A Look at an Indie Bookstore - What Writers Can Learn by Kathy Halsey and Patricia Toht

Take a peek with me and GROGger Patty Toht into indie bookstore life. Patty is a former bookstore owner, children's author, and now a librarian. I began my career as a teacher, transitioned to being a school librarian, and now work part-time at an indie bookstore. Welcome to indie life, a whole different world than big box stores and Amazon.

Bookstore owner Melia Wolf of Cover to Cover Books for Young Readers & me

Never Never Land, Patty's children’s bookstore in the suburbs of Chicago

Peek-a-Boo

Open the door to Cover to Cover Books for Young Readers on any given day. and books lovers will find the owner and staff busy with a myriad of tasks. In one week, the store hosted middle grade author Alan Gratz, David Shannon, book talked middle grade fiction to a small group of parents, former teachers, and grandparents and that was just three days of a typical week. 

As Patty explains, there are so many tasks that the independent owner takes on that are sourced out to others in national operations. A funny misconception Paty had was that, as a bookseller, she would have loads of time to read books! As the owner/operator, her days were packed with a huge variety of tasks, from ordering and stocking to helping customers to scheduling employees and paying bills. All of her reading was done at night.

 Indie Bookstore 411

Your local indie may not have the inventory of a big box store, the money to hire publicists, accountants, or a huge sales force. However, you local independent bookstore will have these unique qualities that can't be duplicated elsewhere.

• Booksellers who are book aficionados and genre experts who can find you just the right book. For example, my indie, Cover to Cover in Upper Arlington Ohio has booksellers who are former teachers, librarians, and gamers. We know the newest picture books, YA authors personally, science fiction and fantasy for all ages.
• Indies develop a relationship with you, know your tastes, offer discounts for frequent customers, and treat you like a friend. Relationships with customers matters to them.
• Programs that support that local community and the schools such as local/national author visits, book clubs, a third space with is safe, writer workshops, and professional development for preservice teachers. This Thursday, Cover to Cover will host best-selling YA author Edith Pattou at theUpper Arlington Main library from 6-8 PM. 
  

 How Books Are Bought

At Cover to Cover in Columbus, Ohio, book sellers are always updating their orders on what books to buy. Staff members can recommend books, discuss them with the owner, and a decision is made. Staff knows that if we recommend a book, we need to be able to hand sell it. Here's another audience, children's workers may think about as they write. 

Patty shares other ways that bookstores acquire titles. (Cover to Cover also uses these three primary ways to get stock.)

• "Sometimes I met directly with a publisher’s representative.  We would flip through the catalogue and discuss the titles. Often the rep had F&Gs of picture books and ARCs of novels so I could actually see what the interiors looked like and read jacket copy. We would also discuss any marketing plans for the books, as well as book displays and special deals.

• If the publisher didn’t have a rep to call on my tiny bookstore, I thumbed through catalogues and read the descriptions of the titles. I usually began by ordering books from tried-and-true authors or illustrators and then moved onto books that seemed to be a good fit for our clientele.

• I also worked with two distributors, Ingram and Baker & Taylor. These companies  carried books from most publishers (kind of like an Amazon for booksellers). These companies were great for smaller restocks of top sellers and for filling special orders. But their discount wasn’t as good as ordering directly from publishers."

Check out all this fabulous children's nonfiction at Cover to Cover Books for Young Readers!

The  Best Way to  Promote Your Books

Before I began working at Cover to Cover, I frequented the store, driving across town to support my independent bookseller. I bought books, attended author signings, and introduced myself to owner Melia as an avid reader and writer. Its important to connect authentically and early in your writing career to really establish a good working relationship. (I'm pre-published, but I'm a big fan of Cover to Cover.)

Author Patty offers this advice for authors.

• "Stop by! Ask if the bookstore carries your book. If they don’t, show them a copy so they can read it. Let bookstore owners get to know you, love you, and love your work.

• Refer your local friends to your indie. Remind them that, at an indie, you get to hold and read actual books rather than ordering by a description. Indie sellers know what books their customers love and are very adept at putting the right book into the right hands.

• Sign stock! Customers like giving signed books as gifts.

• Have a launch party or other event! It’s fun to have special occasions to celebrate with customers." 

 I'll be recommending Patty's rhyming picture book, Pick a Pine, for this holiday season!

The holiday season is upon us. Let's support authors and independent bookstores and give some extra holiday cheer to those in our industry this year. Curl up at an indie bookstore soon!

Cover to Cover has this wonderful space for reading and lounging. 

