Episode 500 || Patreon Unlocked: Porch Visit Q&A with Annie
Happy 500 episodes of From the Front Porch! This week, we’re celebrating by unlocking a Patreon perk: one of our Porch Visits, our monthly Q&As with Annie. Every month over on Patreon, Annie answers your questions in a live Zoom meeting. Listen to today’s episode for a peek into Patreon. Join the fun on Patreon here.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search “Episode 500” on our website to find the books mentioned in this episode), or shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci
A Bit Much by Lyndsay Rush
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
James by Percival Everett
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Playground by Richard Powers
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
The Book of Belonging by Mariko Clark
The Man Who Didn't Like Animals by Deborah Underwood
Adult Holiday Literary First Look ticket
Kid's Holiday Literary First Look ticket
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, Tiktok, and Facebook, 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 Three Days in June by Anne Tyler.
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...Jennifer Bannerton, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Susan Hulings, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, and Amanda Whigham.
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]
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Things will get easier. You are not in the way. What you’re feeling makes sense. You do not have to earn joy or rest. You do not have to be your “best self” every day. (And if someone tells you this they are a life coach trying to funnel you into a six-week course. Run.) No one does it like you. It is not too late. You are not too old. You are worthy of good things. If cauliflower can be pasta you can be whatever you want.” - Lyndsay Rush, “Reassurances to Save for a Rainy Day,” from A Bit Much
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week, we’re celebrating 500 episodes of From the Front Porch with a little Q&A session. Every month over on Patreon, I hop on Zoom for a lunchtime Porch Visit. These hour-long Zoom sessions are where I answer questions from Patreon supporters. Topics range from where I ate on vacation to nail polish color to behind-the-scenes business decisions at The Bookshelf. Other than our Conquer a Classic episodes, these Zoom events are my very favorite parts of Patreon, and I wanted to give listeners here an example of the kinds of conversations we’re having over there. Patreon supporters are our favorite focus group, and Patreon is, I think, the best way we have to connect with show listeners.
[00:02:09] So if you like today's episode and the spirit of the episodes, the questions we're asking and answering together, you might consider supporting the show on Patreon. Visit patron.com/fromthefrontporch to find out more about our various tiers of support. $5 a month, for example, would give you access to our monthly Conquer a Classic episodes as well as these monthly Q&A porch visits. Now, let's get started. Look, is this what people do to celebrate 500 episodes? I really don't know. For some inside baseball, this is my fifth podcast episode to record today. I batch record. We'll talk about that a little bit later perhaps. So it feels a little anticlimactic. I'm in my office. There are no streamers. There aren't balloons. There's nothing in here but me and a ring light and a microphone celebrating 500 episodes of this podcast, which is a remarkable milestone. And I know it's remarkable. And maybe when the episode debuts and other people are hearing it, maybe I will cry, maybe I'll probably go out to dinner with Jordan or something.
[00:03:21] But I cannot believe we have made it 500 episodes. If you have been along since episode one, well, kudos to you. Those early episodes were very-- I think the spirit of the show was the same, but those were very entry level podcast episodes. If you are not familiar, maybe if you're a more recent adoptee of From the Front Porch or perhaps a more recent listener, you might not know that the podcast was actually the idea of the former Bookshelf owner, Katie. Katie came to me, this was in 2013, I guess, and podcasts were still relatively new. They were around, but they hadn't really captured the zeitgeist the way they did in a post cereal landscape. And Katie came to me and said, "Have you ever heard of podcasts? I think the store should have one." And we were in that very weird stage of me slowly taking over the store, maintaining and managing the store's operations while also earning the store through sweat equity, which again, is something we're going to talk about today. So I looked at Katie and if somebody gives me an idea and I like the idea, I will run with the idea. So I promptly Googled how to start a podcast.
[00:04:35] I believe I watched a YouTube video created by Elise Blaha Cripe, who has retired, I think, from the Internet. She was a blogger that I really loved from like the early 2000s, and she's about my age and she had back then started a podcast. So she had a tutorial. I watched it. I think Katie's, I don't know, brother in law, somebody-- maybe her brother, created some music for us. And those first couple of episodes were me and Katie together and the whole point of the show in Katie's mind and I think in my mind too, was to introduce me to Thomasville. I was new to the area. It became very apparent that I would need to kind of prove myself to Thomasville, to introduce myself to this small town and let them know that I was not going to ruin their bookstore. In as much as I could avoid it, I was not going to. And so that was really the idea behind From the Front Porch. I named the podcast-- and I talk about this in my book-- From the Front Porch because I grew up on a giant porch at my parents’ house in a rural-ish part of Tallahassee. And that front porch is where my mom comforted us. It's where my mom had hours long conversations with her sisters on the phone. It's where my parents would gather me and my brother for bad news. It's where we would have a lot of familial conversations.
[00:06:01] To me, the front porch is as important as the dinner table. And so when I was thinking about what we would name the podcast, it didn't occur to me to name it something bookish. It didn't occur to me to name it anything literary. Instead, I thought the conversations I had at the dinner table and I had growing up on my front porch are the same kinds of conversations I hope and believe are happening in bookstores everywhere. And so how can we show the spirit of the store to, at that time I assumed, in-store customers. It became long distance customers. And so that is where the name From the Front Porch came from. We have been consistently doing episodes since 2013. There have been many seasons and lives of the show as there would be for any show that has lasted 500 episodes. Sometimes I am horrified that this show has lasted 500 episodes because that means 500 ish hours of me talking, which that's what could make me cry if I think about it too much. It's so vulnerable. Even though I'm not talking about my personal life, this show is about books, small business, and life in the South. But 500 episodes of talking to my fellow Thomasville citizens, my fellow booksellers, my parents, it's just incredibly mind boggling and sobering that this many hours of content exist.
[00:07:30] I do not know what the future holds for From the Front Porch, but I think I will always consider it a great milestone and a great success to have helped create 500 episodes of conversation that I hope have been comforting, calming, grounding, interesting for listeners all over the country. And in fact, as I have learned, all over the world. Thanks for being here. So for today's episode, what I decided to do was mimic the format of our porch visits on Patreon, and I solicited questions from my Instagram account. So today's questions came from folks over on Instagram and it gave us a wide variety of topics to cover, just like it often does in our monthly porch visit conversations. So I've divided them up into sections. The first few questions are going to be about the podcast.
