Episode 507 || Shelf Subscription Synopsis
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Erin chat about exciting changes to our Shelf Subscriptions! Shelf Subscriptions are The Bookshelf’s book-a-month club for adults and kids. Listen to find out what makes Shelf Subscriptions special, and how we’re refreshing the program in 2025. Learn more about Shelf Subscription changes and read Annie’s letter here.
To purchase your Shelf Subscription, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville or visit our website:
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.
Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Thomasville, Georgia. There is something truly special about the holiday season in Downtown Thomasville. The twinkling lights, beautifully decorated store windows, and holiday events all add to the festive feeling of the season.
Let us be your shopping and dining destination this holiday season, so spend Christmas in Thomasville with us. Activities are held every weekend leading up to Christmas, including this year’s 38th Annual Victorian Christmas on December 12 and 13. Learn more by visiting thomasvillega.com or call 229-228-7977.
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 Playworld by Adam Ross. Erin is reading Pictures of You by Emma Grey.
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]
“It’s a mother’s job to love her child, not the other way around. It is your job to carry her love forward and project it out into the world.” - Taylor Hahn, A Home for the Holidays
[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 talking with online sales manager Erin Fielding about our Shelf Subscription program and why a Shelf Subscription makes the perfect holiday gift. Before we get started, a thank you to everyone who’s been leaving reviews for From the Front Porch. iTunes reviews and ratings are how new listeners can best find out about From the Front Porch and — as a result — find out about our indie bookstore, too.
Here’s a recent review from Anne:
A favorite!
It is hard not to love Annie's thoughtful book recs, which bring books so vividly to life. What's even better? A porch full of the accompanying voices of Bookshelf staffers, friends and family. I savor my virtual time in Thomasville each week. Thank you so much Anne! And if you haven’t left a review, 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 then tell us what you think. Your reviews help us spread the word about not only our podcast, but about our small brick-and-mortar business, too.
[00:01:50] I'm sure you guys are sick of reviews at the top of certain episodes, but I have to tell you, they really are important. This is me going off script to tell you it's really important. And it has become even more important for the success of our actual store. And so truly, truly I mean it. I know I say it all the time on these episodes, but if you have left a review, I know that takes time and effort. And I just want to thank you for it. So thank you to Anne and to everyone else who's left a review this year.
[00:02:18] Now back to the show! This year, speaking of our small business, one of our goals for From the Front Porch was to make sure we were adequately talking about and mentioning our in-store operations. We're a book podcast, yes, but more accurately, we're a book store podcast. And the overall purpose of From the Front Porch has always been to point back to the bookshelves, brick and mortar operations in Thomasville. Our show doesn't have a ton of ads. Instead, what we hope is that listeners will find ways to support The Bookshelf, either through podcast reviews, social media interactions or with online purchases. One Bookshelf program we wanted to especially highlight on the podcast this year was our Shelf Subscription program. Since many of our show listeners are or have been in the past shelf subscribers. If you're not familiar with the program, like many indie bookstores around the country, The Bookshelf has a monthly subscription service devoted to our favorite new books of each month.
[00:03:13] So what makes our program a little bit different, and how are we changing and tweaking our service to keep up with increased demand and competition? Well, today, online sales manager Erin is here to help us chat through our Shelf Subscription service. Some changes we're making for 2025 and how to purchase a Shelf Subscription for holiday gifting. Hi, Erin.
Erin Fielding [00:03:34] Hello. Good morning.
Annie Jones [00:03:35] Good morning. Welcome back to the show. I told Olivia and Erin they would not have to record podcast episodes in December and I lied. Here we are.
Erin Fielding [00:03:46] Wait. wait a minute. You know I love doing this.
Annie Jones [00:03:51] I was in my car. I made a Starbucks run this morning. And I sometimes think, what am I going to say on the podcast? I don't know. I don't know what that says about me. But anyway, I was in the car and I was like, what am I going to talk to Erin about other than Shelf Subscriptions? What are we going to riff about? And for some reason I was like, what if I just ask Erin, "Erin, are you simply having a wonderful Christmas time?"
Erin Fielding [00:04:10] Then I would start singing or something. Is that what you wanted?
Annie Jones [00:04:14] Yeah. It would just--
Erin Fielding [00:04:16] I do have a mic in front of me. It could happen.
Annie Jones [00:04:19] Devolve from there. We record frequently so early, but we're kind of recording this more or less in real time because we wanted to give up to date information about Shelf Subscriptions, about the holiday season, because we know probably you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the biggest spike we see in Shelf Subscriptions is typically now like at the holidays.
Erin Fielding [00:04:43] Correct.
