Interview With Bethany Beach Books

Photo courtesy of Bethany Beach Books

Bethany Beach Books is the 9th stop on my Independent Book Store tour. In an effort to bring awareness of how vital these places are, I’m interviewing the great folks who manage them.

Bethany Beach Books is an independently owned bookstore, located only a few steps off the boardwalk in Bethany Beach, Delaware. The store was established in 1991 and has been independently owned since the day it opened. They are open every day at 10:00 am, year round!

The moment you a peek through the window, a vast cheerful room entices you to enter. Once you enter, a host of books for readers of all ages and genres, invites you to open your mind, channel your inner bookworm and dig in!

FYI: In addition to the regular staff, high-profile characters have been known to make appearances at the store. I have it on good authority (with pictures to prove it) that The Cat In The Hat, The Grinch and Pete the Cat have all turned up for different events over the years.

Amanda, the manager of Bethany Beach Books, was kind enough to answer a few questions about the store and the value it adds to her community of readers. 

Hello, Amanda, welcome to Angel Kiss Publications. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

Thank you for having me.

What motivated you to open (or work at) an Independent Book Store?

The store opened in 1991 so I was only a year old and can’t speak for the motivation for opening the store, although I assume the reason was something very warm and fuzz.

I decided to apply for a job at Bethany Beach Books when I was in high school because I have always been a bookworm. I thought, what better place to work than an independent bookstore?

I’ve been at the store for 13 years now and can’t imagine being anywhere else. Bookstores are super special places, especially independent bookstores!

Can you tell us a little about Bethany Beach Books?

Bethany Beach Books opened in 1991 and is Bethany Beach’s only independent bookstore. We are located just steps from the sandy beach and boardwalk of Bethany Beach – we can hear the ocean in our store most days when we prop the door open.

We’re a smaller bookstore (about 2,000 square feet) but pride ourselves on having a really great selection of everything from new releases and bestsellers, adult fiction & non-fiction to middle grade, young adult, and children’s books.

Since we are at the beach, our business is very seasonal, so the summer months are crazy and full of excitement while the winter months are a bit more cozy and quiet; it’s a great balance.

Photo courtesy of Bethany Beach Books

What’s involved with running an independent bookstore?

Shew, where to start?! When I tell people I work at a bookstore most of the time they assume I read all day… which would be lovely but is far from the truth!

Like most small businesses, we have a smaller staff who do a great job wearing multiple hats. Besides the normal, boring tasks all businesses must tackle like bills, HR, paperwork, etc., we get to do some really fun things, too.

Our event coordinator, Zandria Senft, plans a ton of really epic author events for us, we have super fun story times for children during the summer, we get to make book displays, and recommend books to readers.

My favorite part of my job is ordering all of the new books, you get to see what is coming out in the months ahead and curate the store’s selection of titles.

I also love being able to recommend my favorite reads to customers, the best part is when they return to the store and insist you give them more suggestions because they loved your recommendation so much!

Is competition with online retailers difficult?

We are very lucky to be located at the beach where vacationers want and need books all the time so fortunately, we don’t have to compete with online retailers quite as much as other independent bookstores we are familiar with.

It is still difficult, though, when customers come into the store and expect us to price-match what Amazon is selling the book for… which obviously we can’t do if we want to stay in business.

The worst is when a customer comes in, asks for a bunch of recommendations, takes pictures of our books, doesn’t buy anything, and goes home and buys the books online. Eek!

Like many small businesses today, we all have to compete with the big box and online stores. We accomplish that by providing great customer service, being involved and immersed in our community, and hosting really great events… things our online competitors can’t do.

Photo courtesy of Bethany Beach Books

What makes your store unique?

Our location definitely makes us unique! As with any bookstore, I think our selection of books also makes us unique. We try to have the big bestsellers while also keeping deep backlist and hidden gems on our shelves for readers to find.

What are your biggest sellers?

Our biggest sellers for genres: fiction, “book-club” fiction, children’s picture books.
Specific titles from last year: Where the Crawdads Sing, Summer of ’69, the Dog Man series.

Photo courtesy of Bethany Beach Books

Do you have promotions throughout the year?