[00:08:25] Listener Carolyn asks: What are the best and worst parts of podcasting? Okay. The best parts of podcasting are talking about books because that comes very naturally to me. I am highly, highly introverted. I don't think people believe me when I say that. And I don't know what to tell you. It's true. I am highly introverted. I love talking about books. I love interacting with customers. I do get very tired because I genuinely am highly introverted. So the best parts about podcasting are the best parts about bookselling. I get to talk about books. I get to have really funny conversations with my fellow booksellers, with my family, with my friends. I love that part about podcasting. I think, for me, the worst part about podcasting is that this is not my full time job. So to be very vulnerable and transparent, From the Front Porch is a marketing tool of The Bookshelf. And while it did not live up to its original purpose or intent, it did not endear mainly to the lives of those in Thomasville. It took quite a long time for the four From the Front Porch to catch on. It has become a marketing tool for the store and a way to spread the word about our little bookstore in downtown Thomasville, Georgia.
[00:09:57] That being said, creating a weekly podcast I think could be a full time job, but it is not mine. And so that to me is the worst or the hardest part about podcasting. This is just part of what I do and yet it takes up an enormous amount of planning, fore thought. I no longer produce the episodes. Thank goodness. Thank you to Studio D. So I recorded them, but I no longer edit them, which I'm very grateful for. I have delegated some of maybe the harder parts, like the producing part, the editing part. But for me, the worst part is it's a really time consuming thing that I really love. I think it's really valuable for the store, but all the time I think to myself, whoa, this is a lot of work for not my full time job. The best parts are the conversations. The worst parts are the time commitment and just how much time and energy the podcast takes. I wonder sometimes what it would be like if this were my full time gig. And it's not. It is part of my full time gig, but it is not the whole of it.
[00:11:25] Ashley asks: What's your favorite part about doing the podcast? What is the most challenging? Okay, I think I pretty much answered this. My favorite part is the conversations I have and the people I get to talk to. That being said, over the last two years, the format of the podcast has stayed the same over the last couple of years, but listeners might feel like, wow, Annie has recorded a lot of solo episodes. Not as many guests maybe as in the past. And that is because recording with a guest takes a lot of time, energy and effort. And when I started batch recording podcast episodes, that means recording multiple episodes in one day, I started doing that so that I could write a book and so that I could free up some time on other days of the week, other days of the month. And that meant really being strategic about scheduling episodes. And it is hard to interview authors or to even have guests or co-hosts on when I really have to stick to a pretty rigid schedule. And so, many times the main reason you hear a lot of solo episodes is because those are the easiest to record. And one thing I have learned in running The Bookshelf and in running this podcast is when possible, choose easy. When it's possible choose the easier road because so much of small business ownership and that includes podcast recording is hard. And so when possible, choose the easier way.
[00:12:58] I will say my favorite episodes to record: the Reading Recap episodes. Because I have been doing some form of that for a long time. I used to blog and put my reading recaps on there. I think I even called them reading recaps. I've been doing that for more than a decade, probably close to as long as I've been married to Jordan. And then I love recording with Olivia and Erin. I like to be really mindful of staff's time. Not every staffer wants to be on From the Front Porch. Not every staffer has the time or capacity to be on the From the Front Porch. Erin and Olivia have kindly and graciously made time in their work schedules to be on those episodes. And I think those episodes are very fun and they're very indicative of the kinds of conversations we have in store when we talk about books together. I also love recording Conquer a Classic with Hunter. Hunter and I are good friends, and honestly, even before he moved, that was our primary way of communicating. We get on Zoom or Zencastr, we chat for a little bit and then we hit record. And this year in particular, Conquer a Classic has been especially fun. Speaking of easy, I'm looking for ways to try to capture and maintain the spirit of 2024 because Lonesome Dove has been so fun. But that currently is my favorite part about doing the podcast. It's reading Lonesome Dove with all of you, with Hunter and talking about it and having a lot of fun with it.
[00:14:29] And then I think the challenge is much like I answered Carolyn. The challenge is scheduling recording when it's not necessarily my full time job. It's just part of it. The time commitment, if you listen to a weekly podcast I want you to know how much work-- I think about the shows I really like. I think about the Popcast. I think about a daily podcast. I love Mosheh Oinounou podcasts, Mo news. The amount of effort that must require to post and publish a daily episode, I cannot fathom it. So the shows that are putting out a lot of content, I don't know what to say. Be grateful because it's so much work and so much effort. And I'm constantly in awe of people who are able to generate that much content. Content is hard work to create and time consuming. And so much work goes into a weekly episode. I cannot even begin to imagine the work that must go into like a daily episode or people I know who are generating a lot of bonus content and things like that. So that's the favorite and the most challenging.
[00:15:35] Kristen then asks: How do people make money on podcasts? Is it sponsorships? Well, I'll tell you right now, Kristen. The way we make money from podcasts is Patreon. That is the number one way we make money on this podcast. We have very few, if any, ads occasionally. You'll hear us record sponsorship ads or sponsored episodes by the city of Thomasville. That certainly is helpful, but that is not consistent enough to be how we make our money. Our consistent money and revenue driver for From the Front Porch is Patreon. If you have ever wondered what's an easy, low cost way I could support the work of The Bookshelf and the work of From the Front Porch, Patreon is the answer. $5 a month, which I think is pretty low for what you are getting-- low is probably an unfair word. I think that is affordable for what you receive. And $5 a month consistently is so helpful. The production of The Bookshelf then pays for itself. So much of the Patreon money-- not all of it, but much of it-- goes to Studio D for producing our show.
[00:16:48] And so Patreon is the number one way that we bring in money. Other shows, the answer would be ads. I think other shows the answer would be ads and Patreon. But for us, ads is almost non-existent. And part of that is because ads are tricky for a podcast of our size, which is relatively small. Small but mighty, I'd say. And then also we're a business already, so it feels weird for a podcast that belongs to a bookstore to advertise for, I don't know, Amazon or Casper Mattresses. I don't even know where to begin. And I don't even think our show is big enough to attract those big time advertisers. The podcast market is also oversaturated, so ads I think are very different than they used to be. But I think the answer for most podcasts would be most podcasts would be ads and Patreon. Our answer is Patreon and book sales. So if you are a Patreon supporter, you already know this. Books are not a profitable enterprise. You do not-- you meaning the bookseller or the bookstore, does not make a ton of profit on a book sale.