Annie Jones [00:04:44] So it makes a great holiday gift. We're going to talk about that. Before we get into it, if you have never heard of Shelf Subscriptions, we're obviously going to talk about them today. But you can listen to some back episodes of From the Front Porch. Erin and actually other Shelf Subscription curators have been on to talk about their Shelf Subscription selections. So you can go back; this is all in the shownotes, but episodes 442, 472 and 491 are all good resources if after you listen today, you still maybe have some questions and you want some more information. We'll put in the show notes as well and I'm sure Erin will mention it, but we also have a whole section of our website devoted to Shelf Subscriptions. It's extremely thorough and Erin has done a great job of putting information out there where I think if you've got any sort of question, it probably can be answered through our website. So we'll put a link in the show notes to our Shelf Subscription page. Okay, Erin, we're coming to the end of 2024.
Erin Fielding [00:05:38] I can't believe it honestly.
Annie Jones [00:05:39] Can you? Erin Fielding [00:05:41] I can't.
Annie Jones [00:05:42] I really can't either. And then I start to get a little sweaty about 2025.
Erin Fielding [00:05:47] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:05:47] I had a friend casually-- I think it's because I have a lot of friends who've been going through difficult things this year. And she casually was like, 2025 has been really hard. And I was like, wait a minute, you've misquoted. And we're manifesting a really easy 2025.
Erin Fielding [00:06:05] Absolutely. No, I'm not nervous about 2025. It just feels like we have all these spreadsheets, of course, for Shelf Subscriptions and I was looking trying to find out what our books were going to be that we're sending out in December. We're starting to packages these up in real time today. I had to scroll all the way to the bottom of the spreadsheet and visually it just gives you that feeling of, wow, we've been doing it a whole another year. And it's a good feeling, but a weird feeling.
Annie Jones [00:06:31] It is weird. And I went back because I added the 2025 page to the spreadsheet, which totally stressed Olivia out. She was like, what do you mean? And I said, I'm so sorry, but now is the time.
Erin Fielding [00:06:41] It is.
Annie Jones [00:06:42] And so all the spreadsheets I feel like have been updated with 2025. But I was scrolling back to maybe I just saw January/February pics from 2024 and does that feel like a million years ago?
Erin Fielding [00:06:55] A million years ago. Keila and I were just saying one of the books I love this year was The Bullet Swallower, which your dad picked as a Shelf Subscription. And we were like, can you believe that was this year? That we read that book and it came out this year. It feels like two years ago.
Annie Jones [00:07:10] Yes, it feels so long ago. I always say The Bookshelf is kind of a time warp. Time does not function at The Bookshelf like it does, I don't know, in my house or in my normal life. When I saw some of my previous selections, which I stand by, but I honestly thought I cannot believe I read that this year.
Erin Fielding [00:07:30] Was that this year? Yeah, it was.
Annie Jones [00:07:33] I think we The Bookshelf have gotten much better about reflecting and honoring wins, investigating losses, trying to figure out what works, what doesn't work. So I am curious, as we come to the end of this year, what wins you feel like-- you and Keila, Shelf Subscription is y’all’s baby. And I'm happy to say it's become more of Keila's baby. She is slowly kind of taking it. But I'm curious, from a motherly perspective, how do you feel like subscriptions have grown and changed specifically wins this year? Like what do you think we did really well in 2024? What changes were successful with the program for our team?
Erin Fielding [00:08:12] Well, as always, at the top of the list is recurring Shelf Subscriptions, where you can go online and we partner with the Zoho billing in order to be able to safely and privately-- we don't want your credit card information here at The Bookshelf. We don't want to keep it. We don't want to have it.
Annie Jones [00:08:29] The number of people who want to entrust us with their credit card information is truly shocking.
Erin Fielding [00:08:33] Trust us. We don't want to have it.
Annie Jones [00:08:35] Yes. Legally, I don't want your credit card info.
Erin Fielding [00:08:37] To be able to find a billing partner that was so seamless to integrate with our website that people can just go and now we have so many recurring Shelf Subscribers and I think they're loving it. It's easy for us, it's easy for them and I think it's just a win for everyone so that the customers are not constantly being butted by me with emails reminding them to renew their Shelf Subscription. And it's easy for us because it's a great service that we provide that a lot of other services maybe were providing. We just didn't have the capacity, the logistics to do it. And so the fact that I can stand here today whereas me two years ago, we thought we can never make this happen because it couldn't really find a way to do it with our website and our billing provider. But it's here and we're so excited and I hope if you're listening and you're a recurring Shelf Subscriber that you are enjoying it as well. So that's a huge win for us. Again, time warp, was it really just at the end of last year that we decided we were not doing Treat Yo’Shelf anymore?