We do a big promotion every year for Small Business Saturday (the day after Black Friday). We also always discount the hardcover New York Times bestsellers and any pre-orders on our website.

Do you have author book signings?

We do! Our event coordinator, Zandria Senft, does an epic job planning fantastic events for us!

We host author book signings throughout the summer months, concentrating on mid-June to mid-August, when all of our vacationers are here in Bethany.

Zandria works throughout the year planning great events and is already planning our 2020 Summer Author series now.

Photo courtesy of Bethany Beach Books

What advice would you give to authors just starting out?

My advice for authors just starting out is to do your best to get in with a great publisher (easier said than done, I know).

Cover design is huge! I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover but everyone does.

Never give up. Your first book may not have the impact you hoped for or may not be as well received but don’t stop writing. Even if you’re not writing for publication anymore, keep writing for yourself.

Photo courtesy of Bethany Beach Books

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about you and your store?

If you can’t come visit us in Bethany Beach, please do visit us online! We always have a lot of books available to pre-order, most of them are signed first-editions that come with swag (yay!).

We also have a subscription box, The Book Drop, where we send our favorite hidden gem reads once a month.

We know not everyone is fortunate enough to have an independent bookstore close to them so we are bringing the independent bookstore to you.
www.BethanyBeachBooks.com

www.TheBookDrop.com

What are some of your favorite books/authors?

Ohhhh, this is so hard. This is equivalent to what I imagine asking a parent which is their favorite child… actually, this question might be harder (just kidding, kind of!).

I absolutely loved Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, I read it a few months before publication and instantly fell in love.

Something a little less in the spotlight right now that I have loved and always recommend to someone looking for something incredibly beautiful but heart-wrenching as well is A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. Ugh, so beautiful.

Another one of my all-time favorites is The Heart of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker. Something coming out this spring that I read a few months ago and CANNOT wait to be published in May is Alex George’s The Paris Hours.

Whoever is reading this right now, go pre-order your copy now from your favorite independent bookstore because I loved, loved, loved this book. I’m also a huge Harry Potter nerd. #Hufflepuff

If you could have a writer’s group with authors from any time period, who would you invite?

Oh what a great question! I’d definitely invite Chuck Palahniuk because I love his work and wow, what must go on in that creative mind of his!

J.K. Rowling for sure. Paulo Coelho, Jewell Parker Rhodes (I heard her speak once, she’s amazing), Sharon Creech (she was my favorite author growing up!), Neil Gaiman, and Jason Reynolds.

Do you have a website/Facebook page, etc?

We do! Bethany Beach Books can be found on Facebook (Bethany Beach Books), Twitter (@BethanyBooks), Instagram (@BethanyBeachBooks), and online at www.BethanyBeachBooks.com

Our subscription box is The Book Drop, more information can be found at www.TheBookDrop.com

If anyone wants to keep tabs on my beloved one-eyed cat named Winks or to see what I’m reading, I can be found on Instagram at @az.andthe.atlas

Thank you, Amanda, for spending time with us and sharing your story. We wish you and Bethany Beach Books continued success and lost of luck!

Photo courtesy of Bethany Beach Books

Interview With The Old Bookshop Of Bordentown

The Old BookShop Of Bordentown is the 8th stop on my Independent Book Store tour. In an effort to bring awareness of how vital these places are, I’m interviewing the great folks who manage them.

Located in historic Bordentown City in central New Jersey, The Old Bookshop of Bordentown are purveyors of out of print and antiquarian books. They have titles that cater to history buffs, sports and erotica fans, aspiring thespians, gardeners and religious folk.

But wait, there’s more!

Their inventory also includes fantasy titles like Eragon, George R. R. Martin’s epic saga Game of Thrones as well as Manga, mysteries, an expanding entertainment section and a children’s room. It’s bookworm heaven!

Don’t worry if your book budget is limited, the Old Bookshop has many discounted titles, some as low as a $1.00. (FYI: if you check out their Facebook page you may find even more savings.)

Their doors are open Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from  12:00 pm  to 4:00 pm.

Doug, the owner of The Old Bookshop Of Bordentown, was kind enough to answer a few questions about his store and the value it adds to his community of readers. 

