about two or one and a half months in advance as well.
Annie Jones [00:24:40] And an example, I won't name names because we don't like to spoil the book selections, but my selection for this month released a little bit later in the month. We're typically trying to do no later than the first Tuesday. Sometimes a publisher will really kindly work with us and because we're ordering a relatively large quantity, they'll be understanding and they'll say, oh, absolutely early release. But that's not always the case. So we're behind a little bit this month because of my selection and because of publishers being able to accommodate or not accommodate those kinds of requests. So I know from the conversations I have, not only with my mom and dad, but with Nancy and Olivia too in store where nine times out of ten, you walk in the store and we're talking about books. We're talking about a Shelf Subscription. We're trying to figure out what do we pick?
Erin [00:25:31] Yeah, absolutely. And nine times out of ten, if you're reading, you're reading for a Shelf Subscription pick, right?
Annie Jones [00:25:38] Yes. So much of my reading life is reading for Shelf Subscription. Because what if the book you're reading isn't Shelf Subscription worthy?
Erin [00:25:48] Right. Exactly.
Annie Jones [00:25:49] Right. You can't send out a dud. And that's what's pretty cool to go back and look at that spreadsheet. That spreadsheet goes back through basically the entirety of the program. And to look back and I realized, oh my gosh, these are really good books.
Erin [00:26:05] Yeah, they still stand out. They're still great.
Annie Jones [00:26:07] Yeah, there may have been a couple where I was like, wait, what was that book? But most of the books, like Death of Avec Oji or Such a Fun Age, I loved those books and would still love to read those books today. So it's fun to see the subscription selections kind of stand the test of time. As a bookseller, that's really comforting to me. That makes me feel like we're doing our job well.
Erin [00:26:29] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:26:30] Okay. So we've talked a lot about adult subscriptions because for a long time that was all we did, was offer adult subscription selections. But we have over the years introduced kids selections and kids subscriptions. And we have found that these are really fun for gift giving. They're really fun for grandparents to give kids. That side of the program is, in my mind, the side that has grown some of the most over the last year or two in particular. So can you talk a little bit about kids subscriptions and kind of what we offer? Because I feel like for adults, we base it on reading tastes, and for kids we really base it more on age and reading level.
Erin [00:27:12] Yeah. So when I started here, we only had a YA, we had a middle grade, and a chapter book, and a picture book selection. And so, YA was for maybe 14 and above. Middle grade we usually try to say maybe 10 to 14. Chapter book is usually ages 8 to 10. Maybe picture book is for really anyone. But picture book, maybe ages 2 to 8, early elementary. So that was all we had. And then over time, we phased out our YA selection just because it's very difficult these days to find-- it's it's like a 14-year-old doesn't read like an 18-year-old reads, nor should they. And so we just phased it out because it was becoming more difficult to find books that would be acceptable to most parents and most YA readers. So we were like, this is getting tougher and tougher.
Annie Jones [00:28:11] Yeah, it was so hard. And that was our fewest number of subscribers, was in that young adult. And I just remember Olivia every month. It was a burden. And obviously everybody's work is hard, but when a task becomes a burden, I kind of pay attention. Like, wait a minute, do we need to do that? We're a bookstore? Does that need to be a heavy burden on Olivia every month? And especially these aren't customers we know.
Erin [00:28:40] I's hard to say will they like it or will they not like it.
Annie Jones [00:28:43] Yes. For our in-store young adult customers, Olivia's very capable and our booksellers are very capable of saying like, oh, this is appropriate. Like, Grandma, I feel comfortable giving you this to give to your 14-year-old. But a subscription service, it just became untenable. It was such a burden every month for her based on content. And, look, anybody who reads young adult knows those books run the gamut.
Erin [00:29:06] For sure.
Annie Jones [00:29:07] There's a lot there's a lot of different content covered in that very small genre that I think was intended for 14 and up, but occasionally can feel more like college students. And so for our 14-year-old subscribers, that was a challenge.
Erin [00:29:24] It was difficult. That's just part of growth. Like any program, we encountered that and we thought, well, it's not working for us as a store anymore, so let's do away with that. But we did add board books, so now we have a baby board book subscription, which is my personal favorite. I choose the baby board book and now recently have started choosing the picture book selection. And I am a parent. I'm currently a parent of also a very small child. And so I know that a board book gets read over and over and over again. And I know what is going to interest-- of course, every child is different, but I know pretty much what's going to interest a small child. Are there too many words on the page? Parents don't want to read that. We're doing books you can read again and again, and that the parents also enjoy and find a lot of fun. And so that's fun for me. So I hopefully pick books that not only kids will enjoy, but grandparents and parents and baby sitters will enjoy reading over and over again.