Annie Jones [00:09:38] Believe it or not, yeah. What is the biblical saying? A thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years. Like The Bookshelf year is a thousand years.
Erin Fielding [00:09:47] In the presence of the Lord, The Bookshelf works differently. So, yes. At the end of last year, again, as we will discuss later in this episode, we are always very thoughtfully considering the Shelf Subscription program, which is what's working for customers, what's working for us, what is the thing that is a pain point? What are things that are a win? In the Treat Yo’Shelf program just became a slight pain point. Not because we didn't enjoy doing it, but like we've talked about before, as they can listen to in previous episodes, it just became a thing where we had to say, I don't think this is working for us anymore. In order for us to keep it sustainable, we had to say sayonara to the Treat Yo’Shelf program, which I'm so sad about sometimes. It was fun getting the gift items and sending them out, but we had to say sayonara to that. So that was a change that I think was a win.
Annie Jones [00:10:36] I'm so glad you mentioned that and you mention how sad we are because I think when a business-- and we're going to talk about some changes we're making to 2025. That's one of the reasons you're on today. But when a business makes changes, and especially I can speak obviously for The Bookshelf, but when The Bookshelf makes changes, it is often because of a ton of time, thought, energy, research. We've really put a lot of effort into that change. Treat Yo’Shelf was something I wanted to keep. I loved it. I thought it was so fun. I think you really thought it was fun to do the gift picking, but it really became such a-- well, I think I've used this phrase before, but my dad always says is the juice worth the squeeze? And it became where like the juice was not worth the squeeze. And we are a Dachshund and functioning as a Rottweiler at The Bookshelf. You know what I mean? We're actually quite a tiny operation. And so when it comes to any of our programing, we really do have to look at is it worth this staffer's time, energy and effort? And so I'm glad you mentioned sometimes when a customer is sad about a change, I think they think they're the only ones that are sad.
Erin Fielding [00:11:49] We're sad, too.
Annie Jones [00:11:50] And it's like, no, we're sad, too. That's the thing we really wanted.
Erin Fielding [00:11:53] It was our baby for so long. Like you said, it was a really, truly one of your brainchild. It's to have the same experience that customers can get in store where they can get beautiful gift product with their books, just like they can do in-store. And we loved it. We loved picking the gifts. We love sending it out. We loved seeing the joy that people got when they got their boxes with their items. But for a variety of reasons, inflation, time constraints, it felt like it was the right time.
Annie Jones [00:12:19] Well, and now I look at the website changes we've made over the last three years and now people can shop with us for products way more than they could five years ago, like way more. Our website is way more shoppable. I mean, thanks to you. Thanks to even integrations with Fair and things like that. Shopping online is just so much different than it was when we instituted Treat Yo’Shelf. And so, yes, we miss it. Yes, we're sad, but it's a change that I think you and I are both relieved we made. And now customers can shop online. Or I think it gave us the capacity to do something like an advent box where that's where we could put all of our energy into all these cool gifting products in our advent box. So when you say no to one idea, it enables you to say yes to maybe a better idea.
Erin Fielding [00:13:08] And a better idea as a segue, a better idea that we had a few years ago was what if we took some of the favorite authors that we know are Shelf Subscribers in our Bookshelf customers love? Authors like Kerry Winfrey and Annabel Monaghan. And we asked them, hey, can you tell us if you were going to send out a book that you enjoyed, what would you pick? Not their book, but a book that they themselves would enjoy reading. And we have had such a huge success with that. And customers love it. We love doing it. We love partnering with these authors. So we're already getting excited about 2025 and the authors that we can ask to do that. And we try to time it in such a way that maybe they do have a book coming out because we do want to support them and we do want them to know and put the whole force of The Bookshelf customer base behind them, supporting them, purchasing their book as well. But it has been such a fun thing to see what books these authors chose as the books they would send out. So that's been a huge win. That's something we'll continue doing as long as it still makes sense for us and for the authors. It's been fun.
Annie Jones [00:14:12] That was really fun and a great way. Just like any program, like our Shelf Subscription programs has peaks and valleys throughout the year, small businesses statistically do drastically most of their business in Q4. And so one of the goals of The Bookshelf is to try to remain-- even though, yes, we see a peak at Q4, it's to try to schedule enough things so that we have peaks in Q1 and peaks in Q2. It's why we plan Reader Retreats pretty specifically with like where they go. And so I think you've done the same thing with the Shelf Subscription program is you've taken a look throughout the year and said, okay, where are our peaks? And that's a great place to plug in a guest author giving the subscription program, breathing new life into it, giving a little boost. So, yeah, you've done a great job of being super strategic this year. And I think one of our sayings at The Bookshelf that we say all the time is proactive rather than reactive. And that's hard in small business. Like so much of small business is like pivoting and reacting to like an in the moment problem. But any time you can be strategic and proactive, I think is great. And I really think I've observed that in you and in the program this year. It's been really fun to watch. Which brings us to some changes that we have been talking about since at least-- I want to say since at least June of this year.