Hi, Doug, welcome to Angel Kiss Publications. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

Thank you for having me.

What motivated you to open (or work at) an Independent Book Store?

I’ve been a book collector since I was about 14 years old. After spending a career on Wall Street and with a large amount of books, many in storage, I began to consign material to a cooperative shop in the late 1990s.

Once I got fed up with commuting to New York City from the Princeton, NJ area and decided I’d rather watch my two little sons grow up, we opened a shop in Freehold, NJ.

The bookselling trade is rewarding in ways other than financial (it’s not particularly remunerative).

I like to think, however, that we’re providing a valuable service–books give people pleasure, knowledge, sometimes comfort, and help to expand horizons.

Can you tell us a little about Old Bookshop Of Bordentown?

The Old Book Shop of Bordentown is a general used and out-of-print bookstore with vintage and rare editions as well. Most of the stock on our shelves is priced under $10 (though we also carry material that runs into the thousands of dollars).

We sub-specialize in New Jersey books (naturally) and have the largest section of New Jersey titles in the state. We carry general history, American history (American Revolution, Civil War and WWII), fiction and literature (geared more toward the classic authors like Austen, Hemingway, Virgina Woolf, Tolkein, etc).

We also have sections on art, architecture, music, theater, movie and TV, cooking, antiques, etc.

There are some 10,000 books on our open shelves and we also have an online inventory of some 9,000 titles.

What’s involved with running an independent bookstore?

Nowadays a small independent operating in a brick-and mortar open location has to be in a place where the cost of location operation is low enough to stay in business. This is very difficult in New Jersey.

In order to pay the rent, one usually gives up any significant walking traffic. For example, if I were in Princeton where there is a large walking population during the days and evening, my rent would be 5 to 10 times what it is here—and I’d be out of business within 90 days.

Acquisition of inventory is also a critical issue—what do you carry and from where do you get it?

We don’t buy inventory directly from publishers or from overstock houses (except for a few very local history titles). We can’t compete with Barnes and Noble in terms of prices or customer volume on that material.

We buy from individuals (people who are moving, down-sizing), estates, historical societies or libraries who are deaccessioning material, etc. One big advantage to having an open shop is that you get buying opportunities that you would not otherwise.

As with any such business, it’s always a bit of a guessing game — hopefully what we buy will interest our customers. Sometimes it is and sometimes we have things in inventory for years.

Is competition with online retailers difficult?

Competition with other online retailers is always an issue. Certain ones, Amazon particularly but eBay as well, are a headlong dive to the bottom of the barrel. Anyone with a cardboard box of books in their garage and a computer can be a “bookseller”.

That hugely increases supply and buyers on these sites usually are looking for the cheapest possible item—and they’re often disappointed with the actual item when it arrives (or so a number of customers have always told me). They are the world’s low-end yard sales.

How do small bookstores compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble?

All that having been said, you have to deal with the devil. We sell on Amazon and it in fact makes up a significant percentage of our monthly revenues. We get a greater number of orders through them than through any other sales channel, but the orders are also almost always for lower priced items—and there is absolutely zero customer loyalty as they are hysterical about keeping sellers and buyers from communicating directly.

Barnes & Noble is not a competitive factor for us as we don’t deal in new books. We’re signed up as vendors for out of print stuff with them but rarely get an order.

Barnes & Noble is not a competitive factor for us as we don’t deal in new books. We’re signed up as vendors for out of print stuff with them but rarely get an order.

What makes your store unique?

We try to offer a bit of everything so that folks who come in can hopefully find things they didn’t know they wanted when they came in.

We also have a whole room full of books for children and young adults—everything from baby picture books to Nancy Drew, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and even more mature titles for teens.

I feel strongly about getting books into the hands of children at an early age—that’s what my mom did with me and my sister when we were little. 

What are your biggest sellers?

Our single biggest seller over the years since we’ve been here has been the Harry Potter series. We sell the hardcovers for around $7 and the paperbacks for around $3.

J. K. Rowling has, in my opinion, done more to advance literacy than anyone else in the last half-century.

We sell lots of New Jersey books—Pine Barrens and Jersey Devil stuff is popular given our geographic location. American history is a good seller as well.