Annie Jones [00:30:24] I think that was such a wonderful addition to the subscription service. I think part of the reason we added that was because of Clark. It's because of Erin's baby.
Erin [00:30:35] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:30:37] But it has become, I think, one of our largest--
Erin [00:30:41] Largest children's subscription.
Annie Jones [00:30:43] Yeah, because it is such a great gift. Erin, I didn't tell you this. I'm going to tell you now. So I gave my new nephew, Oliver, a subscription. I think like a six month subscription. And my brother texted me. I guess last month was the baby board book button book? Was that what it's called?
Erin [00:31:03] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:31:04] Okay. My brother texted me. He said, "are loving these books every month." He said, "But man, this one, what a twist." He was like, I could not believe this book. It was so fun. Oliver is four months old, so they're reading to him, which is so important, so valuable, but also probably a little tedious. I'm glad I sent the subscriptions because my brother was reading Oliver Kierkegaard. And I was like [inaudible]. You got to read him some baby board books too. And so I think it was very fun. And I love that my Kierkegaard loving brother also was like, oh, this baby board book is awesome. So you're doing a great job of picking them. Because it was one that was entertaining to the parents as well, which I think when your child is so little it's important.
Erin [00:31:52] I know I have favorite books that I am happy when Clarke picks them off the shelf. I'm like, yes, I love that one. Let's read that one again. So I wanted to give that to parents. I'm having a blast picking the picture book, which is, I think, a great option for any child from babies right up to middle school, because I haven't really met a child yet that doesn't love picture books, that doesn't love to be read a picture books. You think fifth graders are all cool until you're like, "Hey, how about I read you a book?" And they're like, yes.
Annie Jones [00:32:25] It's so true.
Erin [00:32:26] They love it. So picture books are great. It's for any age. I never met a child that didn't want to read a picture book still. And our chapter book is for emerging readers. It gets into more adventurous storylines. And our middle grade is really for kids who are progressing into deeper reading, maybe with some deeper storylines, not darker themes. But Olivia really does try to make sure she honors what parents might want kids to be reading at that age. Middle grade also is kind of hard to pick, and there's a variety of stuff she can pick there, but she does a great job picking those chapter and middle grade books every month. They're fantastic.
Annie Jones [00:33:10] I know I've said this a million times on this episode already, but it is so much work and so much curation, which is exactly what we love to do. I think it's what sets indie bookstores apart from bigger box stores, is that personalized expertise. But truly not only are the adults selectors like me, my mom, my dad, Nancy, Olivia, obviously we're reading constantly, trying to find the right book, but you and Olivia are working so hard because you're really answering to two clients. You're answering to the parent and to the child, and in some cases the grandparent. And I mean this. Every book is so good. You all are so good at your job. Every middle grade book is so fun and adorable and thoughtful, and every board book is so eye catching and unique and it's a subscription that I was proud to be able to gift my nephew. I was like, you get to see what my store is like. You get to see what we do over here because my brother lives far away. And so he gets to see, yeah, this is what we do. And that goes back to the whole purpose of the subscription is in my mind and it's part of the reason we never changed to direct ship from one of our distributors or something like that. It's because I really want a long distance customer to have the same personalization and care that is provided to our in-store customer. And I think that's exactly what you and Keila do, and it's exactly what our staff does when they pick these books. It's just the same amount of care that goes into when I watch Olivia handsell a kid book in person. She's doing that for the long distance customer.
Erin [00:34:54] Yeah, she is. Absolutely. We have lots and lots, like you said, discussions at work about our books, about our picks. Sometimes Olivia will be like, well, what about this one? And let's talk about this one. And this one has the storyline. What do you think about that? And so much care is going into it always with our subscribers in mind. Always.