Erin Fielding [00:15:34] At least. Yes.
Annie Jones [00:15:36] So we've been toying around, thinking, brainstorming together. One thing I really love about our managerial team is it's like a fantastic mind meld. Like I feel like everybody brings their own expertise and creativity to the table, even inside baseball. Erin, you sent an email yesterday asking for everybody's input on some language you were utilizing, and every person had such great insight that I wouldn't have thought of. Like Olivia's comment, I wouldn't have thought of. And so I just thought, oh my gosh, I love this team. And one of the ways I see our managerial team shine is when we get together and brainstorm and we help each other with a problem. And so we knew that Shelf Subscription had some pain points, had some things that we wanted to rectify. So what is changing in 2025?
Erin Fielding [00:16:24] Okay. So it's really is exciting. Just as we talked about earlier, some people may be sad about these changes. We're honestly sad to see things change. Change is hard, right? Change is hard. But a change is also exciting, especially when it means a fresh new perspective on Shelf Subscriptions. So what we have decided to do-- and a little back story is currently we have an Annie subscription, we have an Olivia subscription, we have a shop mom and Nancy, they split a subscription. They each pick a book every other month. And then we have a shop dad subscription. That's been working for a while. I believe your dad joined the program maybe two years ago. It feels like again time is weird.
Annie Jones [00:17:06] But I think he's picked books for two.
Erin Fielding [00:17:07] Yes that is so true. But it became evident people's lives change and it became evident that we wanted it to be sustainable for your dad, for your mom, who are volunteer people who just-- I can't stress that enough.
Annie Jones [00:17:23] They're literally my mom and dad.
Erin Fielding [00:17:24] Literal mom and dad who have their own literal real lives. It's just your dad loves to read; your mom loves to read; Nancy loves to read. These changes are not because no one wants to read as much, but the changes are to make it sustainable. So we started to think, how can we still give people a third option besides Annie, besides just Olivia? Because you have your lane and people love what you read. Olivia has her lane and people love what she reads. And then there are people perhaps like me who read a variety of books. Maybe we love a little nonfiction. Maybe we do love our romcom sometimes. Maybe we do love a family drama or whatever it is. And so I read pretty widely. I've always wanted to be part of the Shelf Subscription program. But again, it's the time commitment, as you know, to read a book every single month.
Annie Jones [00:18:10] Well, and I'll point out something that I don't know that customers or consumers know this, but Olivia and I-- I mean, obviously, I'm the owner of the store. Olivia is a 40 hour a week operations manager. So to me, Shelf Subscriptions fall under a full time staffer commitment. Do you know what I mean? Because it takes time and effort to read a book. As we all know, we're not reading around the clock.
Erin Fielding [00:18:37] We're not reading from-- it's not like Olivia and I have 40 hours a week at work to read.
Annie Jones [00:18:43] Correct. She's reading in addition to and so it's part of her managerial responsibility; it's to be a Shelf Subscription contributor. But Nancy is a part time bookseller. You are part time manager. Like you work what?
Erin Fielding [00:19:00] Maybe 20 to 30 hours.
Annie Jones [00:19:02] Yeah, 30 hours a week. And so it always felt weird to ask customers-- and listeners are probably saying, yes, I always want an Erin subscription. We know.
Erin Fielding [00:19:11] I know. I hear you.
Annie Jones [00:19:16] We hear you, but we're always trying to be mindful of the ask that we're asking. It's the same as the podcast. I think listeners might sometimes say, hey, well, how come Caroline's not on the podcast? Or how come Kendall's not on the podcast? Well, because of the time commitment the podcast requires and the interest level of the staffer. Nobody at The Bookshelf is forced to be on the podcast. We try to be mindful and it makes sense for you and Olivia as managers. But even that we try to be mindful of the time commitment that requires. We had notice too as much as we prided ourselves on offering so many options, we did look around-- you ever look around at your competition and you're like nobody else is sending out five adult books every month and four children's books every month. Like Parnassus just picks one, you know?