In terms of adult fiction and literature, our steady sellers have been Jane Austen, Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, J. R. R. Tolkien and more recently Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin and Chuck Palahniuk.

There’s always a run on books with current TV and movie tie-ins like Game of Thrones.

Do you have promotions throughout the year?

Not really. We coordinate more with the big events here in Bordentown: the Cranberry Festival in October, the Holiday Chocolate Walk and the Valentine’s Day Chocolate Walk. Those events provide us with a ready-made crowd.

Do you have author book signings?

We’re too small to do it effectively. The only exception is for local authors that put out local history books or general interest things—we have two local authors who have published children’s books and we’ve had signings with them. We schedule those sessions during the bigger two events as mentioned above so they get good exposure.

What advice would you give to authors just starting out?

Don’t give up your day jobs.

The current publishing environment is extremely competitive as writers have many more venues than just traditional hard-copy publishers.

Yes, it’s easier to get your stuff out there via the innumerable online venues but it’s incredibly difficult to actually get eyeballs on your work.

And if you want to get an authentic following, don’t write books about growing up, issues with your parents/siblings/spouses, or your views on the cosmos, or poetry.

Write something that may be unique, write local history, develop and write children’s book characters.  In terms of fiction, try young adult and have a plan for books two, three and more in case you catch lightning in a bottle. Then you might have a shot.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about you and your store?

The same thing I say to consumers about all small local businesses: “Use ‘em or lose ‘em”.

We welcome everyone to come in and browse, poke around the shelves, try something new or just pick up a copy of an old friend. Just picking up a $2 or $3 paperback or hardcover helps pay the rent and keep us open.

Want to read The Great Gatsby (another of our most steady sellers)? Try finding a paperback copy at B&N for less than $15. We sell them for $3 or $4.

What are some of your favorite books/authors?

I enjoy historical mysteries set in the Middle Ages, the Victorian Era, and the colonial period, so we usually have a good selection of those.

I’ve also been a Sherlock Holmes fan since I was a teenager, so we have a nice selection of that material.

My favorite 20th century American author is John Steinbeck (I think The Grapes of Wrath was the greatest 20th c. American novel) so we have lots of his books.

Do you have a website/Facebook page, etc?

Our website is oldbookshopofbordentown.com and on Facebook find us as Old Book Shop of Bordentown.

Thank you, Doug, for spending time with us and sharing your story. We wish you and the Old Bookshop of Bordentown continued success and lots of luck!

Interview With Bindlestick Books

Bindlestiff Books is the 6th stop on my Independent Book Store tour. In an effort to bring awareness of how vital these places are, I’m interviewing the great folks who manage them.

Founded in December 2005, Bindlestiff Books, is a volunteer-run neighborhood bookstore in West Philadelphia. They fill their shelves with carefully selected children’s books, literary fiction, graphic novels, art, cookbooks, history, labor studies, politics, and much more.

Housed in a pleasant blue building from 1925, their store front window is appealing and redolent of the early 20th century.

Another notable feature that adds to the store’s bygone charm is a Books and Buildings mural by local artist, Jonny Buss. Outlined in a turquoise frame, the warm and cool colors within commingle a friendly and bookish community.

As an all-volunteer enterprise, Bindlestiff Books’ hours can be unpredictable, but they are available Tuesdays (3:30—7:00), Thursdays (Noon—3:30), Saturdays (Noon—7) and Sundays (Noon—5). 

You can also contact them at 4530 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19143; Phone number: 215.662.5780; Email: bindlestiff.bookstore@gmail.com to see if they’re available at other times.

Jon Bekken, one of the store’s representatives, took some time to talk a little about Bindlestiff Books and its fundamental contributions to the community.

Hello, Jon, welcome to Angel Kiss Publications. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

Thank you for having me.

What motivated you to open an Independent Book Store?

We like books, we had a building, and the neighborhood needed a bookstore. There were book stores (new and used) catering to the universities, but nothing serving long-time West Philadelphians.

Can you tell us a little about Bindlestiff Books?

We’re a volunteer-run bookstore, aimed at serving people who walk or bike around the neighborhood.