[00:18:05] In fact, at The Bookshelf --and at other indie bookstores this would be true as well-- the larger profit margin comes from gift product. But I don't want to get into the weeds too much. Prior to 2020, the podcast did not make a ton of revenue. We had just started to kind of come into our own on Patreon starting in 2018, 2019. But in 2020, when people realized and put together, oh, that podcast that I listen to, that's an indie bookstore. Small businesses might die during the pandemic, let me help save this one. Let me buy books. Let me buy puzzles. And so 2020 and 2021 were huge in terms of turning the podcasts into something that we did. And it was kind of profitable to, yes, now I'm seeing the return on investment. It took me a really long time. I think it took six or seven years before we actually saw real profit from From the Front Porch. So how does a podcast make money? Ads & Patreon. How does The Bookshelf's podcast, how does From the Front Porch make money? Patreon and book sales. So if you support us on Libro.fm, if you listen to a new release episode and you buy a couple of books, if you listen to a reading recap episode and you buy a bundle, that is all bringing in revenue for our store, for our podcast.
[00:19:37] And you might not have noticed this, but it was certainly intentional this year especially to start capitalizing on that a little bit. So my mom's podcast episodes, those are some of our most listened to episodes. And so now shop mom Susie has her own discount code. And so if you listen to that episode and you choose to buy books, we give you a discount code. If you listen to Reading Recaps, if you listen to the New Release Rundowns, you get discount codes and it helps us see how much money did this episode bring in? And so that has been hugely helpful to us on the back end. But we are not a hugely profitable podcast. We are able to pay for our production and bring in a little bit extra and that is extremely valuable in a low profit business. Which book selling just is a low profit business? So Kristen, I hope that helps. I think for other podcasts, the answer would be ads followed by Patreon. Ours is Patreon and book sales, and we're grateful truly for every listener. When we talk about podcast reviews, I know that's probably super annoying to listen to, but when we solicit podcast reviews, it's because when you post review about the From the Front Porch, it helps other people find us and it helps people find our bookstore. Because for us that's what From the Front Porch has always been, is a marketing tool driving people back to The Bookshelf. And maybe some of you have even like come to visit Thomasville, Georgia. And so that is where we see the most return on investment for the podcasts.
[00:21:13] Well, since we're talking about business, I've now got some business questions I'm going to answer. Kate asks: What did the process look like for buying The Bookshelf? (startup costs, funding, etc.) I have talked about this in, I think, pretty good detail in a previous episode. I'll try to link to it in the show notes. But basically in 2012, I quit my job working for the Florida Bar, which is a legal organization. I was a writer and editor there. I quit my job that I really liked. I quit it to become the manager of The Bookshelf in Tallahassee. So The Bookshelf for about a year, maybe a year and a half, had an outpost, a little location in Tallahassee. If you're a Tallahasseean, and it was exactly where Midtown Reader is. And so that is where The Bookshelf Midtown used to be. I lived in that part of Tallahassee and so I could walk to work. I write, I hope, really fondly about that time in my life in the book that I wrote this year. It was just a really special time in my life where I managed that. That was my full time job. I managed The Bookshelf until the owner of The Bookshelf, both the Tallahassee and Thomasville locations, decided she was going to close the Tallahassee location and she had put the Thomasville location for sale. She had put it on the market.
[00:22:33] We had a really good rapport and I think she really trusted me. I think she saw something in me and I'm really grateful for that. And she ultimately offered me and Jordan the chance to buy The Bookshelf. We were terrified by that. We do not come from entrepreneurial families. At that time especially we were in our late 20s, we did not have a ton of money to throw at a business. I don't know a nice way to say that was not on our radar. That was not something we had money for, and it was not something we wanted to take out a loan for. We were 27 years old and the thought of taking out a business loan I think was truly terrifying and also just unheard of to both of us. And so Katie and her husband graciously offered us the opportunity to earn the store through sweat equity. What that means is I worked at the bookstore. I took over operations in summer of 2013, and I earned the store for the next five years through sweat equity. We had a contract. I truly would have to look at what these exact numbers were, but I believe it was about $150,000 and I earned that through work. And then in 2018, our contract ended and I had earned essentially half of the cost. This was not, by the way, for the building. This was for the business. I still do not own the building.
[00:24:13] Katie and her husband still owned the building. I had earned half of the store. I always say it's like Jacob and Rachel. Just me and Jacob earning the love of our thing. So I had earned half of it. I want to be very transparent about this. I begged. I wanted a business partner so badly. I did not want to take out a loan. I probably was affected by early mid 2000 Dave Ramsey teachings and I was terrified of a loan. And also a small business ownership is hard and I just thought let me find somebody in this community who can help me do this. I believed I was capable. I felt like I had really proved myself over those five years. But I thought, let me find somebody else who can come alongside me and provide the capital that I can't. And I typed up a business proposal. Y'all, nobody said yes. Nobody said yes. And to sit here and be recording the 500th episode of the podcast and celebrating 11 years of business ownership is really humbling because nobody wanted to be my business partner. So Jordan and I looked at each other and we said, well, I guess a loan it is. So we took out a small business loan for, I believe, $70,000 and we finished buying out Katie and her husband. That happened in 2018. Then I believe five years later we paid off that loan.
[00:26:03] There are still some months that are tight and where I would really like a loan if I'm being totally honest, but I'm really proud of us. I'm really proud of me and of Jordan and of the leap of faith it took. I'm really grateful for Katie and for her trust in me. And I'm really grateful to this town for allowing me to take over a store. I think that's always important to note, is that The Bookshelf did not start with me. The Bookshelf has existed in Thomasville for 40 years. This year 40 years. And I am one of her owners. And she's only had women owners, which I really love. And I'm really grateful and relieved. I'm so relieved that The Bookshelf still exists under my watch. I think that was my biggest fear, is that The Bookshelf would end on my watch. And I'm grateful to say that's not been the case. And so that is a little bit behind the scenes of how much it cost, what it looked like to buy the business-- again, not the building, but the business itself. The way I came to earn The Bookshelf is unconventional and I know that. I'm really, really grateful for it. That is not lost on me.