Erin Fielding [00:20:06] Yeah. Our goal is we looked around and we thought, how can we streamline this but also still provide a variety of books to customers who maybe don't fit in one line or the other. And so what I think we've come up with is pretty genius. I'll say it because we came up with it as a group, which is we will now have an Annie subscription and Olivia subscription and we will have a third adult subscription, which is we're calling it the Revolving Bookshelf Subscription. And that gives me your dad, Chris, your mom's, Susie, and Nancy, a chance to all rotate I guess once every four months and choose a book that we would send out. And I think it's actually brilliant because although we read different books, we all kind of read the same, which is a weird overlap. Some of my favorite books have been your dad's books. I've loved books that Nancy has loved. So I think people will notice a theme, which is even if it's a hard book, there's hope. Even if there is drama or whatever, I try to be mindful to pick books where there's not a ton of violence, there's not a ton of profanity. We try to do that. And that's what Nancy and your mom were trying to do, too. It's getting harder and harder.
Annie Jones [00:21:30] It is hard. I think that was part of the stress for my mom. Y'all, if you knew how many times my mom has come to me, Annie, I really like this book, but there are-- and then she literally has counted how many f words are in. And she's an adult person like, but she's so mindful. We were so kind of (I'm using air quotes) strict about the criteria. And my mom's a rule follower. And she was like I've promised people a sensitive book and I will be sensitive.
Erin Fielding [00:21:57] Well, we can't promise that this Revolving Shelf Subscription-- so we are not marketing it; we are not telling people it is a PG 13 or a PG Shelf Subscription. I do listen to the Popcast and they say like free Jamie. We're about to free Nancy, free Susie.
Annie Jones [00:22:11] Yes. Free Susie.
Erin Fielding [00:22:13] We're going to free Susie from these restraints and just pick great books. So again, we're not promoting it as that. So we don't want people to think that that is what they're getting. But I will say that for the most part, we are all adults who try to be mindful of what we choose and what we send out. So I don't think anyone's going to get incredibly graphic violence. We just don't tend to read like that anyway. So that being said, we are really, really excited about it. Again, it gives all of us the ability to be involved in a way that is sustainable for the four of us for the indefinite time period. And we're really excited about that because we feel like it fills a void that we wanted our Bookshelf Shelf Subscriptions to have, which is here's a variety of books you might love. It fulfills that surprise me Shelf Subscription that now has gone away, which is if you read widely and you're open to any variety of books, this is a great choice for you now.
Annie Jones [00:23:07] I like this so much better because, again, I think the word we kind of use had become unwieldy because and, again, some inside baseball, when we started our Shelf Subscription program eight or nine years ago, we had 35 subscribers at our peak. Okay. That's the most we had. Now our peak is 350?
Erin Fielding [00:23:32] Yes, 400 at time.
Annie Jones [00:23:33] 350 to 400. And so when we had 35 subscribers and a third of those were surprise me, which meant you, me, I forget who all has covered it, but at some point I feel like every person on staff has been a surprise me picker. You know what I mean?
Erin Fielding [00:23:49] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:23:50] And so Erin would go through a spreadsheet and pick what book each person was getting that month, each surprised me person was getting that month. Okay, well, when you're doing that for 12 people versus doing that for--
Erin Fielding [00:24:02] For 50 people...
Annie Jones [00:24:02] Yes. That is a hugely different thing we're asking of you. And so I've always liked the surprise me option because to be honest, if I Annie B. Jones was subscribing, I probably would actually pick the-- I like to read a wide range. I probably would pick the surprise me. But now instead of a staffer having to individually assign 50-ish people a book, the Surprise Me Subscription is essentially the Revolving Bookshelf and it's going to rotate among Erin, Shop Dad, Shop Mom, and Nancy. I think it's fun and it's super eclectic curation of books. And so, yeah, if you like my subscription, stick with me, babe. We're going to do this for the long haul. We're going to have a great time. If you love thrillers, cozy mysteries, Olivia's always been your girl. She's going keep being your girl. But if you are an eclectic, adventurous reader, I think the Revolving Bookshelf, it narrows it down. It takes us from five subscription options down to three or six down to three. Anyway, which is just hugely helpful from a workload perspective, while at the same time I actually think offering an even better model, I think. Obviously, I'm biased. We sat in a room and brainstormed this, but I'm really excited when we talk about sad changes. There's always an element of sadness. Changes hard, like you said. But every time I talk about this, and this is how I know a change is good for the store, every time I talk about this, I feel relieved.
Erin Fielding [00:25:32] Me too. And I'm excited.
Annie Jones [00:25:35] Yes. And I feel excited. And it's been a long time. The changes you made at the beginning of this year, like the special guest authors, I was excited about that. But it's been a long time since we've made a change. Treat Yo'Shelf mostly felt like sad, but necessary. This feels like, oh no, this is fun. We can play with this. We can have a good time with this. That's how this feels.
Erin Fielding [00:25:57] I think so, too. And I'm just excited to be among the ranks of Shelf Subscription curators now.
Annie Jones [00:26:03] The curators.