We carry a fairly wide selection of new books (many of which are discounted); our strongest sections are children’s books, literary fiction and science fiction, politics and history, but we also have Spanish-language and bilingual children’s books, graphic novels, art, African-American, labor, education and gender studies.

We deliberately choose all our books; we don’t have space to carry everything, so we think about what we like and what we think our friends and neighbors would like.

What’s involved with running an independent book store?

It’s mostly about the books, of course. Following new releases, talking to people about what they’re reading, reading the reviews, etc.

But that’s the fun part; the challenge is keeping the store open (recruiting volunteers, organizing the space, managing the finances).

Is competition with online retailers difficult?

They have been able to use their market power to demand special terms from publishers, and so sometimes we can sell books for less than the wholesale price.

But now that happens only for a handful of titles; investors tired of losing millions of dollars every year to establish a monopoly position.

Many people want to hold a book in their hands, to read a few pages, to get a sense of whether it’s the right book for them before buying it. And we’re here for them.

How do small book stores compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble?

By curating the books, helping people winnow through the tens of thousands of books published each year to find things worth reading.

And of course some folks are on their way to a birthday party or heading out on a trip and need a good book right now.

It’s not clear that B&N will still be here in ten years. They’ve been closing stores across the country and lost tens of millions on their efforts to go digital. They just got bought by an investment firm that is placing a former independent bookseller in charge.

But he’s also running a smaller book chain they own in Great Britain and claims his approach is basically to let managers run stores as if they were independents.

But the whole point of the chains (and of Amazon) was merchandising–targeted promotions, rapid turn-over, books as a disposable product.

I’m not sure how you meld monopolization and merchandising with what people love about bookstores.

What makes your store unique?

We reflect the neighborhood, bridging the community that was here before the developers tried to rebrand our neighborhood and the folks who have been moving in in recent years.

Our volunteers are people who love books, and our selection is as eclectic as they are.

What are your biggest sellers?

We sell a lot of children’s books, a lot of fiction, a lot of books on politics and current events. But we don’t carry lots of copies of any particular title.

We post a best-seller list to our website each month, and a book can often make the list selling 3 or 4 copies. Rather than focus on a few titles, we try to have a broad selection of outstanding books in the areas we stock.

Do you have promotions throughout the year?

We do occasional Giant Book Sales on overstocked titles and sell select new books for $1.00 during the Dollar Strolls down Baltimore Avenue.

Do you have author book signings?

We’ve cut back on events, and now only organize readings when we can partner with someone or have a very clear picture in our mind of who will turn out.

If we’re doing an event with an author, we try to put together something that stands out–the author of a history of Philadelphia transit workers at the Transit Workers Union hall; a book on the clipper ships and the magnates who ran the trans-Pacific trade at a Victorian mansion that’s been converted to a B&B.

What advice would you give to authors just starting out?

The writing is the most important thing, but once you have your book think about how you want to publish it.

Today anyone can print a few hundred copies of something that looks kind of like a book, the challenge is to connect your book with readers.

Look for publishers who have done a good job with similar books, or talk to authors in your area to find out what’s worked for them.

What are some of your favorite books/authors?

Ursula Le Guin is my favorite author, and The Dispossessed my favorite novel.

We try to carry all her books–and also everything by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Roxanne Gay, Haruki Murakami, Kobi Yamada, and a few others.

Do you have a website/Facebook page, etc?

https://bindlestiffbooks.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/bindlestiffbooks/

Thank you, Jon, for spending time with us and sharing your story. We wish you and Bindlestiff Books continued success and lots of luck!

Interview With Neighborhood Books Owner

Neighborhood Books is the 7th stop on my Independent Book Store tour. In an effort to bring awareness of how vital these places are, I’m interviewing the great folks who manage them.

Founded in 2013, Neighborhood Books is an independently owned secondhand bookstore at 1906 South Street, Philadelphia, PA.

The owner, Curtis Kise, a witty and well-read bibliophile, has spent 25 years in the used book trade. He began his career in the early 2000s when he opened Book Traders in Portland, Maine.

At heart, Kise is fond of traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores and believes they still have value for the community. However, if pressed, he’ll ruefully admit that in 15 years or so, people may refer to a bookshop as an antique store.