Annie Jones [00:35:16] Okay. So if you're an adult reader, if you're a kid reader, that's kind of how you base your subscription. It's kind of on age and reading level. If you're an adult reader, it's all about your personal tastes. So you've already heard a little bit about mine. Again, literary fiction, nonfiction. Congratulations the Best is Over was my most recent selection, and I do love that book so much. I reread bits of it recently for an upcoming From the Front Porch Book Club that's also happening this week. Anyway, I reread parts of it recently and I thought, oh my gosh, that book is so good. And so it's one of those that a few years from now I'm going to look back and think, oh, that's a book that stood the test of time. But then some of my other recent selections that I've really liked that I also think were relatively unsung in the book world are, Stealing by Margaret Verble. I just loved that book so very much. I think that was my February selection. What happened to Ruthie Ramirez by Claire Jimenez was so quirky and interesting and original. I had not read anything else like that. Paper Names by Susie Luo.. Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess. These were some of the books that I have picked this year. So literary fiction, some literary nonfiction books where characters are having conversations. Sometimes it's books where characters aren't doing too much. I'm not always the most plot-driven reader. Olivia and I joke about this, that when we do those new release episodes Olivia tells an entire plot, and I'm like, "Well, my characters talk to each." That's my basic description.
Erin [00:36:51] And then they talk some more.
Annie Jones [00:36:54] Yeah. But if those types of books or those books are books on your TBR or books that you've enjoyed this year, then you would probably enjoy my subscription. But now I want you to hear from some of our other pickers so that you can get an idea of the books that they select every month and why.
Olivia [00:37:12] Hello, I'm Olivia, the operations manager here at The Bookshelf, and I have been selecting a Shelf Subscription title every month for the past five years. If you choose to subscribe with me, you'll get a variety of mysteries and thrillers. And occasionally I will throw in a fantasy novel that just happened to top everything else I read that month. I send out everything from a cozy whodunit, to dark academia, to a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. When I pick my Shelf Subscription titles, I really try to choose a title that maybe you wouldn't have normally heard about or wouldn't normally pick up on your own, or just one that surprised me in the best way possible. I love a book that can play with the mystery genre in a way we haven't seen before, or a thriller that keeps me on the edge of my seat just from chapter one. I love when they can throw in a plot twist that I truly didn't see coming.
[00:38:12] That's one of my favorite things. I have loved all of the books that I have sent out this year in the past five, but some of my most recent highlights from 2023 are my very first book that I sent out in January, which is Everyone in My Family has Killed someone by Benjamin Stevenson. I actually had a different book selected first for that month, and then at the very last minute I switched it after reading this book because I couldn't not send this out to everyone. It was excellent. He played with the mystery genre in a way that I just thought was so clever. Benjamin, from the very start, gave you a list of page numbers where all of the murders were committed. And from there, he gave you one of the most honest and reliable narrators I have ever met and still managed to give you a twist at the end of the book. It was excellent. We had a really fun book club about it where my coworker, bookseller Keila, ended up making a murder board with yarn everywhere, pointing to the different suspects. It was a lot of fun.
[00:39:19] Another one that I have loved and sent out this year is Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocombe. I have loved every book that Brendan Slocombe has wrote. It's only been two, but I know he's going to write more and I will still love them and read them all. He wrote the Violin Conspiracy. And this was his second book, Symphony of Secrets, and it is about a composer who his last work went missing. And in the current timeline, a musicologist Byrne ends up being asked to-- after the work is found, he gets asked to put it on to an orchestra and make it playable again. And in doing so, he found some secrets about this composer. And so you go from this dual timeline where it is Byrne finding out about this composer to actually watching the composer and his up and coming. It was excellent. The dual timeline kept you on the edge of your seat, and both timelines were ones that you would just easily fall into and couldn't get enough of.
[00:40:19] One of the most recent ones I sent out and probably will be in my top of the year is The House Keepers by Alex Haley. This novel was so much fun. It was Ocean's 11 set in the early 1900s, with just one of the greatest casts of women I have read in a book. It was excellent. It read like a movie. I loved every second of it. So if you are looking for a Shelf Subscription filled with mysteries and thrillers and maybe occasionally a really well-written fantasy novel, check mine out. I'd be happy to send you a book.
Susie [00:40:56] Hey, everybody. I'm Susie. Annie's real mom and The Bookshelf shop mom. I've been sharing a Shelf Subscription selection with bookseller Nancy for about three years. Every other month I choose books for what Annie calls sensitive readers. But I prefer to say I like stories with redeeming characters and plot lines. You won't find too much sex, violence, or language in the books I choose, but I promise that doesn't mean they're boring. Since picking books for the Shelf Subscription program, I've fallen in love with writers like Patti Callahan Henry, Lauren Denton. And some of my favorite selections have been The Personal Librarian, Once Upon a Wardrobe, The Two Lives of Sarah, Messy Lives of Book People, and The Secret Book of Flora Lee. I love discovering new-to-me authors and introducing readers like you to books that might have not been found otherwise. Happy reading, everybody.