Erin Fielding [00:26:06] And again one thing I will say is that if you're listening to this or if you really, truly loved your Susie/Nancy subscription and you feel like I don't know if this is going to be a good fit, then we made a page on our website which you can find easily from our Shelf Subscription page, which will be in the show notes, that you can browse Susie's favorite reads. You can also go back and listen to any of the podcast episode she's on. We try to keep a lot of the books she loves stocked. So one thing we thought was, well, let's just say this is not for you. You really still want to get a Susie/Nancy subscription. Well, if you ask someone, hey, just buy me 12 of Susie's books and we'll ship them and give them to one a month or whatever. So Susie is not going away. She's still going to be on the podcast occasionally. She still will be choosing books just less frequently, but we're really excited about it.
Annie Jones [00:26:59] And, look, I think Nancy and dad were relieved. I think it's okay to say that here. Dad wanted to free himself up to read more books. I mean, truly, he wanted to read not for subscriptions, which I understood. So he's thrilled and relieved. I think Nancy is thrilled because it really is a case of free Nancy. I think Nancy did not necessarily always read maybe books for the sensitive reader, whereas my mom typically did. So that pairing was made to eliminate a ton of work for both of them, but they naturally don't actually read the same all the time. And so anyway, I think Nancy's thrilled. Mom at first was slightly disappointed because she was like, wait. She takes her job very seriously.
Erin Fielding [00:27:41] I know she does and she loves it.
Annie Jones [00:27:43] She loves it. But this is what I reminded her. She loves coming on the podcast. That is not the case for every curator.
Erin Fielding [00:27:51] And people love it when she's on the podcast. I love it. We just love it when she's on the podcast.
Annie Jones [00:27:56] So she loves coming on the show. And I was like, you're going to still be on the podcast. And when I told her I was like Erin's created a page for you, and she was like, well, I'll email Erin once a month with my books that I read that month and then she can update it. And so I actually think Susie's page on the site will be updated pretty regularly with her picks.
Erin Fielding [00:28:17] I love that.
Annie Jones [00:28:18] Yeah. If you're a diehard Susie fan and Susie reader, we understand, we know, it's why we started that subscription option in the first place. We got enough customers asking for not as much sex, not as much violence. But now there's going to be a whole page for you on the store website. Which I think then if you're giving a gift, this is the time of year where we're thinking about gift giving. We have a lot of customers who are like, what can I safely gift my mother in law? Well, may I introduce you to the Sussie page on the website?
Erin Fielding [00:28:47] All Susie approved.
Annie Jones [00:28:48] Every one of those books you could gift your mother in law without blushing. And wouldn't that be nice? And so I do think you've put a lot of thought into, okay, who might be sad about this decision? Well, we've got a solution for you.
Erin Fielding [00:29:04] Absolutely. We won't leave you hanging.
Annie Jones [00:29:06] Shop Dad has a page. Nancy has a page. We'll link it all in the show notes. So, okay, we've made this change starting in January. You pick Annie, Olivia or Revolving Shelf Subscription. But talk to me a little bit before we say goodbye about holiday gift giving. Because certainly this is the time of year when people purchase subscriptions the most, I think, and certainly people-- I just I'm talking from floor experience. You see it online, I'm sure a lot. But in-store men come in; I need a gift for my wife. We tell him about Shelf Subscriptions, we help him narrow down what subscriptions should work for him. So can you give an overall view if this is somebody's first introduction to Shelf Subscription? My picks, Olivia picks, and then we've described the Revolving Bookshelf option and then which ones you think would make great gifts this holiday season and how to do that?
Erin Fielding [00:30:06] Yeah, absolutely. Well, they all make great gifts. I definitely think that we've been doing this long enough now, and there's enough information either on our website or on the podcast about what kind of books you might pick or what kind of books Olivia might pick. And now I think we've talked a lot about what kind of books that this Revolving Bookshelf will choose. That it would probably be like if you know someone loves the types of books, if they're an Annie fan, if they listen to the podcast, they love your recommendations your Shelf Subscription will make a great gift. Again, Olivia is well known for picking sometimes gritty thrillers, cozy mysteries, whatever comes across her desk that just makes her want to keep turning the pages. If you love those types of books, that's a great Shelf Subscription. She never disappoints. We have a lot of very loyal Olivia Shelf Subscribers as well. And, again, this revolving one is fun. If you maybe don't know the reading tastes of your recipient and you think they might enjoy a variety of different books, then I think this Revolving Bookshelf will be quite a fun surprise.