GET ON THE BUS, GUS--An Interview with Patty Toht-By Sherri Jones Rivers

   I first met Patty Toht at the WOW 2015 conference in Helen, Georgia. I found her to be fun, creative, and a truly kind person. Now I get to interview her about her wonderfully poetic All Aboard the London Bus. Let's get started.


     About how many revisions did you go through before the manuscript was acquired?

     Each poem in All Aboard the London Bus went through so many revisions that it's hard to count, and I'm so grateful to my critique buddies for their help and guidance in that process. The timeline for publication is a little easier to figure out because writing began the last month our family lived in England--November, 2013--and publication was May, 2017.




     Did you always intend on a UK publisher? Did you submit in the states?

     The first editor to take a peek at the manuscript was here in the States. Andrea Welch from Beach Lane Books critiqued it at the LA SCBWI conference in 2014. She liked it and shared it with her publisher but they felt the market in the US would be too small. But their praise gave me courage to pursue submitting it more widely in the UK. Frances Lincoln is a UK publisher with a love for poetry and was the perfect place to send it.

     
     Do you have an agent? 

     My agent is Julia Churchill from A.M. Heath Literary in London. I signed with Julia while our family was living in the U.K. We met at the SCBWI conference in England where she critiqued a picture book manuscript of mine. (SCBWI conferences have been great connectors for me. If you are serious about writing for children, an SCBWI membership is a must!)


     I know you lived in London for several years. Did you always have a love for all things English?

     I always had a love for travel and moving overseas was a goal for our family. Our years in London were magical ones and have cemented my love of the U.K.

                                                Englefield Green     

 My husband and I are returning for two weeks this summer and I can't wait!


     Were there some places/stops/attractions you had to leave out in your manuscript, or did you cover all the sights you wanted to?

     Four of the poems that I wrote for the book were edited out, and the editor asked for three to be added. I was especially sad to say goodbye to a poem about Piccadilly Circus, but then the illustrator, Sam Usher, set the "Rain" poem in that location, so it ended up in the book anyway.


     How do you feel about the art? I think it's fabulous. I especially love the way the artist wove the words into a "river" on the page about the Thames. The Tube page is awesome the way your words fill the page, and the Seek and Find page was an added bonus.


     I adore the artwork in the book and was so lucky to be paired with Sam Usher! He's incredibly talented and his illustrations are the perfect mix of architectural detail and whimsical action. The bird's eye view of London is magnificent. I wrote "The River

Thames" as a shape poem and Sam brought it to life on the page, although I had to edit away several lines to make it fit. I often wonder if Sam was ready to throttle me with "Seek and Find Trafalgar"--that's a lot of detail to squeeze into one spread! With "The Tube" poem, I'm not sure if it was the editor's idea or Sam's to curve the text, but what a clever idea that was.

     What challenges or surprises have you encountered along the way to publication?


     One thing that always surprises me is the variation of time it takes from selling a book manuscript to the time of its publication. All Aboard the London Bus is actually the third book I sold. Two books I sold in 2013 are waiting to be born--Pick A Pine Tree arrives on September 19, 2017, and Pick A Pumpkin will follow next autumn.


     Do you have a writing schedule? Where do you like to write? Do you use mentor texts?

   
     I'm really struggling with my writing schedule right now. Between work and marketing my 2017 books, I'm finding it hard to carve out time for writing. Luckily, my school job allows for a few summer months off--now I just have to figure out how to get myself unstuck! I don't have an office, so I usually write in a corner of the living room, much to the dismay of my family who are constantly stepping over my papers and books. And yes, I use mentor texts ALL the time. I firmly believe that reading hundreds and hundreds of picture books has given me an internal rhythm about page breaks and three-part movements.


     What is something folks might not know about you?

     How about something old and something new? Old--I owned a children's book store from 1988-1995; it was called Never Never Land, and I met my husband there when he stopped in to look at books. New--I started a new job this year working in a middle school library.


     What advice do you have for other kidlit writers working towards that debut picture book?

     Keep going! I am an incredibly late bloomer. I began writing for children in the mid-1990's, just at the time that children's books were heading into a deep slump. Between raising four kids and facing a tough market, I didn't have much success in selling my work for a long time. But a poetry class led me to writing poems
  

for children's magazines and that was my stepping stone to publication.

   Patricia Toht lives in the Chicago area with her husband and youngest son. She has three more adult children and one grandbaby. When she tires of the Chicago winter weather, she buys a lottery ticket, hoping to win it big and be able to spend her summers globe-trotting. You can visit her website at www.patriciatoht.com