Nancy [00:41:55] Hi, everyone. This is Nancy, and I pick books for you to read. I'm a bookseller at The Bookshelf and have been working here just about five years now. But I have been selecting Shelf Subscription books for about two years. Susie, Annie's mom, and I switch off every other month looking for the best book for you. Our genre varies, but we try to stick to subjects that are easy, comfortable books to read. I love fiction, historical fiction, and also a great mystery. My all time favorite author is Kristin Hannah, but I also enjoy reading books by Marie Benedict, Elizabeth Lutz and Pamela Terry The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is my overall favorite book, but I have really enjoyed reading American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian and the Girl of the Summer by Kate Bishop. The subject matter in all these books varies, but that's what keeps my selections interesting. You never know what you will get. If you haven't tried my book selections before, I urge you to try just one. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Chris [00:43:04] Hey, readers. I'm Chris, Annie's real dad and The Bookshelf shop dad. In other words, handy man, I've been a Bookshelf subscription selection option since February 2022, when I first read The Violent Conspiracy by Brendan Slocombe. Every month I choose books that fancy my interest, which could be fiction, nonfiction or biographical. I like adventure and drama. You might find some language, sex, or violence in my selections, but not overwhelmingly so. For nonfiction, I navigate to social justice issues and history. Since picking books for the Shelf Subscription program, I've selected at least three books that were big time hits. The Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins was The New Yorker magazine best book of 2022. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. And The Wager by David Grann, a New York Times best seller. I love discovering captivating novels and intriguing nonfiction that will both entertain and delight the reader.
Annie Jones [00:44:09] Okay, Erin, we have talked so much about Shelf Subscriptions. We wanted to do that because it's our 7th year anniversary. I don't know how we want to word it. We've been doing this for seven years. It's the seven year itch. We wanted to do something fun and special. If you subscribed to us in September, you got some really fun stuff. Oh, man, Erin brainstormed so much. She sat in my office-- I have a very distinct memory-- and she was like, I think we should do a bandana. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I think you're right. We should do a bandana. It's so fun. I think that's one of my favorite parts of life at The Bookshelf, is getting to watch an idea come to fruition. There is something so gratifying about the tangible nature of some of our work. Not all of our work is tangible. And so I think when there is like, oh, Erin thought we should have a pencil set and now voila. Like Erin, I dream of [inaudible] and there's a pencil set.
Erin [00:45:10] I know. It's so cool. We had an awesome person do those for us the Longhand Pencils. And it's just so fun to reach out and be like, I have an idea; can you do this? And she's like, yes. And then they arrive in the mail and it just feels really full circle. It's so cool.
Annie Jones [00:45:30] Yeah, it's very fun. And it's very fun to get to support other small businesses in our work. So those pencils were done by Longhand Pencils. The bandana was done by Pen and Paint, our friend Lindsey. So, yeah, it's just pretty cool to get to do all of that. So our September subscriptions went out with a lot of fun goodies. But talk to listeners because if they're listening now, they have a chance to buy for October. So if you buy in September, you're getting an October subscription. So talk to them about some of the perks for purchasing in time for October.
Erin [00:46:01] Yeah. So again, in continued celebration of our seventh anniversary, we thought it would be a fun perk that if you purchase in September to receive your box in October, that no matter what you purchase, you get an additional month on top of that. So if you purchase a one month, you get two months. If you purchase a three month, you'll get four months. So you get an extra month on us. And that's just to continue the fun, right? It's just like you get an extra month on us. Another book, another chance to find maybe your next favorite read. We also are partnering, which I'm so excited about. I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, but we're partnering with author Carrie Winfrey, who has agreed to be like our guest picker for October, and she's going to pick her favorite book, the book that she's really excited about that's coming out in October. And people will have a chance to purchase that or purchase that in addition to their current. Like if they're already current Shelf Subscribers but they also want to get Carrie's pick in October, they can do that as well on our website. But Carrie is fantastic. She was at our last Reader Retreat. She's written so many amazing books that we all have loved here and that continue to be popular. Romance romcom is what she writes a lot of.