[00:31:15] Talk about surprise, they really won't know what they're getting. They'll kind of know, but they won't really know what they're getting until they get it. And so, to me, that's part of the fun of our Shelf Subscription program. It's the surprise, and it will be a lot of fun for our recipient to receive that. We have I believe downstairs and I know digitally Shelf Subscription principal and cards, like Shelf Subscription gifts. So basically if you say, yeah, I want to buy this now, but I don't want it to start until January, I can email you or we can give you in-store a card that you can fill out and present to the recipient so that they know, oh my gosh, I'm getting a Shelf Subscription for three months or 12 months or whatever it might be. And then it has our contact information on there. So no worries if they decide they need to change their address or they want to switch to a different staffer, they can just reach out to me and all that information is on the certificate. So it's a great way to give someone the gift of books without having to buy them yourself for 12 months.
Annie Jones [00:32:15] Exactly. I think a lot of people that's one of the questions we get in store. We tell them about Shelf Subscriptions and then they're like, but I need something wrapped under the tree. These gift cards are great because either Erin can send it to you if you're an online customer. If you're an in-store customer, we fill it out for you letting the recipient know, hey, you've got a three month subscription headed your way starting in January. And if you're a local, we still, of course, offer our in-store pickup option. So you can just come by the shop once a month. We've had customers make an event of it where they like bring their granddaughter and it's like a monthly ritual where they come and pick up their book every month, which I think it's super sweet to watch.
Erin Fielding [00:32:54] You get a free truffle.
Annie Jones [00:32:55] Yeah, you get a free truffle Tuesday when you come pick up your Shelf Subscription. I guess a couple other things just to note because you mentioned the surprise element. We do have customers and I love this for you readers, but we have customers who are subscribed to many subscriptions. They're subscribed to Parnassus; they're subscribed to Book of the Month and us. And for a long time, we tried desperately to keep up with like Book of the Month selections so that we could pick differently. And that went out the door a couple of years ago. We just couldn't. Book of the Month didn't release their picks early enough. It was just too hard. But what we've decided to do in the new year is that Caroline will post on Instagram letting folks know what our selections are, but it'll be hidden. And so if you follow us on Instagram, she's done this in stories before. But that way if you at the last minute kind of wanted to start like maybe you see, oh my gosh, Erin's pick. I'm so excited about it. You can buy it after it's been revealed to you or let's say-- we get a lot of folks. Well, I know you do and I do in my DMs where people are like I'm at a bookstore. I want this book. But did you pick it for your Shelf Subscription?
Erin Fielding [00:34:07] Right. That's really what I get the most questions about. It's people that they want to buy. They want to place a big order with us. They want to know like, okay, is this book an Annie subscription coming up? Or can you tell me if this is one of Olivia's choices? And so we are trying to sort of help those people out because you did a poll, right? You did a poll because we actually toyed with the idea of not keeping our Shelf Subscriptions a secret, like actually publishing it for all to see beforehand, to put them on. So people could know ahead of time what they were choosing or what they were getting. And we asked a very awesome focus group, your Patreon and you said it was like 50/50. And so that was not helpful.
Annie Jones [00:34:47] It literally was 50/50. And honestly, you're right. It was not helpful. But at the same time it was because it felt like, okay, well, there's the data. That's why we're confused as to what to do because our customers are confused as well..
Erin Fielding [00:35:00] Yes. Some of them really want to know, some of them don't. So we're hoping that by doing this, by Caroline posting about the books before they even go out-- like she's been posting about them after they've gone out, so that if people wanted to know what they were, they can see that. Now we're going to start posting about them beforehand, so stay tuned on our Instagram. Again, they'll be covered, they'll be hidden and usually you just send an emoji or a message and it'll reveal it to you. So that if you want to know, okay, let's see Olivia's pick; what's Olivia's pick for this month? Okay, I won't buy that because I know it's going to come to me. So we hope this will help the 50% of you that don't want it to be a surprise and need that information ahead of time.
Annie Jones [00:35:38] That's right. And then the rest of you can stay blissfully unaware. And that's fine, too.
Erin Fielding [00:35:42] Exactly. And I want to say this might not affect people, but we did make another change, which is we used to ship our Shelf Subscriptions on the first Tuesday of every month. That's been that way since I've been working here; probably since you started the program.
Annie Jones [00:36:02] I don't know why I picked that, but yes, it's been that way for nine years.
Erin Fielding [00:36:05] Again, we don't make changes without lots of thought. And this first Tuesday of the month shipping date has been a pain point for what feels like a year and a half now.
Annie Jones [00:36:14] Yes, consistently a problem.