[00:27:18] Olivia (not our Olivia, a different Olivia) says: What does a typical workweek look like? Lol. You know what's hard for me is I love a plan and I love routine. And boy, The Bookshelf has just beat that right out of me. But I will tell you that I do have a weekly work rhythm. This is my answer. It might not and would not be the answer that Olivia would give or Erin would give. Everybody's work week looks different at The Bookshelf. Kyndall goes to the store and she works 10:00 to 6:00, Tuesday through Saturday. So her answer would be different from mine. My answer is Mondays are my day off. This has taken years, but this is truly a day off for me now. I rarely, if ever, have to work on a Monday. Tuesday, I like to go in at 8 a.m.. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I like to get there before anybody else. I really value quiet working time. I love our team and I love our staff and I love visiting with them and catching up with them. And certainly when you run a business and when you are a boss, you should be interacting with the people that you work with. I really like some quiet time, so I like to get to work before the store opens and before the rest of the staff gets there.
[00:28:37] Tuesdays and Thursdays are my in-store days. Those are days where I work at The Bookshelf. Though I am not always on the floor of The Bookshelf, I am frequently upstairs responding to emails, meeting with staffers, planning sessions, answering emails, paying bills, paying taxes. That is what a Tuesday/Thursday typically looks like. Occasionally, I will be on the floor of the store. This, by the way, is also what things look like at year 11. This is not what things looked like at year one, But that's Tuesday/Thursday. Wednesday/Fridays are writing days where I was writing my book. Now I am working on marketing and publicity for my book and also podcast days. So Wednesdays once a month is a batch podcast recording day. Fridays are my favorite day because unless I do myself a disservice and put a meeting on that day, that is a quiet at home day where I'm genuinely writing. This is how I was able to write my book. And I really want to be very clear that the whole reason I'm able to have this work rhythm is because of staffers who have come alongside me in this work. So me being able to work from home and write a book or create a podcast is because of The Bookshelf staff. So that's Wednesdays/Fridays.
[00:30:01] And then Saturdays I am working the floor of the store if I am working. So in September I worked I think three Saturdays. November and December I imagine I will work several Saturdays. But in January, February, I didn't work very many Saturdays at all. I like to lead story time at least once a month. That has been my request to Olivia and she is amazing and has made that happen. But I no longer work every Saturday, which is also a change but it's a change I'm very grateful for. And then it makes the Saturdays I do get to work really fun because those are four days. I'm never paying bills on those days. If I'm working on a Saturday, I'm working the floor of the store. And that's why I fell in love with bookselling in the first place.
[00:30:44] Okay. Ashley says: How does your work life look now compared to when you started running the store? This is a great question. Those first few years, especially those first five years, I was really a manager/owner. So I was a co-owner. I was still owning it alongside the previous owner. She really did not do day to day operations of the store at all, but she was certainly my financial business partner. For those first five years, though, I was operating the store and I was one of two or three staffers depending on the season. And so I really worked the floor a lot of that time. I also had managers in that time, so I was still able to pay bills and the behind the scenes things like the podcast. But my work was definitely more floor work in The Bookshelf, management of team-- small team, but management of team and working the floor myself, bookselling. I sold a lot of books. I love being a bookseller. That is my first love when it comes to bookstore ownership. Now I am gratefully moving into what I think is the goal. Let me be very clear; I rarely finish a business book.
[00:32:04] But if you read the parts of E-Myth Revisited that I have read, the goal, the whole example in that book is like a Baker opens her own bakery and then like five or 10 years in, she realizes I don't have time to bake any more. I've got to do the big picture stuff and she has to hire a baker. And that's a little bit devastating. And the author of that book is telling the reader, hey, you've got to ask yourself, what do you want to be? So, for example, did I want to be a bookseller or a bookstore owner? Well, I don't know. I don't know what I wanted to be, but I know what I am now. And what I am now is a bookstore owner. And so that means a lot of big picture dreaming, thinking, creating. That's why I was able to write a book. It's how I am able to do this podcast. And having a team of now nine or 10 people, depending on the season, to help accomplish the big picture, big dreams that I have for the store and that we have for the store. My work life now is working from home a lot more. It's big picture, thinking a lot more. In the last year or two since Olivia has become operations manager, it's a lot fewer meetings than it used to be. I feel like I'm meeting a lot, but not nearly as much as I used to be because Olivia does that now. All of these things are possible with store growth, financial growth and with team growth. And we have a really awesome team right now. I know that might not always be the case. I also know that things could change, but this is where we are right now and I'm really, really grateful.
[00:33:43] Okay. Next up, Cfoz on Instagram said: How do you decide what will be a Bookshelf project versus an Annie project? Again, Lol. I have a business coach. I get creative coaching from Emily Freeman to help with this because this is extremely difficult for me. I get very confused about what is The Bookshelf and what is Annie B Jones. Genuinely all laughing aside. I have worked really hard in therapy, spiritual direction, creative coaching to try to boundary my life. I don't want my identity to be completely tied up in my work. You shouldn't want that either. Whoever you might be. We want well-balanced lives where we're not completely tied up in our work. Like our work isn't who we are. So this is something I have to work on a lot. But what I will say is a lot of Annie projects I hope also benefit The Bookshelf. So the book-- I keep referencing a book. I wrote a book. My book is called Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned while Staying Put. It's an essay collection that releases in April of 2025. I'm very proud of it. I'm very sweaty about it. I'm very excited and also vomity. And that is an Annie project. I have wanted to write a book my whole life. In my heart, I'm a writer. And so this is a dream come true. It's an Annie project. But when we took preorders in August, that was a Bookshelf project.