Annie Jones [00:47:21] Yeah, romcom. She wrote some really fun young adult books. I'll tell you, you've been brainstorming this for months and working on this for months and I hope you noticed yesterday it was delightful. We had staff meeting yesterday and Erin was kind of just doing her spiel and she was explaining like, these are the things that we're doing for October. And truly some of our most non-reactive staff-- like we have some staffers who are going to get excited about anything, which I love, we really need that level of enthusiasm. But what cracked me up was Esme who normally she'll react, but she's maybe a quieter reactor. When you said Carrie Winfrey was picking a book, as me gasped this guttural gasp.
Erin [00:48:01] It was very rewarding.
Annie Jones [00:48:02] And it was so fun and so exciting because this is something I've been hearing about for months. So I'm sitting there smiling, like, yeah, this is so great. And it is so great. But to see the staff who wasn't aware that she was picking a book for us, like they didn't know behind the scenes, their reaction was so genuine. And I thought, oh, I think our customers are going to be excited about this too.
Erin [00:48:23] I really hope so. I know a lot of our customers maybe know Carrie already from her books. If you don't, I would say give her a chance. She's an amazing author and she has great taste, obviously, in books. And so we're very excited about her pick for October, which will remain a secret, of course, for a little bit. But, yeah, we're just really excited to partner with people to maybe find new ways to expand our Shelf Subscriptions in 2024, expand our offerings and really just fine tune what people want, but also maybe expand so that they might be surprised by what we offer and be excited about it.
Annie Jones [00:49:00] I am so proud of you and the work that you've done, particularly in advance of this kind of seven year anniversary, and also just how the program has grown and morphed and changed. I think it's really important to look back at where you started and y'all we are constantly tweaking and working on all the different programs that we offer. So when we talk about like, oh, we discontinued the young adult program, so much time and effort and energy went into that decision. We have already been meeting for weeks about what we want to change and tweak in 2024 in order to keep offering the program and to keep making it better. I mean, it's one of the things that I think is both the hardest and the most rewarding about life at The Bookshelf, is that we're constantly improving and evaluating and making sure that what we offer is really excellent. And I think Shelf Subscriptions are excellent. And it occurred to me when you had suggested this episode, and it occurred to me that a lot of our podcast listeners might not have even known we do this. We don't talk about subscriptions very much. I think we referenced them in passing, but I hope listeners now have an idea of this Book of the Month program, why we offer it, the work that goes into it, and when they purchase in October they get essentially a month free. So it's a great time to try it. So even if you just buy one month, that really means now you get two books, now you get October and November. And so it's a great time to go ahead and purchase. And you can also purchase Carrie's as an add on or as its own subscription. So I am very excited. Where can people go to find out about Shelf subscriptions?
Erin [00:50:37] Yeah, you can go to our website. It's just Bookshelfthomasville.com. And it's pretty obvious, but on the upper right hand menu there is shelf subscriptions. You click on that and that page has all the information. Of course, people can always email me at. Contactus@bookshelfthomasville.com and I will be happy to answer any questions big or small, that you have about our subscription programs. I know one thing I wanted to mention is that the bandana that went out with our September Treat Yourself is now going to be available online so that maybe if you're a new subscriber or you didn't get a Treat Yourself Box in September but you want that bandana, it will be available to purchase on the website as well.
Annie Jones [00:51:19] Yeah, we'll put a link to Shelf Subscriptions and then to the separate bandana. We'll put those links in the show notes so you can have them, because we know that listeners who are listening now missed out on that bandana opportunity. But y'all, it is so cute. And so we're selling them individually. It has Sam Malone on it. It's so cute. Not Sam Malone, Ted Danson. Sam Malone, my dog. I'm sorry.
Erin [00:51:42] Yeah, Although he's great too, but your dog is way better.
Annie Jones [00:51:46] I'd love to have Ted Danson on a bandana next year. Next year your it. Thank you, Erin, so much for all the work you do on Shelf Subscriptions. And thank you for being on the episode today.
Erin [00:51:57] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:51:58] This week I'm reading Happiness Falls by Angie Kim. Erin, what are you reading?
Erin [00:52:03] This week I am reading The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters.
Annie Jones [00:52:06] From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, 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: bookshelfthomasville.com A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle Carl, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stacy Laue, Chanta Combs, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Laurie Johnson, Susan Hulings
Annie Jones: If you’d like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the Podcast App on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see ‘Write a Review’ and tell us what you think. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to: patreon.com/fromthefrontporch We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.