Neighborhood Books is open seven days a week from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Now that I’ve introduced you to Curtis, let’s get to know more about him and Neighborhood Books.

Hello, Curtis, welcome to Angel Kiss Publications. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

Thank you for having me.

What motivated you to open an Independent Book Store?

I’ve been in the used book business since 1988, starting at the Book Trader when it was at 5th and South Streets, with 7 years off for good behavior, optioning a screenplay in 1995.


Neighborhood Books is the second used bookshop that I’ve owned, my first being Booktraders in Portland, Maine, which opened in 2002.


Then back to the Book Trader, and stints with the Friends of the Free Library and Ukazoo Books, before opening Neighborhood Books in 2013.

Photo courtesy of: Neighborhood Books via Facebook


Can you tell us a little about Neighborhood Books?

Neighborhood Books is primarily a used bookstore focusing on the humanities, with a large selection of literature/fiction, philosophy and history, among other subject matters.


We do sell select brand new books, a cross section of current bestsellers and classic titles like 1984, One Hundred Years of Solitude, the Handmaid’s Tale to name a few.


We also sell our author and title inspired t-shirts along with some ephemera at authorshirts.com

Photo courtesy of: Neighborhood Books

What’s involved with running an independent bookstore?


Dedication, knowledge and experience.

Is competition with online retailers difficult?

Yes and no. We do sell some books online, subjects that we don’t sell in store.

How do small book stores compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble?

The online platform that we use is Amazon. A used bookstore like ours has to have new bookstores like Barnes and Noble to replenish the herd, as it were, they don’t scare us.

What makes your store unique?

The personality of the owner and the store’s clientele.

What are your biggest sellers?

Literature/fiction – all genres except romance.



Do you have promotions throughout the year?

Right now we have a store-wide buy 3 books and get a 4th free which may become a permanent thing.


Do you have author book signings?

No. 


What advice would you give to authors just starting out?

Write every day.


Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about you and your store?

We are open 359 days a year, closed major holidays.



What are some of your favorite books/authors?

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr was one of the best reading experiences of my life. I really like Richard Russo and Joan Didion. 

Do you have a website/Facebook page, etc?


We are on Facebook as Neighborhood Books, and Instagram as @NeighborhoodBooks and our above mentioned website authorshirts.com.

Thank you, Curtis, for spending time with us and sharing your story. We wish you and Neighborhood Books continued success and lots of luck!

Interview With A Novel Idea Book Store Owners

A Novel Idea is the 5th stop on my Independent Book Store tour. In an effort to bring awareness of how vital these places are, I’m interviewing the great folks who manage them.

Established in 2018, A Novel Idea, is a community-minded bookstore and event space in the Passyunk section of Philadelphia, PA. Everything from paperbacks to board games to candles can be found on the floors of this eclectic book haven.

The owners, Alexander Schneider and Christina Rosso-Schneider, are friendly, knowledgeable, and ready to help you find your way through their labyrinth of books and other specialty merchandise.

As they seek to represent their community, the couple welcomes suggestions from everyone who visits the store. They want their shelves to reflect the interests of all their patrons.

An author in her own right, Christina, also wants the bookstore to be a hub where local authors, artisans and readers can connect. Each month, the shop offers a calendar of diverse and innovative events that is sure to please a variety of interests.

The store is open from 11am to 7pm Wednesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm on Sundays and 3pm to 7pm Tuesdays.

Now that I’ve introduced you to Alex and Christina, let’s get to know a little more about them and A Novel Idea.

Hello, Alex and Christina, welcome to Angel Kiss Publications. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

Thank you for having us.

What motivated you to open an Independent Book Store?

The idea for the bookstore grew out of frustration of where we both were with our jobs.


Christina was an adjunct writing professor at three universities in the Greater Philadelphia area, and Alex was working as a freelance graphic designer and Twitch affiliate.


We felt underappreciated, underpaid, and exhausted. We also were fighting to get time together!

One night Alexander suggested we open a bookstore in jest, and the more we thought about it, the more we realized it could be a great opportunity to do something together and give our neighborhood a type of retail it’s been missing.