[00:35:22] That was a Bookshelf project and it is one of my goals that that book is yes an Annie dream, but it financially might also benefit the Bookshelf dream and the work of the staff. And so that is an Annie project that is also deeply tied to The Bookshelf. I have a private Instagram account that's an Annie project. Part of the reason some of these Annie projects came to be is because, as I have already alluded to, bookstore ownership is not profitable. Owning a bookstore is not profitable. We turn a profit, a small profit which I am extremely grateful for, but I make a lot less money than I made working for the Florida Bar. And that was 12 years ago. And so probably about three or four years ago, I went to Emily and I was like, look, I want to earn The Bookshelf long term, but also I feel like I'm-- nobody has ever made me feel this way by the way. Jordan Jones has never made me feel this way, but I wanted to feel like I was financially contributing to this family. And I was like, what can I be doing? Because I'm not going to be making an increased salary from The Bookshelf, at least not right now, and so what are some ways that I can diversify my income and thus I think sustainably own and operate The Bookshelf? And so that is where Annie's Five-star Reads came from. That is where the book-- I mean, the book came from other deeply held desires. But partly that's certainly where writing a book came from. Even when I think about incorporating travel into my work, those are Annie things that I think enable me to own the bookshelf long-term. Is that an answer? I hope that it is. But if it sounds muddy to you, that's because it is still muddy to me. I am still figuring that one out.
[00:37:27] Julie said: What is a day or experience in the life of The Bookshelf you would love to do again? Our 10 year anniversary celebration. The Bookshelf staff worked incredibly hard to make that day really special, and it was a day in which I just got to show up and it was so beautiful to be surrounded by all the people who made The Bookshelf possible and who made my years of store ownership possible. It was so fun and so life giving that immediately that's the first thing that came to mind. That's a day that I would love to do again and at least be a fly on the wall and get to witness it. Lori said: Atlanta Market- how do you decide on a theme product, etc.? Atlanta market is fun. It's also extremely hard work as is as you're probably sensing all of life at The Bookshelf. But I decide on a theme based on-- really what comes first is color scheme. I'm a visual learner. I believe I'm a visual thinker. And so my mom and I and now Ashley, my cousin, go to market and I immediately visually start to put together a color palette. And once I put together a color palette, sometimes that color palette lends itself immediately to a theme. My favorite theme was the year we did Little Women inspired. That was just a couple of years ago, and I loved that theme. And that was because a lot of the colors felt like the colors of the 2019 Little Women adaptation. And so all of the products were built around that color scheme. And then the idea of what would Marmee buy her girls for Christmas?
[00:39:04] Themes are not always so easy. I'll tell you about a flop of a theme. I think back in like 2014 or 2015, my mom and I went to market for the first time together. I used to go with Katy, but starting in 2014, 2015, I went alone or with my mom-- I went with my mom. I don't think I ever went alone. I'm not sure I would survive market by myself. So one year and it was like our second year where it was me and my mom, we chose a lake theme like rustic plaids, buffalo check birdhouses, etc.. No, ma'am, that did not do well. That did not do well at The Bookshelf. And that's okay. We survived. But that's why market can sometimes feel stressful because it is like gambling and you're gambling on how other people think and shop. And I also think part of that came from those were my early years. People did not know who Annie B Jones was, nor did they care. Now, 11 years in, I think people are familiar with my tastes. I think for the most part they trust my tastes. And so market is still stressful, but I do think I'm a lot more comfortable in making decisions and I'm a lot more sure of myself. And I think I know what customers like and I think they know what kind of stuff I'm going to pick. I think we've all been in small businesses or boutiques or shops where we instantly know the personality of the person who runs that shop. I think that is very clear now at The Bookshelf. I have a feeling; I certainly hope that when you walk into The Bookshelf you know exactly what you're getting into. I'm really proud of what we picked out for Fall. Right now the store looks so beautiful for fall and everything is really lovely and I'm really proud of it.
[00:40:51] Okay. Questions regarding my book. There were just a couple of these. So like I said, I wrote an essay collection. It is out April 22nd, 2025. It's published by Harper One, which is an imprint of Harper Collins. I'm really proud of it and excited for you to read it and also terrified Amanda said: What are your book launch plans? Reunion Reader Retreat to celebrate? Is that a suggestion, Amanda? Amanda, would you like a reunion Reader Retreat? We do need to talk about. I think it would be fun to do even if it were a day thing where we just invited reader retreaters to come who have come to all the previous retreats. Like a high school reunion, but probably less fraught. I think that would be super fun, so note made. But what I will tell you is right now I literally this week meet with marketing and publicity at Harper One. But what I would like to do in Thomasville is host a book launch party on Tuesday evening that it releases and then hopefully have a book signing at The Bookshelf on Saturday. So if you can't come to a midweek launch, you could come Saturday and get your book signed because Saturday will be indie bookstore day. The book is being published very intentionally, the week of Indie Bookstore Day. Also the week Emily Henrys book comes out. It's fine.
[00:42:06] And then what I would also like is to have a party with my friends and family and my close knit customers and neighbors and community members on Saturday night. That is my dream of how the launch would go. Is that Tuesday night would be fun, vibrant signing books, delightful chaos. Saturday would be me working the store that made it all possible, signing books. And then Saturday night, getting to celebrate with the people who love me best. That would be my preference. I also very much want to go on a book tour and come to a bookstore near you. So stay tuned. Stay tuned because I feel like a business expands this easily. Which may mean you could see me everywhere, even in places where you would not expect to see me or want to see me. But I love bookstores and going to bookstores is so fun for me anyway. Even if I showed up at a signing where only two people were there, that'd be fine because I love bookstores and so I hope to be on a book tour truly at a bookstore near you. So stay tuned. Let me know if you have a bookstore that you think would be a good fit. I'd love to come.
[00:43:14] Nicole asked: Will your book be available as an audiobook? Yes, it will. Will you narrate it? Yes, I will. I'm very excited about this. I believe I will be recording the audiobook, I assume, this coming winter, early spring. I am pumped. I really am, actually. I think that's going to be so fun and so surreal. Also, I hope I don't cry. There are some chapters that I can't read without crying, so I don't know. I don't know how that will go, but that is the plan and I can't wait to be in your ear-- earbuds is what I was going to say. I can't wait to be in your ears. Okay. Book and reading questions. Ellen: What are your favorite classic works of literature? How can we all read more backlist classics? Okay, my favorite classic works of literature. Do we consider 1985 Lonesome Dove a classic? If so, Lonesome Dove, The Road (Is that considered a classic?) Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm trying to think about which Jane Austen I want to name. That's why it's taking me so long. Northanger Abbey. Pride and Prejudice. Those are some of my favorite works of classic literature. I'm trying to think if I've named all the ones I want to name.