Erin Fielding [00:36:17] Because what customers may not know is that we ship them out on the first Tuesday of the month, but we had to package them basically the last week of the month. And that last week of the month, for some reason is always like a Reader Retreat week or a huge holiday sales week or whatever, or we're closed for something for some reason. And it has been a pain point that actually has resulted in us for several months now having to ship books out on the second Tuesday of the month just because we're closed or whatever. So we thought, you know what, let's just go ahead and make this an actual thing, which is now you have until the first Tuesday of the month to purchase a Shelf Subscription that you will get that month. And then the second Tuesday of the month is when they will ship out. So you may notice that they come a little bit later in the month, but that hopefully will just be the constant now. And it also helps that this is a weird thing, but it helps us when we pick books.
Annie Jones [00:37:15] It helps picking. It's going to help picking so much. Already I'm like the world is my oyster now with what I get to pick. Because it was hard to pick a book that definitely released by the first Tuesday of the month.
Erin Fielding [00:37:30] So that we could get it in time to package it and send it out.
Annie Jones [00:37:34] Yes. So, this is going to be immensely helpful from a curation perspective. And then I also think the other thing is the first Tuesday of the month is often the biggest release day. And so for our, again, two person online team.
Erin Fielding [00:37:50] Two part time. Working full time right now, but usually two part time people.
Annie Jones [00:37:55] That's right. Two part time people shipping out all of the new release books and then up to 400 Shelf Subscriptions. Y'all. It's too much for one Tuesday.
Erin Fielding [00:38:06] Yeah, it will help us to have that full first week with nothing. It will help us tremendously and I know that's nitty gritty. But from our perspective, switching it to shipping to the second Tuesday of the month it's just why haven't we done this before?
Annie Jones [00:38:23] Yes. From a workflow perspective, I think we're going to watch Erin [inaudible] She's going to feel so free.
Erin Fielding [00:38:32] Thank Keila, too. Bless her heart.
Annie Jones [00:38:34] Yes. Keila, too. So these are some of the things we're doing for January 2025. If you go to our website, you can see that now you can buy an Annie subscription, an Olivia subscription, or a Revolving Bookseller subscription. I also think long term this could mean Kyndall might occasionally pick a book.
Erin Fielding [00:38:55] Absolutely. We can plug people in whenever we want to.
Annie Jones [00:38:58] That's right. I'm thrilled because it also means freedom for years from now being able to plug in staffers who might not be able to have the time commitment to pick a book every month, but they might be able to pick two a year or something like that. So I'm thrilled. So you can go online, you can shop one of those three options. Our kid’s subscriptions have not changed. We've not mentioned those today. But I still think it's a great baby gift idea. I think maybe that's what I'll do for Christmas. Anyway, so it's a great time to renew or purchase for a new baby in your life. A new young reader in your life. Because it's a gift that keeps on giving. I think it's a lovely gift because who doesn't like happy mail that's not bills? And so great time of the year to purchase. These are the options that we're super excited about. But the fact that it's a great gift giving program has not changed.
Erin Fielding [00:39:50] Yes, it's a perfect gift any time of the year, honestly. Birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day. Like you said, baby shower gift. It's a perfect way to say, here, I got you some books and they're going to come right to your house. Even if your friend lives 3000 miles away. Is America 3000 miles away?
Annie Jones [00:40:09] Absolutely.
Erin Fielding [00:40:09] I was like, wait a minute, we don't ship to Europe. So hold on.
Annie Jones [00:40:15] We know we've done a lot of information dump on you today. But you can find all of this on our store website. If you're a current subscriber, none of this is a surprise to you. We've emailed you. Erin has communicated this to you. I wrote a letter to you. And so all of this hopefully just kind of further explains the thought behind some of these changes that are upcoming. And I hope you can hear in our voices. I can see it in our faces-- y'all can't. But I can see it in our faces how happy and relieved these changes are making us. And I think it's going to make for, to some extent, perhaps a less stressful 2025, at least when it comes to Shelf Subscriptions and the Shelf Subscription program. So, Erin, thank you for taking time out of your busy shipping schedule to come on the show today.
Erin Fielding [00:40:58] We're back to the grind.
Annie Jones [00:41:02] Readers, if you are a shelf subscriber, a current shelf subscriber, we also want to just say thank you. This is one of our favorite things we do. We've talked before. I mean, we're always investigating the different programs that we offer, the different things that we offer. And we've talked like is Shelf Subscription worth keeping around? And we do think it's worth keeping around. It's such a fun offering that we get to do and then you all make it fun, too. And so if you are a current shelf subscriber or if you've been a subscriber in the past, thank you for trusting us with your monthly reading habits. And I hope that these changes excite you as much as they excite us. Yeah, we look forward to sending out your January picks very soon.
Erin Fielding [00:41:48] Yay!
Annie Jones [00:41:48] This week I'm reading Play World by Adam Ross. Erin, what are you reading?
Erin Fielding [00:41:53] This week I'm listening to Pictures of You by Emma Grey.
[00:41:54] 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
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