Christina always dreamed of owning and working in a bookstore, and we thought it was the perfect way to blend our passions and talents.

Photo courtesy of: Alex and Christina Schneider

Can you tell us a little about A Novel Idea?

A Novel Idea is a community-minded bookstore and event space with a focus on local authors and artisans. We host several events weekly, from open mics to author readings to book clubs and story times. We even have workshops.


Our focus is local, so we have a large section featuring books published in Philadelphia or written by Philadelphia-based writers. We have artwork on the walls by local artists and carry handmade goods by local artists. (Author request form.)

What’s involved with running an independent book store?

Long hours and a ton of reading! Right now, the two of us are the only employees at A Novel Idea. We’re open six days a week, with events sometimes as often as every night!

So we both put it over 40 hours a week physically at the shop, greeting customers, stocking the shelves, ordering inventory, social media, booking, managing, and running events, etc.

Alex also does all of our branding for the store, so often when he’s not at the shop, he’s working on a graphic for an upcoming event or workshop.

We also have to keep up to date with soon to be released titles or upcoming adaptations of books. Together we read about a dozen books a month so we are as up to date as possible.

Photo courtesy of: A Novel Idea

Is competition with online retailers difficult?

We don’t consider it to be a competition because we know we can never compete with online retailers. We are offering a different experience, one of one-on-one attention and book suggestions.

We take dozens of special orders each week, which luckily we’re able to fulfill pretty quickly (anywhere from a few days to a week usually). We have many customers who say, “I want to support a local business,” and are okay with waiting a few days to get the title they’re looking for.

How do small book stores compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble?

People are getting nostalgic for spaces where you can actually talk to people and physically touch books. Because, sure you could do that at Barnes and Noble and there’s nothing wrong with Barnes and Noble, but that’s not a personal feel.

And then there’s Amazon, of course. We think people are starting to say, “I’m tired of always being on my phone and always having a screen in front of me and not actually interacting with people.”

And since it’s literally just the two of us working the store people will get to know us and what our backgrounds are and what our interests are. Then, we hope, through that, we’ll learn about their backgrounds and their interests, too.

What makes your store unique?

Our focus on local definitely makes us stand out. There aren’t a lot of bookstores that carry small press or local authors, especially with a large section dedicated specifically to them.

Our events also make us unique. In the first year, we will have hosted over 200 events.

We primarily host author events, but we also have two monthly book clubs, a monthly open mic, witchcraft workshops, writing workshops, a monthly tarot salon, toddler story time, live music events, and even theatre performances.

We are constantly trying to think of new events to host at the space to continue to support and connect with the community.

What are your biggest sellers?

Our best-selling novel is The Vampire Gideon’s Suicide Hotline and Halfway House for Orphaned Girls by Andrew Katz (published by local press Lanternfish).

Our second most popular book is The Power by Naomi Alderman.

Do you have promotions throughout the year?

Yes, we periodically have various promotions, usually tied to a holiday or festival in the area.

Do you have author book signings?

We do! As mentioned above, we have author events pretty much every week. We primarily feature local authors.

What advice would you give to authors just starting out?

To get to know your local independent bookstores and literary community. It’s the best way to make connections and to get your work out there.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about you and your store?

More than anything, our goal is to cultivate community. This means we want to meet you! We want to get to know who your favorite authors are and what kind of events you want to see at A Novel Idea.

What are some of your favorite books/authors?

Christina’s favorite book is The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

Alex’s favorite book is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

Do you have a website/Facebook page, etc?

Yes! Our website is: https://anovelideaphilly.com/. Our Facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/anovelideaphilly/. Our Instagram is: https://www.instagram.com/anovelideaphilly/. Our Twitter is: https://twitter.com/anovelideaphl.



Thank you, Alex and Christina, for spending time with us and sharing your story. We wish you and A Novel Idea continued success and lots of luck!

Photo courtesy of: A Novel Idea

Interview With Book Store Owner Joseph Russakoff

Mostly Books is the 4th stop on my Independent Book Store tour. In an effort to bring awareness of how vital these places are, I’m interviewing the great folks who manage them.

In the technological age when large retailers encourage buying brand new products, usable items are readily abandoned and lost to us.