[00:44:28] How can we all read more backlist classics? Not to put a plug in, but I think one of my favorite projects of the last five years has been reading classics alongside Hunter, where we read a book slowly. I think we live in a bingeable culture and I am just as guilty as anybody else. I love bingeing a book. I love bingeing a show. But there is something to be said for reading slowly, and I have really enjoyed that practice. For me, it has become really rather spiritual and grounding and so I really do highly recommend buddy reads, reading in a book club. I think there's a book club called like the Well Read Mom Book Club that people I know are kind of in. It's a virtual book club and they're reading classics. So I think reading together is a great way to read classics because a lot of classic lit now, too, we want to investigate a little bit and we want to ask good questions about. In college, that was my favorite part about college- was asking good questions about good books. Oh my gosh, A Good Man is Hard to Find. A separate piece. Okay. Those are some of other favorites. So how can we all read more backlist classics? By reading them together, buddy read, group read, etc. By being willing to read more slowly. It's not about how many you finish, it's about finishing.
[00:45:52] I do think we live in a culture where even though you might not be in grad school anymore, there are grad school-esque tools for you. I think about the novel reading podcast. I think about other podcasts that are reading good hefty works that you could listen to podcast episodes as you finish. Again, kind of like what we're doing on Conquer a Classic. But I think, yeah, it's group reading, being willing to read slowly, and it's utilizing resources available to you through podcasts, episodes, articles, critiques, etc.. I still think classic works are beyond worth revisiting. One of my favorite pastimes before Conquer a Classic really kind of took over my brain, was for a couple of years I tried to do like the Jane Austen year and I read a Jane Austen book every quarter. Then I did a Toni Morrison year and I read a Toni Morrison book every quarter. And I think that's a good way to do it, too. So you don't have to read a classic every week or something. Spaced them out, read them throughout your year. Ellen also asked: How can I facilitate a thriving book club when everyone is so busy and has different tastes? Ellen and anyone in my book club who might be listening, isn't this the question? I feel like my book club is literally dying before my very eyes, and I don't know what to do about it. But I will tell you that I think one thing you could possibly do is simplify.
[00:47:11] So instead of assigning a book where you all read the same book and you get together and you discuss it, what if you have a standing date at a restaurant and every third Thursday you're getting together at the wine bar or the restaurant, you're having dinner, you're having hors d'oeuvres and maybe you're having brunch. Maybe you're a Sunday brunch kind of girl, but you're having a Sunday brunch and all you're doing is meeting with your friends and you're talking about what books you read that month. So nobody's got pressure to read a book in a month. Instead, they come to your group meeting and they just talk about what books they've read that month. And by the end of the meeting, you've had a delicious brunch, dinner, lunch, drink and you've also got a great list of books you're walking away with. And you've talked about books, even if you haven't maybe had this really deep, enriching conversation about one book. Instead, you've talked about lots of books and probably, I guarantee you, somebody at the table is going to name a book that somebody else at the table has read. And a fun enlightening conversation is going to take place. But I think the key might be taking the pressure off. And instead of discussing one book, you just discuss what you've read together.
[00:48:22] I think somebody on the Internet (it's Lauren or Rachel) did this and called it a reading club and I think it's genius. Look, in my own book club, like I said, is dying. I don't know, but that's what I would try. Tiffany: What trends in books are you seeing this year? So many Taylor Swift books. So many Taylor Swift books because publishing is like a year behind. I mean, Taylor Swift is big always, but last year Eras tour kicked off and now we are seeing the Eras tour result. I mean, Taylor Swift coloring books. Taylor Swift bios. I will say the Rob Sheffield biography Heartbreak Is National Anthem, that one I believe would be worth trying. But lots of Taylor Swift books. For a couple of years there, it felt like we were getting Fleabag inspired books. It's romantasy now. It's all romantasy all the time. The success of Fourth Wing last year, and again, because publishing is like a year out, so much romantasy. So much that a girl like me who doesn't read a ton of romantasy cannot keep up. I mean, it's very challenging. I'm grateful to our staffers who do read it. But that is what I am seeing. I feel like I cannot keep up.
[00:49:41] In nonfiction, something that I'm seeing in a lot of spring titles coming out and I maybe people are sensing what we might need post-election season, but a lot of spring titles are dealing with how do we talk to people? How do we save our communities? How do we recover from the loneliness epidemic? I've seen a lot of those. A lot of those in terms of parenting books, but also in general, scientific nonfiction, narrative nonfiction. That's the trend. If you consider that a trend, that is a trend that I am seeing in the nonfiction realm. Jennifer said: What book should I put on my Christmas wish list? Get your pencil ready, Jennifer. First of all, let me tell you that this is a great time for me to plug our holiday literary first look which happened yesterday. But never you fear because you can go to the link in our show notes. You can go to Bookshelfthomasville.com/events or you can click Events and you can see the recording of that event. But that is where I kind of give a rundown about books for grown-ups. And then Olivia today at noon, October 24th, is doing one for kids. It might be too late by the time you listen to this, but you can buy a ticket for $15 and watch the recording and get access to our PDF and also to a discount code that could help you for your holiday shopping. So that's a little plug.
[00:51:14] But just in general, here are the books I think could be on your Christmas wish list. I was generic with this. Jennifer, I do know your reading tastes, but I decided to do what I thought would appeal to the most people. Hope that's okay. What I Ate in One Year. The new memoir by Stanley Tucci. A Bit Much, The Poetry Collection by Lindsay Rush. Every girlfriend should get that for her girlfriends this holiday season. Be Ready When the Luck Happens. This is the memoir by Ina Garten. I think we're going to be seeing it everywhere. I bet it will go out of print, so buy it now. James by Percival Everett. This is the book that everybody's talking about. It's making all the lists. And I mean like the National Book Award, The Booker. But also I think it is really accessible. I think Chris and Susie, my parents, would both like this book. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. Playground by Richard Powers. That's perhaps from your more literary family members. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich. And for kids particularly, and primarily for kids in the Christian faith, The Book of Belonging by Mariko Clark, which I just think is absolutely gorgeous and maybe I will be giving it to all the children in my life this holiday season.
