Friday, July 26, 2002
One of the inevitable questions is going to be, "Why are you writing this blog?" It's a good one and something I shouldn't dodge. But I'll try.
The short answer is I'm passionate about the importance of independent bookstores. The rest is the long answer.
I grew up reading books at these stores, and can directly link my love of books to experiences I had at independents. At some point in college, maybe even high school, I realized independents would always need new people to step up and contribute to their role as cultural centers for communities.
So here we are a few years later. I'm taking down my notes and observations on independent bookselling. The goal is to have a useful website that collects all the information one would need to be an excellent bookseller. I'm building it as I go through my own training as a bookseller.
My experience so far is a three month stint at Robin's Books in Philadelphia, a summer internship with Yale University Press, two years with the BookSense.com team at the American Booksellers Association, a current position with Third Place Books in Washington state, and my larger project with AnthemBooks.com.
Why Anthem Books?
AnthemBooks.com is a call out to find others who are either great booksellers or training to become great...to find readers who believe in independent bookstores...to find everyone connected to books that would like to see independents return to the lead in bookselling. AnthemBooks.com is a love letter to the book industry from a young bookseller. It's a rock anthem song to energize us and our work, to remind us why we do this and why it's important. AnthemBooks.com is young, idealistic, possibly error-prone, and definitely overcaffeinated. Though we're trying to cut down and switch to more fruit juice.
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The short answer is I'm passionate about the importance of independent bookstores. The rest is the long answer.
I grew up reading books at these stores, and can directly link my love of books to experiences I had at independents. At some point in college, maybe even high school, I realized independents would always need new people to step up and contribute to their role as cultural centers for communities.
So here we are a few years later. I'm taking down my notes and observations on independent bookselling. The goal is to have a useful website that collects all the information one would need to be an excellent bookseller. I'm building it as I go through my own training as a bookseller.
My experience so far is a three month stint at Robin's Books in Philadelphia, a summer internship with Yale University Press, two years with the BookSense.com team at the American Booksellers Association, a current position with Third Place Books in Washington state, and my larger project with AnthemBooks.com.
Why Anthem Books?
AnthemBooks.com is a call out to find others who are either great booksellers or training to become great...to find readers who believe in independent bookstores...to find everyone connected to books that would like to see independents return to the lead in bookselling. AnthemBooks.com is a love letter to the book industry from a young bookseller. It's a rock anthem song to energize us and our work, to remind us why we do this and why it's important. AnthemBooks.com is young, idealistic, possibly error-prone, and definitely overcaffeinated. Though we're trying to cut down and switch to more fruit juice.