From cars to phones to diet trends, the shelf life of merchandise gets shorter each year due to upgrades and other attention seeking advertisements. Books are no exception; millions of new books replace short-lived titles each year.

It’s reassuring that some people recognize the value of information and insight  wrapped up in the covers of used books. How can we understand where we are if we don’t consider what our predecessors wisely wrote for prosperity?

It’s important to look to the future but we mustn’t overlook the cumulative lessons of those who came before us.

Mostly Books, owned and operated by Joseph Russakoff, is an independent bookstore in Philadelphia, PA that respects the treasure trove of old stories and non-fiction books many people still circle back to.

Located in a series of 19th century workshops, they sell 50,000+ used books, dvds, cds, lps. They also swap books!

Now that I’ve told a little about Mostly Books, let’s get to know the owner a little better.

Hello, Joseph, welcome to Angel Kiss Publications. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

Thank you for having me.

What prompted you to open an Independent Book Store?

Social anxiety about working in an office setting, also political considerations. I was expecting by this time we would all be living in communes making solar collectors to barter for tofu.

Things didn’t turn out that way. The next best thing was to open a used bookstore.

Can you tell us a little about Mostly Books?

It has a lot of books; a mixture of thousands of people’s treasured books that they don’t have room for anymore. People often comment that they can feel the spirits of the former owners.

What’s involved with running an independent book store?

The main thing is being able to tell the difference between boring books and interesting books. I realized early on it’s a talent that most people don’t have. The other thing is learning to endure sometimes long periods of deep poverty.

Is competition with online retailers difficult?

They have their lane and I have mine. 

What makes your store unique?

It is pretty much the way everything was, not just bookstores, before the age of the internet. You go through and look for yourself.

More people than you find the helpful hints from Amazon and Facebook intrusive. We won’t make any suggestions unless you ask. And even then we probably won’t.

What are your biggest sellers?

Spooky stuff. Ethnic stuff. Pop culture. 

Do you have promotions throughout the year?

No. We’re a bookstore, not a social club.

Do you have author book signings?

Not in years.


What advice would you give to authors just starting out?

Don’t be corny.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about you and your store?

You have to like browsing through books to understand the store. You will be confused if you come with a list of ISBN numbers and expect for me to look them up on a computer.


That’s another thing, our inventory isn’t computerized. You come and look, and find a lot of stuff if you have a curious mind.

What are some of your favorite books/authors?

At this point in my life I am too scatterbrained to focus on one author, although I do like history.

Do you have a website/Facebook page, etc?

https://www.facebook.com/mostlybooksphilly/   

Thank you, Joseph, for taking the time to share your story with us. We wish you and Mostly Books continued success and lots of luck!

Independent Book Stores

As an author I love books. I love cracking open a fresh cover and hearing the stiff crinkle as it’s unfurled for the first time.

There’s something special about being the initial one to open a brand new book. It’s as if the words inside are old friends welcoming you, keen to tell a tale written with you in mind.

Over the years, I’ve purchased books for my Kindle and my Nook but I never seem contented with the purchase. E-commerce transactions are convenient for our fast-paced lifestyles.

That handy-dandy click to purchase button has turned into the norm but, for me, the experience comes up short. It lacks the personal touch of chatting with an Independent Bookseller who cares for books as much as I do.

I enjoy entering a place where books are the mainstay and the atmosphere is awash with the joy of bibliophiles as they peruse the shelves. I also like being surrounded by many shelves chock full of books that cater to every niche. You can’t get that with an online merchant.

Because I value the contributions of Independent Books stores, I’ve started interviewing the people who manage them. It’s important for us to recognize that small business owners are people who recognize their patrons and cater to their different needs. 

Independent Bookstores are an integral part of a community and we can’t let them disappear into obscurity. We must prevent their being overwhelmed by a single impersonal conglomerate that rakes in millions of dollars every year without paying their fair share to neighborhood economies.

Since small business proprietors are established in local communities, they care about the people they serve and often donate to support youth groups and other charitable causes.

For more on why Independent Book Stores Matter click the articles below.

Writer’s Digest

Buzz Feed

Odyssey