[00:52:27] Stephanie: What is one thing you've learned about your own reading life? In the last 500 episodes, I really like my reading life. I do think my reading life would look a little bit different if it were not for The Bookshelf, and that's okay. I think I've said this before. I think I'd read more nonfiction if I did not have From the Front Porch. I have learned over the last-- and in fact, if you're a long time listener, part of what happens when you record 500 episodes is who knows what you've said? Who knows what you've said? And I hope one of the things we've cultivated here is a spirit of grace and leaving plenty of room for people to change their minds. And one way I have changed my mind over the last 11 years of podcasting is I love audiobooks and I think you could probably find an episode deep in the archives where I probably make some kind of snarky semi snotty comment about audiobooks. And that is because I am a visual learner, as I've already said, and audiobooks were not easy for me and so I probably made some kind of snarky comment about them not counting as reading. I don't believe that anymore. And aren't we so glad that we can change our minds? And now I love audiobooks. The pandemic is really what made me love audiobooks. I still have to be picky about what audiobooks I listen to, and that is because of how my brain works and how I learn and how I process. And so what works for another reader might not work for me. Generally speaking, I love audiobooks and I'm so glad that is something I've changed my mind on. Something I've learned about my reading life is that it can be enhanced by audiobooks.
[00:54:07] In the last year I started reading e-books. It's still not my preferred way to read, but for my job it is extremely helpful and it's an extremely valuable tool that Olivia has been telling me about for years, and I finally took the plunge back in May. And again, it's not my favorite way to read. It's not my preferred way to read, but occasionally it's exactly what I need to get the job done. Those are some things I've learned over the last few years. Stephanie also asked: What advice would you give your teenage reading self about books? You don't have to finish every book. And in fact, sometimes you might want to put a book down because it might find you when you most need it. I really do believe that. Maybe that sounds woo woo. I really do believe that books will find you when they're supposed to. And so if a book's not hitting for you, if a book is not working for you, life's too short; I'd put that book down. I also would tell my teenage self it's okay to read fun books. You Don't Have to be Rory Gilmore. And being a book snob was never fun for anybody. And I don't think I was ever a book snob, but I definitely felt I was a brainy teen and so I think I did feel pressure to, like, be a brainy person. You can be an avid reader and read James Patterson and that's fine. And so I think I would tell myself you don't have to finish every book and you don't have to be Rory Gilmore and you don't have to get your Ph.D. and you can still read books without a master's degree. It's okay. You can be an avid reader and just a normal person, just an average person. That would be my advice.
[00:56:00] A very popular type of question was a Sam question. Sam is our golden retriever. Is he still a puppy? If he's a year and a half old? Sam is precious. Let me tell you, the publisher really wanted Sam on the cover of Ordinary Time really badly. And instead, we'll see. We'll see how this episode ages. But he might be on the back cover, is what I'm hearing right now. So Irene just wanted more information about Sam. Sam is-- we try to be careful about gendering books and things like that. Sam is a boy dog. And so Sam gets into little messes. Right now, he's got a scratch on his eye for running around with a stick in his mouth. He is one of the best things we've ever done. He's fun. He's playful. Our previous dog Jeanie [sp] was delightful. I would never describe her as playful. Sam is playful, and so I think he keeps us fun. And his hair everywhere keeps me humble and keeps my house a little bit disgusting.
[00:57:14] Susanna said: What is Sam's favorite book? Well, his favorite book to rip out of my Hands was Ballet Shoes by Noel Strathfield. I do think Sam likes paper. He likes our mail. He likes to take a book out of my hands. That is the one he most aggressively took from my hand. So, Susanna, I don't know, does that mean he loves it or hates it? Unclear. But I also think Sam would really appreciate the book The Man Who Didn't Like Animals. This is a new children's picture book by Deborah Underwood. We've read it in story time. It is an old MacDonald's origin story. It's delightful and I think Sam would really appreciate it. I think Sam would really like it. Amanda said: Will Sam Malone get a doggie sibling or are you a one animal family? Never say never, because I never said-- no, I always said I would never get a puppy. Always. I just knew I was not a puppy person and here we are. So I will never say never about this, but I will say I was raised in a one animal household. Jordan was raised in a one animal or no animal household. So I think we are a one animal family. We'll see as Sam gets older because dogs don't live forever and pets don't live forever. And so sometimes I look back and I think we were without a pet too long and I wouldn't want to make that mistake again. And so there might be overlap. But I would say for the time being, a one animal family.
[00:58:53] Okay. This episode is long, but we're going to end with these very fun personal questions. Amber. Amber was the queen of fun, personal questions. Thank you, Amber, for perhaps unintentionally encapsulating the spirit of porch visits, which run the gamut from business questions to personal questions. And weirdly, I love the occasional personal question. So thank you so much. Amber said: I'd love to know where you get your design inspiration for your house. It seems so cozy and fun. Thank you. Truly. My mom is really good at home decor. She created a really cozy home for me and my brother. My mom is very proud of the fact that she and I have different styles. My house does not look like my mom's house, but the act of homemaking was shown to me. So my first inspiration is my mom. And then I think really especially-- well, the home, the house you buy or the apartment you live in or the townhouse you rent, whatever, I think that always tells you how it wants to be decorated. As somebody probably with more design know how than I once said that, but it is true. I think your house tells you what season it is. We had a house on a beautiful street in Tallahassee that was very fall. It had brown wood paneling, like original wood paneling, which sounds horrible but it wasn't. It wasn't at all. And so that house was a fall house.
[01:00:26] I think our current house is a summer house. It's got a pool. But I've brought in some really cute fall stuff this year and so it's feeling quite autumnal. I like following some folks on Instagram or just checking in. Even if I don't follow them all the time, I check in, I see how they've decorated. I'll put links in the show notes. But Tremont home. I think her name is Delaney [sp]. I really love her style. I also just like how she talks about her house. The Nester, Michael and Smith. Nesting with Grace, she's somebody I don't follow all the time, but occasionally I really like checking in to see what's going on at her house. I'm really grateful for this. I'd like to think I was early on the trend, but I love the new trend for color rather than white farmhouse style. White farmhouse was never my personal vibe. My vibe is very grandmother inspired. Grand millennial. Literally my furniture a lot of it belonged to my grandparents. And so I love colorful furniture. I love a lot of color in my home, and I think England does that better. And so one of my favorite Instagram accounts is House and Garden UK. I still subscribe faithfully to Country Living magazine. I am a monthly subscriber to Country Living and I love it. Do you guys remember Cottage Living magazine? That stopped years and years ago. But man, did I love Cottage Living. But now I faithfully subscribe to Country Living and it has a lot of inspiration. So I still like a magazine. I'm never on Pinterest. I haven't been on Pinterest in probably seven, eight years, but I use Instagram as a Pinterest board. I save stuff to my Instagram all the time for inspiration.
[01:02:24] Amber also asked: What would you be doing if you didn't own a bookstore anymore and hadn't written a book? Jordan and I discussed this. At first we were at a loss. That's how large The Bookshelf Looms in my life. And let me be very clear, I have always wanted to write a book. I would have wanted that so badly. The Bookshelf made that book possible. The Bookshelf and this podcast made that book possible because now you're following on the Internet matters. Your numbers matter. Your digital footprint matters in terms of book deals I mean. And so I'm not naive to the fact that the reason I was able to get a book deal-- I hope my book is good. I really do. I really hope my book is good. But I know that the reason anybody even met with me is because of The Bookshelf and so one came because of the other. That being said, what if I didn't have either? My background is in journalism. That was my major. I interned at Southern Progress. I worked for the Florida Bar Journal and News, but I definitely had a quarterlife crisis while working at the Florida Bar. I bet I would have tried my hand at nonprofit work, working specifically in marketing, newsletter writing, annual report writing. I don't know if I would have liked it, but I see a world in which that would have been a direction I went.
[01:03:55] I wanted to write for magazines and that dream died pretty early. Just in terms of where you move, Tallahassee, Florida, isn't exactly the publishing capital of the Southeast or something. So where you move matters. I think the realistic answer is I would have tried nonprofit work because at 25, 26, that's when I started working at The Bookshelf. I think I would have thought a nonprofit might bring the meaning I was looking for. I loved the writing and research aspects of my job at the Florida Bar, but I wanted something with meaning. And perhaps that was a naive 26 year old thing to think, but I think I would have tried nonprofit writing work maybe in the arts specifically. Because even here in Thomasville, my favorite things to do have to do with the Thomasville Entertainment Foundation and the Thomasville Center for the Arts. So I could see a world in which that's what I chose to do. I do think I would be working. I do love work sometimes, maybe a little too much. And that's for me to figure out. Does that answer your question? I think it does.
[01:05:18] Amber also asked: Will you tell us something you're passionate about besides books? Yes. I'm passionate about my family. I'm very passionate about my friends. I love my friends very much. The friends I've had, I've had for a really long time. I'm passionate about travel. I really love traveling. I really love exploring new places. I really love a change of scenery and the creativity that that ignites in me. I believe I am quietly passionate about my faith. I'm hesitant to say I'm passionate about my faith because I grew up with a toe in the evangelical world and I have some negative connotation to some of that. But I do think I'm quietly passionate about a quiet life of faith, about Madeleine L'Engle and quietly living out. Having a quiet life and working with your hands. That is something I am passionate about and constantly asking questions about. Yeah, I think that's it: family, friends, travel. I also am passionate about my home. I love being home.
[01:06:35] Which brings me to Laura's question. Laura said: What is your best stress relief? A change of scenery. Whether that means St George Island or New York City or New England or going to visit a friend. So change of scenery and then my home. A few weeks ago I had a really long week at The Bookshelf. Not a bad week, just a long week. I mean, constant events. Constant go, go, go. And I looked at my calendar and I had one meeting on the books for a Friday and I didn't go to that meeting and instead stayed home. And at the end of that day, I felt like I had come back alive. Like I had resuscitated myself. I really love my home. My literal house, the space that I have created with Jordan and with Sam, that is probably my best stress relief. Last but not least, Matty said: Describe your perfect fall day. (I'd ask about a perfect summer day, but I know you are over it!) I am over it. And by the time you listen to this episode, we should be smack dab in the middle of fall. Listen, my perfect fall day at home is as follows: wake up, get dressed, go to Trader Joe's, buy some pumpkin stuff, go to the library or a bookstore, pick out some fall books, come home. On the commute to Trader Joe's and back, listen to a true crime podcast.
[01:08:04] Come home, put Gilmore Girls on the TV while I bake a pumpkin something and put soup in the crockpot. Once that is done baking or what have you, sit on the couch or in my cozy reading chair and read the fall book I picked out at the library/bookstore. Jordan comes home. We eat soup together and then we watch a scary movie. That is my perfect fall home day. My perfect fall day is actually at Cheer Her On weekend in New England. I went a couple of years ago and it just looms as something really special in my memory. Going to the oldest working farm in America. Eating apple cider donuts. Going to Louisa May Alcott's Home. Having to wear a sweater. Can you imagine getting to wear a sweater in October? Getting to traipse. The thing about fall here is you can't really do very many outdoor activities because it doesn't feel like fall. That's why all of my perfect fall day things were inside. But if I am not home, if I am visiting Ashley in North Carolina, or if I'm up in New England with my friends Melissa and Christine, I want to put on boots and traipse a little. That would be my other perfect fall day.
[01:09:26] Thank you to all of you who submitted questions, who asked things thoughtfully. Thank you for listening to 500 hours of this voice and the voices of my friends and my peers and my coworkers and my family. Thank you for helping, I hope, cultivate a calm, safe, interesting place on the Internet. Like I said, I'm not going to sit here and be like, "Here's to 500 more." Because excuse me, what? So I'm not going to sit here and say that. But I am so grateful that you have been willing to let me in your homes, your cars, your ears, your bad days, your good days. Thanks for letting me in your ears. And thanks for being here. And thanks for supporting my small business and our team. We are so grateful. It's cheesy to say, but I am humbled by the idea that people would choose to listen to this podcast when the world is just full of so many options and so many things you could turn your attention to or your listening ears to. So thanks for setting your dial to The Bookshelf and From the Front Porch.
[01:09:30] Annie Jones: 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:
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, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Jennifer Bannerton, Gene Queens
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, 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:
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